Despite being lucky enough to attend many events and tournaments around the world, it might surprise you to know that I rarely get to spend much time with the players... Well, at least chatting to them about what makes them tick, what they love about their game and how they got just that damn good.

So it was a real joy to be able to spend a day with one of the greatest AWPers in CS:S recently, partly as a promotion for the new Alienware m15x, but also to catch up with the man himself and find out just what makes him so good.

Even though he is a full time university student these days, Sam “RattlesnK” Gawn remains one of the very best Counter Strike Source players in the world and despite his heavy schedule, he spoke about his past, his present and his future within the game as well as telling us why this new laptop from Alienware is really rather good.

Our first subject was an obvious one, but none the less, one that needed answering because despite what those watching on TV may have thought, competing and winning a world title for $500,000 was still a big deal for those playing in the Championship Gaming Series. Sam agreed: “Winning the CGS was undoubtedly my greatest achievement and definitely the one I’m most proud of. I first came to source with the intention of competing in the CGS and winning that world title and achieving those goals was a dream come true”.

Sam relaxing before a match at the CGS World Finals

But does Sam believe gaming can bet back to the kind of levels of TV exposure and mega bucks tournaments like the CGS? Sam thinks it might. “I think so, it might take a long time but I still feel like the CGS succeeded in some aspects and in others they were really let down by some of the people running the show”. He appears to be as passionate about gaming now as he ever has done, continuing to believe it will be just as huge again, “The amount of money available within gaming already shows there’s potential there and every day I see and hear more people with the knowledge of the pro gaming circuit, so after this mini depressions perhaps gaming can again hit the big time”.

Recently UKeSA has come under the spotlight and as one of the players who competed in the first season Sam is disappointed with how things have turned out. “It seems way off the mark for what [me] and everyone else was expecting”. He also has questions of his own starting with “Who runs it? Why? And what the hell have they done for us?” Some might see this as a selfish way of looking at it but as Sam points out, it has seen many players, like him, losing out. “It just seems like a money making project where they take all the cash and us, the gamers, are left out of pocket.”

He does however remain upbeat about the UK scene, thanks to the recent activity of ESL in the UK. “I feel it has continued to grow progressively over the years and with ESL’s involvement in successive EPS seasons, there is steady growth now. On the downside Multiplay has been seen to reduce the prize money for CSS, which hopefully will be increased when the tournament gets nearer, but who knows.”

As Sam exchanges his thoughts, he’s busy messing around with his pride and joy, the brand new Alienware M15x and I turn his attention to his machine for a moment. This isn’t just any piece of kit; this is a monster of a laptop. For those who aren’t familiar with it, let me just give you the low down. This is one of the first laptops to take advantage of Intel’s Core-i7 architecture and the brand new PM55 chipset. It also includes the nVidia GTX260M and a monster 8gb of DDR3 ram which is dual channel. If that wasn’t enough, it also has a blu-ray drive and a fantastic glass based flat screen which delivers stunning clarity, possibly the best I have ever seen from a laptop. This model shouldn’t be confused with the older and substantially different Alienware m15x Area-51 model. You can read the full review of this latest model on our sister site here.

I had the chance to spend two weeks using this particular model at home for my every day work and I have to say, it’s flawless. It copes with everything you throw at, including running Photoshop better than my PC does!

RattlesnK in Birmingham Salvo attire

With the geek facts dispensed with, what does our Team Dignitas star player think of it? “They [Alienware] provided us with top of the range laptops which will allow us to attend events with much greater ease”. Yes, that’s all very good Sam, but let’s dispense with the PR and find out if these things are actually any good and whether that actually helps you in the real world of attending events. “Definitely” he says, “Before I had to take a suitcase to tournaments with a big computer inside wrapped in bubble wrap and praying somehow it didn’t break en route. That’s without considering how irritating it was travelling through London with a 20kg suitcase, getting on the tube and realising you’re knackered. Instead I can use a laptop which fits inside a rucksack with the knowledge I’m still going to be able to use it at events.”

Excellent, but is it really as good as the critics are saying? Is it really built like a tank but still as pleasing on the eye as Alienware usually produce? “It’s what you would expect from the Alienware brand - stylish. There are the usual features which make it that much better than the standard laptop because it really does look good. You don't want to hide this laptop away as instead you’re proud of it and want everyone to know you have one. I have to say its great when you take it out of your bag and the first thing they see is your lovely MX15 with its sleek design.”

Sam is equally impressed with the build quality too, even threatening to drop it on the floor just to prove it will survive! There is no need I tell him, but he’s unequivocal in his praise for the unit. “It feels quite solid for a laptop at least; I mean if I dropped it from my desk I’m sure it would survive. That’s not to say its ugly, just you always want to know that you’re buying something that lasts and isn’t going to break with one small accident.”

Enough about the laptop for a moment. I steer him on to more trickier waters. That of the difficult time he and his team have faced this year and what the future holds for both himself and his newly formed team. Sam is unrepentant in his quest for a degree and feels he owes it to himself to get the reward he deserves for the hard work he has put in. I get the feeling, that although he is still hungry for success in gaming, his education is equally, if not more, important to him than anything else in his life right now. It’s an interesting insight in to the mind of a top professional player these days and one that many players have to conquer to succeed, not only in gaming, but in life after it and Sam is an excellent example of someone who can juggle it all and stay focused on all of his goals, not just one of them at the expense of others.

Sam in action during the ICYBOX invitational

It’s not like he doesn’t have a busy lifestyle either. Balancing his time at University with time with his girlfriend and spending time with friends as well as the odd game of football alongside trying to regain the form he had in Counter Strike Source and build the kind of world beating team he is accustomed to playing with. On that very subject, RattlesnK and Team Dignitas fans will be pleased to hear that things are going well. “Right now we are about to attend SLAP in Denmark with our newly revamped roster that I feel has the correct chemistry to take us forward in the future. The last year was a general disappointment after the downfall of the CGS for various reasons and it took its toll on the teams’ commitment levels. The recent changes were needed to regain the passion of our team and ensure that everyone had the same vision and goals to succeed.”

So why is it so different with this team? Why would this team succeed when the other line ups have left Sam disappointed? Well, Sam believes he has the answer, “This time round I've been able to hand pick the players and so far I’m optimistic I've managed to create a title winning team.” Time will tell and our first glimpse of this new found passion and a first test for the line up will come very soon.

But what about RattlesnK the player? Has he got the form back he had, say a year ago? Is he ready to prove the talent that is undoubtedly there but hasn’t shone so brightly in 2009? It’s a question many will attempt to answer and analyse over the coming months of tournaments, but really there is only one person who will really know and that’s Sam himself. “I guess you could say I’m attempting to regain the form that made me such a dangerous player to play against in the good old days.” He explains, but also offers some reasons why, “After the CGS I basically had no regular practice for 9 months because of commitments away from gaming which obviously damaged my performances.” Don’t mistake these for excuses either, Mr.Gawn doesn’t do excuses, he does results and he makes no bones about the fact he hasn’t delivered this year as a player in his own right.

Whilst he’s optimistic about his improvement and that of his teams, he remains realistic alongside it. “I would say the next few tournaments will really give an indication of whether I’m back to my best, but honestly I feel I am near it. The summer was a good start but I failed to get any real practice in because my team again failed to practice which was frustrating. I'd just finished university and had 3 months to practice but my team was never online, you could say the best opportunity to regain some form had disappeared which really annoyed me.”

RattlesnK at TeX09

Whilst that’s certainly true, Sam and the team aren’t sitting back now, with heavy practice schedules recently and a solid regime in place. “Luckily we've now been practicing regularly (Sunday to Thursday, with some exceptions) with our new line-up for the first time since CGS so perhaps that will reignite my old form, who knows? I certainly feel like I am getting there anyway.” And we hope he is too, if for no other reason to see one of the true greats hit top form and leave us in awe of the ability he showed so many times in the past, once more.

We also got on to the subject of other players, specifically players Sam has enjoyed watching or admired, his favourite being SK’s Walle. Both team leaders, AWPers and callers, it’s not hard to see why Sam highlights the Swede. “I admire [him] because it’s a hard task. He always provides a consistent performance which for me is the essential backbone of a good player.” And no interview would be complete without a few of the obvious questions like favourite map (Its still Inferno, but he pretty much likes them all).

As we finish up, we get back to chatting about the laptop again (he’s playing a DVD on it to show off the incredible quality of the playback and the screen). Despite being a sensible chap and one who obviously has his head screwed on coping with so much at such a young age and with such ease, he also shows that he has lost none of his fun side by relating a story from his most recent university lecture.

“I've been using it to watch DVDs whilst on the train quite a lot because I’m a frequent traveller it’s handy to have something to do whilst you’re trying to make the time pass.” He explains, before moving on to the “DO NOT TRY THIS AT UNIVERSITY MOMENT”, “I've actually used it before in a lecture to play a game of Pro Evolution Soccer against my flatmate when we were driven to boredom. We Whacked out the controllers and were sitting there having a great game of PES whilst the lecturer hadn’t a clue, brilliant!”

We’ll leave it there for now, but this is the first of a two part feature with Sam and the M15x with the second installment to follow in a few weeks time. We will catch up with Sam and Team Dignitas and find out how they do with the new line up, talk more about Counter Strike Source and take a closer look at the scene and find out what Sam thinks of it all as well as review the M15x laptop in full using Counter Strike Source as our test game.

Driverheaven Review of the Alienware M15x