KODIAK interjú
Nemrég megkeresett Anna, egy orosz weboldaltól. hogy nagyrészt az olvasók kérdéseit feltéve interjút készítsen velem amit itt olvashattok. Akinek annyira nem jön be a ciril abc annek itt az angol nyelvű eredeti levél.
- Hello! We are making a short interviews with professional and famous CS:S players . Can you answer on a few questions? :)
To be honest I was never a professional CS:S player in the classic sense. Being a professional means that you get paid for playing full time, and I never had a sponsor who would pay for me playing, nor did any Hungarian player to my knowledge. (except Piki who played for a German team for money)
- To start off with, why don’t you introduce yourself?
My name is Balázs Török, I am 30 years old, and I live in Budapest, Hungary. I started playing in 1999 with counter-strike, I won three Hungarian WCG qualifiers, and played in the WCG grand final for three times. In 2001 we played in Seoul, Korea, and we lost all of our matches. In 2002 the games were held in Daejeong, Korea, and we beat the legendary 3D (ksharp, cannon, moto, rambo, bullseye) on our first match, unfortunately we didn't make it through the group stage. Finally in 2005 we were playing our best game CS:S in Singapore, and we finished in 6th place, knocked out by the Russian team Virtus.pro. Since 2007 there is no Hungarian WCG qualifier, so there is really no sense in playing counter-strike over here. I have stopped active gaming since the summer of 2007. I was one of the main organisers of BECUP, an international LAN event in Budapest.
(you can find pictures to illustrate the article here: http://indafoto.hu/_kodiak/
- What do you doing in life? Working? Have you got a big family with dog? :) Tell about yourself more if it's not a secret, sure.
I work for the leading Hungarian online media portal Index.hu. I am a video editor. I don't have a family yet and no girlfriend at the moment.
- So, a little about your nickname... "KODIAK" ... tell us history origin of your nickname
I was on an island not far from the shores of Alaska, it was a cold winter and I was heading for home in my sled with only a few huskys. The night was drawing closer, so I had to really push the dogs to reach my village before sundown. I the hurry I got careless and we fell into a frozen riverbed and woke a sleeping bear. It got furious and attacked us. Me and my dogs fought the bear and I had to kill it with my bare hands. When I got home people told me it was a kodiak bear.
But seriously, I was always fascinated by biology when I was young, so when I had to choose an online name (around 1997) I choose the name KODIAK, for it is the worlds largest land predator, bigger than a grizzly bear and sometimes even bigger than the polar bear.
But seriously, I was always fascinated by biology when I was young, so when I had to choose an online name (around 1997) I choose the name KODIAK, for it is the worlds largest land predator, bigger than a grizzly bear and sometimes even bigger than the polar bear.
- You are a CS:S legend. How you achieved such success?
Hungarian players gave me the name Legend, partly in mockery when I was on a bitter loosing streak in 2004, but people could still remember that I beat 3D with FoP back in 2002 and that name just stuck with me over the years. I think I proved them wrong by switching to CS:S and getting 4th place on the Samsung Euro Championship with ancients.
It was a lot of hard work, but mostly I think my ability to gather a good team around me and have them motivated throughout the preparations for big events that has earned me these achievements.
I must point out, that me becoming a legend had much more to do with my skills as a team leader and organiser, than being a mad fragmachine. Although I had my moments (http://www.indavideo.hu/
(illustrations: http://www.indavideo.hu/video/
- When you are started play? Did you play in CS 1.6 before CS:S?
Yes :) I explained that above.
- Do you play in other games? How often you play CS:S now?
I don't really play games, they usually bore me. I like to play against real life opponents, so nowadays I play soccer and some CS:S. I play CS:S usually once in two weeks maybe.
- Many people always asking "why KODIAK doesn't playing anymore? He was really best of the best"?
That is not true :)
There are many players who are more skilled than me, I just have own my style and a few movies to go with that.
I was getting too old for the game. It is hard to find motivation when there is no WCG qualifier in Hungary. And as I never was a paid athlete I needed to find a job to support myself, and there was no more time to play CS:S.
There are many players who are more skilled than me, I just have own my style and a few movies to go with that.
I was getting too old for the game. It is hard to find motivation when there is no WCG qualifier in Hungary. And as I never was a paid athlete I needed to find a job to support myself, and there was no more time to play CS:S.
- For CS:S community you are like a SpawN from 1.6! Have you ever thought that you shouldn't started play in cs:S? did you have any problems in life because of CS:S?
I was getting bored with cs 1.6, and I didn't have that many success after 2002 so I needed a change, CS:S gave me new motivation. I never regretted playing CS:S, I had a few problems, but at least I was doing something I enjoyed doing. Though I never finished the university, I wouldn't say it was because of playing. I was lucky in many ways, my parents supported me, and I got a job that doesn't require a degree and is still very good.
- I asked this questions because in Russia many teenagers don't want studying and working.. they are just playing and think that they can be professional players and earning 1000000000$ always...What do you think about it?
Studying and working is very important, if you do not have a stable financial background, you shouldn't play all day long. The thing is that in order to be very good in this game (or in anything in fact) you need to put in a lot of training and hard work, but you have to know your priorities, studying and working should be your top priorities, or you will end up very unhappy in the end.
Its a hard thing to do, but if your parents are millionaires or you have a steady job that allows you a lot of free time, you might as well concentrate on playing good.
- Do you know any Russian players? Have you ever played with someone? Do you know Pincho, Forze etc? What do you think about them skill?
We played a lot against Virtus.pro they are a tough team. Their leader Lex is a very nice guy we had a few beers in Hanover. To be honest I don't really know any more russian teams.
- All players from over the world know you some years ago. You was amazing player with awesome skill. It's really. So what are you thinking about top players skill in this time?
I dont really have idols. I respect all my opponents, but I want to beat them. I must say that I consider myself as an average skilled player compared to the top teams. In my oppinion the player that has the most potential in CS:S is .PhP from reason gaming played a lot against him an saw him play, he is really amazing, I would have loved to have him on my team.
- When you visited LAN game at first time?
In 2000 there was a local LAN in Budapest, one of the first cs 1.3 LANs, and we went there with my brother (Predator4) and our team. We played the final at 3:00 in the morning and we won our first LAN.
(pictures: http://decay.elte.hu/~kodi/
- Where there was a better LAN organization? And What is your favorite LAN game?
For me the WCG was always the top of the competition. I loved to go the events as a competitor, or as a viewer.
- In your opinion how much time usual player must spend time (at day or at week) to training to play better, as you, for example.
It depends. First when you start out you should play a lot, but after you learned the fundamentals a few hours daily should be enough to stay in shape. I used to play 6 hours a day when I started playing, after a few years I played 4 hours a day 3 days of a week if we were preparing for an event. Nowadays I don't play much at all.
- What are your friends (whom don't play CS:S) thinking about your hobby?
They think it's cool that I could travel a lot just by playing games, but I try not to talk too much about gaming with them because that would be very boring to them.
- What are devices do you use and which settings for game?
Burglars took my last computer (the bastards...), so now I have an average computer, I get 60-70 fps on low graphic settings. I use (since 2002) a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1a, a basic keyboard and a Sennheiser pc160sk headset. I play on a Samsung Syncmaster 226BW monitor, which is awesome. I use mousefix and no mouse acceleration with an in game sensitivity of 2.5.
- What do you like in CS:S the most?
I love the graphics and the ragdoll physics, it is so nice to see the ugly 1.6 maps rebuilt in style, with small details. I like that people who play 1.6 have a hard time adjusting to the new setting the new recoil. It was quite easy for me to switch to one game to the other, tho it is very hard for me to switch back to cs 1.6.
- Tell some your secrets about the game? ;) For example how do you prepare(ed) for a serious game?
Practice makes perfect. I think the most important thing you need in this game beside skill is motivation. If two teams meet who are equally skilled the one who will win is the one who wnats to win the most. I have nothing special preparation before matches, I just set up my computer and play.
- What life experience has brought the game? Experience from CS:S helped in life ever to you?
It was nice to see that no one is unbeatable, I learned that pretty soon, and the other thing I learned, that there are really no excuses for loosing. If you lost you lost because the opponent was better, you should use the experience gained from losses and build it into your strategies, so next time you meet that team, you can beat them. I think that being successful in anything makes one more self confident, even it is a computer game. I used that confidence in my life and I really needed that.
- What would you wish our readers and players?
I would wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And please don't forget guys, that playing might be fun, but you have to do well in school and that is much more important.
- Thank you very much for all :)) Good luck! and have fun ;)
Thank you.
with best wishes and respect,
Anna
