Our fellow global sponsor Creative has just announced a partnership with e-Sports phenomenon SK-Gaming. With an already great lineup of support such as: AMD, ATI Graphics & SteelSeries, this will be a great addition for SK. Managing Director Alexander Mueller-Rodic had this to say about SK’s newest partner: “It’s great to have Creative back in the partner lineup for 2009. Especially in hard economical periods like the one we are facing right now, it’s always important to have strong partners you can rely on. Creative has been a very loyal partner in the past, and we are looking forward to another successful cooperation in 2009. Cheers!”

Below is a official press-release from SK-Gaming.com:

“SK Gaming is once again pleased to welcome a new strong partner to the family. From now on, Creative will equip our teams not only with X-Fi Sound Cards, but also with their awesome Creative Zen players and Creative Vado video cameras. As usual, not only our players will benefit from the partnership, as we will be able to offer great new features to our community on SK Gaming, like regular video blogs from our stars, just like we offered them during ESWC last year. We will also be adding Creative products to our SK Shop.”

Source: SK-Gaming.com

Blizzard admins have recently announced the new Arena Matchmaking System Overview. What this new system entails is, matching one team to another team to make for the fairest match. They will also be factoring how match points are awarded at the end of competition. All of this and more will be added within the coming weeks.

Below you can find the press-release of this new system that was made by a Blizzard Admin:

We recently introduced a new Arena matchmaking system with the intent of better matching up players against opponents of similar skill level, and to address potential abuses under the old system. We realize that many players have questions regarding the new system, and as such, we would like to provide more insight into the new matchmaking system.

First and foremost, the primary goal of the new Arena matchmaking system is to match players against opponents of similar skill, regardless of your or your opponents’ team rating. This means that once an estimated skill level is determined, you will more likely be matched against other players of a similar skill level. Please note that the estimated skill level is constantly being evaluated and will adjust based on each team’s continual performance. Ratings that are won or lost also take into account skill level, so that you will not suffer a high penalty if you lose against a team that is much better than their actual team rating.
Another important aspect of this new Arena matchmaking system is a smaller range of maximum rating that can be won or lost. Because of the differences between how the new system assigns rating points at the end of a match, we are still tweaking rating gain versus loss per match to improve the experience.
If you were previously ranked with a high skill level and decide to create a new team, it should now be much easier to reach your team’s correct rating. This ensures that players will not feel penalized for moving between teams, and high ranked teams will not feel penalized for trying out new players without much risk to the team rating itself.
Finally, the core and fundamental reason for the new Arena matchmaking system is for players to participate in Arena games that are fun. We feel that with this new system, higher ranked players will most likely find the challenges that they seek, newer players will no longer feel that Arenas are closed to them, and players will not feel as penalized for trying new things in the Arenas.

We like the way that matchmaking works in the new system and feel that it is working as expected. However, we acknowledge that there are some aspects of the way rating is calculated under the new system that could use some tweaking. As with all things, your enjoyment of the game and its systems are very important us, and this system was implemented in an effort to further promote the enjoyment of the Arenas. As always, we welcome your feedback and would constantly be striving to make this system even better.

Source: MMO-Champion.com

The former leader in computer technology IBM, has just announced that over 4,000 employee’s were laid off last week as the company adapts to the current economy throughout the world. The contributor to some of entertainments biggest sellers of the 21st century, such as the XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and even the Playstation 3 have put thousands without a job a lack of reasoning behind it. The initial reasoning for the job cuts was for a way for the company to raise profits, which are currently up 10% from previous weeks.

We here at compLexityGaming.com hope for the best to those individuals who have lost their jobs and take advantage of the programs that are out there to help familes get back on their feet.

Source: Kotaku.com

Despite some pretty deep cuts in Microsoft’s gaming divisions, the company still contends Windows is a “first class gaming platform.”

Moving ahead, Microsoft will continue to invest in Windows as a first–class gaming platform through great Windows out of box experiences, our online gaming services including Games for Windows – LIVE, MSN Games, and Messenger games, and through new games for Windows developed by Microsoft Games Studios,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “Our Windows gaming service efforts will be led by General Manager Ron Pessner, who is joining Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. He comes from within Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division.

Source: Kotaku

The book that millions of people wait for every year is the Guinness Book of World Records. With its newest, broken and sometimes strange records, Guinness has been bringing entertainment for over 50 years and sold over 70,000 with its first launch back in 1955 is now bringing the official Gamers Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

The book will include professional gaming entries, the history of hardware and also the games that have sold the most throughout gaming history. Here is an exerpt from the book: “40.2 Million – number of copies of Super Mario Bros. Sold worldwide, making it the best-selling video game of all time (including bundles). All of this and more is availabe in this highly anticipated upcoming book.

Source: Kotaku.com

The highly declarated University of California Berkeley now offers a StarCraft class for its students. The class is described to analyze the mechanics of StarCraft and the study of how war is conducted within the makeup of the game. The class is just like any other, with a curriculum, homework and all the teachings in between. When asked about how the class will be conducted, the class teacher had this to say:

“The primary goal is for students to learn, enjoy the art of competitive StarCraft, and have fun..” he added “Overall, students will be applying critical thinking, quick decision-making, and game theory skills throughout the sessions. Students will also learn what to look for in a replay or game to learn most effectively.”

Could we eventually see some of StarCraft’s top players come out of the classrooms of Berkeley? I wonder if they’ll discuss the ever-popular MapHack.

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This week’s top8 in the ZOTAC cup consisted of five European players and three Korean players. In the list we could find well know player such as Grubby, but also some semi-well know players such as Space and MichaeL (Lucifer’s younger brother). Neither FoCuS nor LucifroN, the two most recent ZOTAC Cup winners, where found among the participants.

To get go the finals MichaeL went up against Grubby and managed to win with a 2-1 score. MichaeL continued his good results lately while Grubby continued his losing streak against Human players. In the other semifinal the results where more expected as Space easily won over Yange.

The first game was a very quick game of only 8 minutes. Space was able to surprise MichaeL with his Gargoyles and managed to kill many peasants and towers which made it very hard for MichaeL to fight back and ended in MichaeL leaving the game.

The second game was very different from the first one, Space chose to fast tech to tier 3 while MichaeL vent for an Archmage and an Mountain King while trying to expand. Space however did not like MichaeL’s idea and pushed the towers with Fiends and a Lich. After this Space got into a comfortable 2-0 lead.

In the third game Space simply outplayed his opponent, killing his heroes multiple times and ending the game after only 10 minutes.

Recently announced, Target — who is one of the world’s largest multiproduct sellers and is in direct competition with the giant corporation Walmart has announced a price decrease of Guitar Hero. The price discount is currently at 25% making the total cost of the product an even $75. This discount was listed as only temporary, so jump on this deal now while it lasts!

The Guitar Hero franchise has become one of the largest and most well-known games to hit the pop culture universe. It has revolutionized the modern music industry as well as party games and entertainment in general. The gaming series has sold more than 23 million copies to date.

Source: Kotaku.com