,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, An interview of Mick (Kuski of Month on March 2003): '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -= When did you start playing? =- I first played Across back in '97 maybe. I can't rememeber exactly but I remember playing Elma as soon as it came out. -= Ex-teams and why did you change teams? =- First team was SEX, second WRS and then EM. I left SEX becuase it was one of those teams with just mates from school and soon they lost interest. Also, Yees (who joined SEX for some reason) left for SRX which left me by myself. I left WRS because everyone in the team (except me and zei) stopped playing. EM is probably the best team I have ever been in, everyone in it is awesome. ciph, madman, zei and /dc are the best guys ever. too bad we lost contact with zei and /dc about 2(?) years ago. -= Current total? =- about 40,04. its been at that for more than a year now, probably almost 2. -= Top5 newest and oldest personal records? =- no idea, and I'm not gonna check every .rec to see which one was modified last :) I would guess these though: - flat track - 16,21(i tried that new style a few times) - shelf - 35,69(too get back that wr i had before the new style was used) - twin peaks - 18,22(tried the new style as well) - spiral - 45,32(tried the new spiral bit) - expert - 57.15(had to beat bob's time) -= Across Career briefly. Any WRs?, World Cup I and II and so on.. =- never really did anything notable in across. -= Elma career? =- had a few wr's on these levels (over and under, long haul, hi flyer, tag, shelf, bumpy(i believe i can still beat this if i hoyl enough), enigma, tricks) and I also had 59,17 on hehe while wr was about 59,high but madman beat me with 59,11 on the next table. at one point i had 2nd or 3rd best total in the world. I cant remember the exact order but it was me, pajen and dz who were on top of the list. that was a good feeling. never really played wcups, I mean i played the levels through a few times but never hoyled and sent in, except once. I remember when i was new to elma i sent in a wcup result and I thought i did awesome in but ended up almost last or something haeh. -= Do you still like Across? Why/why not =- its good, but i dont play it at all. like everyone else says, its too hard to go back to after elma. -= How did you get Across/Elma? Was it your worst mistake? or the best? =- from a friend at school (seems this is the standard answer to this question). it wasnt my best or worst decision. I am glad i started playing it though. -= Favourite internals / most irritating internals =- shelf is my fav, i also like headbanger. i dont like haircut, downhill or framework much -= Your own best WRs? =- would have to say shelf(35,69). I also think my hiflyer(34,32) was pretty good. both those are the best times in the world still with the styles used i think. -= Best WRs in your opinion? =- psy's ah is unbelieveable, i would love to see that rec. also respect to luther for his downhill and bowling wr's. great to see they stay as wr's even when the recs are public. -= What's the limit of WR times? =- no idea. -= Are there some kind of external contests you like? What kind of contests do you like? Are there any new competitions you would like to see? =- i just play random ones, no real favourites. i had one idea for a cool contest but im too lazy to think about doing it. so if anyone wants to start it go ahead, here is the idea: - people sign up to play - kuskis are picked at random and put into teams with other randomly picked kuskis - then a level is played and points added up and the teams points are added together therefore kuskis who are normally in the same team could well be playing against each other. which would mean they probably wouldnt help each other. meh, probably a shit idea but at least new. plus i didnt explain it very well. -= Best lgr in your mind? What lgr do you use? =- default, i dont really play around with these. although i did try that pirate one and it was cool. -= Mention some good things you have gotten with Across/Elma? =- excitement when beating my first wr was amazing, i wish i felt that everytime i beat a wr. ive never had that feeling again. -= Mention some bad things you have gotten from Across/Elma? =- bad sleeping habits. -= What is the most frustrating thing you have faced in your career? =- hitting my head behind the flower on bumpy journey at 36,8low when current wr was 37,07. that sucked ass, as soon as i got below 37 i basically stopped playing that level because of that. -= The biggest mistake of your Elma career? =- not really a mistake since it helped a friend at the time, but i gave dz the start to pipe when i was close to taking wr. then he beat my time and took wr (he was a much more skilled player than i). but its not like i care much about it cos dz is awesome, very tanky. ;* -= Cheating, what feelings? Do you use level unlocker/1.11hb/1.2 etc? =- well, i changed a couple of my times in my state to make them 0,01 or 0,02 better (not wr's though). i remember when i told abu about it, he was like "you never would have been caught if you didnt say anything" and i knew that too but i felt bad everyone else being found and not i, so i confessed. but i dont think cheating is a good thing. one thing i will say though is i hate it how if someone gets caught cheating then people straight away decide they dont like that person anymore. when darm got caught i didnt give a shit and treated him exaclty the same as i had before. and i remember when bergs (karlis) got caught i messaged him saying "hi" or something and he was like "so i guess you wanna know why i did it then??" but i didnt care, i was just saying gday. i use level unlocker sometimes and i use some elma version of hibs which i dont know the number of. not one of the latest anyways, i think it was one of the first versions out. -= Elma tuning, have you tested? Opinion about it? =- nope, i hate tuning/vsync, it ruins the game. it should be the same on every computer. -= Best kuskis and teams? What are the things you value in another kuski/team? =- of course zweq and tor are amazing. but i dont really talk to either of them at all, maybe a "hi" to zamppe every now and again. i also like watching mp's recs, fuck he is an awesome player. sometimes i just ask him to send me some of his new recs so i can watch them. fm ez the best team, you couldnt ask for better teammates than those guys. i think the fact that they know each other irl is what makes it work so well. -= Your best achievements? =- probably my total time success i talk about earlier plus a few styles that are used in wr runs at the moment that i created. the one i know at least that i was the first to use was the start for slalom which also got adapted to new wave and is now a common start in many external levels. i remember i made that start for TuA when he was having a slalom war so to speak with jokke. i am also pretty sure the start i use in shelf was not used by anyone else. there were variations of it used by other people but they were not as fast. also other styles i invented myself which may or may not have been invented by other people before me but i didnt know are: - pipe start (i think maybe bartek(?) knew about this start very early on as well) - over and under alovolt start (i showed this to swos when it was new and he said he had used it also) - the bounce in steep corner. zei and i were experimenting with this long before cloud took wr with it. i could never get a good run with it though. then zei took wr so i stopped playing. - long haul in the middle where my wheel compresses instead of volting back. gah, hard to explain. - was the first to do the "fast bounce" in enigma and take wr :D im quite proud of being first under 37 on bumpy, 32 on long hual, 36 on shelf and first tag wr with new style. -= Do you do any other neat finger-related stuff like playing violin, repairing watches, pick pocketing etc? =- i masturbate a fair bit. -= How much did you play in your sickest period? How much these days? =- im my 'sickest' period, probably over 4 hours a day. nowdays i just have it open while im browsing so when i am waiting for a download to finish or a page to load i might alt tab to it and play a min or two. so maybe 30mins a day. i only cruise though, not hoyl. i will play a level then try the next in the pack etc -= Have you had Elma dreams? =- yea a few, especially when i used to play for wr's. i dont have them anymore. -= Strengts and weaknesses as a player? What moves you like/dislike? =- i dont think i have any real strengths or weaknesses, i am a average player alround i think. -= Best memories with Elma? =- probably when i was in WRS when i would somehow get hold of a new style and then give it to pajen and next time i see him he would have beat wr by a few seconds or something :) i think this happened with turnaround style (sorry dz, thats for taking pipe wr :)). at this point i wasnt even sure whether the style was possible but i showed pajen a rec that i made (some rec i tried to do to explain the style, which was a very poor attempt) and next time i see him he has like 38,xx which beats wr by a second. haeh, it was times like that that i look back and remember these days(i also gave pajen the styles for the bowling and tunnel terror wr's he had). other awesome times was with EM when olps came out, the whole team played them and we had a fair few wr's. i remember me, zei and ciph especially playing those levels and sharing recs and styles etc, they were good times. -= First time at #across? =- i cant remember it at all. i dont think i said anything, just read what others said. -= Best Elma friends? =- well, the people i talk to in #across went through periods. ---when i was new to the scene--- - uube - miguel - hydran - tua - yees ---when i became a better player and started getting wr's--- - bartek - starchild - eliaz - pajen - /dc - ciph - zei - whole taaf team, especially sveinr and myhrdel(i can never spell his name) ---when i stopped playing so much (ie, now)--- - all aus guys on #across are awesome(rev, jub, djacosmo, iob), but i mostly talk to bob out of them all - ciph - ky - sveinr - rawl - we havent spoke in a while, what you up to? - luther - ramone - dont talk to elma people so much these days. maybe the odd convo with skint or bergs or something. -= Thoughts about Elma meetings? =- good idea, but ive never been to one. -= What do YOU think should be improved in an eventual new version of Elma? =- i dont think i will play the next version but as long as the simplicity and general concept of the game doesnt change i will be happy. -= How about battles? =- played a few, maybe 10 max. have won maybe half of them and done well in the others. i normally get a pretty good time straight away and cant beat it. so i lead the whole battle and someone who has been improving little by little during the battle will beat me with about 30secs to go. sucks -= Have you got any negative feedback about playing Elma from your mates? =- nope, not many even know i play it. i dont play it when they are around. -= What games do you like beside Elma? =- all zelda games, and maybe my all time fav excluding zelda games is goldeneye for n64. when i used to play that i never lost, damn i was good at that game. -= Did you buy Elma? Why not? =- nope, i dont have a credit card so i have never been able to buy anything offline and i cant be bothered going to the bank to get money changed into some other currency and then posting it off. sorry balasz but at least you have my appreciation. -= Have you thought about if you could stop playing Elma soon, or anytime? =- i basically have. i stopped maybe 1.5-2years ago i guess. pretty happy that i am not addicted anymore. although i will always remember the great times i had when playing it. i still hang around the scene just to try and keep up to date and maybe see a good rec every now and again. -= What gets you still playing Elma? =- i think its just the simplicity of the game and the fact that you can so easily alt tab into and out of it without a hastle. -= Are you at the top of your career now? If not, when? =- no way, my top was when i was getting wr's and stuff. i dont know the exact dates, maybe 2.5 years ago. at some point i think i had 5 wr's at one time. i guess that was when i was at my best. -= Forecast the future of Elma. How the scene will be in five years? =- 5 years? i dont plan to be around, but i guess there will still be a community online most probably with a much better version of the game with online capabilities and stuff. i wonder whether the current internals will still be played then? :) -= Was it a surprise to be voted for the kuski of month? If it was who should have won in your opinion and why? =- i think i deserved to win this much earlier than i did, but oh well. i cant remember what i did the month i won it but i would dare say nothing. i think i had come second like 4 or 5 times and i guess people decided that since no one else populor was nominated then they could vote for me. the name 'kuski of the month' means very little nowdays doesnt it? seems you dont need to do anything during the month to get nominated. -= Mopolauta, thoughts? =- i check these topics on mopolauta only: - "New WRs" - "New internal times" - "Replays sharing" and sometimes threads that have the latest post by a kuski i know/like. there seems to be an abundance of noobs there now, which is cool but not really what i am looking for. -= Opinions about Elma Crime, MUe's animations and stuff like that. =- im not interested in any of that stuff really. never seen elma crime and dont listen to any of the songs made except ciph, kobi and ju's ones. -= What's your favourite Elma website (not moposite)? =- sk0n0rs cooking, but he doesnt update that so it sucks. and bob's level pages are good for the month or so after they launch. he stops updating after that amount of time :) -= Your relation to OLP? =- i had a heap of wr's but as soon as i released the recs some hungarian kuski copied the styles and hoyled like hell to beat my times. doesnt really matter cos no one played them at that time anyways. i enjoyed playing them with zei and team em while they were popular. em was probably the most successful olp team when people actually played them. -= Why that nick, Mick? =- mick is the nickname for Michael which is my real name. ive never been interested in having an online name, its kinda corny in my opinion. -= Your real life. Do you have it (school/work, other interests etc)? =- doing a degree called Photonics/Internet technologies and telecommunications. It basically physics/maths with a little computer stuff involved. Photonics is basically the study of photons, which are particles of light. I am also currently doing work experience at the alfred hospital in melbourne, its the second biggest hospital in the country. im creating a system to update their pulmonary waveform generator(google it, im not explaining). -= Write something about the game, fellow kuskis, moposite, #across, etc =- hi -= How did this interview make you feel, like a moviestar? =- nope You can add more questions, if you have some interesting ones. From #across people: will u ever do teh comeback - if i ever did, it would be to take bumpy wr i guess. that is one of two/three that i actually think i would be able to take if i tried very hard. how many cheaters do u think there are in the top100 - i would hope none, but probably 5-10 would be my guess. I think there will always be someone cheating. whats teh meaning of life ? - 42 Whats your relationship to anal sex? - I have rooted two chicks up the butt. I recommend giving it to a chick, it feels awesome. Surprisingly they seem to like it lots as well. oh fuck mick :) well what about "What do u think of team EM?" will they make a comeback , you,dc,zeizei etc. whos the best player in em? - I love Em, an awesome team with awesome members. It seems like ciph may be making a comeback at the moment, hopefully he can do some good stuff, he is currently doing well in EET2. Madman just got Islands wr again, so i guess he is possible to comeback. although he said he took that wr in 5 mins or so, so maybe it was a fluke? :) i dont think there is any way that \dc is coming back, nor zei i think. you never know though because zei always comes back for a month or so then disspears again. best players in em were zei and madman ez. i think they were far better than the rest of the team. \dc, ciph and i are close in natural talent i believe. fix was a good player while he lasted (which wasn't long) but i think elma was just a fad for him. "write something about future sights of Aussie elma scene" - not really sure what to write here. I am not even sure how many aus kuskis there are at the moment. probably more than i would suspect. from the way it is going now, i would guess that the aus elma scene will continue to grow. when i started, there was only me and tier(where the hell did he go. he has best freefall without shortcut btw). now there is probably over 20, i think the signs are looking good. Mick 22nd December 2004