Today it was announced by WinOut that they have officially acquired the services of Dan “mehLer” Mehler. Mehler has just been an online stand in after being cut from x3o’s roster for Nazar “Steno” Vynnytsky.

The upcoming events for WinOut are ESEA-Invite and CEVO-Professional LAN Finals in spring.

WinOut Roster:

Scott “evolution” Cavallero
Kevin “aZn[st]” Wang
Liridon “quas” Ademaj
Michael “chE” Guevara
Dan “mehLer” Mehler

Source: WinOut

Unless one team decides to drop out, Gravitas does not stand a chance making an appearance at the ESWC Cheonan Masters tournament.

Source: mYm

Alex ‘Hybid’ Mottshaw, the owner of GotGames.com.au a leading Australian Gaming Forum gives an update on the recently announced GotGames TV and upcoming gaming news.

Australian E-Sports on TV! Who would have thought it?

Today I secured the use of a professional studio for the production of the first episode of GGTV which is scheduled for release very early in May. We have also announced that Annette “Annette” Melton is joining the cast alongside Andrew “Velicoma” March and Daniel “Pandos” Posavac. Further adding to the coup, we’ve secured the all famous Cameron “camstar” Rambert and Anexias to cover video editing for the program and things are looking up. We have had at least 20 separate applications from people within the GotGames community to help out with the show. All in all, it’s been really inspiring.

All the pieces of the puzzle are now coming together. We’re going to see some of the best talent in Australian E-Sports all working together to produce a TV show which will demonstrate just how far Australian E-Sports has come along in the last 3 years. I am not far away from realising a dream which started 3 years ago and it’s really exciting. I’m really hoping that this will put Australian E-Sports on the international map. They already know we are here by being the first country outside of the US to be using the CEVO Tournament system. Wait until they see what we are capable of with a dedicated Australian E-Sports  TV show. I really think that many around the world will be wondering how a little country like Australia could produce something so entertaining while the rest of the world languishes around wondering how to successfully get E-Sports into a format that will work for TV. I hope that you like the equation we have developed and hope you get behind us to help make this a success.

I think the key to the success of this show is the dynamics between the presenters and I’m stoked to say that I think we have found a really exciting combination. Velicoma brings an energy to the show that really works. In the auditions, I got to see the guys working together and the ideas they were bouncing off each other were really great to watch. To have Annette on the show in my opinion is amazing. I truly believe that one day, this girl will be very famous and that GGTV will help her get there. The other important concept to this show’s success is my passion for E-Sports and my understanding of what I would like to see as a hard core gamer. This is not a show which just here to promote products from companies, this is a show purely designed to show off the best gamers in the best competitive games in Australia. We are going to show you the biggest plays, the biggest moves, the biggest scores and most importantly the best players that Australia has to offer, all in high definition.

GotGames has been furiously working behind the scenes to bring you even more entertainment. Under way at the moment is the Western Digital LAN series at Beyond Internet Gaming which culminates in the final on the 7^th of April. Annette Melton will be attending alongside the GGTV camera crew to take footage. We are going to have live coverage and video footage from the event thanks to the boys and girls at Gamestah. Shortly, we are announcing a huge competition from SteelSeries that is a combination of online and LAN competitions. You have probably been noticing Bench’s News around the Watercooler with tidbits from the gaming scene around the world each week – stay tuned for more interesting updates from Bench. Furthermore, we are 6 rounds into CEVO Source and the Team Immunity steamroller just keeps getting meaner and meaner. The Call of Duty World at War competition has started with the Fight for your Invite competitions. We have 6 teams for professional picked out and now another 8 are fighting for the last 2 spots in the professional league. This 8 has been reduced to just 4 teams, with 4 matches already completed. With just 2 matches to go, GGCEVO Call of Duty World at War professional is firing up and with Gamestah’s GTV live video casting of the games, it should be amazing to watch.

That’s all from me now – I’m going to be flat out getting GGTV Episode 1 up and running. Until then, enjoy.

Alex Mottshaw

GotGames, The Home of Australian E-Sports.

Source: Gotgames

A new start-up called OnLive announced a brand-new game distribution system Monday night. If it works OnLive could change the world of games for forever.

OnLive, which was started by former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey WebTV and founder Steve Perlman is aiming to launch a system (seven years in the making) that will digitally distribute first-run, AAA games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Atari, and others, all at the same time as those titles are released into retail channels.

The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at the highest quality onto any Intel-based Mac or PC running XP or Vista, regardless of how powerful the computer. The OnLive system will also stream games directly to a television via a small plug-in device in which players can use a custom wireless controller as well as a VoIP headset.

Source: CNN

Source: SK Gaming

German politicians are once again trying to ban kids from playing addictive video games. The list of video games include World of Warcraft and of course Counter-Strike.

Mechthild Ross-Luttmann, the German Minister for Social Affairs in Lower Saxony is requesting a general age restriction for “addictive” video games. World of Warcraft which is currently available to kids in Germany will only be available to adults if this proposal goes through.

The German Minister believes video games are the “potential danger” that exists in a child’s bedroom. Andreas Rosenfelder, the author of Digital Paradise sees little connection between the addictive video games and school shootings. Several news reports have also proved that video games like Counter-Strike does not teach teen violence.

Source: SK Gaming

Rumors had been floating around that Blank would be disbanding and today those rumors have been confirmed. Niklas “niko” Johansson told HLTV.org that the future for the team is still unknown. The reason for the team disbanding was that they could not find a replacement for Rasmus “GuX” Stahl, when he left to join fnatic.

Former roster of Blank:

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