Just like every year, 2011 will see a new edition of Quakecon. Lasting from August 4th to August 7th, the Hilton Anatole in Dallas will pay host to fans of games by id software and Bethesda.

Even though no tournaments have been announced so far, it seems likely that Quake Live will receive attention at Quakecon once more. Since RAGE is going to hit stores just one month after Quakecon, its appearance there is also very likely. And even Brink, the other major title in development by Bethesda, will be in stores by August.

If you're not up to date, you can have a look at the recently reworked website of RAGE and a new gameplay trailer.

Quakecon 2011 Announcement
RAGE Website
RAGE Gameplay
Brink Website

The Call Of Duty 4 ESL Pro Series in Spain has started and the second playday comes along with the matchup of the two top contenders for the title, nextlevel vs. Logic3. Both teams' players can provide an extensive background and their duel on mp_crash is bound to be interesting.
Line Ups
nextlevel
ProtosS
Raditz
RauTe (captain)
hawk
spyderz
Logic3
Sergix
Moro (captain)
Fronzac
Drid
HOTSAUCE
[center]23:00 CET / mp_crash - maxrounds 15[/center]
You can watch the match live on ESL TV - tune in to the free stream here (requires ESL account).

ESL Pro Series Spain
Match
GamesTV
ESL TV

Less than a week is left until CoD4, ET, ETQW and Warsow players from all over Europe gather once again for the Crossfire Devotii Challenge in Enschede. With the number of teams and players higher than ever, this event calls for someone to capture its essence for those who have stayed at home. Next to QuadV covering the event live, ESL TV will be in Enschede to produce a documentary.

Topics will include the newly formed SK Gaming CoD4 team, the comeback of SPEED-LINK.CoD4 and the current state of Enemy Territory Quake Wars and its teams. The focus will also be on the ET teams and Warsow players, the performance of newcomers and the plans of oldschool players.

Just moments ago SK Gaming have announced a move that was expected by many, they have picked up a Call Of Duty 4 team. The chosen ones are none other than the German number one team The6Devils. As it was announced today, the team will be participating at the Crossfire Devotii Challenge 4 in Enschede.

Team captain Andre "iFEARdilemma" Merzinsky had this to say:

Quote

It's time to set up new goals, remember what we leave behind in the past and to keep on gaming with passion! As everyone we are only human beings with good and bad times but as long as our team doesn't lose its spirit we will go on rising.

We are totally overwhelmed with emotion by making a big mark on the early Call of Duty 4 history with this step and we know about the responsibility we take on our shoulders as we want to become a symbol for competitive gaming in CoD4 on a high nouveau with a team that is made of friendship and a lot of soul spirit.

For now we have to train hard and to handle the pressure which all the expectations this step brings with will focus on us. Our team made one step ahead another since it was founded, some of them were smaller and some were bigger. But even if this is our biggest step so far, we wont stop walking forward...

http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/15832-SK_Gaming_welcomes_CoD4_team

After the first set of rules sparked a lot of controversy, the ESL has discussed the rules for Enemy Territory Quake Wars with players, admins and teams. More than 100 players contributed and what they have achieved is a simpler and slimmer rule set which should help those who are new to the game. In a nutshell, here are the new rules:

Vehicles
NO Aircrafts Allowed (does not include Icarus).
Maximum 1 Heavy Vehicle per team.
Maximum 1 Medium Vehicle per team.
Heavy Vehicles include: Cyclops, Desecrator and Titan.
Medium Vehicles include: Hog and Trojan APC.

New Heavy Vehicles cannot be used by either team once the final objective is active.

Weapons
Maximum 1 Sniper Rifle/RailGun per team.

Deployables
Maximum 1 of each turret per team (Anti Vehicle Turret / Anti Personel Turret / Artillery Interceptor Turret).
Maximum 1 artillery deployable per team.
NO Radar Allowed (includes the usage of 3rd Eye Camera).

A more detailed explanation as to why these rules were chosen can be found on the ESL page, where you can also discuss those rules.

Opening Cup

You can also sign up for the Opening Cups in 6on6 and 4on4 which have an unlimited number of slots. Details can be found in this news post.

ESL News regarding the rules

It's Friday, September 28th, which means that all Europeans who are eager to play the new star in the sky when it comes to team based shooter games can now go and happily do so. A new game does not only mean new experiences, it also brings names into the community which have not been there before.

After Team Helix announced that they would be taking a break, their ET:QW team was left without a clan and in the best tradition of CS squads all over the world, they called themselves clan.qw. The time of being lonely and lost is over now - as of this week, they can proudly call themselves TEAM SPEED-LINK. A team of CoD2 fame, it is now hoping to build a reputation in ET:QW. To help them with that, they've taken in the following players:

Team captains
hurensohn florian
Andre 'SPEED-LINK|HEADi' Neumann

Players
Christoph ' SPEED-LINK|chaoz' Heidler
Tobias ' SPEED-LINK|Melkor' Gunzenhauser
Marco ' SPEED-LINK|morb' Prillwitz
Daniel ' SPEED-LINK|mylo' Rappl
Volker ' SPEED-LINK|Sporty' Klöss

With chaoz, Melkor and morb the team can boast quite some ET and EC experience, including LAN events like shgOpen and CPC.

Achievements
ESL DE Demo Cup
ESL EU Beta 2 Cup

Statement by florian:

Quote

Tomorrow everyone can finally grab their copy of Enemy Territory Quake Wars. We all hope that the game is a success and that leagues and tournament hosters give it the support it deserves.
As a team we're especially happy that TEAM SPEED-LINK gives us the chance to play the game under their name and that they support us in achieving our goals. We want to fortify and extend our current position in the scene. My whole team is looking forward to this task and to working together with SPEEED-LINK successfully.

TEAM SPEED-LINK
ESL roster

At Games Convention in Leipzig, visitors were able to play a new version of Enemy Territory Quake Wars, including a brand new map. GIGA took the opportunity to play the game and conduct an interview with Paul "Locki" Wedgwood, founder and owner of Splash Damage.

The new map is called Island and is located on Reversion Island in the South Pacific. The map was developed by RTCW veterans Nerve and, compared to Valley, is smaller and has less focus on vehicles. The following objectives have to be completed on the map:

1) Build the generator
2) Detonate the safe room door
3) Get the data disk and escort it to the extraction point

Before we started to play, we did an interview with Paul Wedgwood about QuakeWars;

Interview with Paul Wedgwood

The Enemy Territory World Cup has been shaken quite a bit this week. Following the ban of perfo and what is said to be conclusive evidence that another player of the Netherlands cheated, their team got dropped from the cup. A team that had to deal with a national player being banned is going to hit TV screens all over Europe tonight.

Germany has a flawless record in this World Cup so far. They didn't drop a single map so far and have won all three matches. The loss of keran won't hit them too hard, he has been on their roster but didn't play any match for them. Germany goes into the match as the clear favourite.
Lineup
butchji
snoop
wEAK
ramiN
drago
haZer


Spain had its difficulties in the group stage. Losing a map against Japan and not being able to overpower mighty Poland they only ended up second in group G. With Winghaven, the man who has risen from panzer whore to being the man of the match several times, in their lineup things don't look too bad for them though.
Lineup
Winghaven
morbit
dr3am
a1rs
Gengis
MaRTe


The match will be broadcast live in German on GIGA at 23 CET. You can tune in on Astra Digital or via the live stream (free). GIGA 2 users can watch the spectacle on a high quality stream.



As usual, there's also ETTV available.

GamesTV war page
GIGA stream
GIGA 2

While the EuroCup is coming to an end, another tournament has just begun and it boasts a wide variety of names, all well known in European and international Call Of Duty 2. Thursday night brings you an encounter that can without a doubt be called absolutely high class.

Team Dignitas have struggled in the past, after dropping out of the Crossfire Prizefight Challenge 2 in the quarter finals they have lost their first match in the International Premiership against Ocrana 10 to 13. The team that was once top of Europe has yet to show that they are still among Europe's finest. With WSVG approaching, Dignitas' mixed bag saw them win C2e in controversial fashion and beat Logitech in the QCup this week, but consistency has deserted them.

eSuba are in a far better position. A fourth place at CPC II and a streak of three victories in a row gave them a good start for the IPS. The Czech players have slowly but steadily climbed to the top of European CoD2 teams and are now eager to prove that this is exactly where they belong.

What might make this match interesting is the return of the smoke - that's right, after WSVG announced that they would not follow the recent decision to ban the smoke grenade it has now made its comeback in the ESL as well.

The map will be carentan, the time of the match is 23 CET - and you can watch it live on GIGA 2, where special guest Michael "Trigger" Sowa will be doing the commentary together with host Uli "FlyingDJ" Schulze.

If you do not own a GIGA 2 account yet, here's your chance to win one - 10 free accounts will be given to the most creative comments written here until 22 CET on Thursday.

ESL match link
GIGA 2

A Winter Premiership is definitely misplaced in a time where the temperature is about to rise above 30 degrees again. It's about time we get to the final, and tonight we're going to do so with the support of GIGA 2.


roYality have progressed to the final game without a loss in the playoffs. Although they have dropped one match in the group stage, their record so far is flawless and they only need to win one best of three. Cheat buster mens0 is quite eager to win and has bet all his money on oxid - at least that's what he says.
Lineup
altrnt
gzd
mens0
loku
sal
skoy


teamoxid did not lose a match in the group stage, but they dropped to the lower bracket of the playoff tree and do therefore need to win twice to take the victory in the overall final. ESL admin chosen wants to show us that he's not only skilled at adminning but can also put bullets into opponents.
Lineup
chosen
Cobra
dCk
FimS
flame
Funi


After most of the EuroCup matches have recently provided us with a lot of new maps to be seen, this time it's getting far more traditional, we have two veterans when it comes to maps:


There is a lot at stake here - whoever wins today is going to qualify for a possible second season of the International Premiership at the ESL and has the chance to win a lot of money.

GIGA 2 is going to bring you the spectacle live on the video stream. If you do not own an account (which is 2 Euro per month), here's your chance to win - write a creative comment until 22:30 CET and get one of 10 free accounts.

GIGA 2
ESL match link
GamesTV war page