Smell that, friends? No, I'm not referring to the unidentifiable chunks of meat carbonizing on your BBQ, or the foul-smelling combination of perspiration and sunblock, puddling at the feet of neighborhood youngsters, or any of the lovely fragrances one might associate with a beautiful, but broiling July. No, I'm talking about the sweet, invigorating scent of anticipation and of success being carried all around the world, and to all corners of the 'net by the winds of change.

Now you might wonder what has caused a normally simple, straightforward, (not to mention olfactory-challenged) action editor like me go off on a tangent like that? Why, it's the first-ever All Female Quake Tournament of course.

What? Females play Quake?

Indeed they do. Nearly 100 female Quakers, representing over 40 clans have already registered to take part in this tournament to show that they can be just as blood-thirsty and destructive as their counterparts of the not-so-fairer sex. Wow, is this a great time to live or what?

NabeO (Anna Kang) of clan 666, the mastermind behind this ground-breaking venture, had this to offer:

"In a way, this tournament is about letting the Quake community know that female Quake players truly do exist, that we love the game just as much as the men, and that most of us are very good at it. In a strange but wonderful way, Quake has created a true "community"... people get-together have a good time, have squabbles, have alliances, battle wars (of course), and even find romance (ask Stevie Case). This is the first event in which the ladies of Quake, not one single player, have the opportunity to make their presence felt in this new community. It's odd to think of it this way, but I believe id Software created, not just a great game, but a great new community... the women just want a part in it."

The big industry names behind Quake and Quake accessories, id Software, Rogue Entertainment, Ritual Entertainment (formerly Hipnotic), as well as the Imagine Games Network have made a rare show of support for the tournament, providing prizes for the winners. Aside from the big-name razzle-dazzle, the tournament format itself will be pretty standard fare with several rounds of single-elimination, one on one deathmatch to be held on Quake World. After the smoke from all this clears, the 8 survivors will be flown to Los Angeles for the final showdown on August 30. Excited? Ladies have until July 18 to register.

If you have been following Diana Griffith's series of Gender Gap articles, you'll realize that we at the GDR are quite sensitive and supportive of women's issues and how they relate to gaming. It is my opinion that this tournament is good step forward in the right direction for female gamers, but it should not be considered as a goal-reached, or mission-accomplished by any means. Rather, it is a milestone along the path to the ideal scenario, in which females need not segregate themselves in order to gain recognition and acknowledgement. Also, I can't help but think that, had this been organized as an asexual tournament, the support from the game companies would have been luke-warm at best. Or, dare I even imagine it, had someone organized an all-male tournament, the idea would have been scorned. I guess in the nineties, being male just isn't politically correct.

Another issue that I'm going to toss into the flames is the fact that although the tournament is open to the entire Internet community, all but a handful of the competitors are American. In fact, a grand total of five countries are represented, and that's including the United States. Don't get me wrong, I realize that this is the first tournament of this nature, and it was never meant to be a world championship by any stretch of the imagination, but it is something interesting to chew on. Now that I've dug myself a deep enough hole for one month, I better move on to something else before I really get into trouble. But, if you believe there was anything resembling truth in my words, or now think I'm a male chauvinistic pig, you know where to find me. Otherwise... ladies, frag on!

If you've taken a close look around the GDR lately, you'll have noticed that we've increased our flow of preview and pipeline articles. In this manner we hope to keep you up-to-date on all of the hottest games coming your way, because if E3 has taught us anything, it's that gamers love to keep informed. And speaking of E3, what do you think is the phrase that was thrown around the most out there? If you guessed "scheduled for a Christmas release", or "coming this holiday season", you're right on the nose. This industry phenomenon of planning each release to coincide with a certain Christian holiday continues to astound me year after year. Doesn't the law of diminishing returns, not to mention common sense, suggest that releasing a product at the exact same time as of all your competitors' result in less sales? The game companies don't seem to understand the notion, strange as it may be, that a quality game will sell well be it December, January, or any other time of year. So, we have this ritualistic system in which developers plan everything to be ready for the magical season, supposedly a time when consumers loose all sensibility and discretion, and buy every game they see on the shelves. Ready or not, these games are pushed and bull-whipped like cattle into a slaughterhouse, to satisfy conjured up dreams of higher sales, and bigger profits.

Beta testing? No time, screw it. Manual? Bah humbug.

While the capitalistic proverb that "time is money" may be true, too many companies seem to have mistakenly prefixed 'Christmas' in front it. Last year provided the perfect scenario. Two highly anticipated games, Diablo and Daggerfall were both scheduled for a Christmas release, but neither one was truly ready. While a buggy Daggerfall was pushed ahead anyway, Blizzard wisely held back Diablo until the new year to finish up the game's Battle.net, the game's free Internet gaming forum. Did Daggerfall sell more copies due to its timely release? Not especially, and the mountain of bugs turned away many potential buyers afterwards. As for Diablo, yes it did come under some fire for the delay, but most gamers found that the polished end result was well worth the wait, and you better believe the game sold well, 750,000-copies-well. So the moral of the story?

(A) Game companies should smarten up, because there really is no Santa Claus.

(B) Game companies just don't know how to learn from their mistakes.

(C) I should shut up and do some market research.

You decide.

Well I guess I'm about finished for this month.