Wireplay reunited?
Staff finally get a break and announce new service
June 2001. Five Wireplay game server and administration gurus sit heartbroken in Gameplay's plush Vine Hill offices contemplating the dole. The loss of Wireplay won't just affect their incomes, it will also destroy a tight-knit community of like-minded gamers who frequent their servers and message boards. What a waste of a perfectly good online service, they all murmur. Fast forward two months and the same five now ex-Wireplay server admins are united again. "We, the five main ex-Wireplay game server and community administration dudes - drilla, velvet, stikky, amok and babyharpseal - wish to make what we think is a very important announcement to the gaming community," they write on their website at Pish.org. "Back in June we were made redundant by Gameplay plc and have since continued to support the community unpaid. Unfortunately now we understand that Wireplay (including the forums, all the game servers, etc) is about to finally lose its connection to the Internet." "Now here's the good news. In recent weeks we have received many offers to run a similar operation elsewhere. Having seen the plans and aspirations of each of the organisations who approached us, one stood out as far and away the most advanced, forward-thinking and ambitious: Telewest's plans for their blueyonder service." "They are deadly serious about providing the ultimate gaming service and have already signed up game-networking guru Utumno (ex-Barrysworld) and web genius MrVista (ex-Wireplay). They've been busy over the last few months building an infrastructure that will support a high-performance games and community system that will be launched very soon." "All five of us have now signed on the dotted line to join them and we're very excited about working for an organisation that - right up to the top level - at last takes online gaming seriously." "We want to continue the spirit of the Wireplay community within blueyonder, where we believe we'll have the support of a company that is absolutely committed to gaming." "The community liaisons and leaders are up for working with us once the new blueyonder service is set up. And before anyone asks us - yes the new service will be open to everyone with Internet access - although blueyonder customers will get access to special features." "Anyway, we look forward to providing you gamers with a service that we've wanted to give you for years." Let the good times roll!