For a long old while we've been wondering about how best to run a public ET server. Our kind friends at X3M have provided us with an excellent server, but how do you seperate one public server from the rest?

Ronner & Rafiki have been working hard these past days to come up with an alternative competition server. What they've done is gone and coded a PB GUID Authentification System. This system means, that if your PB GUID is not in your profile here on Crossfire, you're not getting on the gameserver.

Why does that matter? It matters because PB GUID's can only be spoofed via ETKey manipulation, so that means if you're banned from Crossfire (for being a hacker for example), then you're banned from that server. It also means that those random hackers, who you've never heard of and only play on publics also cannot play on that server. It means that whilst we cant stop Loekino from medwhoring and backshooting, we can stop the people that should'nt be there.

If that wasnt enough, this dynamic duo also coded a HitPoint script which through the console will tell you and you alone how much health your enemy had when he killed you. Something we've all wanted to know in the past!

The system will go live via your Crossfire profile later this week, with the server waiting to be used after that. Once its been successfully tested, the system will also be implemented on the telenet servers. There will be a newspost later this week when the system is fully operational. Your thoughts, input and requests are welcome.

EDIT
Ronner has changed the "hpleft" scripting. You can now enable and disable it by using /showhpleft 0 or 1 in the console.

No this isnt an advert for you gamers out there to quit smoking, even though you should! Its an analysis by Kyle Feeley of Gotfrag.com on the current situation of smoke in competetive scenio and the potential exploits that could arise. What was once a highly contenious issue by those moving from CoD1 to 2, is now an issue worth fighting for as teams and admins voice their opinion on the bugs within the smoke grenade.

Quote by Gotfrag

Almost everyone has experienced the smoke that was supposedly thrown by a teammate not show up on their screen once in a blue moon and chalked it up to a very rare fluke. Unfortunately, it is neither rare nor a fluke any longer. Individuals can, at will, intentionally exploit the smoke grenade in such a manner as to render it entirely absent. This was made apparent after it was announced on www.callofduty.se in a video produced from the European community that has recently been circulating through community circles. Independent of how many players or teams may have been exploiting this glitch, the fact remains that action needs to be undertaken swiftly.

You can read the full article Here, rest assured the matter will not go away as the community comes back to life with Eurocup and sHg and Crossfire lans on the horizon.

If you think of the competitive enemy territory scene, there are very few people who haven't heard of cZar. Playing at a competitive level for over two years has made them somewhat a household name with widely recognised name. Well with the new year, cZar are proud to introduce their latest Enemy Territory Squad:

mesq
blaze
eddie
snot
lio
Gjerry
asd

Manager:
Splodge

Everyone will remember the big succes of cZar.ET in the previous EuroCup. After achieving surprisingly good results such as beating riZe, one of the favourites to win the EC, as well as winning 4-0 over underscore and singularity. However the former line-up was knocked out on the verge of entering the quarter finals with just one loss against their name.

With the abundance of Skill, Teamplay, Ambition and Vision embedded into this new squad it looks like once again, cZar will be performing at the highest level. Squad leader mesq had the following to say:

Mesq:

Quote

I'm proud to play for cZar once again and I hope we can succeed in our goals. There is certainly no lack of skill in the team, we just need to train hard to ensure we play well against even the best teams within the ET Scene. We are also looking forward to future LAN events, and we will do everything we can to play at CPC2

Website | IRC

The life of a map maker is a hard one at best. Much time invested, little credit rewarded! Think of the thousands of maps that come and go without an eyebrow raised, they're in custom map heaven now, and we at crossfire would like to add to the population of custom map heaven!

With the upcoming Crossfire Lan 2 scheduled for April 13/14/15, we've decided to host a map competition for both ET & CoD2, with the winning maps included in the 5 map pool at the lan finals and the winning map designers taking home over 100 euros worth of SteelSeries products.

The schedule is as follows, maps final entry date is Sunday March 11, with exhibitional matches during the week and competing teams needing to test the map as each clan leader will vote for the winning map which will be announced ten days later on Wednesday 21 March.

Readmore for the rules and regulations, and direct all queries to [email protected]

In what has been a busy week for ID, winning an emmy was not enough! Nope, ID head's and gaming legends John Carmack and Todd Hollenshead have talked about all things ID Software in a lengthy interview with GameInformer.

As usual these two have not given us a whole lot of information to work with, but for any MP40 baring soldier there are two words you want to know about, Wolfestein and Quakecon, fortunately in this interview ID Software have re-confirmed both of them.

Quote by Hollenshead

One of the things we’re working on now, although the rights are currently all back with us,with Wolfenstein in development there’s interest in a Wolfenstein movie. And Sony had the rights for a while and those recently expired and came back to us.

Quote by Hollenshead

I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this or not, but the Anatole [the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas], that’s where QuakeCon is going to be for the next two years. We’ve entered a two-year deal with them. Last year’s QuakeCon, I think it ended up working out a whole lot better than I thought it was going to be, given the last-minute nature of the way things came together.

There are various Quakewars tidbits from a developers standpoint, but its always good to see the Wolfenstein name branded about by ID software and reconfirming our dreams of the next series. As for Quakecon and the Anatole? If you read on in the article he goes on to talk about the problems with the previous venue, the Gaylord and its gotta be said these are absolutely spot on. The Hilton Anatole was a far superior venue for Quakecon and its good see it'll be there for the next two years.

You can read the full interview Here

Eurocup is back in action once again and the big guns are out, tonight we will relegate some of the biggest names in the competition to the loser bracket and that might just mean the untouchable idle aswell.

To warm us up on this cold winter eve will be sFx taking on CDAP. sFx came in second place behind idle in their group and that was only after a decider tournament, nothing too thrilling. On the flipside, CDAP came through against feirce opposition in the shape of aMenti to take first place in their group, but memories of their 4-2 defeat to 141 will haunt them as they bid for success. CDAP will undoubtly be favourites for this match, one of only three teams to beat idle in 2006 will want to kick off 2007 with a bang.

sFx Murso 0:4 CDAP.PI
Time: 21:00 CET
Maps: TBA
ETTV: GamesTV.org
Shoutcast: iTG`TosspoT

However, just when you thought it was safe to go outside again Idle return to action against an aMenti side who have risen above expectations to now harbour a realistic chance of hurting the estonians. aMenti who had 2 weeks written all over them have aged like a fine wine to qualify from their group, all be it in second place. All 12 players in this match featured in the Allstar tournament over christmas and that should serve as a hint as to the importance of this match. Perhaps there never has been a better time to play idle? Shortly after the christmas break and potentially with their minds on other things, who knows, just be sure not to miss it!

aMenti 0:4 Idle
Time: 23:00 CET
Maps: TBA
ETTV: GamesTV.org
Shoutcast: iTG`TosspoT

:: Related :: Adacore's EC Playoff Preview

Tonight sees the second ClanBase NationsCup X Quarter Final matchup between Belgium and Czech Republic. Fresh from last Sunday's Ashes Showmatch Czech talisman marv will set out to trip up the oldschool Belgians.

At a first glance this seems like a possible white wash, with Belgium awash with household names. But having already knocked out the famous Austrian duo of Darky & Potter, will mAx & shewie be the next on their list? Could the Czech's be this years Hungary?

Belgium 4:0 Czech Republic

Time: 22:00 CET
Maps: Radar & sw_goldrush_te
ETTV: http://www.gamestv.org/war.php?wid=1939

Demos: Challenge-tv

:: Belgium Lineup
lio
mAus
zet0
mesq
Shewie
mAx
:: Czech Republic Lineup
butch
marv
alexzoo
loo
hellish
rip

The winner will progress to play last nights victors Germany in the Semi Finals.

Throughout Quakecon 2006 GameplayHD were filming in and around the event and whilst Quake was their primary focus they took time out to film this feature about the Crossfire team that attended.

They filmed a five minute clip that caught some of the spirit of the team from the players to the managers and although this piece isnt a fragmovie, it certainly does give you just a hint of what it feels like to play in such an event and see players in enviroments you just wouldnt normally experience.

Potter of the Crossfire team had this to say;

Quote by potter

It was really nice to have the cameras on us, not only did we have Rich for the Crossfire stuff but we also had the Gamplay guys. We spent a long time with them doing interviews and stuff and it just added to what was a really great trip for me.

You can downlod the 5 minute feature Here

After the ESReality Mousescore 2007 Sujoy promised to review Razer's new mouse as soon as he gets his hands on it. Now the review is done.

The new Razer mouse features an optical sensor, which handles up to 1800 DPI, and a polling rate of 1000 Hz. It has the same shape which was used for the Microsoft Habu.

Quote

The DeathAdder is aimed at low sensitivity gamers, that is gamers who prefer to sweep the mouse a long way for any kind of movement. To accomplish this Razer are using a new, third generation, infra-red, optical sensor that they claim "eliminates skipping and negative acceleration". I'm very glad to see that Razer do understand the real problems that a gaming mouse can have. But the question is: have Razer got it right with the DeathAdder? We answer that question in this comprehensive mouse review.

If you want this question answered, read the review at ESReality.

It has been 9 months now since the first clash where Germany had to fight against
The Netherlands in the NationsCup IX Final for the gold medal.

The Germans won their map goldrush_te , which wasn't much of a big surprise for about 2100 ETTV Spectators.With a one map advantage so far, Germany had the slight advantage to be named NationsCup IX Champions over the Netherlands but since it was now time to vote for the Dutch map supplydepot2 ( yes, even maps tend to change from time to time :) ).

The Germans secured the truck and the gold on supplydepot in a time of 8 minutes giving the Dutchies an ultimatum to prove their strong teamwork and aim.
And yes, with only 20 seconds left, they did very well and managed to get an equal score so far after the 2 chosen maps.

Since you and I both now that a game can't end as a draw after 2 maps, eliminations were in order and et_ice has been picked.
As et_ice is a fast map ( lotto maybe ? :p ) this game ended pretty quick because the Netherlands set an amazing time and the Germans just couldn't beat a time of 4 minutes. Therefore the winner from last season's NationsCup IX was known, The Netherlands have beaten Germany with a 4:2 score.

But tonight ... the clash continues!