Undead Ed has a knack of surviving pretty much anything we’ve thrown at him – including a rather large quantity of volatile dynamite we found recently in the post. Attached to a trigger on the envelope’s flap. Would’ve been a real waste of explosives if the poor postman had hit a bump. But I digress. We had very little hope of him making it back from Ground Zero – especially considering their familiarity with shotguns, sniper rifles and chainsaws mounted to assault rifles. But make it back the little tyke did. And he brought great tidings from old friends. That still didn’t stop us from tossing an unexploded 1940’s torpedo we found in the forest his way. Poor little man took it on the head. Doctor says he’ll be OK in a few months. But he has next week’s clan to visit, so he better not think we take a doctor’s note seriously.
So, on to Ground Zero. I’ve personally had the pleasure of playing with the gents from one of the oldest ongoing clans on Xbox 360 many times in the past. Whether a friendly game for laughs, or a clan match (which usually descended into unbridled fits of laughter) or a more “serious” tournament… which also descended into unbridled fits of laughter (almost always from my team). To their credit, Ground Zero chaps are always good fun in a lobby and they are now seeing their fourth year of activity. Along with their third game in the Gears of War series.
You guys have been around a while now. When did you form and how did it come about?
Yazeed aka BulletZA formed GZ back in 2008 for the then AGASA tournament now called the DoGaming League. The clan was entered for HALO and Gears of War 1 tournaments.
What were you guys playing at the beginning?
Right from the get go Gears of War had a major impact on all the players within the clan even Black Axe (who played Call of Duty exclusively) moved over to Gears of War.
Are a lot of your original members still with you? If, so, who?
We had a lot of good players who went on to join other clans and made a name for themselves, while others have just being missing in action such as Tylbrand aka Mr Militia, BigBadBulla, WerriesZA, The One ZA even Draeka spent a while with us.
How many members are you at now? And who are they?
We have 7 active members although BulletZA our team captain is playing Daddy and is out of action for a bit. Members are NinjasCreed, Black Axe, Vegeta, Omegazn with new addition’s Gaaty and Roligov who joined us recently and fitted in nicely for the last Gears Of War 3 tourney
You started on Xbox 360 correct? Are you still exclusively an Xbox 360 clan or do you play on another platform too?
Due to Gears being an exclusive Xbox360 title and most of the lads preferring Xbox360 anyway to the more inferior PS3, Ground Zero will remain an Xbox360 clan. We dabbled a bit with PS3 about a year ago but never fully migrated.
What is the current game of choice for the clan?
Exclusively Gears of War
You guys regularly participate in tournaments – do you consider yourselves a competitive clan or more of a “the shits and giggles” clan? Do you practice for the tournaments?
Ground Zero sees a need for a more competitive clan scene in South Africa especially for consoles. We regularly participate in the tournaments and actively participate within the Gears community each night.
Won any tournaments you feel like bragging about?
Lol, not yet but our best position was finishing third in a Guardian Tournament ZombieGamer organised back in 2010 behind Capital Punishment and the ever charismatic Shotgun Clowns.
Are you guys actively recruiting players? If so, how do you decide on who is right to join you?
We play Gears every night so we know the ins and out of the community. If you’re exceptional at Gears we will extend an invite to you, simple as that J unfortunately at the moment Ground Zero is not recruiting and won’t be for a very long time.
Which clan you respect/hate/want to be the most…
We still got much Love for the Gears of War 2 clans SOC, Shotty Clowns, OAP (We miss Noman a lot). Gears of War 3 has produced tons of enemies and although we don’t like em we still respect a couple of the new clans.
What are your plans for the future? Do you guys plan to keep going until your fingers don’t work anymore?
Most likely we will be going has long as the Xbox360 is around. We only just begun!
Boring stuff over…
If you weren’t a gaming clan you’d be…
a doughnut consortium
Your clan needs a mascot. Due to a successful series of tournament wins you can choose to be sponsored by Disney or Mattel. That is either Bambi or Barbie. Which one would you choose and why?
Barbie – Because we Fabulous!
If you guys had a music soundtrack for going to war, what would it be?
Be Prepared By Scar from the Lion King
Thanks for your time – is there anything you would like to add before you have to go back to the boredom of day- to-day life?
Remember to be a good gamer. Always wash your hair!
Ground Zero can be found on Twitter, while some of the members themselves are happy to be stalked too: NinjasCreed, Vegeta and GaaTY. Vegeta is also the man to watch on YouTube, otherwise they’re most likely to be found playing Gears of War on Xbox LIVE.
If you are keen to feature in this column in the future, please feel free to contact us at info@zombiegamer.co.za and we’ll think about – after you’ve sent us a sample of your braaaaaaiiiiinnnnsss.
Next week we have SiB and then VoV.
Remember to get involved. By simply commenting on the clan profile, you stand a chance to win a case of Ozone Energy Drink. Ozone South Africa are also looking for clans to sponsor and by participating here you already have made an impression and impact.
This clan profile is
Please note that all esports related sponsorship enquiries for Ozone South Africa should be mailed to theozone@ozoneafrica.co.za and any press enquires – or to be added to the media list – should be mailed to media@ozoneafrica.co.za.
