GGL Wire

The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) concluded its second season in July. However, as a well-known fighting game announcer once said, the soul still burns. Although the regular season is over, the competition continues with the online-centric CGS Pro-Am Division.

This new division allows PC gamers to compete in Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike 1.6, and Team Fortress 2 (TF2) for a chance to win a portion of over $40,000 (consult http://pro-am.thecgs.com/prizes/ to see how the money is divided). Additionally, the top two teams of each Pro-Am region (North America and Europe) for each game will receive the chance to compete at the 2009 North American Combine.

Registration is currently free. Players have until September 3 to register at http://pro-am.thecgs.com. Contestants must register in teams of five for the two Counter-Strike games and teams of six for TF2. The season lasts from September 10 until November 16 with each team playing eight scheduled matches each. Continued…

The World Individual Competitions of the Championship Gaming Series took place this past Saturday. In this competition the best players from each region squared off against one another to determine, independent of their franchises, who was truly the best in their individual games.

Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) Female

In the first match on Seaside Market, Birmingham’s SarahLou defeated Sydney’s Eileen, 5-1. Meanwhile, in the second match, San Francisco’s Vanessa beat Mexico City’s Hitomi1 by a slightly closer 5-2 margin. This outcome meant that Vanessa would face SarahLou in the final match of the DOA4 female competition. SarahLou performed extremely well and led 3-1 going into the fifth round. Vanessa, however, won the next four rounds, and closed the game with a 5-3 lead.

FIFA 08

Rio’s Patan faced Wuhan’s ZZ in the first FIFA 08 game. Patan scored two points to ZZ’s one in the first half. Patan then secured this lead with a single point in the second half. This won him the match, 3-1. Next up was a match between Berlin’s Manaya and Chicago’s Eafra. By the end of the second half, both players were tied 1-1. This lead to a shoot-out, in which Eafra won by a single point, 3-2. Eafra now had to defeat Patan to earn the individual championship title. The match was considerably more one-sided than Eafra’s game against Manaya. The North American champ won 2-0 over Patan and claimed his title. Continued…

3D.NY vs Carolina Core

Forza 2 opened Wednesday night’s North American semi-finals.  Carolina’s racer, General E Live, quickly took the lead that he would maintain for the rest of the race.  His first place finish was followed by New York’s team, ComeBackDan and Dark Storm, coming in second and third respectively.  Carolina now held a small 4-3 lead.  By comparison, the Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female match was much more one-sided. Mystik began the assault on New York’s Coolsvilla immediately and didn’t let up until she had won a comfortable 5-0 lead for Carolina.

As has been the pattern with FIFA 08 this season, neither player scored a goal going into the second half. However things changed dramatically from there, as Carolina’s Anomaly was the first to get on the board. WiZaKor then responded with a goal of his own.  Aomaly scored a final point, winning the match, 2-1.

With Carolina in the lead, 11-4, New York really needed their Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) team to shine for any hope at achieving the franchise win. Unfortunately for New York, Carolina won the first half on de_inferno, 6-3.  New York came back 5-4 in the second half,  but ultimately could not win enough points to prevent Carolina’s win.

Even with a perfect 5-0 run in DOA4 male, there was no way New York could earn enough points to counter Carolina’s nine point lead.  Hypothetically if this situation were not the case, the outcome of the match may very well have placed victory in Carolina’s hands regardless.  OffbeatNinja soundly defeated New York’s Cheppelle, 5-1.  This 26-13 win is huge accomplishment for Carolina, and an equally disheartening loss for New York.  It is the second time in a row that the first place franchise has suffered defeat by a last place team.

Continued…

Dallas Venom vs. Chicago Chimera

A rather uneventful Forza 2 race opened Sunday’s first franchise competition. Chicago’s team of crack racers, Jason X and Ch0mpr, almost immediately sped into first and second place respectively. Dallas’s players, Muffinman and Chaos, made a few futile attempts to knock Ch0mpr out of his second place position. Ultimately they were unable stop Chicago from finishing in first and second place. These standings gave the Windy City franchise an early 6-1 lead.

Next up was a Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female bout between Phoenix and Kasumi Chan. Using Gen Fu, Phoenix schooled Kasumi Chan, 5-2, on the Seaside Market stage. This win allowed Dallas to close the score to within two points, 8-6. Undefeated DOA4 male powerhouse Master then pushed Dallas over the top with his 5-2 defeat of Black Mamba. Dallas was now winning, 11-10, after this pair of DOA4 victories.

With two games left, it seemed Counter-Strike: Source would be the remedy to this near deadlock. Dallas was first up as the counter-terrorists on the de_nuke stage. After the first half, Dallas led by a dramatic 7-2 margin. While the side playing counter-terrorists typically holds the advantage, this phenomenon seemingly did not apply to Chicago in the second half. As a result, Dallas won 5-3 as the terrorists. The overall CS:S score pushed Dallas to a whopping 24-15 lead. Even with the FIFA 08 game in the hopper, Dallas had effectively won the franchise match.

Despite their foreseeable loss, Chicago’s player Eafra managed to win FIFA 08, 2-0, over Dallas’s Barmoa. This win brought the overall score to 24-17 in Dallas’s favor. Chicago’s loss makes it extremely unlikely that the 2007 champs will regain their prestigious status in the second season.

Continued…

Friday night’s franchise matches were the last two held at Electronic Arts development studios in Los Angeles. Next Monday the Championship Gaming Series begins the broadcast portion of its season on DirecTV’s Channel 101. The evening’s first contest between San Francisco and Dallas would determine which of these hitherto tied franchises would go into the broadcast season ranked second behind New York. The second match was a repeat of the season’s first contest between 2007 champs Chicago and Carolina. In their previous meeting Carolina defeated Chicago, 30-13. Tonight was Chicago’s opportunity for revenge.

San Francisco Optx vs. Dallas Venom

The match got off to a hectic start with Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) female. The fight was unique in that it pitted the number one player in the league, San Francisco’s Vanessa, against the second highest ranked, Dallas’s Phoenix. Vanessa solidified her position as number one by dominating Phoenix, 5-1, on the Gambler’s Paradise arena. This meant Dallas needed to place first and second in the subsequent Forza 2 race to take the lead. As it would happen, Dallas’s racers Chaos and Muffinman would move up from third and fourth to place first and second on the Atlanta Short track. This 6-1 victory gave Dallas a one-point edge over San Francisco.

A team’s performance in Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) often decides the outcome of a match. Such was not the case with tonight’s first contest. Both teams were tied 9-9 at the end of the second half. The 10-9 victory ultimately went to Dallas after its meagerly armed players won the overtime round. Dallas now led San Francisco by two points going into FIFA 08.

Both FIFA players scored goals in the first half, tying the game 1-1. With no goals in the second, the game defaulted to a shoot-out. San Francisco’s Stermy carried the day, 4-3 over Barmoa. San Francisco had narrowed Dallas’s lead by one point. The franchise now had to do well in DOA4 male to secure a win. San Francisco’s fighter NinjaCW managed to tie Dallas’s Master going into the fifth round. Master then started living up to his moniker by winning the next three rounds and thereby securing a 5-2 victory. This outcome gave Dallas the win, 25-21.

Continued…