You might almost think I'd planned ahead so I'd be six months old just before Christmas. But if there was an award for most disorganised man in the universe, I'd win the vote, only to forget about it and miss the ceremony.

So with that in mind, and with Christmas nearly upon us and the end of the year looming, what better time is there to step back for a few minutes and look at where we as a community have been and where 2009 will take us?

Over the next three weeks I hope you will join me in a trip down memory lane as The Zechs Files looks back at the stories that shaped 2008 in Warcraft III, World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike.

The Past

It's been a real up-and-down year for Warcraft III. Dizzying highs were followed by community-threatening lows; the EM II final followed by the game being dropped in season three; the announcement of Starcraft 2 followed by the realisation that it might kill WC3; the release of patch 1.22, followed by... well, not much.

The story closest to my own heart, however, is the resurgence of the European scene. Granted, we are still a long, long way behind China – almost every tournament is moving there nowadays – but the players themselves have shown that they can still compete. ho, honestly, would have predicted Grubby winning WCG this time last year? Maybe a few die-hard fanboys, but not many.

Then we had Lucifron's shock performance at BlizzCon. My guess is that not many people outside of Europe even heard of the Spaniard before that event but he surprised everyone by beating Lyn, and losing narrowly (1-2) in the final.

More recently we witnessed ToD's return to form at IEF. A week later he won a very competitive WGT by beating the master of Human mirror, Sky, by two maps to nil. The Asians are undoubtedly still ahead, but the gap is closing and it was helped by inconsistent performances from the likes of Fly, Infi and TH000.

But if someone was to paint the year with one broad stroke, it would definitely be a green one. 2008 has witnessed the rise and rise of the horde in unprecedented fashion. At times, it almost felt as if it would take something like the legendary Romeo incident to stop Orc dominance. For the first time ever we have an Orc player leading the 'most earned' list, and it isn't even close.

The Present

I don't want to dwell too much longer on the Orc debate – I did commit an entire column to it last month. But I will reiterate the conclusion I made there, which is that Warcraft III is an ever-changing, ever-evolving game. The scales of game balance have tipped in different ways over the years, and they will undoubtedly move again. Take a look at IEF if you don't want to take my word for it: a top four with three Humans and one Elf.

WGT paints a similar picture: three Humans, only one Orc and he was soundly beaten by Sky, 0-2.

It is quite telling that I almost forgot to mention the state of Undead players. Since we established that 2008 was the year of the Orc, and it is generally considered that Orc versus Undead is an unbalanced matchup, it is hardly surprising that the Undead have suffered this year. TeD gave coil/nova fans something to cheer about in the summer, but the race is currently at its lowest ebb.

FoV is nothing like the force he once was, Lucifer has fallen almost as dramatically as his namesake and names like MadFrog are but faint echoes. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't see this changing any time soon. The last two tournaments haven't even seen an Undead player make it to bracket play and it isn't unusual to see an event where Undead players aren't even invited. Orcs gains have been Undead's losses and unless Blizzard drastically overhauls that pairing, the scourge seem set to remain in their rut.

The Future

Forgive me for the banal cliché, but the future is very much unknown. Starcraft 2 is waiting round the corner like some kind monster, waiting for frail old Warcraft to stumble into its path. Meanwhile, tournaments are deserting Europe like rats from a ship, if not removing WC3 altogether. Furthermore, it seems more and more that organisations can't afford to keep their teams. The list of squads being shrunk or even culled is growing weekly, and with January being the traditional month for contracts to end, the trend may well continue.

The world of Warcraft (no, not that one) is currently a scary place.

But there is light at the end of tunnel. For every tournament dropped in Europe, there seem to be three springing up in China. WGT, IEF, WEM and PGL, the list goes on. Add to that the ever present ESWC and the transformation of WC3L to fit the current climate and things don't look so bleak after all. Let's face it, Warcraft III is a solo game anyway. Team games have their place, but as I've said before, people generally tune in to watch Grubby, not MYM; Lyn, not SK; ToD, not Gravitas.

The world's first and only weekly esports column, The Zechs Files, returns next Tuesday to give the nostalgia treatment to that other Blizzard game... you know, world of something or other.