This weekend, some of Quake 4's biggest names will converge on St. Louis to play in this year's Warfactory LAN.

icel0re
DaHanG
gellehsak
ERMAC
chance
LoSt-CaUzE

But do you guys know who these gamers are or how they've been getting ready for Warfactory, as well as the rest of the summer LAN events? Let's meet a few of them.

icel0re
Dave "icel0re" Ritson of Team X30, hails from Bowling Green, KY. As this article is being being written, he had just taken 4th in the online qualifiers for the WSVG Louisville event. Some of his recent accomplishments include a 1st place finish in the the GGL FFA Minicomp, a 2nd place finish in the GGL Christmas 1v1 Tourney, and a 3rd place in the Q4Life Q4 CTF tourney.

Being a major fan of the FPS genre, Dave told me that he first started out with Duke Nukem 3D, then progressed through numerous other shooting games before arriving at Quake 4. But this Kentucky-native isn't one for staying in the house all day in front of a screen; oh no. Like many other pro-gamers, Ritson has been a natural athlete all his life. In high school, he was a constant athlete playing 3 seasons of sports for all 4 years, and still plays rugby throughout the year. I asked him if he also keeps a strict diet, but he said that he doesn't really have a set amount of certain foods but he "consumes ungodly amounts of red meat, fish, and chicken, most of which is served with rice."

When I asked Dave how he was practicing for Warfactory, as well as the summer in general, he told me "I've been playing for 1 month with Lost-Cauze, griffin and ermac. We've played 3-4 hours together a night in intense practice sessions. I'm not playing much online right now though, as I'm ready to get some REAL practice on LAN."

DaHanG
Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty will be traveling to the event all the way from Lake Worth, Florida. Representing 50Cal, he has been successful in Quake 2, 3 and 4. Being an integral member of the US Quake 2 National Team, he was able to lead them to their first ever playoffs appearance in Nations Cup, with the help of Scooby and Slasher. Just this week, Tim was also able take 1st place in the WSVG Online qualifier. Another accomplishment he was happy to mention was his 3rd place in the Everglide Online 1v1 Tourney.

In his spare time though, Tim said he likes to play guitar and basketball with friends. I asked him what his workout schedule is like and he said that he does a light workout sometimes. "Occasionally I'll jog and do pushups here and there a few times a week, but nothing too hardcore."

I also asked how he's been training for the Warfactory tournament and he said "I've been playing about 2 hours a day on weekdays, more on the weekends, though it's pretty discouraging playing online with ping being such a huge factor in this game. I'm excited to be playing on LAN against some really good players. I expect to finish in the top 2 but it'll be tough, no doubt about it."

gellehsak
Andy "gellehsak" Ryder, a long-time member of Evil Geniuses, originally comes to us from our neighbors in the great, white North, Canada. Andy also participated in the WSVG Online Qualifier and took 3rd. Some of Andy’s most notable accomplishments were his 1st place finish at ESWC Canada 05, as well as an endless amount of 1st and 2nd place finishes in online leagues, cups and tournaments. Most of all though, he said he is the most proud of his performance in the CPL World Tour for Painkiller, which included a 2nd place finish at CPL Chile and a 4th place finish at he Singapore stop.

Ryder admits that he has tried just about every FPS since Quake 1, and excelling at the majority of them. From his successful careers in CPM and PK, many different groups consider him to be the best dueler in Canada. A short time ago, Andy became a new father of a baby girl, Avie. He told me that he doesn't get much time to condition like other gamers but being a dad keeps him plenty busy and is a workout in itself sometimes.

When asked how he's been preparing for the tournament, he told me “I don’t think I’ve had enough practice on LAN but if I play on LAN like I have online lately I should be a favorite.”