Xbox 360 Red Rings Fixed?

March 1st, 2009

In a recent report on Yahoo! Games, it seems as if the guys at Microsoft are finally confident that the days of the red-rings are over. Through different repairs and upgraded technology, The guys at MS feel that they have finally solved the problem. Here is the post from Engadget:

Is your Xbox 360 red in the face? No, not that kind of red, but facing that painstakingly loathsome red ring of death? Well, if group product manager Aaron Greenberg knows anything about the situation — and we’d imagine he does — then it looks like the guys at Microsoft have finally found a solution to many gamers’ worst nightmares. In an interview with Edge Online, Greenberg said that through repairs they’ve done as well as updated technology, the guys in Redmond are pretty confident that afflicted consoles should be nonexistent in the not so distant future and that they’ve “put the worst behind us on this.” So, breathe easy obsessive gamers, you needn’t worry about getting an infected console any more — we hope.

Is this the end of the dreaded red rings? We can only hope!

Source: Engadget

SpawN Sits In For Blank

February 28th, 2009

Counter-Strike legend, Abdisamad “SpawN” Mohamed has agreed to compete in the ucpoming ESL Extreme Masters Season III Finals for Lag Blank. With the event only days away, the team will need to get right into a practice routine, and they are currently Germany bound with just the upcoming weekend to get everything in order.

Blank will be competing in Group A with likes of, fnatic, ATS.dk, MTW.dk, and Millenium. The team will need to place in the top 4 to have a shot at the Global Final which will kick-off March 6th-8th of this year.

The following is the roster for Lag Blank:

Johan “face” Klasson
Niklas “niko” Johansson
Mattias “Snajdan” Andersen
Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson
Abdisamad “SpawN” Mohamed

Source: SK-Gaming

WeMade FOX Drops 2

February 28th, 2009

In a surprise move, WeMade FOX has released Su-Young “ari” Chung and Jin-Hee “hee” Park just days before the Extreme Masters III Finals. The decision may have come about after a recent defeat to wNv in the ESL Extreme Masters Asia finals.

In place of the 2 former players, FOX has decided to bring aboard former Lunatic Hai player, Min-Soo “glow” Kim and former SEOULJINWHA player “GARSIA”. The teams next big event will be the Extreme Masters III Finals as stated above.

The following is the current roster for WeMade Fox:

Sung Jae “bail” Lee
Min-Soo “glow” Kim
Kun-chul “solo” Kang
Sun Ho “termi” Pyun
“GARSIA”

Source: SK-Gaming

Guiness World Records Top 50 Games

February 26th, 2009

Looking back we posted information about Guinness’s World Records for Gaming not to long ago, and released was the Top 50 list of most influential video games in history. In a surprising shock, games such as World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike are no where to be found on the list. However, the top 3 games that did make the cut were: #1 Super Mario Kart, #2 Tetris, and #3 Grand Theft Auto.

The choice for Super Mario Kart came about after it was noticed that it was the best-selling racer game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the GameCube and the DS. Tetris taking runner-up was selected because it is currently available on over 50 platforms of gaming and sliding in at #3 Grand Theft Auto, for it being the most controversial series of all time.

Editor in Chief Craig Glenday of Guinness World Records had this to say on the Top 50 list:

“We knew this would be a complex task so we invited a crack team of industry experts to form a judging panel – and the result is a “top 50″ list of games ranked both on their importance and on how fun they are to play.”

The following is the complete Top 50 List:

1. Super Mario Kart
2. Tetris
3. Grand Theft Auto
4. Super Mario World
5. Zelda Ocarina of Time
6. Halo
7. Resident Evil IV
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Street Fighter II
10. GoldenEye
11. Super Mario 64
12. Tomb Raider
13. Metal Gear Solid
14. Call of Duty 4
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
16. GTA San Andreas
17. Super Mario Bros
18. Zelda: A Link to the Past
19. Gran Turismo
20. Final Fantasy VII
21. Pro Evolution Soccer 4
22. The Orange Box
23. Lego Star Wars Complete Saga
24. Tekken 2
25. Wii Sports
26. Pokemon Red/Blue
27. Guitar Hero
28. Project Gotham Racing 4
29. Super Mario Galaxy
30. Resident Evil
31. Ico
32. Chrono Trigger
33. Gunstar Heroes
34. Soul Calibur
35. Advance Wars
36. Ridge Racer
37. Super Metroid
38. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
39. GTA Vice City
40. BioShock
41. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
42. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
43. God of War
44. Sega Rally Championship
45. Starfox 64
46. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
47. WarioWare Inc
48. Saturn Bomberman
49. Crash Bandicoot
50. Outrun 2

Source: Kotaku.com

Fnatic Drops WC3 Squad

February 26th, 2009

Fnatic has decided to abruptly release the former Clan Go WC3 squad after nearly a year with the organization.  The decision came about after a less than impressive 4th place finishing in a recent event with losses to SK-Gaming and Meet Your Makers. However, during regular season play the team managed to clinche a 1st place finishing, which begs the question — why the sudden drop?

Fnatic Management stated that the WC3 squad didn’t hold up with their end to an agreement, but didn’t go into more detail from that point. It has been noted that former Fnatic.WC3 members Min Hyuk “MinHyuk” Jo, Dae Duck “Kei” Yoon and Sung Hyun “Space” Park will more than likely hang up their mouse and keyboards for the time being while the remaining members will continue on with Clan Go in WC3L Season XV.

General Manager of Clan Go had this to say:

“They will continue to compete as a team and from what I know Kei will quit to pursue his university and MinHyuk will go to the army and I have my doubts about Space continuing on with them but, Shy and FoCuS will continue as Clan Go and I will continue to help them till they hopefully find a new organization.”

Source: SK-Gaming

Carmac Becomes ESL Product Manager

February 25th, 2009

Michal “Carmac” Blicharz has just been elected the new Product Manager for ESL’s Extreme Masters series. The former Editor in Chief for SK-Gaming will be among the other head honchos of ESL and will shape the upcoming and highly anticipated Extreme Masters.

Carmac will make his first appearance in the EM Hannover event next week as his journey down the long and exciting road of product management begins.

Michal had this to say about his new position in ESL:

“Throughout my time in eSports I have written about and analysed almost every eSports tournament there was,” said Carmac, “the time has come to start building something. My journalistic background will help me make a difference in how that excitement is delivered to the eSports community,” said Carmac, “I am hoping that my presence in the ESL will help not only the company but eSports in general.”

 

 

Source: SK-Gaming

ESWC confirms Masters of Cheonan

February 24th, 2009

In a recent announcement, the next stop in the global ESWC Tour will be stopping in none other than Cheonan, South Korea. So far there has been a little bit of an unsettled feeling within the South Korean gaming community as one of the main titles played nationally – Starcraft – has yet to be selected, if at all. The games that have been officially confirmed however, are Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft III.

The ESWC confirmed today that the location of the next Masters event has been settled on and, as reported, it will be held in Cheonan, South Korea. The ESWC’s organizing committee confirmed today that in association with International E-Sports Group Inc (IEG) and the city of Cheonan, South Korea will be the next stop on the ESWC’s tour around the globe. Further details including “including modalities of participation, events program, additional tournaments, prize money and partners,” will be released at the official press conference in Seoul, Korea on March 5th.

The ESWC Masters of Cheonan is scheduled to take place between the 2nd and 5th of May, 2009.

Source: SK-Gaming

LethalGamers Updates!

February 23rd, 2009

This is a reminder that the Lethal-Gamers February Event is this weekend. February 28, 2009.

9:00am doors open 

10:00am first matches

5v5 CS 1.6 $25 pre-pay, $30 at the door

Tournament Computers used

Players need to bring their keyboards, mice and headphones

Format : Group Play then Double Elimination

Sign up at www.lethalgamers.com

Make sure to get your team fully signed up. Also, take advantage of the cheaper entry fee by pre-paying before Friday at noon. A schedule will be posted on Friday afternoon with the groups and match times. As always , all matches will have HLTV and scorebots. All demos can be found on www.lethalgamers.com Tournament will have cash prizes based on attendance.

Also, we will have sponsored prizes thanks to our good friends at Esport-Services and Steel Series. Thanks also to PC Werks and Esportsea for providing other resources to keep Lethal-Gamers running. Don’t forget to come spectate the Kode 5 US Finals event on March 14th at Lethal-Gamers. Come watch all your favorite CS players on LAN. HLTV and scorebots as well as a webcast will be available. Also, our March event has been announced for March 21st, sign-ups are open. Lethal-Gamers 3513 W. Miller Rd. Garland TX 75041 #lethalgamers on Gamesurge.

Microsoft Invests $1.5 Million into Gaming Research

February 23rd, 2009

Microsoft has announced that they will be putting $1.5 Million into research to find if there is a link between gaming and learning. The research hopes to find links between gamers developing certain learning skills that can be translated to the classroom. John Nordlinger, Head of Gaming research for Microsoft said “We want to figure out what’s compelling about the games”.

Microsoft has partnered with several colleges, New York University being one of them. The bulk of the money will be put into the research at the Games for Learning Institute. It was said that playing World of Warcraft could encourrage scientific thinking.

The ideal result of this research would be to make games fun, and less violent.

Source: Kotaku

SK Gaming partners with Western Digital

February 23rd, 2009

Today, SK Gaming has announced another new partner for 2009. Hard Disk Drive producer Western Digital has partnered with SK to provide their teams and staff with internal and external drives. SK also announced that they will be adding product to their online store as well. SK Gaming’s Managing Director Alexander T. Mueller-Rodic, and Alexander Kaufinger from Western Digital both released statements about the new partnership.

We are glad about the establishment of this partnership, as Western Digital offers top-notch solutions for hard disks our players and teams can benefit from. Again, we are looking forward to a successful cooperation in 2009, and also for the years to come. – Alexander T. Mueller-Rodic

At Western Digital we are looking forward to our partnership with SK Gaming. SK Gaming offers both great teams, an amazing fan-base and a large community of players. At WD we develop the best hard disk solutions on the market and we look forward to our cooperation with the worlds leading computer gamers as SK-Gaming. – Alexander Kaufinger

Source: SK Gaming