I just got a chance to speak with European PC FIFA ladder leader dragua, who I had never encountered before. Not being a huge FIFA aficionado (comes with the territory of being a fat, ignorant American), I was curious to know his history and motivations in the Digital Games tournament. Without further ado, here’s the interview!

GGL: Please state your real name, age, and occupation.

My name is Artem Dragunov. I am 22. I am from Latvia. I study in the Riga Technical University on the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunations and I work in an insurance company as a database-support operator.

GGL: What attracted you to play in the Digital Games tournament?

I decided to take part in the Digital Games, because it was quite interesting for me to represent my country among the FIFA-players from all over the world in a competition, which is a part of the Olympic Games in China.

GGL: Why FIFA? Are you a huge futbol fan, did you grow up playing it?

Yes, you are right. I like football very much. I was playing football at the professional level for 5 years. Unfortunatelly, I had to give up football because of the intensive studies, but I always play football with my friends in my free time, so it is an essential part of my life. And FIFA is almost the only game I play. Continued…



Team Liquid StarLeague

After six years as one of the most prominent sources of StarCraft news, TeamLiquid.net is hosting its own tournament for the international community: the TeamLiquid StarLeague. Broadcast live with experienced English commentators, the TSL will attempt to look and feel just like a professional Korean tournament.

On the eve of StarCraft’s 10th Anniversary, with thousands of viewers watching and a prize pool of over $10,000 at stake, you could be the champion in StarCraft’s most prestigious online international tournament ever.

There are no invites. Anyone can make it. The ambitious will enter, the determined will qualify, but only the best will be victorious.

Prizes will be awarded to the top 16 players. View the breakdown: Continued…



Bercy inside

From the press release:

Games-Services announced today that the upcoming world class event Mondial du Gaming (international gaming show organized from 4 to 6 of July 2008 in Paris Bercy) will host the first ESWC Masters of the history of Electronic Sports World Cup.

The ESWC Masters of Paris will gather French champions and selected international champions in thrilling showcased tournaments that will reward their winners with prize money and autoberths for the ESWC Grand Final 2008. Tournaments will be played on high-end computers provided by the Official Partners Packard Bell and Intel. Selected matches will be played on stage. The event will be open to spectators. Continued…



Quake Live has opened its gates for a beta test! If you don`t know what Quake Live is, I will make it short, Quake Live is Quake 3 built into your web browser! That means that you will never ever need to buy the original game, because it will wait for you on your favorite website. That website is actually QuakeLive.com.

Even better, id Software opened sign ups for a beta test, so if you want, you can go to QuakeLive.com and add your email there. Than you can only wait and pray that you will be chosen. Good luck!

View a couple of screenshots from the game after the break. Note the new Visor brightskin.

Continued…



id Software announced to day that IGA Worldwide will serve all ads for the upcoming Quake Live, previously known as Quake Zero.

Quake Live is a fully ad-supported, web-based, free version of Quake 3 that launches out of the web browser. Mod support has not been confirmed, however.

Here’s some more PR info about the upcoming game:

Created by id Software as an all-new way to deliver the excitement and energy of first-person multiplayer action to a broader audience than ever before, QUAKE LIVE offers game players of all skill levels a totally free and easily accessible multiplayer gaming experience and community through a single website at quakelive.com. Every element of the experience, including friends lists and communication, sponsored events and tournaments, matchmaking, stats tracking, and even the game itself is accessed and delivered free of charge through the web browser.



Blizzard has announced its 3rd World Wide Invitational, which will take place between June 28 and 29 at Porte de Versailles Exposition Center, Paris, France.

Here’s what you can expect at the convention:

Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers

  • Artist and developer signings
  • Professional eSport tournaments and casual tournaments for attendees
  • Hands-on play with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II
  • Merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard Entertainment game universes
  • Silent auction
  • Musical performances
  • And more…

With StarCraft 2 on the way we may get a better idea for a release date and likely will see a playable build with Zerg units.

Tickets will be on sale in a few weeks from the BWWI Website.



Shortly after Evil Geniuses announced its Unreal Tournament 3 squad, GGL Wire was able to get in touch with manager Alex Garfield and the rest of the team for a thorough grilling. We covered the impetus for creating an EG UT3 squad, the selection process, and some background information about the team. Let’s get to it:

GGL Wire: Is the EG UT3 team salaried?

Alex Garfield: No, however with this EG covers all travel, hardware, and competition costs. It also means that we do not take a percentage of the players’ winnings.

GGL Wire: What was the impetus for forming the EG squad? Do you (Alex) know something that the general gaming public doesn’t about next season’s CGS game picks?

Garfield: The reasoning behind EG’ venture into UT is extremely straightforward. First of all, it’s a very well-tenured brand of dueling game with an already-established community with its own stars and history. Secondly, it looks absolutely incredible, and serves any hardware company well (this, I believe, is proven by the fact that it’s already becoming a relatively popular “booth game”). Lastly, its cross-platform appeal is a huge plus. I believe the gap between PCs and consoles is quickly closing; in 5 or 10 years, there very well may be little to no difference between the two. And so I believe that cross-platform titles like UT3 are crucially important from a broader perspective. Continued…



The much-hyped Guinness World Record Gamer’s Edition has finally launched, featuring the gaming exploits of many competitive and casual gamers.

There are a lot of dubious records in the list about games and gaming companies, such as “The 64 bit question,” a “record” that states Metroid was the only major Nintendo franchise without an N64 version.

Despite the odd nature of many of the records, they at least managed to work in e-sports related records such as “First gaming clan to legally bind their players,” a title that went to SK-Gaming.

Hit the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition site to peep all the records.



The crew over at ClanBase has interviewed superstar game designer CliffyB about e-Sports, the gaming industry, and his gaming background. This is the first of many more mainstream interviews that ClanBase plans, so check this excerpt and head over there for the full story.

ClanBase: Do you see competitive gaming as a sport?

Turn on ESPN late at night and tell me what you see. Trick shot pool. Log cutting. Poker. I believe that if a part of your body is moving, your brain is engaged, and people are willing to watch then it’s a sport.

Source: ClanBase interviews Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski



Week 2 of Quake Nations Cup has just started with two Quake 3 Matches. First, Sweden won in three maps against Italy. fojji and sLONKEN played great games for the Scandanavian Quake owners, while Polterizer was one of most important players for team Italy.The second game was between Serbia and Belarus. Even with Cypher in the Belarus lineup, Serbia managed to win in three maps.

You can check all Week 2 matches on the official homepage and on channel #Quakers.ws there will be info about all matches, GTVs and scorebots. Continued…



Our favorite community correspondent from Blizzard, Karune, must have heard my cry last time for gameplay news from StarCraft II. The latest Q&A batch features some answers from Lead Designer Dustin Browder, addressing balance issues, maps, units, etc.

Karune also gives us another peak at the Protoss Nullifier’s abilities: the Null Void. Null Void creates an area where abilities and spells are disabled, much like a silence-terrain type spell. He also mentions the Marauder, a potential Firebat replacement.

Continued…



The highly anticipated ESWC Defense of the Ancients tournament has released more details about the upcoming event.

Yesterday, the ruleset was released in .pdf format on the ESWC website. Aside from the “no trap rule,” the rules are fairly standard.

ESWC looks like it’s sticking to the formats most commonly played among all the leagues.

For those who care but don’t want to read:

  • Map Version 6.48b
  • Extended League mode (-xl format, -ap in game)
  • Pit Lord, Undyin, Dark Seer, Templar Assassin, Sacred Warrior, Storm Spirit, and Faerie Dragon are banned. Continued…