After another 48 hours of voting, the voting booth has been closed once again and we now have all 6 finalists for the ET Idol contest:

HorsT - Alles Nur Lucker (195 votes)
equal - Kaas (186 votes)
Sotapaa - Jingle Bells (122 votes)
Overdrive - Like A Virgin (86 votes)
Snoop - Nobody's Home (67 votes)
Larg0 - Kuka Keksi (60 votes)

Sotapaa and his christmas song was the most appreciated one, while Overdrive was successful with his Madonna interpretation and Snoop got credit for impersonating Avril Lavigne.

Thanks to all the others of the second group who have not made it to the finals, maybe you will next time!

Now, these are the final contestants, and you can vote for them until Sunday February 12th 22 CET. By then, we will know who of those 6 is going to take home his very own ET Idol shirt and who will just come in second.

Edit:
Man, it's just like in gaming, people can't control their urge to cheat. Since I do not know whether the singer in question is responsible for the cheating, I am just going to remove those votes which resulted out of cheating at the end of the voting process (Yes, I am able to find out how many votes were not legal).
Anyway, this is just sad, but I half expected this to happen.

zenith-cast website

After 48 hours of voting, the voting booth has closed and we have the first three finalists for the ET Idol contest:

HorsT - Alles Nur Lucker (195 votes)
equal - Kaas (186 votes)
Larg0 - Kuka Keksi (60 votes)

Larg0 won over LozZ by a 1 vote margin (no, there will be no recount, we are not in the USA), so it was a very close fight. Obviously, own musical creations seemed to be the ones that were most appreciated, the first two spots went to singers who played the guitar while chanting.

Thanks to all the others of the first group who have not made it to the finals, maybe you will next time!

However, it is just getting hot, as the voting for the second group is about to start, featuring our only female contestant and one player who has made it into the news yesterday because of a freshly founded clan:

Second group (voting until Friday February 10th, 10 CET)

lunachick - Hakuna Matata
mooncalf & overlord - Frozzy
Overdrive - Like A Virgin
Snoop - Nobody's Home
Sotapaa - Jingle Bells
Svensson - Swine Is Gay
v3xus - Big City Life
zeni - More Presentjes

Once again, only 3 idols will be seen again in the final round. Go vote!

zenith-cast website

Two weeks have passed, and while any new clan would have died by now, ET Idol is only just about to start.

The deadline has passed, and we have a number of submissions that want to be heard by you:

First group (voting until Wednesday)

dictator - I'll be there
disease - Crazy Frog
equal - Kaas
HorsT - Alles Nur Lucker
hst - Quiet
Hugoos - Cadillac
Larg0 - Kuka Keksi
LozZ - You're Beautiful

Second group (voting from Wednesday to Friday)

lunachick - Hakuna Matata
mooncalf & overlord - Frozzy
Overdrive - Like A Virgin
Snoop - Nobody's Home
Sotapaa - Jingle Bells
Svensson - Swine Is Gay
v3xus - Big City Life
zeni - More Presentjes

You can listen to all these songs in the Downloads section of the zenith-cast website
The variety is awesome - rap, christmas songs, rock, pop, remixes, basically everything you might desire.

After you have listened to all these songs, you are encouraged to leave your vote for the one you think should win his/her very own ET Idol T-Shirt.

The voting will take place in several steps: First, we will have 8 songs competing, the three best make it to the final - same goes for the other 8 songs, so that for the final vote, there will be 6 songs.

The first 8 can be voted for until Wednesday February 8th, 10 CET
The second 8 can be voted for until Friday February 10th, 10 CET
The final polls will be online until Sunday, February 12th 22 CET.

So click the link, listen to the songs and leave your vote.

zenith-cast website
#et-idol @ Quakenet

Having started last week, the ET Idol contest is going quite well so far - we already have 8 submissions, countless players have announced they will be sending something in this week.

But where are YOU? I have not heard your voice yet. Let them all experience the beauty of your singing and contribute to this contest.

Nothing in for you? I'm afraid I have to disagree. There will be your very own ET Idol T-Shirt, including your nickname if you are able to win that contest.

So don't hesitate and participate. One week left, deadline is Sunday, February 5th, 2006. After that, the votes will go online and you can all vote for your favourite singer, for your ET Idol 2006.

Send your submissions to FlyingDJ.

View all current songs and artists @ zenith-cast.

Hoping for your contributions,

FlyingDJ

Thanks to lunachick for making the 1337 logo.

(note: Some random flags to make it a real news post: )

Have you seen all those Idol shows on TV and thought: "I am way better"? Have you always dreamed of getting into showbiz? Or are you just lacking the required skill to become famous while playing ET and want to try something new?

If so, you are the perfect candidate for "ET Idol". That's right, there you get the chance to show your singing skills to the ET world.

What do you have to do?

If you want to participate as a candidate, all you have to do is record yourself while you are singing. You can use karaoke files, team up with someone else, sing a capella or just do something else that involves singing.
Once you have done so, you can do one of the following:
If you host the file yourself, just register @ ZENITH-CAST and submit the file as a new download, including the name of the song you're singing and your own name as well.
If you want the file to be hosted, just send it as an e-mail to FlyingDJ, and the download will as well be added on the ZENITH-CAST page.

The downloads on the page will be updated every day, so that you as the listener (and the one whose vote matters in the end) can stay up to date about the current submissions.

The deadline for submitting songs is February 5th, 2006.

When the deadline has passed, you are all encouraged to download the songs, listen to them and vote in the polls that will be set up. It will be your voice for the best singer in the ET community - for your ET Idol.

Prizes have not yet been confirmed, but we are thinking about something sweet for those who take the first three spots.

The first prize will probably be your very own ET Idol shirt, including your nickname!

Long story short:

Submit songs @ ZENITH-CAST or send them to FlyingDJ.
Listen to songs and vote @ ZENITH-CAST

Thanks to NekZ for making the first logo, thanks to lunachick for making this sweet new one.

Let us be honest. You've seen all those lineups being announced. But did you really care? Weren't you waiting for one team? The land of sausages, discipline and Oktoberfest? I bet you were. Nevertheless, I have good news:
Here's our lineup. Following the recent tradition of making a small picture, let me give you something to look at first:



Are you still on your chair? If you're not: I can understand that. This lineup is really something to knock you off your feet. Here's some detailed information about the players:

qraigu [Manager] (o6)
biqq [C] (vae)
evil (vae)
drago (vae)
urtier (idle.ee)
senji (idle.ee)
riddla (helix)
butch (o6)
second (helix)
gambit (141)
FlixX (cless)

qraigu will manage that team, his immense experience with the RTCW national team will surely prove useful in the upcoming struggle to score some points in the NationsCup. qraigu told me that he thinks it will be quite interesting, with countries participating we didn't even know of in the ET world before. biqq added that he is convinced to have found a decent mixture of players that will please the somewhat heterogenous German community. He claims that we might have a good chance of being among the top 3 there.

Whatever the results may be, let's hope for fair games, awesome ETTV and a bond that connects ET players regardless of the nation they're playing for. See you at NationsCup IX!

#team-ger.et

UPDATE:
MulSu has just informed me that they are not going to play this match. He has given me an official statement concerning this decision:

We are refusing to play this match against 141. This decision is made by all of our members, and there is a reason for doing such a "lame" act, let me clarify what have happened: 2 weeks ago, our leader MulSu asked permission to recruit a new member to 141 match, because one of the strongest player of ours was going to vacation trip. Supervisor doneX gave us very simple and straight answer which denied all recruiments before our match against 141. Now couple of days before our match, 141 had a new member which apparently IS allowed to play against us. He has also played in wArning! in the same EC tournament. I don't see it necessary for us to play today, when supervisors are dramatically influencing the match odds.

Statement by doneX / Clanbase will follow.


That's right, we have arrived in 2006 and are starting another EuroCup Sunday with a great game:

one4one vs. gods.inc

Lineups:

[*] one4one

sqzz
gambit
anubis
syK
CrozZ
Mztik

[*] gods.inc

chmpp
krypta
Nonix
Future
Winghaven
MulSu

Maps: tba / tba

ETTV: GamesTV.org
Shoutcast: FlyingDJ

With uQ having beaten the IDKFA team, this game will determine who is going to meet uQ in the final of the winner bracket and who will take on idle in the semi final of the loser bracket. gods.inc are one player short, with kmble being on vacation in Thailand they have to temporarily replace him with krypta for tonight. 141 will have their standard lineup - except for one surprise: Former wArning! player anubis is joining the forces and will show us his rifle skills tonight.
Let's hope for an exciting game tonight!

Since the group phase of the EuroCup is almost over, I think we should have a look at what has happened this week and what the situation is so far.

Group A

idle.ee
oceans6
TEAM-ZENITH Black
instant defeat

idle.ee have clearly dominated this group. Showing impressive victories in their first two games, their last game against oceans6 left noone in doubt that we have to consider idle one of the most likely candidates for the victory in this EuroCup XII, although group A was widely considered as the weakest group. The second clan to move on to the playoffs is the oceans6 team, who have won their qualifier and only lost to idle so far. Not moving on to any future matches, but nevertheless to be mentioned here are TEAM-ZENITH Black and instant defeat, who had a very intense match just yesterday, which ended with zenith being victorious and id.no announcing their departure from the ET scene.

Group B

one4one
Team-Helix
uQ Gaming
legend

This is surely one of the most exciting groups. No team has yet played its third match, and we have still three candidates who might move on in this EuroCup. one4one claiming victory over uQ Gaming was responsible for the current situation. We will see uQ taking on legend on Sunday. Assuming they take a 4-0 victory, we have a number of possibilites for the 141 - hx game. If it is 4-0 or 4-2, uQ and 141 move on. If it is 0 - 4, hx and uQ move on. If it is 2-4, we will have all three teams exactly tied. So let's hope for a very exciting Monday evening with this game (which will, as a Christmas gift, be cast by TosspoT himself). legend, however, won't make it into the playoffs, although they put up a good fight in all their games.

Group C

IDKFA
rAtatosk
Logitech UVM
insanity!

All clear here. IDKFA have won their third game, taking down rAtatosk, who are now in second place with two victories. Those teams have shown strong performances and they will surely be exciting to watch in the playoff phase. Not moving on to the finals are Logitech UVM, who beat insanity this week in a 3-mapper, so we won't see any Israeli or Polish team being the winner this year.

Group D

gods.incorporated
wArning!
Clan SoF
pstarZ

This group has its difficulties: While SoF have already played all matches, the last one being a victory over pstarZ this week, wA have two games to play still: vs. god on Sunday and the rescheduled game vs. pstarZ on Monday. god have a safe spot in the playoffs, but if wA lose both games 0-4, we will have three teams tied once again. If, however, wA win just one game, they are in the playoffs.

This is it for the groups. Four matches still to be played on Sunday and Monday, then we will know for sure who is among the 8 best teams here.

In addition to that, map choosing rules have been made public: Teams may choose their maps in the playoffs, but if both teams choose the same, a second one will be chosen at random. If a team has played one map, it may not choose this map for another two games. So we can be sure to see a wide variety being played as the Clanbase EuroCup XII continues.

With another Sunday evening to come, we are waiting for another two exciting matches to start. The second match week is coming to a close, we have seen very surprising performances - 141 beating uQ - and are now full of expectations for tonight's games.

Who will we see clashing?

The first game will be a group A match:

20:00 CET

TEAM-ZENITH Black 0 : 4 oceans6 (former Team-BeTa)

zenith have lost their first game against last year's winner idle.ee and are now trying to claim their first victory against the oceans6 team, which beat their local opponent id.no in a tremendous 3-map-game. Both teams, though admittedly underdogs in this EuroCup, are equally skilled and have already met in some practise matches. Who will be the winner? We will see tonight.

Be sure to check GamesTV and #gamestv.org for ETTV. Shoutcast will be available by FlyingDJ.

The second match will be in group D:

21:00 CET

Clan SoF 0 : 4 gods incorporated

gods.inc have shown an impressive performance in their first game, beating pstarZ on ice and supply. SoF have lost to wArning!, but their teamplay made clear that noone should underestimate the British team. If gods.inc win, their spot in the playoffs will be almost secured. However, radar and sw_oasis can always be a surprising combination of maps, as we've seen this week. So let's expect a narrow and entertaining match.

Once again, check GamesTV and #gamestv.org for ETTV. If the other game finishes on time, shoutcast will once again be available by FlyingDJ.