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The Top Historical Paintball Product Innovations, P
2003, Dye Matrix
In 2003 Dye Precision purchased the
rights to the AirTech Industries E-Matrix (designed by Lee Kirwan, Roger
Hurst and Mike Lucas) and began to
market the gun as the Dye Matrix (Matrix LCD). Although technically this
marker’s roots date back to 1999 when
it was designed in principal, we put it
here in 2003 because the marker truly
began its ascendance to success once
Dye acquired the rights to the marker.
The Matrix (all versions) is a “balanced”
spool valve designed, electro-pneumatic paintball gun. From the moment Dye
released the new Matrix it was a hit
with players. Players touted the Matrix
as one of the most accurate and fastest
firing guns on the market. From 2003
to 2014 Dye has released a new revised version of the Matrix, usually annually at the PSP World Cup. The Matrix
uses the abbreviations DM (Dye Matrix)
followed by a number corresponding
to the model year – DM4 (2004), DM5
(2005), etc. as its naming protocol. As
of this writing there are eleven Dye Matrix revisions.
Dye also has several “budget” versions
of the Matrix in their Proto line, which
began in 2005 (PM5). Proto Matrix Rail
(PMR) differs in that it uses an “unbalanced” spool valve design.
2004, Greg Hastings
Tournament Paintball
How ironic is it that one of the most influential products in the game of paintball for more than a decade is not really even a “paintball” product? While the
PSP, NPPL, Smart Parts and many other
February 2013
dECEMBER2015
entities were busy trying to introduce
new people to the game of paintball
via television, Greg Hastings (Ground
Zero, XSV) was working with Activision and WXP Inc. on the release of the
first professional XBox paintball game
that would be sold in stores worldwide.
With chains like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and
Target carrying Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball and more than a million
games sold (and/or downloaded) it’s
safe to say this has had as much influence bringing new players to the game
of paintball as any television coverage
paintball has gotten. Since the first release of Greg’s game there have been
many more releases including Max’d,
Greg Hastings Paintball 2 and Fields of
Battle for all game systems including
Wii, Play Station, Xbox, PS3 and more.
Greg continues to be a force in paintball as he is set to release his new
game Greg Hastings Paintball3, “The
Sport of Combat.” You’ll also find him
on rec-ball fields across the U.S. and
in Europe at many of paintball’s big
games and scenarios.