Written By Alex "Hybrid" Mottshaw
18 September, 2008 12:40 AM

GotGames: The Future of Australian E-Sports

Today Australian E-Sports just took a huge step forward. GotGames has released our new website with a host of new features which should hopefully give Australian E-Sports a huge boost. It is an incredibly exciting time for our team as we have worked for over 9 months developing this new website. The website that you see before you is the collaboration of 5 different coders, a graphic designer and a video creator.

Firstly, the basic coding of the website. Chris “Sutto” Sutton and his team at Total Simplicity have been getting pulled in 10 different directions by all the staff at GotGames. We must have changed our minds at least six thousand times over the last 9 months and how this man still has his sanity is a mystery. We have been making changes right up until the very last moment and worked nonstop for the last 2 nights to get this up and running today. The good news for the GotGames community is that he has only just started to get warmed up. Part of the launch is the introduction of the GotGames File Library. You can now upload, stream and download movies/files/patches/mods/demos to your heart’s content. Not resting on our laurels, GotGames pledges that we will have the most advanced file management system in Australia within 4 weeks.

Next, the heart of the site, the content management system. Owen “nuk3” Hayward has been with GotGames since day 1 and is the longest serving admin of GotGames. Owen took on a huge task in the development of the CMS, which is completely separate from our insanely popular forums. Owen was placed under enormous pressure as the website wouldn’t function at all without his CMS. Everything was dependent on him and in the end, he came through in a big way. He has developed the news ticker as well as the headline and featured article content management systems. What you can’t see is a very cleverly created backend that allows the admins to easily show content to you, the end user, in an extremely professional and efficient way. Like Chris, Owen hasn’t stopped here - he still has plenty of improvements in the pipeline so keep a careful eye out for some exciting new changes.

Next, the design played a very big part in the new site. The design was done by Jamie “rec” Skella of Skellastudios. We wanted a clean, easy to navigate website that is extremely functional and easy to use. GotGames has made the move to being a multiplatform website with support for the four big platforms; PC, Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo. Each part of the website has been custom designed so that users feel like they are in their preferred home. All of the feedback that we received about the new design has been fantastic and we hope that you feel the same.

Next, we have the brilliance of the site, the exciting and exclusive GotGames modules. The first thing I would like to do is get Brendan “Twelve-60” Annable's IQ tested - I have no doubt that we have a genius on the team. I’m dreading the day when a company is smart enough to scoop him up and pay him stupid amounts of money, because he is a weapon of mass coding. Brendan has coded up the exciting new chat system that you see before you. This chat system is compatible with all 4 platforms, PC, Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo and allows users to chat with likeminded users about their preferred platform and games. The big news is that the famous GotGames PUG is now fully coded for the website and is run entirely on the GotGames website rather than IRC. You heard correctly - the incredibly successful pug is now entirely managed directly off the GotGames website. It has all the same amazing features such as stats, player management, player retention and game management whilst being on a simple to use module on the GotGames website.

Finally, the battlegrounds of GotGames: the ladder system. Rob “skills’ Skillington has been coding this ladder software for nearly 12 months now and it is already being used by huge numbers within the community. We recently announced two new competitions, Team Fortress 2 and Warcraft 3 Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) and these are being run completely off the new ladder system. This ladder system is state of the art, and automatically creates temporary servers for matches. Rob also created the server booking system that has been so popular, currently it is compatible with Counter Strike Source and Team Fortress 2 with more games just around the corner. Rob recently integrated the ladder system into the front pages of the new website so that it is even easier for people to use.

There are so many people who have made this new site possible and I want to mention a couple. Joel “Burton Burger” White is the driver of GotGames, this man puts an immense amount of effort and the gaming community is truly lucky to have someone so dedicated to Australian E-Sports. Andrew "Starks" Starks has almost single handedly taken console competitive gaming into a new era. As a result of his tireless efforts, the home of Xbox E-Sports is now GotGames. Tom “Hucky” Fairbairn has been producing interesting articles at a frenetic speed for this launch and deserves a special mention. Tobias “Blazk” Sluggett is the creator of the launch video and is a dead set legend with all the help he has been providing. He has easily gone above and beyond what I could have ever expected. Last but not least, Daniel “Gummerz” Baker has been an inspiration to us all plodding along managing the competitions and doing much of the grunt work.

On a personal note, this truly is a special moment for myself. GotGames has absolutely gone ballistic over the last 6 months, the traffic we are getting now is insane. I had a dream almost 3 years ago to help Australian E-Sports grow and this dream is now coming true. Whilst it has created a lot of angst for myself and my family at times, it has also been unbelievably rewarding. Nothing is more satisfying that having a young kid coming up to me and thanking me for creating the competition/video/website that got them into gaming. I hope you enjoy GotGames, The Home of Australian E-Sports video that I directed for the launch. I hope it gets you as pumped for the future of Australian E-Sports as it did for me. I’m buzzing with adrenaline right now just typing this article, I genuinely love E-Sports that much. My goal at the beginning was to try and share the same adrenaline rush that I got when I first played my first competitive game, Call of Duty. If you haven’t got this rush yet, I'm truly jealous. Sit down, buckle up and get ready for a truly addictive adrenaline rush that will take years to satisfy. GotGames will be your captain, have you got what it takes?

GotGames, The Home of Australian E-Sports

by Alex “Hybrid” Mottshaw