As we approach 2013, let's have a look back on the major SWAT events that occurred during the year that just passed:
January of 2012 saw the completion of the
RD 1.1 Tournament after a long delay. It also saw the beginning of this blog, which was starting to get noticed after
an opinion article criticising some 1.1 player's arrogance was published. Attempts were also made to organize a SWAT "Version" war, but unfortunately nothing of note happened, although the choice of organizer from the 1.0 side could have been the problem.
In
March we witnessed the beginning of the
ViP 1.0 Premier League, consisting of 1.0-based rules on the Courthouse map. The month saw several clan closures, including
{B4E} and
{|UFF|}.
The period from
May to August was the quietest in the SWAT calendar year.
The 1.0 ViP Tournament had been concluded by the
end of May, while a
new BS 2v2 tournament started in early August after much planning with originally 45 teams. A clan called Tuga
Warriors Team was opened in late August and described on here as "SoH's
twin"
due to the obvious similarities.
In
September {KL} clan proposed a new VIP tournament with 1.1-based rules. To
this day the tournament has yet to be complete, and it seems it never will be.
The month also saw
the closure of |DWMT| clan after a co-leader was caught
cheating on UAC, but a new clan with virtually the same members (including another member who has 3 cheater accounts) was opened with tag JF||.
It is October 2012 that will surely go down as the worst month in the game's history. GameSpy shut down their services of providing a SWAT 4 server list for all multiplayer lovers. Not only was this bad news for active gamers, it also meant that growth of the game would severely stagnate as new players would see an empty list of servers and simply presume that it's a dead game. However, many server list alternatives quickly came to the fore, the most popular ones being DExUS's Alternative Server List, and MarkieBoy's client-sided fix, both of whom's download links can be found on the side of this site.
Finally, in December we saw the true after-effects of the empty server list - a maximum of 10-15 active servers online across both SWAT versions. Some people leaving the game for CoD, others waiting for the supposed sequel TAKEDOWN - while the dwindling die-hard's among us still playing this legendary tactical shooter at any limited opportunity available.
On that slightly sour note, we conclude the summary of SWAT 4 2012. The year saw many tournaments (some not mentioned here), many clan formings and breakups, but ultimately the lasting impression is that 2012 is likely to be last full year that this game will remain alive. Happy new year folks - and remember, DON'T SHOOT THE VIP!
