I don't remember any mouse mats? Definitely none of the hardware they showed.

Fairly sure it was "here's a bunch of games, distribute among yourself", and I think Simon and/or the brothers(?) got the better selections.

I initially got an off-road racing game "Insane", then later Delta Force 2.

Well, you've certainly taken the shine off that 3rd Party memory PB!

Sorry to hear it was a bit of a crap one all round

I was sure I had a mouse mat! But, not all that confidently sure now you're disagreeing. Maybe I got a cheap game instead. 
I have no recollection of my performance in the FPS round - which was the only round I got to play too. Fairly sure I didn't see much action.

It was surely objectively a crap day but I remember it quite fondly all the same - lots of fun to be found if not taking it seriously. And with the benefit of many years hindsight.

Well I don't specifically remember no mouse mats either, so you might have got one.

And yeah, I didn't mean to suggest it was a bad memory, but the highlight was meeting forumites rather than playing games.

I just went back and found the emails, and ahead of time we were given a shortlist of five games that we would be playing three of:

> CounterStrike, Delta Force 2, X Plane, Operation Flashpoint, Falcon 4

I think that was what miffed me about the unknown mod - I was already good at CS, and had no doubt been practising on demos of DF2 and OF, only to be presented with something different to what we'd been told.

Also, regarding the other team members, Philip (the hacker) was Simon's friend, but I think "Metalhead" was Luke Redpath? "Bash" might have been Beseku or Dan Cross, both ex-regulars who were in the original email chain.

I suppose Simon making the landing/hacker not using credits/thrashing the other team at games would mean more credits and better prizes.  Probably a bit of a set up in that sense, it's rare it would happen.

I'm going on very vague memories, but I think Simon had to email names in advance and they didn't like actual names, though I don't know why Philip survived that.

I doubt anyone judges you on your posing skills, they all whizzed by in half a second and I had to pause to read the info given for each person.

Thanks for sharing your memories :) 

Being on telly is always a bit dull compared to watching, I watched a singing show being filmed at Media City, it was just a lot of being told to clap and cheer a lot.  By the end I didn't want to clap and cheer very much.

Ooh, I wondered that. Metalhead definitely seemed to be someone we knew. I'd forgotten about Luke, I wondered if it might have been Mike Franklin, but then again I was a similar Uni dweeb at the time so my memory is distinctly hazy.

I just remember thinking it was cool seeing some of the guys from PCFF actually being on TV - even if it was just Bravo!

Either way, kudos to you all!

I think you're right that Luke Redpath was there. Can't remember if Dan or Beseku actually made it or not now.

Simon Roberts. Mmmm.

Dread to think what you've got saved in some random hidden folder on a backup hard drive from the 00s

Anyone remember the Dragon points fad? Before we realised just how "in-to" dragons Mr Roberts was?  :-&

Nah, that never happened. You imagined it all. It was so imaginary that that's how the band "Imagine Dragons" got their name.

Yep! I remember accusing Pete THETGG of cheating his way to a certain milestone, with the help of Ed(d) Hannay (sp).