In Australian gaming, it's always been true that the three powerhouse states reside along the east coast; Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. This holds true today, with the only potential national winners being from one of the big three, with the occasional interruption from team 23 and Western Australia. However, it wasn't so long ago that Western Australia held a much larger presence in Australian gaming - and it wasn't alone.

South Australia's tracks through the years are broad and heralded; heralded as an interpolation of Aussie gaming itself, a tiny place (by numbers) that defies the mould to produce results. Yet over night, and no one is really sure which night it was, gaming in South Australia died. Well, a group of our diehards, South Australian's that have pushed through gamings demise in their state, are doing something about bringing gaming back to SA.

In past, there seemed to be a template for Aussie gaming, in particular regarding CS, in Australia. While there were always exceptionally good teams numerously abounds in the eastern states, it seemed to be that each of the-then major areas possesed atleast one of the elite teams - a team that could potentially take out any given nationals.

For example, there would always be teams such as mF!, KING, NoxNoctis, 96, and other teams that would consistently take top spots at local competitions. Yet, they would be written off almost immediately, as one of the premier teams from each state was almost a given to take it out.

We're talking f-zer0, XR, whatever MushiN/YGS team was around in Sydney, 23. We're also talking Continuous Flow (cflow), the team that dominated its own scene aswell as, often enough, the lower and mid stages of nationals. It seems that the death of gaming in South Australia parrallels the death of c'flow - one minute they were here, the next, they were all gone. So, how are ghost and the remaining SA gamers trying to bring it back?

Introducing the SA CS1.6 Draft LAN. In a massive effort, the events organisers, ghost, brando and enspia, have collected around 40 keen gamers for the day at the local. How it works is as follows: the 40 players, new and old, and of different and greatly varying skill levels, will join together in mixed teams to play for the day. Captains chosen on the day will hold most of the responsibility, and it is only safe to assume that they'll be some of the more experienced SA gamers. The hope is that there will be enough interest in the pool to spark some life in to the scene, hopefully leading to the formation of some new teams and some ongoing competitions.

Hopefully gone are the times of South Australia playing host to only 5 nationals qualifiers in 4 years, and hopefully we can now welcome a new era. Noone is under any illusion; the eastern states garner 20+ teams per state with ease, and the 40 players converging on Arena LAN Cafe this Sunday would only make for the smallest of scenes, but the 40 strong who have committed to the SA 1.6 draft will hopefully be the stepping stone to renewing CS 1.6 in South Australia.

Here's to hoping we see South Australian qualifiers in the coming year, and DICEVIP wishes ghost, enspia, brando, and all of this weekends competitors the best of luck.

Inside South Australia's Arena Internet Cafe

ghost will be providing coverage of the days competition on DICE this Sunday, so check back!

Team Continuous Flow (C'flow) of 2003 era