Last week the NC I groups were drawn, with the UK and team NL being in the top seed Poule - Finland, Belgium, Hungary and Germany being in the mid seed poule and Italy and Estonia being in the lower seed poule. With the help of fro on IRC these were the groups drawn:



The groups are very tight and with the top two teams of each group going through to the Single Elimination playoffs any team has a chance to come out on top come the Grand Final.

These are the groups for the Antwerp eSports Festival:

Group A
Dignitas
Belgian Fraternity
DreaM
myRevenge
CbZ
TAGGroup B
Impact Gaming
Zero empathy
Gamerz Connexion
TAG.AEF
Titanz
Team GenuineGroup C
Rockit
Team-Speedlink
aestas
+Forward
Saiko
Mighty DucksGroup D
Overload
Acsi-eSports dNan
Almighty
Famas
dev1ous.net
Unpatched unit
You can view the schedule here: Schedule Clicky!

I'm delighted to announce that every team which asked for a later start has been accomodated. The seeding of the teams was based on the combined rankings of all attending teams.

If you are thinking to come down to the Antwerp eSports Festival to spectate some games, here is some extra information that might convince you!

• The best gamers in the world will be present to play matches for a combined prize purse of nearly €20,000
  
  
• You can watch games LIVE on a stream on two seperate stages with professional commentary
  
  
• FREE PLAY AREA by Asus and Microsoft, play some of the latest games on brand new PC's

ENTRY FOR SPECTATORS IS FREE!

On Friday we will have Benelux gamebabe Charlotte Van Brabander coming down for a shootout where everyone can play against her and win some prizes. The shootout kicks off from 15 CET.

On Saturday you can see a wonderful show from the guys of the Electronic Sports World Cup as they bring you a full day of matches, prize giveaways and much more. Cheer on your favorite team as it will be a battle of Belgium vs Netherlands!

Sunday is all about the finals of the Call of Duty 4 and Enemy Territory competition as we see the final teams battle it our for first place.

Come check it out!

Rijnkaai 96
2000 Antwerp

Friday 30 July:

· 09:00 Start of the team/player registrations
· 09:30 Start of the competitions
· 24:00 End of the competitions

Saturday 31 July:

· 09:00 Start of the competitions
· 24:00 End of the competitions

Sunday 1 August:

· 09:00 Start of the registrations
· 21:00 End of the competitions
· 21:30 Award ceremony
· 22:00 The Antwerp eSports Festival 2010 is over!

With the Antwerp Esports Festival kicking off next week, on Friday the 30th of July, it has come to our attention that several teams are still looking for accomodation during the event.

Similar to the guide to the Crossfire Intel Challenge 7 and the SteelSeries Esport Challenge, below you can find a list of 12 possible hotel alternatives, that are within 30 minutes of walking distance from the event. More information regarding the travel to Antwerp and the event can be found at the EsportsFestival.com website (HERE). A few other accomodation alternatives can be found (HERE).

The address of the event is as follows:

Stuurboord / Hangar 26
Rijnkaai 96
2000 Antwerp
Belgium

Although this list gives you a good idea of the possibilities, I would advice everyone to have a look at sites such as Booking.com or Hotels.com for possibly better deals or locations closer to the event.

The criteria I've used: the hotels should be within 30 minutes walking distance from the event, preferably around 10 minutes. The rating of the hotel (over a decent sample) should be 6.9/7.0 out of 10, or higher.

Icon Legend


Free WiFi Available


No WiFi Available


Paid WiFi Available


Walking Distance To Event


Breakfast Included


No Breakfast Available


Paid Breakfast Available
[/b]

The alternatives are ordered (from low to high) based on price. All prizes are based on four nights, from Thursday the 29th of July until Monday the 2nd of August. I will add the total cost for a four night stay, using the cheapest double bedroom for each alternative as an example. In addition, I've included the price per person / per night. I will add the price of a family room (5 persons) when available.

Hotels

Hotel Antwerp Billard Palace
Koningin Astridplein 40, Antwerp
A 29 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).
Details: star
Booking.com rating: 6.9
Price (4 nights, two persons): €196 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €24,50
Link: HERE

= 29 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Condo Gardens Antwerp
De Pretstraat 11, Antwerp
A 15 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.5
Price (4 nights, two persons): €217 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €27,12
Link: HERE

= 15 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Agora Hotel
Koningin Astridplein 43, Antwerp
A 28 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.6
Price (4 nights, two persons): €244 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €30,50
Link: HERE

= 28 minutes (to the event location)
[/hide]
Sandton Empire Hotel
Appelmanstraat 31, Antwerp
A 30 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.2
Price (4 nights, two persons): €256 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €32
Link: HERE

= 30 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Leonardo Hotel Antwerpen
De Keyserlei 59, Antwerp
A 30 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: [img]http://www.tek-9.org/img/news/content/star_smallicon.jpg/img] stars
Booking.com rating: No Rating
Price (4 nights, two persons): €258 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €32,25
Link: HERE

= 30 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
City Apartments Antwerpen
Van Stralenstraat 49, Antwerp
A 23 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.3
Price (4 nights, two persons): €260 (From Thursday till Monday)
(4 person rooms available for €486 for 4 nights).
Per person / per night: €32,50
Link: HERE

= 23 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Hotel Keyserlei
van Ertbornstraat 10, Antwerp
A 27 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.1
Price (4 nights, two persons): €269 (From Thursday till Monday)
(3 person rooms available for €398 for 4 nights).
Per person / per night: €33,62
Link: HERE

= 27 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Scheldezicht
St. Jansvliet 10-12, Antwerp Centre, Antwerp
A 20 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: Unknown stars
Booking.com rating: 7.8
Price (4 nights, two persons): €280 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €35
Link: HERE

= 20 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Hotel Postiljon
Blauwmoezelstraat 6, Antwerp Centre, Antwerp
A 16 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: star
Booking.com rating: 7.7
Price (4 nights, two persons): €280 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €35
Link: HERE

(in public areas only) = 16 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Internationaal Zeemanshuis
Falconrui 21, Antwerp Centre, Antwerp
A 13 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: star
Booking.com rating: 7.1
Price (4 nights, two persons): €288 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €36
Link: HERE

= 13 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Hotel Antigone
Jordaenskaai 11-12, Antwerp Centre, Antwerp
A 11 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 7.7
Price (4 nights, two persons): €300 (From Thursday till Monday)
(4 person rooms available for €540 for 4 nights).
Per person / per night: €37,50
Link: HERE

= 11 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]
Park Inn by Radisson
Koningin Astridplein 14, Antwerp
A 29 minute walk to Hangar 26 (the location of the event).

Details: stars
Booking.com rating: 8.7
Price (4 nights, two persons): €320,40 (From Thursday till Monday)
Per person / per night: €40,05
Link: HERE

= 29 minutes (to the event location)

[/hide]

All rights reserved to jetset on TeK-9.org

- Original copy/paste by sweedy but I figured it'd be more suitable as a stickied newspost.

If anybody has any other info on other hotels/B&Bs/hostels then provide the info in your comments and include all the information in the same format as this news post. Thankyou!

The World Cyber Games, one of the longest running eSports organisations who are famed for running their yearly event with massive prize pools for games such as CS, Starcraft, Warcraft (and other games) have added Quakewars Online to their tournament for 2010.

Details for the tournament are few and far between however WCG and the publishers have released a promotional Youtube video which you can watch HERE. The tournament will be run in 6on6 mode and though DragonFly are the publishers (and the ones who will have pushed for it to be included in WCG) IDSoftware & Activision are listed.

They have listed the following information about the game. "Quake Wars Online synergy works between `Quake brand,` renowned as establishing the stage for network FPS genre in the early game market, and `Dragonfly Technology,` the leading FPS online developer in Korea."

The Alienware Backpacking Challenge is in week 3 and the time has come for the followers to give their ideas for a new challenge.

With a new challenge thrown at the participants every week they have been doing extremely well and we want to test them every single week to push their boundaries regardless of the country they are in. That is why we are now inviting everyone to give their ideas on what we need to challenge the contestants to next. The time has come to let us know what you would have the contestants do the next couple of weeks.

Leave your ideas in the comments and who knows, your idea might get picked and we might see the contestant live up to your challenge.

Don't forget to vote for Week 2 as well as the contestants will need your help!

A match with enough intensity will be played, tonight, in the ESL Major Series Playoffs. Teams that will perform tonight, will fight for a a place in the top3, that will assure them at least 100 euros. We will also know the team that will take the 4th place and win the 50 euros. If you wonder what teams are fighting for the 3rd place spot, just take a look below!

As usual, players from both teams had something to say about this match. Some of them are confident that they will win, some of them think they will lose because they haven't practice lately. Be sure to check them out here.

After a long wait and lots of feedback from the community, Clanbase has released a new set of configs and mapscripts today. These include major changes which are listed below. All the config changes and map script changes were provided to the community by Perlo0ung, a big thanks to him yet again for spending hours in scripting, making fixes, testing etc.

v1.3:
- Warmup countdown has been increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
- b_simpleitems has been unlocked again, you may now use 0-1 value
- Rifle grenades have been increased from 3 to 4
- Snipers (k43/garand) have been reduced to 1, you can still have unlimited coverts. (i.e 4 stens and 1 k43 is possible)
- The Supply main rockjump has been reinstated
- Supply satchel bug to destroy the crane controls has been fixed again
- Upper defense nading_through_the_wall/roof_bug has been fixed again
v1.4
- cl_maxpackets, rate, snaps are locked again
- cg_crosshairX & cg_crosshairY are EQ to 0
- mutespecs bug is now fixed

With only two weeks to go until the Antwerp eSports Festival, it's time to release some more details.

First off, it's very important you bring your drivers and other software on a USB stick. There's no guarantee that your PC will have a cd-rom drive, thus you're down to using the USB ports. You will have NO INTERNET on the gaming pc's.
When you forget to bring your drivers on a USB stick, you won't be able to download them on your PC, nor will the games be delayed because of it.

That brings me to the second part. The schedule will be pretty tight, which means that we'll apply a very strict policy on the starting times. All the matches will be forced to start on time, whether you're there or not. That means that if you're only with 4 on the server at starting time, the game will start anyway (this does not apply to technical issues that aren't your fault).

When you do have technical issues with your pc, do not try to fix it yourself. A tech admin is always nearby, and asking him to solve a problem will be a lot faster than if you messed around with the PC yourself.

Installing software on the PC's that has nothing to do with ET and your match is not allowed and will be penalised. That means no HoN intermezzo's and so forth. Also, when all your matches are finished you are required to leave the players area to make a more fluent transition between the matches, which is to everyone's benefit.
You're however not allowed to leave the players area when you still have upcoming matches. If you do and you're not around at game-time, your match will start nevertheless.


There are also some teams that are looking for a replacement team. If your team is still interested, you can send me a pm and I'll forward you to those teams. You might even get a discount if you play it smart ;)


Now for the scheduling, if your team is not sure it will be at the venue in time (which is 9:00 am on Friday), drop me a pm and I'll see what I can do. I'll try to help out as many teams as possible, but logically I can't give any team guarantees.

The tech specs, schedule and seeding will follow soon.

Tonight the match we'll see the match we've all been waiting for, not once but twice, as the dominant Dignitas side meet with the might of the latest challengers to their throne and spiritual successor to last season's champions Fintastic Five, in the winners bracket finals of both ClanBase EuroCup and ESL Major Series playoffs.

Dignitas

Anderson
drago
JaKaZc
kARnAJ
Squall

Fintastic 5

ENSAM
Sample
olBaa
Matias
Lepari


Coverage from shoutcaster Owzo is guaranteed for at least the first match, and live streaming will as always be provided by Gamestv.org. ESL and ClanBase have both written excellent coverage pieces about their halves of this matchup, including the histories of the teams, quotes from players and commentators, information about their leagues and much more, so be sure to check them out:

• ClanBase Match Coverage Article

• ESL Match Coverage Article