Evenbalance the site for Punkbuster have today released their retort to netCoders recent attacks on their anticheat software;

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We rarely announce anything regarding commercial cheats and hacks. However, we are aware of the numerous "You Tube" type videos and posts on various sites where hackers who sell cheats make claims that are false but sound believable about PunkBuster and hack detection status. We receive numerous emails daily by concerned honest players regarding advertisements for undetectable hacks, etc. The truth is that via recent enhancements to PunkBuster's detection capabilities, we have cracked down hard on cheaters who pay for hacks in the games we support. Some commercial cheat sites have closed down due to our new methods and others have private forums where punks routinely complain about getting caught with the "undetectable" hacks, demanding refunds, etc. We have always maintained a strict policy of not giving money to punks, but thanks to community volunteer moles who have helped us obtain access to private hacks via donations of their time, etc., PunkBuster has been catching hacks from virtually all commercial cheat sites in recent weeks and months.

One of the recent enhancements involves our memory scanner which aggressively scans for patterns included in known cheats (public and private). A commercial hack site where we have had recent success catching their subscribers has recently staged a few demonstrations of inserting text-based patterns via certain chat-related systems such as IRC, Instant Messaging, etc. directly into the memory of computers. These are specific text patterns that we have deployed in some supported games in the recent past. It is clear that many of the demonstrators are cheat-supporters willingly participating in the demonstration, but there is evidence that some innocent players had PunkBuster violations triggered during the past few days by the hackers who sent specific text patterns into the chat programs that were open during gameplay. We are removing these text based patterns from our system and encourage admins to not ban for PB violations that occurred during the past few days.

Online gamers who play with other programs running should always enable security features in their messaging and chat programs to deny auto-download of files and only accept downloads from people they know and trust. As always, from PunkBuster's standpoint, if a known cheat pattern is in the memory of the computer during gameplay, then a violation will be triggered. We have always suggested closing other programs while you are playing multiplayer games on PunkBuster servers and that remains the safest policy. Leagues that require chat room usage for competitive play should take steps to ensure that only league participants have access and suspicious activity should be reported to us when there are concerns about manipulating the system.

However on the same day, netCoders have announced their exploit now works in Call of Duty 4 and Battlefield.

UPDATE This now effects Call of Duty - If you are a Call of Duty player who did not read this, make sure you do!

As many of you have seen nC have today unleashed their latest weapon and this is how it works.

The source of their new found ability comes from "pnkbsra / b .exe" - basically they've isolated that what this does is scan the entire virtual memory for vm signatures and they find certain vm signatures that PB will kick for. That pnkbsra scans the entire virtual memory, so if you've MSN or iRC open at the time, and you get sent this message when you're connected to PB then it will show up in your VM and you will get kicked.

The method they used to get to this conclusion was reverse engineering - their justification for claiming that is legal is because 3 different virus scanners pick PB up as a trojan and thus is a threat and its legal to reverse engineer a threat (apparently).

i33 is live and underway at Newbury racecourse and the focus of the event is on Multiplay and Activisions 12,000 Euro CoD 4 tournament. The playoffs are underway with the small contingent of Europes elite that are in attendance made it safely through their groups with the Roskilde Ravens flying to beat TeK-9 and tie with EG.

The WB and LB Final will be played at 16:30 CET (according to the schedule). After we have seen an amazing comeback from Team EG, being down 2-10 against TeK9 they won their LB semi final 13-10. EG and fnatic will now face eachother in the LB final; it will be exciting to see if fnatic will steam roll EG as they did earlier in the WB Quarter Finals.

After the "Battle of Britian" (TLR vs. dignitas) has been settled for now, we now have the Consolation Final coming up, where TLR will cross blades with EG for the first time in this tournament. Whoever wins that match will meet dignitas in the Grand Final at 20:30 CET... Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare for ownage!

Team Dignitas are the winners of i33!

Grand Final Map 1 - Crash
dignitas (14-16) TheLastResort

Grand Final Map 2 - District
dignitas (16-14) TheLastResort

Speedlink who as a team have been together since Ocrana in Call of Duty 1 have today called an end to their time in CoD4 after a troubled start to the game. Having lost Crossfire favourite Humm3L at CDC4 the side were once again on the look out for a fifth and decided that the renewed prospect of having to rebuild the team was just too much.

CoD Favourite Trigger had these touching words to say;

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This is the last day of SPEED-LINK CoD4, eventough we didnt want it to end this way. After several attempts to get back on track, we finally realised that we wouldn't have enough energy to do another comeback. We felt that the german player market wouldn't provide us what we needed to get back on top again. We couldnt achieve much in Call of Duty 4, our power was just not enough anymore.

The roster achieved a great deal in CoD1 and the early days of CoD2 however they could never regain their status amongst the elite after CPC1 where they finished second. CDC4 was expected to be the return of Speedlink after two bootcamps and heavy preperations, however instead it was their final farewell.

Best of luck to a team who truly have been a joy to meet and play with.

Sources:

:: Speedlink Site
:: TeK-9

netCoders have today claimed ownership of the banning of famed players Lio and Alxel on Gamersnation. Their claim states that Raskl was behind it and that there is more to come.

Quote by Raskl

after all the discussion and 'investigation' at crossfire , i thought by now bulldog / tosspot, you would have worked out who the culprit was, you know i love you fatty > aka bulldog. but because you work with a failing anti cheat company, you had to stand by it. so you (them) banned one of the leading players in et for 12 months without any question, because you have to trust in your beloved anti cheat software. i say let it die with the admins.

and i dont care if you left et for another game and all this crap, you are still as active as ever like we have seen from the playboys denial. your anticheat fails. tommorow will be alot of fun, dont miss the ettv games. and the day after will be the public humiliation of pb.


if i wasnt being clear, yes it was me.

Raskl's comments come amidst other conversations with netCoders that were recently published. Apparently the cheating organisation are going on a 'holy war' against Punkbuster due to their profiting whilst delivering what they (nC) describe as a poor product.

Rumour has it that without actually hacking with PB, nC have the ability to single handedly kick anyone from any server. This rumour has been talked up by nC and we'll soon find out whether they're all mouth and no trousers or indeed in possesion of weapons of mass destruction.

:: Source

The iPOWER tournament run by Crossfire sponsors Packard Bell was last year a bit of a unique twist on gaming tournaments, with all members of team playing multiple games. This year the tournament has been given the eSports twist and will be held at the ESWC Masters in Paris on the Independence day weekend, however instead of multiple games it will now be just Call of Duty 4.

Multiplay were due to host the first iPOWER qualifier this weekend at i33, however they recently broke the news of the changes. Whilst some may view this as a very negative thing for the RTS players perspective, the inherant faith in CoD4's ability to perform at ESWC from Game-Services is a huge vote of confidence in the game and its community.

This also adds a huge prestige to i33's CoD4 tournament (not that it needed it with its 12k prizepurse!), however the top placed UK team from that will be sent to Paris to compete in the Call of Duty tournament at iPOWER at ESWC!

More news to follow, and you can follow i33 all here on Crossfire and on QuadV

Related:

:: Deman's i33 Predictions

Two of CoD2's biggest names have come in to rescue two of CoD4's biggest teams! The dutch duo of Sko and Solz (SAS get it?) have returned to the scene in a bid to salvage the hopes of Dignitas and Serious respectively.

Sko's joining Dignitas comes at the expense of Luckzar who was the likely candidate for Mick's mighty axe after CDC4. The slovenian sensation had apparently caused some uproar within the team when just before CDC he announced that he had to focus on school and couldnt practice as much, that combined with Mick's fondness of Rafa Benitez's squad rotation policy cost him his place in the team.

His replacement Sko is a hero in his own right, and joins as ingame leader. Sko joining as ingame leader should offer the team a fresh train of thought allowing them to move in a new direction, and possibily allow Mick to find his best form once again.

Solz rejoins Serious Gaming at the expense of Roman and the man who at shGopen and CPC2 guided his team to huge LAN victories returns to settle the team down once again. Their CDC4 performance was weak to put it politely and only Solz charismatic charm can galvanise what is still a very skilled roster.

It was inevitable that both rosters would roll the changes, however they've both picked up two real top notch stars to better their teams.

Looking back on CDC3 and the feedback we got from where to improve our content offering I'm glad to say that courtesy of a concerted effort from the whole team we're able to offer a far better online experience for those on the site!

:: Improved Bracket SystemCourtesy of RTCW legend beav's hard work we've now got a lovely integrated cup system thats in its final stages of implementation. You can see a preview at Crossfire.nu/cup - This is not only nice and easy to navigate but also helps us with our archiving of the event, something we've not done well in the past.
:: Improved Gallery SystemMissing from CDC3 but a huge success at CPC2 the gallery system is back and user contributable! Belgian Wizzard Rfki has been hard at work getting this operational and anyone who is coming to the event and wants somewhere to store their photos will have a place!
:: Flash Latest Results FeedGerman master chosen has greated a great new auto updating Flash box that will replace the advertisement on the front page with the latest results!
:: Improved PreviewsHaggis munching magician Pedro has been firing on all cylinders with preperation for the event and still has one more article to come. Hopefully all the communities are now fired up for the event, and if you're not Pedro will be on location to put some fire in your bellies!
:: Match Statisitic SystemRavenwood will be running a server side stat application so you can keep up to date with your favourite shooters to see our their performing on LAN!
:: Challenge TV DemosCommunity Site Challenge TV have offered to host all of our demos from the tournament and so we'll be requesting all players upload all demos of their matches to Challenge TV so you can relive the tournament again and again!

As ever your feedback is encouraged and welcomed, we hope that CDC4 is the best yet as we get the final building blocks in place. Lastly a huge thank you to all of the people involved in helping us improve the site and the LAN!

QuadV will be live on location in Enschede this coming weekend to bring you all the livestreaming goodness from the Crossfire Devotii Challenge 4. QuadV will be returning for their third challenge and this time they have a new home in Enschede. For the duration of the event QuadV will be broadcasting live from the newly crowned eSports bar! (Formerly known as the sports bar).

With attendance expected to double that of CDC3, #4 has seen us expand out to take over the sports bar! There will be a brief intermission on Saturday night when the local F.C. Twente crowd come in to reclaim their 'local' but other than that QuadV now has its own dedicated bar!

In attendance for QuadV will be Stuart 'TosspoT' Saw, James 'Splodge' Lodge & Matt 'A_Spec' Hoving, aswell as the tech crew of Jester, Cabe and living legend of the UK ET community, Iain! They will be running live video and audio from location which all can be found at QuadV.com.

In addition to that February and March are pretty manic months for QuadV, you can read our full release of activities below.

QuadV March Madness Release
QuadV March Madness – CPL, i33, iPower, CDC4 & CGS.

QuadV are pleased to announce that we have secured some of the highest profile and most exciting tournament coverage for you in March.

It actually kicks off at the end of February with coverage brought to you in association with Massive Entertainment as we bring you live, exclusive coverage of the biggest World in Conflict tournament of all time. Live and direct from Gamerbase in central London, Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner brings you coverage of the CPL World Tour Finals with a massive $300,000 up for grabs over both games.

In the same week, we are also in Holland to bring you more live and exclusive coverage from the highly praised Crossfire Devotii Challenge featuring Call of Duty 4, Enemy Territory and Warsow. With Stuart “TosspoT” Saw leading the team and James “Splodge” Lodge and Matt “A_Spec” Hoving also in attendance, this promises to be another very special tournament.

We don’t stop there however, as a week later you can catch Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner as he brings you exclusive content from the Championship Gaming Series Combine and Draft from Austin, Texas USA. With updates on the CGS site and a live internet transmission from the Draft itself, you will find out who’s in and who’s out in their second season.*

The crew then return together for a massive feast of multiplayer action at the critically acclaimed UK home of LAN tournaments, Multiplay’s ever growing i-series and this time round its i33. Expect the usual high class tournaments, with Call of Duty 4 and Counter Strike Source getting their own dedicated streams from the event, courtesy of Multiplay and QuadV. We will also have all of the finals from all of the major games streamed live and exclusive from the main stage on a third stream.

As if that wasn’t enough, i33 also plays host to the iPower UK Finals, presented by Packard Bell and once again, QuadV is your exclusive entry if you can’t get there yourself. We’ll bring you all of the finals and find out who goes on to represent the UK in the World Championship.

We also have plenty more action from our online leagues too, with gaming splendour provided via games from Clanbase, ESL, Live2Win, theSGL and new kid on the block the FGL. And if you can’t be with us live, don’t forget, all of our content is on our Video on Demand section so you can watch at your leisure!

We also celebrate our 1 year anniversary on March 15th this year and you can bet we will be celebrating in a big way, but, you will just have to wait and see what we have in store for you!

Finally, if you aren’t sick of the sight of us by the end of March, we will also continue to feature heavily on UK TV, courtesy of our commentators covering many, many games with our friends over at xleague TV channel 208 on Sky.

March Madness ! – ONLY with QuadV, your gaming vision.

Dates for your diary:

27th-28th February 2008 – CPL World Finals – World in Conflict (QuadV)
29th Feb – 2nd Mar 2008 – Crossfire Devotii Challenge 4 – COD4, WSW, ET (QuadV)
7th-9th March 2008 – Championship Gaming Series Combine & Draft (CGS)*
21st-24th March 2008 – i33 & iPower UK Finals (QuadV & MPUK)

*Stream not provided by QuadV LTD. Check www.thecgs.com for more information.

About QuadV LTD

QuadV are an online videogame broadcaster who bring coverage of online and LAN tournaments from around the world to live internet based TV.

Formed in early 2007, QuadV have some of the most experienced and revered gaming commentators in the world and together with an excellent technical team and their own bespoke software solutions, continue to provide high quality, free of charge, live internet TV coverage of some of the biggest global tournaments in videogaming.

Based in the UK, QuadV and their personnel have covered gaming tournaments as far a field as Singapore, China, Australia, Korea, North and South America and all over Europe. You can also catch their commentators on national TV in many major countries around the world such as Sky One and xleague in the UK, DirecTV in the USA and ESPN Star Asia in the far east.

The final schedule for CDC4 has now been edited here in Enschede to cater for the playoffs. If you are at the event and want to know when your next game is, please check at the admin area. If you are enjoying the event from home, you will need to keep track of the playoffs via the brackets in the cup section of this site which can be find at here.

UPDATE: The schedule has now been updated with corrections and in response to a request from rubberduckies for a later start. The newly updated schedule is linked above.

Please note that the time listed for matches on the schedule is the match start time and teams should be set up and ready to start their match at this time. If teams are not ready to start at the listed time the tournament admins may force start the match and/or forfeit one or more rounds or maps. Therefore, teams are obliged to be ready to begin setting up 45 minutes prior to their listed match start times. The start and corresponding setup sign in times for all teams are listed below.