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Tournaments starting this week
 
28th October 2008 - Alex
 
This one is extra short. I've had a couple of people ask me if the event was on this week, because I hadn't sent anything out: I'd just like to say that in general, the event will be on regardless of whether or not an email gets sent out - it's a bit pointless sending an email just to say "no, we haven't cancelled." ;)

Secondly, we'll be running tournaments as of this week. We'll ensure a good rotation of games so people can play what they want competitively, but the first two games will be Mario Kart on the Wii and Call of Duty 4 on the 360. We'll announce the exact rules on Wednesday (mostly because we haven't drafted them up yet). If you plan on playing in either of these tournaments, please come see a member of the committee at 2pm (or as early as humanly possible during the event) on Wednesday to let us know, so we can draft up the rosters in time for 5pm.
 
 
Wednesday events moved to 2-7pm
 
20th October 2008 - Alex
 
Hey guys,

I promise I'll try to make this email as short as possible and not let it end up a wall of text like the two previous ones...

Only a few things to say this week. For starters, last week's event was quite a success. We had about 35 people drop by overall, and around 20 or so people at any one time. Good fun was had on Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Gears of War, Rock Band and Call of Duty 4 (due to the generous contribution of one of the attendees, so if you want CoD4 this week, someone needs to bring it along with them), so thanks to everyone who came.

More importantly, the weekly console event has been moved to 2-7pm, but we're still in Top Bar. This is to accomodate the Top Bar staff, in case anyone is wondering, since 1-2pm is lunch hour and therefore their busiest hour. We will be charging our full rates this time around - that's £1 for non-members and 50p for members - so please bring along your student card so we can check you against our member list. I'd like to remind everyone that anyone who brings a multiplayer game to any of the events will get a 50p discount on their entrance fee (that means you get in for free if you're a member and bring a game for multiple people to play, of you only pay half price if you do the same and are a non-member).

Secondly, we've finally got access to the SU mailing list, so will be sending future emails through there. Everyone who joined the society is on the SU mailing list, but some of the people who put their names down at the stall didn't join - so if you're interested in still getting emails from us but haven't joined the society, please send me an email from your Essex email address (if you could make the Subject of that email something like "MGS mailing list" I'd appreciate that, it saves me having to sift through the entirety of my inbox).

Thirdly, as planned, we did the draw for the £45 of GAME vouchers we had, and the winners are: Sam Roberts (£20 voucher), Robert Haddon (£15 voucher) and Reece Poole (£10 voucher). Congratulations to those lucky three! The two winners who haven't been given their prize yet should email me ASAP to arrange collection.

Finally, I would like to place a call for anyone who lives on campus or can make it from off campus using a car to bring some sort of screen that has a scart port or RGB component cable port. We only had two screens (and thus two consoles) on last Wednesday and though no one was left with idle hands for too long, we still don't like seeing people having to refrain from gaming at our events! So please, if you have a TV or computer screen that has the right connectors, bring it along with you - you'll get the same discount as people who bring games.

See you all on Wednesday,
- Alex/Ansob.
 
 
First Console Event
 
14th October 2008 - Vixy*
 
Contrary to what we originally thought, we won't be in 5A.101; instead, we'll be in Top Bar, which is much better! The Top Bar people (by which I mean Vicky Martin, so give her a huge thanks when you see her) will graciously be allowing us to host the MGS' console event throughout the year.

For those who aren't sure where Top Bar is: it is the bar on square 4, located above the Abbey agency (it should be indicated; if not, I know that Sizzlers is, and that's right next to Top Bar; failing that, just ask anyone on campus). We will have the back end of the bar cordoned off for us, so just come in and find us!

Exceptionally, we will be charging 50p for all (members and non-members) this Wednesday, rather than the £1 for non-members. Furthermore, this week will be an unranked week only - no ranked tournaments yet, as we will be using attendance to gauge the popularity of the games on play. The planned rotation for the three types of current-gen consoles are:
a) Xbox 360: Rock Band (1-4pm) and CoD4 (4-6pm)
b) Wii: Mario Kart (1-4pm) and Super Smash Brothers Brawl (4-6pm)
c) PS3: Fifa '08 (1-4pm) and Pro Evolution Soccer (4-6pm)


Members are encouraged to pipe up and ask to play a specific game at any point during the first three hours of the event (1-4pm), but the last two hours will see at least three consoles be taken over by a specific game for the purpose of competitive gaming.

With regards to the meeting held last week, we will publish a full list of games that people thought would be worthwhile playing at these events in a forthcoming email. Keep in mind that the list is no way definitive, and that if enough people want to play something, it will be added to the list. Additionally, with regards to the GAME voucher draw, we'll be drawing the winners around 3pm. Finally, for those of you who weren't present but are interested in PC gaming, we have decided that MGS will be attempting to host single-day LAN parties (university cooperationpending), date and place TBD.

A couple of organisational notes before the end of this email: as of the time of writing, the society does not have a copy of CoD4, Pro Evolution Soccer or Fifa '08. If you or anyone you know owns a copy of either of these games (whether PS3 or Xbox 360, it doesn't matter) and wish to see it played at this event, please bring it along. Otherwise, we'll sort out copies of those games eventually, but it probably won't be this week. If no one has a copy of Fifa/PES, the PS3 will probably be running Guitar Hero 3 and Resistance: Fall of Man.

Hoping to see you all Wednesday at 1pm in Top Bar,


- Alex/Ansob,
President of MGS

 
 
MGS 2008/09
 
04th October 2008 - Alex
 
Welcome to all our new members and returning members for the 2008/2009 academic year!

We're glad to have everyone on board for another fun year of gaming. As was mentioned at Freshers' Fair, the society will be concentrating on console gaming this year, but that doesn't mean that we'll be ignoring PC gaming - be sure to join our IRC network, where we'll be organising jumping on servers and stuff like that.

Even if you're not interested in PC gaming, I would urge you to follow the instructions on the IRC page and join us on IRC - it really is the centre of the society, where most of our members chill out online and chat about gaming, computers, technology, politics, TV shows and, well, pretty much anything.

MGS will be holding a meeting this coming Wednesday (08/10) at 4pm, in room 5A.101 (if this changes, we'll be sure to keep you informed). This is a chance to introduce the committee to you, the members, and more generally to introduce each of us to one another. We'll also be deciding what console tournaments people want to see held, handing out information about the PC side of the society and IRC and holding a raffle for £45 of GAME vouchers, so be sure to turn up!

I'm looking forward to properly meeting a lot of you on Wednesday,
- Ansob.
President of the University of Essex Multiplayer Gaming Society (we'll just call it MGS from now on, 'k?).
 
 
Website update, and stuff
 
13th September 2008 - Alex
 
We've updated the website with all the new info - expect to see more updates as we get word from the SU with regards to Freshers' Fayre.