Last online match before we head into the land of Beer and Waffles!

Live2Win Playoff LB R4 - 21:30 CET 21st July - H2K Gaming vs KomaCrew - District

H2K Gaming took victory at the iPower 08 event over KomaCrew last they met and with another lan victory last weekend they are fully ready for AEF.

KomaCrew won at Acer Challenge against H2K in a 3 map thriller and then lost at iPoer 08. Teams with history always build up to good matches and with KomaCrew also practising hard for AEF this shoudl be great.

Be sure to tune in for what should be a clash of 2 on form teams that are lan ready for AEF! Live video coverage begins at 21:30cet on QuadV TV1 with Deman and Kee_RinG.

Related Links:

- Antwerp eSports Festival Article
- QuadV Call of Duty Videos
- Live2Win Playoff Brackets
- QuadV

The Asus Summer Open has chosen Call of Duty 4 for its Summer tournament, the tournament has chosen the 5on5 shooter over its traditional Quake 3 tournament selection according to Swedish source Rakaka.

The tournament has put up 75,000 Rubles (approx 2,000 Euro), which puts it alongside its other secondary tournaments such as TF2 and Starcraft. The main focus as always will be the CounterStrike Pro tournament which has 375,000 Rubles (10,000 Euro).

As presented already with the official announcement of the ESL Extreme Masters 3, Europe’s biggest and most important gaming league will cross the Atlantic and open its doors for the American and Canadian players. After entering the Asian eSport market with ESL Asia in early 2007, Turtle Entertainment and the ESL make another big step and offer now leagues in the three most important continents. At the beginning ESL America provides cups and ladders in three different games: Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft and Bomberman Online.

With ESL Europe, ESL America and ESL Asia the ESL has a perfect basis for its tournaments headed by the Intel Extreme Masters. The third edition of the global challenge for Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft will be one of the be the biggest eSport shows and competitions in history featuring a total prize purse of 750,000USD and ten major events in the USA, Asia and Europe.

Because the United States did not have an ESL Pro Series or similar competition yet, the representatives of North America for the EM Finals at CeBIT 2009 will be determined by different cups and tournaments. All qualification details for Europe and the USA can be found in the official ESL news post.

While the USA entered today the global network of the ESL, the next countries are already in sight. ESNation, the company behind myMYM or the ESL Pro Series in Denmark, will become the partner for Sweden and Norway and will host a Pro Series and all the structure behind it from 2009 on.

ESL America
ESL Extreme Masters

eSports weekly a new show from Wipido, Xleague and QuadV bringing you your weekly 'dabble' with all things competitive gaming has returned for its final episode of the pilot series, Episode 7.

On this weeks show we talk about all things Quakelive, with interviews with some of the games current top pro's who give their opinions on ID's upcoming release. On top of that we've some captivating footage from the ESL EMS TF2 tournament and the very latest news from around the games including roster changes and results from the CGS.

You can catch this weeks episode right HERE and view any episodes from the series that you may have missed Here

Live2Win Playoff LB R3 - 19:00 CET 17th July - Druidz vs oXmoze - Crossfire

Druidz are the team everyone knows and they've had to battle hard to reach this match. They lost their first playoff game to TCM 13-11 only to meet them in the next round of the LB and extract revenge in a triple overtime thriller 22-18. Now they face a french team they know well from the ClanBase Open Cup and will once again be put to the test.

oXmoze failed to perform on LAN recently but have had a few good results online. They lost to Oslo Lions 13-5 early on but claimed victory over drop2trash to reach tonights game. They should certainly prove a challenge for Druidz tonight.

ESL July Summer Cup Qualifier 2 Semi-Final - 20:00 CET 17th July - eSuba vs Speed-Link - Veto

eSuba are building up towards AEF and performing well but this will be their real online test. The fact that they are in 2 semi-finals tonight (Live2Win) speaks volumes for this Czech Republic team. They reached the Semi's knocking out non other than SK Gaming in overtime (16-13).

Speed-Link are the online champions right now winning both ESL June Summer Cup and EMS II in the same night! However they are being heavily questioned by the Call of Duty community as to the legality of their play. CoD veteran Trigger has also replaced the flamboyant AK74u expert GENE recently which may change their style a little.

Live2Win Playoff WB Semi-Final - 21:30CET 17th July - Speed-Link vs TEK9 - City Street

TEK9 have awakened from their slumber and Davy is riding them hard in the build up to AEF. A team that's been inactive for some time is suddenly practising nightly leading to victory of Reason 13-6 in the quarter finals.

Speed-Link have knocked out the finalists of Acer Challenge & iPower 08 events in the form of KomaCrew 19-17 and H2K Gaming 13-6 to reach these semi's. Their online dominance has made many sit up and watch and their will be no team more scrutinised at AEF than Speed-Link.

As always you can watch it all live on QuadV TV1 with Deman and Kee_RinG.

Related Links:
- QuadV TV1
- QuadV Call of Duty Videos
- Live2Win Playoff
- ESL July Summer Cup

Some minutes ago Turtle-Entertainment, the company behind the Electronic Sports League (ESL), announced four new categories and the nominees for the eSport Award 2008. With the award for "Best Call of Duty 4 Player, one of the new categories is related to Crossfire game CoD4. The eSports Award exists since 2004 and the winners will be determined by the eSports Award Academy and crowned during the grand eSports Award Ceremony with the "who is who" of eSports in attendance at Games Convention on August 11th.

Best Call of Duty 4 Player: The Nominees
Rob 'rob-wiz' Kennedy
Antonin 'OZWALD' Grenier
Nikolaj 'Mazarini' Lazarev
Robert 'smithz' Krivka
Daniel 'tidde' Asp

Tonight its the return of Live2Win Playoffs followed by Multiplay Elite Consilation Finals.

Live2Win LB R3 - 21:30CET 16th July - KomaCrew vs Ocrana - Crossfire

KomaCrew will be favourites tonight on what appears to be their best map. They recently played in the finals of the ESL June Summer Cup against Speed-Link in a very close match which they eventually lost on Backlot despite winning the first map on Crossfire.

Ocrana are up against it tonight but have started to clock up a few good results lately. Granted I still don't think they can win but with a victory over Sample This (13-10) already who knows?

Multiplay Elite Consilation Final - 22:00CET 16th July - Sample This vs Veritas

Sample This should have won the WB Final. They were leading 6-4 let it slip to 6-6, then lead 8-6 and let it slip again losing 13-9. Assuming Kajsk1ng is still on holiday ownR will no doubt be the stand in replacement once again. With Backlot being the map tonight that may actually work to their advantage as a rusher is sometimes better than a sniper.

Veritas managed to blitz k1ck.pt 13-1 in the last round and will be hoping for a free entry to I34. I will admit I don't know the team that well and will be looking to see them try and match Sample This tonight.

You can watch it all live on QuadV TV1 with Deman & Kee_RinG.

Related Links
- QuadV Call of Duty Videos
- Live2Win Playoffs
- Multiplay Elite Tournament

The Finals of the GameStar-League have finally come to an end, with tonights Grand Final featuring Four-Kings and Vicious and Evil once again.

The two teams already met on saturday night in the WinnerBracket Final, in which Four-Kings were able to take home the victory in a close and exciting 3 mapper match.
Today the Kings seem to be better prepared, as they recently took in the spanish powerhouse MaRTe to fullfill their lineup over the summertime. Also VAE have to win twice to take home the title, for coming from the LowerBracket.

Results so far:
250€ prizemoney - Four-Kings
175€ prizemoney - Vicious and Evil
100€ prizemoney - n!faculty
4th 75€ prizemoney - GaB

This match will be both, video-streamed (by Game-TV.com) and covered by ETQW:TV. Like always, remember you do not need a valid CD-Key to watch ETQW:TV !

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vae-valiant:
"I'm extremly proud of my team for making it to the GSL Finals. The tournament is double eilimination so 4 Kings will need to win 1 match, while VAE, having come back from the lower bracket will need to win 2 matches back to back in order to win the tournament. It's a big ask, but I'm sure my team will be extremly motivated tonight and give it 100%. I look forward to a great game."

Quote

4K^rglaf:
Looking forward to the match, I am sure it will be a great game to watch. Unfortunately we still don't have full lineup as RuFiO is still on holiday, but we'll manage and cope with the circumstances.

GameStar League

I am not going to duplicate what clanbase have said you can read it here what i am going to say is what it means to you the clans.

The top and bottom of it is CB are moving away form using PBBans streaming servers and the Master Ban List to start a fresh with a new Company/Website called game-violations.org offering the same services. PBbans have served us well with 30k+ bans and as yet GV has none to its name. They will however come in time.

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Rule Update

Because all PB games are now being covered, we are taking this opportunity to change our rules regarding server streaming. We have decide to standardise the rule across all PB games. The following rule will be in effect immediately.

"All matches must be played on servers that stream to the ClanBase/Game-Violations repository. Streaming information and instructions can be found here. To check if the server you are playing on is streaming to the CB/GV repository check here. Streaming your match server to the CB/GV repository is a mandatory requirement. The clan responsible for the server is also responsible for making sure it streams. Matches where a streaming server cannot be organised will be cancelled."

We do realise this might cause some disruption to players/clans, so we are allowing a grace period of 4 weeks so everyone has time to download and install the new software. After that time anyone not complying with the new server rule will result in their matches being cancelled.

I have my own personal opinions concerning this move and i understand CB needing to standardise but they must realise they are not alone in running leagues for ET. If Warleagues, ESL and Crossfire do not follow suit where does it leave their leagues. A server can only stream to one repository by the HUB streaming method. Is this the end of CB and ET as we know it or the start of a new era? I will let time tell on this one. You have 4 weeks to change streaming method for CB leagues or games will be cancelled.

decem's EDIT: "A server can stream to pbbans and GV at the same time, but to do this you would need to drop out psb if you were streaming for them before. This means that the change of CB going for GV isnt as radical as bulldog was implying in this post."

Bulld0gs EDIT: "There are plans to use the Hub streaming method soon they just dont have the staff yet, so my post is correct 'ish

Good Job CB and Good Luck

/edit

Streaming Script for ET here

Tonight QuadV host the battle of the Benelux in the Multiplay Elite Winner Bracket Finals with the winner taking 5 seats in the Elite Zone along with free entry into Multiplay's I34 and the M-Fesitval.

Multiplay Elite WB Final - 22:00 CET 14th July - LowLandLions vs Sample This - Crash

Sample This now have a steady line-up for the first time since the Acer Challenge. However with defeats to H2K Gaming and Ocrana lately in the Live2Win tournament they are certainly up against it tonight.

LowLandLions recently claimed 3rd place in the ESL Masters Season II with 300€ after falling to eventual 2nd place Fnatic. They are strong favourites tonight over their Benelux compatriots tonight but as proved in the EMS going 6-1 up and losing they struggle to hold a lead.

You can watch the Live Video Coverage with Deman on QuadV TV1.