It`s a long discussed debate, one said to be even older than the timeless Marmite classic. Like the imfamous food spread, everyone seems to have some sort of allegiance to either one of the big two Enemy Territory leagues: Clanbase and Warleagues. Clanbase with it's previous controversies over some hefty decisions, and Warleagues with its somewhat harsh "poor man's CB" tag, well, something had to be done. We couldn't allow people the needless free thought they had before. And anyone whos checked GamesTV.org or had the misfortune to engage in conversation with ToX|c recently will know what I'm going on about...

Match: ClanBase Crew vs Warleagues Crew
Date: Monday 27th March
Time: 21:00 CET
ETTV: GamesTV.org / id 324 (incl. lineups)
SCast: FlyingDJ - Stream

Knowing ToX|c was a bit of a fan of his own voice, I dragged him out of a match and demanded to be told some more. Unfortunately, despite threats of taking his quotes wildly out of context, such as (21:35:55) (ToX|c`cless) "Well, we were going to do" "NightRaver" "to prove" "he" "is" "not" "normal", he's given me a whole lot of explanation, possibly partly written during a long spawn in one of Malta's NC games of late. Here's what he had to get off his chest:

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[/i]ToX|c: Well, we were going to do this at the end of the Summercups last season but then Yancho took over and we know the rest. Me and the rest of the CB crew did our uberpr0 tax for nothing, we even made IDLEcore [Adacore] to make them for us and he did, but at least now he is playing, luckily snuble got the idea of

When uQ-Gaming announced they were to search for a replacement team for their EuroCup winning side of Drc, jafo, jauhis, mystic, Raveneye, saintt and Xpaz, silently we all knew that the task was going to be extremely difficult, if not nigh-on impossible to replace a group of players of that calibre.

First we had mesqi's (363rd) clan suc6 step up to the challenge. "2 Weeks" came the call, perhaps predicably, but infact there came a suprise result! The team lasted from Feb 2nd to March 7th,.. thats...surely not? But yes, the team had at least lasted a month. It soon became apparent things weren't working out. Results had been less than brilliant, and mesqi was itching to find another clan (# 364 was so close!). Step forward intellec, lead by ziff, but lets pretend it was the pint-sized (but oh so loveable) razz. Within just a week, the side had won the 1 day GET Cup.

But things still weren't happy in the uQ tree-house, oh no. Steps have been taken again to modify the lineup, in a move which the team clearly see as one that adds strength and depth. However, only time will tell the fate of this new-look uQ side. The lineup now goes something like this:

razz
senti
second
zeto
ziff
Zlinko
Ati_

Whatever the outcome, best of luck to all involved :>

Lots of games listed for ETTV today, made up of the Clanbase Benelux Cup, NationsCup, and of course ET.Gather cup, which starts (and ends) today. At time of writing (the unholily early time of 10.31am), the first round draw has already taken place, so plant your eyes on either the official grid, or the listings on GamesTV.org for both matches and ETTV infos. Follwing the theme of late draws, the #et.gather cup has only one fixture announced so far with all games between 15.30 - 20.15 CET still waiting to learn of their ETTV slot count. You can see all the first round matches, and watch the cup progress on the grid page, where games such as last season's uQ beating winners team kirby taking on the Israeli clan divinity, and the newly reformed Insta-Gods lineup finding out what they've got in a game against the Polish side VooDoo.
However, we do have one ETTV confirmed game starting after lunch:

ET.Gather Cup - Site

14:15 CET - inf0 vs prodigy
Originally scheduled to pitch Dutch side prodigy against the Warriors of Wolfenstein, inf0 have had to step in following the WoW camp's decision to fold after many months of fine performances. The ever-strong Polish contingent on gtv are predicting an easy win for inf0, but knowing prodigy these thoughts will be far from shared. Fighting for a place against the winner of SKIT-EVIL and Kids with Guns, this seems as good a game as any to mark the start of the 3rd ET.Gather cup.

Clanbase Benelux 6v6 - Site

19:00 CET - prodigy vs dHb
Prodigy return to action here in the Benelux Cup II, premier division group B. dHb come into the game having beaten promethia in a close game, whilst prodigy require wins tonight and against promethia in order to place top of the group. Otherwise, dHb will have full points, and leave the other two teams scrapping for second spot. While I'm here, I'd just like to say someone should really take responsibility for the Cup page, the grid hasn't been updated and apparently we are in the Status: Fourth Matchweek (20 Feb - 27 Feb). Let's sort this cup out!

21:00 CET - fdnl vs mycruz
ZLINKO and company will set about all but destroying the flying dutchmen's hopes in this cup tonight, who require a win to stay in the competition after losing their last game to cs3r.Routiniers in a straight 4:0 defeat. mycruz on the other hand will surely see themselves as the stronger team anyway and should be able to last the distance over the two maps sw_goldrush and radar. If mycruz win this, fdnl will have to wait on the result of mycruz vs Routiniers to see their final group placing. Overall, nothing less than a win will do for fdnl, but mycruz might just be too strong anyway.

Clanbase NationsCup - Site

20:00 Spain vs Norway
Spain and Norway side right next to each other in group D, with the Spaniards claiming 3rd spot and the Norweigans one place below in 4th. Both teams had different starts to their tournaments, with Spain flattened by a strong Germany team, but Norway navigating a win against Eire. However, a reversal of fortune then followed, which saw Norway unable to beat Poland, but Spain beat Switzerland in a tight game right through from prediction to result. Including this game, Norway have a tight schedule to play, with a game against Switzerland being forced for tomorrow, meaning there will be no restbite for Snuble and team. The symmetry of the fixture was confirmed when Spain beat Eire the other day, meaning that this game really does decide who swims, and who drowns.

20:00 CET - France vs USA
France have upheld their impressive appetite for defeat this NationsCup with losses in all four of their games against Hungary, Holland, Czech Republic and Sweden. Tough games, but the group of death takes no prisoners, and the cheese-eating surrender monkeys now see themselves down in position 6 out of 7, rated better than Malta on a purely statistical basis. The two sides meet next matchweek, but France's opponents tonight have already played the Maltese and won, hence their slightly better group rank. Effectively, these two teams are now only playing for pride, and it would take one unbelievable flurry or red-cards or drop outs to keep these two in the NationsCup. Still, at least the Yanks can go back to doing what they're best at, being the other side of the pond, and the French won't have any annoying irregularities in their national acheivement list (one Frenchman once boasted to me that France were the world champions of handball, until I posted out that they both invented it, and are the only nation to take it seriously).

21:00 CET Hungary vs Malta
Some would say I've been a little too harsh on Malta this NationsCup; they have, after all, given it their best, and produced some tense and close rounds despite results claiming otherwise. But the fact remains that they still have failed to win a single match, and can be found at the bottom of the same group as the above game. Hungary have produced a mixed bag also, from losing tough games against the likes of Holland and Sweden, but winning the easier games versus the USA and France, it would seem to be a case of having enough quality, but being unable to deliver when the pressure was really on. Nevertheless Hungary still have the Czechs to play after this, the result of which will only then determine the sucess of their season. Malta of course can now only play for pride, and attempt to show the ET community that they are more than just there to make an appearance. Whilst the Hungarians will prove to be as stiff an opposition as any, they have a real chance come next matchweek against France, and perhaps this knowledge will propel them to something special tonight.

21:30 CET - Estonia vs Canada
For Estonia, this match will have something of an edge to it. Widely expected to topple Slovenia last round, their loss dropped them down to 3rd place in the group to the bemusement of the players and their followers alike. Canada are unlikely to provide any real threat having lost all their games thus far and holding last place, but Estonia must ensure they do not slip into a complacent mind-set that looks to undo the predicted dominance we all know the team is capable of. Austria next round will provide a greater challenge, but the great teams have to be able to perform on not only the big stage but also the small stage too. Kind of like do the simple things right first, then greatness later. In anycase, Canda look unlikely to force the Estonians out of 2nd gear, and will look forward to the result from the upcoming game between Belgium and Slovenia.

Monday 21:00 CET Poland vs Germany
TosspoT asked me to leave this one to him, for the simple reason that he will be on hand to cast the game courtesy of iTG. More coverage to follow shortly!

All the games mentioned here can be checked for ETTV, including updates, at the ever reliable GamesTV.org

Following the recent February 17th release of the GtkRadiant source code under the general GPL license, TTimo and company have decided to celebrate by rolling out major update to the Radiant series, coming in at version 1.5.0 - build 03-02.

Such are the changes from the previous version, that the team have declared this a fully suitable replacement for v1.4.0, pending only further feedback from public testing and any stability issues. Bugs may still be reported of course.

Finally, continuing tradition, both Windows and Linux versions are available for download unlike a certain voice communication program. Mac users will have to wait for their turn, in spite of the fact that no Mac port has even been annouced in production.

Downloads, user documentation, information and more can all be found at the official website: Qeradiant.com

[img|left]http://www.gamestv.org/images/small_blue.gif[/img] 855. That's the number at current (if my maths hasn't failed me) of ETTV slots available for today's NationsCup games. Not bad for a game supposedly dieing. Of course, this figure always rises the closer it gets to the event.
5 games are due to be played kicking off (if you can really use that phrase in ET) between 20.00 CET and 21.00 CET in games across groups A, B & D. Here's my personal run-down:

20:00 CET - Estonia vs Slovenia
Many will view this as being capable of only one outcome in favour of the Estonians, with Estonia holding the group top-spot, and Slovenia languishing down in 5th place, only managing to beat minnows Canada so far. In contrast, Estonia have beaten all three games against Portual, Belgium and Croatia, and look set to continue winning ways again tonight. Certainly if Estonia have aspirations to regaining their trophy from last season, they are going the correct way about it.

21:00 CET - Switzerland vs Poland
A similar story plays out here, with in-form and personal favourites of mine Poland having taken three wins against anubis et. co's one victory.The Swiss have certainly been firing blanks of late, only managing to overcome the Russian side in a tight 4:2 game. Since that first game, the side have been beaten by both Germany and Spain, and will certainly have to pull something special out of the bag to beat the Poles. Poland on the other hand will surely arrive in confidence overload, but will have to be careful, as none of their matches so far have been what you might call daunting. Wins over Eire (Ireland), Norway and Russia have stood them in good stead, but the Swiss aren't about to give anything up just yet.

21:00 CET - Sweden vs Czech Republic
Perennial favourites Sweden find themselves in unfamiliar territory at current, behind their opponents holding 2nd place with their third position on the league board. Don't let the numbers fool you however, both sides have faced different opponents in a group which surely must win the obligatory 'group of death' tag (Holland also have maximum points). Sweden have stood up to Holland only to lose a strongly contested game 4:2 to leave a tarnished match record, while the Czechs have had an easier time of it, beating France, Malta and the USA before coming into this game. Nevertheless sweden duplicated the Maltese misery with their victory over said nation to set up what must surely be the game of the night. Not suprising then to see 200 ETTV slots already on the board and confirmed. If you have to pick a game, I'd recommend this one. Perhaps Sweden to slightly edge it?

21:00 CET - Hungary vs USA-POWER
Poor old Hungary. Not only have they had to play their opening two games against Holland and Sweden, they've also got a league table displaying them in fifth place and a date with the United States of High Pingers as if they needed anymore stress. The USA are above the Hungarians, by one place, but again looks can be deceptive with the US only having played two games: losing to the Czech Republic and then beating by now everyone's favourite punchbag nation Malta... a game I didn't watch, but imagine the pings to be pretty daft! The US continue to be dogged by the Atlantic barrier, but this will hardly present the Hungarians with their first 'easy' game, as ping difference always plays a key, unpredicable role in games of this nature. A loss tonight would surely all but end the Hungarian dream, with a tough game against the Czechs waiting afterwards. Who'd be a Hungarian?

21:00 CET - Belgium vs Austria
And so we come to the chocolate making, union loving nations of .be & .at. We return to Group A this time with the action, in a reflection of Sweden's and the Czech Republic's 2nd / 3rd place scrap. Both sides have won three games: Belgium have beaten Croatia, Portugal and Canada, whilst Austria have overcome Slovenia, Croatia and Canada. Perhaps not the hardest tasks...but the fact is Belgium have played not three games but four, having lost to group leaders Estonia. Tonight we discover who deserves to be up there with Estonia, and who has simply been riding on easy opponents. It's Rafiki's lot against LeGO's team, and it promises to be a cracker ... not a wheat thin.

All further coverage details can be seen over at GamesTV.org. HF!

He might not be the most 'house-hold' name in Christendom, but American born & based CptnTriscuit has certainly given one hell of a lot to the ET community, after having working on RTCW in its prime. His domain is mapping, and from his hardworking site /battlefield, he has churned out many a gamer's favourite, most notable the BaseRace series, along with the competition nearly-map Rommel, RTCW's Toxicity and Grave Robbery. All this, and he still finds time to release his public texture packs. So it comes as no suprise that his work has attracted much critical acclaim, and, the interviewer's pleas for a chat.

Therefore, CptnTriscuit agreed to speak with the folks over at rtcw.filefront and give only his second ever interview to his probably adoring fans. Topics included cover of course the BaseRace series, life as a mapper, and the question everyone seems to throw in interviews these days. Yes, that question. Anyhoo, he's a little extract:

Northerner: Where did you come up with the idea for the baserace maps?

CptnTriscuit: I was messing around trying to learn the ET construction system while at the same time testing to see if you could capture a CTF flag in different locations. Well turns out you can, so I figured it might be neat to stick different capture locations together with different constructions so players could choose what they wanted to build. I loved how Enemy Territory added a bit of 'RPG' flavor to Wolfenstein with experience points and class skills; I wanted to try and make a map that would do the same.

Full interview is like, here 'n stuff.

When people mention the ClanBase website, they tend to think of two things: the almost unrivalled list of ladders, cups and hosted competitions which it holds, but also the rathermore negative side, which is the tendancy to become slow, go down for a bit, or even completely crash. It has left the site with something of tarnished reputation, which is clearly unfair given CB's size.

However, it seems these problems and slowdowns are soon to be a thing of the past. The site currently operates on 2 "ageing" servers, which haven't been upgraded for two and a half years. In periods of high traffic and demand, the site often slowed, and download speeds were unsatisfactory. Luckily, coming soon courtest of CB come four "brand new" servers, which will ensure performance won't be affected thereafter.
The upgrade takes place this coming Tuesday at 01:00 CET, so minimal disruption will be noticed. The task of moving an entire site is hardly a small one, but it will be made ever quicker by the fact that many files, suchs as demos, maps, screenshots and so one have been pre-loaded already.

Nico of the Clanbase Crew had this to say:
"More than 2.5 years have passed since the ClanBase servers were last upgraded. Meanwhile traffic has continued to increase, and for some time the servers have had a hard time coping with the load. With this upgrade, we're thrilled to once more be able to make the ClanBase experience a speedy one."

Get ready to kiss slowdowns goodbye! \o/

Source

It's that all too familiar occurance: the admin decision. This Sunday been the news emerged that Denmark, Iceland and Israel have all been removed with immediate effect from the NationsCup. Angrykid supplied the reason: "inactivity, inability to participate or just laziness". Unfortunately, both AngryKid and NightRaven were unavailable to respond to my queries before this was posted.

The other piece of news surrounding these decisions was the handing to Finland of a yellow card. This was due to "a horde of emails and requests regarding delayed challenges and forced matches". Nobody from the Finnish ET team was around when I poked my head in #et.finland, but hopefully I'll get a statement up here sometime soon. Notice a trend happening here?

Moving on to fresher news pastures, tonight sees the 4th matchweek game between Sweden and Malta in group B. Sweden will surely be the favourites for the win, and having started brightly recording a victory over France only to lose their next game against Holland, the Swedes bounced back to beat a berated Hungarian outfit 4-2. Their current ranking of 4th place in the group looks considerably better than that of minnows Malta, who have stumbled to 2 losses out of 2 against the USA and Czech Republic respectively. Malta will surely have to outplay themselves many times over to spare a lacklustre premature exit from the competition. Here be the details:

Match: Malta 0 4 Sweden
Date: Monday, 20th February 2006
Time: 21:15 CET
Maps:sw_oasis_b3, radar
ETTV: GamesTV.org / id 213
Shoutcast: [flag=0] None

UPDATE: The match has been rearranged - it'll be played this Sunday (12/02/06)

They're two teams who gave us some of the more memorable lineup news on crossfire, and tomorrow (well, nearly today) team Isreal and team UK take on each other in a game which could make-or-break their qualifying prospects.

Group C is the venue, and neither team can be said to be doing fantastically at current. Team UK's only previous game was against group favourites Finland, to whom they stumbled to a 0-4 loss, including letting the Fins set a time around the 5 minute mark on Oasis. Clearly, in the time since a lot of head scratching will have been done, as the UK attempts to recover some of the great form which saw them emerge as suprise bronze medalists last season. Isreal too are without a clean record. Having beaten underdogs Latvia in the first round of games, this was followed by a forfeit loss against Finland, leaving their group image much reduced from what it should, many might argue, be. With Finland having won both of their two games to leave them in a commanding position, 4 teams including Italy, Latvia and Iceland are all vying for the elusive second qualifying position along with said laggers.

I disturbed Mztik's 3v3 braundorf defence to pose the question, how much does ping difference affect games such as these?

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Mztik: Well the ping difference does matter, however it's a double edged sword, the israeli players are gonna find it harder to play with high ping of course, but luckily they ping best on UK servers so it's the best situation for both of us. The ping makes them harder for us to hit them, but it's also difficult for them to play so it will an interesting game =]

Unfortunately, all the Israelis had gone to bed at this point =(.

Match: United Kingdom vs Israel
Date: Friday, 10th February 2006
Time: 21:00 CET
IRC: #nationscup.et
Maps: supplydepot2, et_ice
ETTV:

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[/i][/i]

Click for NationsCup love

Ever since the end of the Eurocup, and since the beginning of time, people have made "1000s" of columns devoted to ET change. The current poll talks about change. The columns list is saturated with people talking about change, and what to do about it. But of course, the only way change will occur is by trying out the suggestions, and seeing what impact it has.

Instead of just taking one suggestion and giving it a go, we've decided to make this into a proper and commmunity based exercise. For many months, people have talked about the 5v5 format. One of the key arguements for it is that less players are required in a clan, improving stability, and that 6o6 was only played because that was what the format was in RTCW. And, of course, it is something different; an alternative. However, there are those who are opposed to the idea playing 5v5 in ET: it isn't established, people will have to completely adapt their playing styles, etc. Whatever your thoughts, what we have in-store will let you make up your mind properly.

When testing a format, where better to do so than at the top. Having spoken to Night and CrozZ, we are delighted to announce that this Feburary, idle.ee and one4one have agreed to play in a showmatch, 5v5, in a fixture complete with ETTV, shoutcasters and of course written coverage. I mentioned not just taking one suggestion, and this relates to the map choice. Whilst the clans settle on their maps, there is one map that will be played for definite. You will have doubtless seen Nellie's adlernest column (and if not go read it now). Having played it myself, and looking at many people's reactions to playing a few games on it, this map is set to be big. However, it needs large scale publicity in order to achieve the exposure it deserves. Make sure you download the map before watching ETTV! The current version is _b7, but _b8 is expected out within a short space of time.
Featured also are config changes, which include serveral differences including 3 land mines per team, and only panzers allowed out of the soldier class.

So then:

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[/i]Match: idle.ee vs one4one
Format: 5v5 Showmatch
Date/Time: Feb 13th / 20:00 CET
Coverage: GamesTV.org / id 181
Shoutcast:
FlyingDJ confirmed
Kee_RinG waiting on TosspoT / girlfriend permission.

We are always looking for more ETTV broadcasters. For ETTV live updates, and for details on how to get involved, please click readmore.