Filed under: CGS, eSports, gaming | Tags: CGS, Counter-Strike:Source, DirecTV, DoA4, eSports, FIFA, gaming, PC, PGR3, Video Games, Xbox360
CGS World Final Results
December 10, 2007
After trailing Mexico City Furia by 7 points going into the final game of their matchup last night, the Berlin Allianz were able to mount a comeback led by a 14-4 win in Counter-Strike: Source. The team ultimately defeated the Mexico City Furia 25-21 in the first night of Quarterfinals competition of the CGS World Final taking place at Sony Studios in Los Angeles.
Reflecting upon his Counter-Strike team’s victory, Berlin General Manager Jonas Vikan said, “I’ve never seen anything like that. This is the second time they won a match for me when it shouldn’t have been possible.”
One of the two American powerhouse teams, the Carolina Core, continued to prove their strength as they overwhelmed the London Mint, winning 28-15 before a lively crowd of Core fans at Sony Studios.
Carolina GM, Mark Dolven, expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance. “Against the Mint, the entire team was ready and focused on continuing our dominance. PeeKay really set the tone for the evening when he upset their #1 draft pick. The rest of the team fueled off that big win and we definitely sent another statement,” he said.
As winners of the Quarterfinals, Carolina Core and Berlin Allianz now find themselves in the Semifinals, where the top 4 franchises from across the globe will battle it out for a share of $1,000,000 and the coveted Dew Trophy to be awarded to the CGS World Champion team. The remaining two teams that will advance to the Semifinals is yet to be determined as Stockholm, Chicago, Singapore and Birmingham will face-off tonight to decide which franchises will advance in the Championship Gaming Series World Finals.
Upcoming Matches:
December 11, 2007 – 2nd night of Quarterfinals
7:00 PST Chicago Chimera vs. Stockholm Magnetik
8:30 PST Singapore Sword vs. Birmingham Salvo
www.thecgs.com
Fans can sign up for free tickets at Hollywood Tickets
Results from December 10:
| TEAM SCORE Berlin Allianz 25, Mexico City Furia 21 |
|
|---|---|
| DoA Male | |
| El Divino Xmas (Israel Navidad) | (Mex) 5 |
| The Tactical (Rudolf Fischer) | (Ber) 4 |
| DoA Female | |
| Hitomi1 (Mirlet Delgadillo) | (Mex) 5 |
| Liejfe (Livia Terrnstra) | (Ber) 0 |
| FIFA | |
| Manyna (Rostyslav Nedoviz) | (Ber) 4 |
| Zerocero (Ruben Morales Zerocero) | (Mex) 1 |
| PGR | |
| Electroflow (Juan Pablo Garcia) | (Mex) 1st (5pts) |
| LYggdrasiL (Philippe Vaillant) | (Ber) 2nd (3pts) |
| Ufo-79ern (Mauricio Sierra) | (Mex) 3rd (1pt) |
| Finpro (Erno Kuronen) | (Ber) 4th (0pt) |
| Counter-Strike | |
| Allianz | (Ber) 14 |
| Furia | (Mex) 4 |
| TEAM SCORE Carolina Core 28, London Mint 15 |
|
| DoA Male | |
| OffbeatNinja (Ryan Ward) | (Car) 5 |
| Paddaman (Avtar Padda) | (Lon) 1 |
| DoA Female | |
| Mystik (Katherine Gunn) | (Car) 5 |
| Snuggles (Kathy Zablotzky) | (Lon) 2 |
| FIFA | |
| PeeKay (Nicholas Depalmer) | (Car) 3 |
| ChrisyB (Chris Bullard) | (Lon) 1 |
| PGR | |
| NT 101 (Nick Townsend) | (Lon) 1st (5pts) |
| Rex (Brent Dimapilis) | (Car) 2nd (3pts) |
| Phantom (Joe Tackett) | (Car) 3rd (1pt) |
| Stune (Steven Embling) | (Lon) 4th (0pt) |
| Counter-Strike | |
| Core | (Car) 11 |
| Mint | (Lon) 6 |
Filed under: CGS, eSports, gaming | Tags: CGS, Counter-Strike:Source, DirecTV, DoA4, eSports, FIFA, gaming, PC, PGR3, Video Games, Xbox360
CGS World Finals Results
December 7, 2007
With solid game play from the entire lineup, Carolina Core defeated Seoul Jinwha in commanding fashion with a 36-15 final score. Enthusiastic fans at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, CA witnessed CGS history as a strong Core team secured the largest margin of victory to date, scoring 21 points more than Jinwha.
Following the match, Carolina GM Mark Dolven commented on the performance of his lineup. “Everyone on the team played amazing today, everyone did their job, just like we talked about. Every single person needed to step up and they all did.”
With the first round of CGS World Final matches coming to a close, Carolina Core, Stockholm Magnetik and Birmingham Salvo have defeated their opponents with strong play from all team members. First round winners will move on to the quarterfinals where they will square off against the CGS regional winners from across the world. While Core, Magnetik and Salvo are one step closer to a share of $1,000,000, the road will not be easy as five more talented teams eagerly wait to show off their gaming skills in the quarterfinals of the Championship Gaming Series World Finals.
Upcoming Matches:
December 8, 2007 – Live webcast on thecgs.com
9:00am-1:00pm PST World of Warcraft 2v2 Arena
December 9, 2007 – Live webcast on thecgs.com
12:00pm-6:00pm PST Individual World Finals
December 10, 2007 – Quarterfinals
7:00 PST London Mint vs. Carolina Core
8:30 PST Berlin Allianz vs. Mexico City
www.thecgs.com
Fans can sign up for free tickets at Hollywood Tickets
Results from December 7:
| TEAM SCORE Carolina Core 36, Seoul Jinwha 15 |
|
|---|---|
| DoA Male | |
| OffbeatNinja (Ryan Ward) | (Car) 5 |
| Sarafan (Yong Hyeon Baek) | (Seo) 2 |
| DoA Female | |
| Mystik (Katherine Gunn) | (Car) 5 |
| pure0528 (Yeon Hee Jeong) | (Seo) 1 |
| FIFA | |
| unlimited (Gwan Hyeong Kim) | (Car) 6 |
| Peekay (Nicholas Depalmer) | (Car) 5 |
| PGR | |
| Phantom (Joe Tackett) | (Car) 1st (5pts) |
| ReX (Brent Dimapilis) | (Car) 2nd (3pts) |
| Hikaru (Su Kyung Kang) | (Seo) 3rd (1pt) |
| Yoon (Sung Yoon Kang) | (Seo) 4th (0pt) |
| Counter-Strike | |
| Core | (Car) 12 |
| Jinwha | (Seo) 6 |
Filed under: CGS, eSports, gaming | Tags: , CGS, Counter-Strike:Source, DirecTV, DoA4, FIFA, gaming eSports, PC, PGR3, Video Games, Xbox360
CGS World Finals Results
December 6, 2007
With a surprising 3-0 win in FIFA and a commanding win in Counter-Strike, the Birmingham Salvo team became the first team to advance at the CGS World Finals as they defeated the Rio Sinistro 30-16, before a boisterous crowd at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, CA.
Prior to the match, the confident Birmingham Salvo General Manager, Michael “ODEE” O’Dell anticipated the teams large margin of victory stating that, “If everything goes to plan we should have a big win.”
With wins in four of the five matches, only losing in Project Gotham Racing by a small margin, Stockholm Magnetik defeated Sydney Underground 27-20, progressing on to the Quarterfinals in the CGS World Finals.
Despite the 7 point margin in the final score, the score remained close going into the DoA female match until strong play from Sophie “Miss” Breton secured the win with a 5-2 final score.
The first night of the CGS World Finals has proven that there is a very talented pool of players, itching for a portion of the $1,000,000 prize purse and the chance to call themselves the first ever CGS World Champions. However, with two experienced American teams, Chicago Chimera and Carolina Core awaiting their opponents in the Quarterfinals, every team will need to remained focused as both Core and Chimera are favored by many to be the dominant teams in the tournament. Carolina Core will see its first match since losing in the Region 1 finals, as they face off against the Seoul Jinwha on December 7.
Next Match on December 7, 2007
7:00 PST Carolina Core vs. Seoul Jinhwa
www.thecgs.com
Fans can sign up for free tickets: http://www.hollywoodtickets.com/ShowPages/ChampionshipGamingseries.asp
Results from December 6:
| TEAM SCORE Birmingham Salvo 30, Rio Sinistro 16 |
|
|---|---|
| DoA Male | |
| Messy (Mingzhi Deng) | (Birm) 5 |
| SnaKejorge (Jorge Alberto Zavala Gudino) | (Rio) 2 |
| DoA Female | |
| Yo Succubus (Barrera Gallegos Alma Adriana) | (Rio) 5 |
| Ricochet (Samantha Whale) | (Birm) 4 |
| FIFA | |
| Bazza (Michael Barrett) | (Birm) 3 |
| Davisso (David Ernesto Pineda Garcia) | (Rio) 0 |
| PGR | |
| NeoJake (Jason Holmes) | (Birm) 1st (5pts) |
| LegitRacer (Luis Ibarra) | (Rio) 2nd (3pts) |
| Daveyskills (David Kelly) | (Birm) 3rd (1pt) |
| M3talX (Francisco Alberto Gómez Alegría) | (Rio) 4th (0pt) |
| Counter-Strike | |
| Salvo | (Birm) 12 |
| Sinistro | (Rio) 6 |
| TEAM SCORE Stockholm Magnetik 27, Sydney Underground 20 |
|
| DoA Male | |
| Neji (Aissani Meziane) | (Sto) 5 |
| Berzerk! (Daniel Chlebowczyk) | (Syd) 3 |
| DoA Female | |
| Miss (Sophie Breton) | (Sto) 5 |
| Monkey kong (Georgina Matthews) | (Syd) 2 |
| FIFA | |
| Chud1k (Volodymyr Nedoviz) | (Sto) 4 |
| Haroutig10 (Harout Atachparian) | (Syd) 1 |
| PGR | |
| Cam (James Davey) | (Syd) 1st (5pts) |
| MadneSS (Tomas Thorsell) | (Sto) 2nd (3pts) |
| Morpo (Dale Baker) | (Syd) 3rd (1pt) |
| Kinetic (Mark Kenny) | (Sto) 4th (0pt) |
| Counter-Strike | |
| Magnetik | (Sto) 10 |
| Underground | (Syd) 8 |
Filed under: gaming | Tags: , gaming, Guitar Hero III, music, Rock Band, Technology, Xbox360
The following is an article I wrote (October 30, 2007) for the , a blog about recent trends in Youth, Mobile, Marketing and Media.
– – –
Two new music video games are giving rock-star wannabes a chance to live their fantasies. Building on the success of the first Guitar Hero, both Activision’s Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Harmonix’s Rock Band will go head to head in stores this holiday season.
The participatory nature of both games and their departure from a standard shoot ‘em up game model should contribute to their success with both casual gamers and non-gamers. Developers hope to reach the hard-core gamers, but the profitability of these games relies heavily upon the larger casual demographic. Research by Activision found that first-time players account for 20% of Guitar Hero’s users. While Guitar Hero III and Rock Band will ultimately be available on all four main consoles (Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox360 and Wii), reaching new gamers is the main goal of expanding to Wii, which already reigns in the casual game market.
Both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band are thought to be party games, spawning multiplayer duels played both online and offline. The games run pre-recorded rock classics like Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” and Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow”, and players score points by singing, strumming or drumming the correct notes and rhythms. For instance, the guitars are equipped with fret buttons and a strum bar which both need to be hit in order to play a note. The more notes you hit consecutively with the correct rhythm, the more points you gain on your rock meter.
Guitar Hero III’s new features significantly improve upon the multiplayer action of its earlier versions by including co-op career mode, where players can face off against real musicians like Slash from Guns N’ Roses and Tom Morella from Rage Against the Machine. A battle mode has also been included, which allows rockers to gain attacks by hitting correct notes that may then be used against other players (such as the dreaded “lefty flip”).
Rock Band attempts to outdo Guitar Hero III by creating the full-on band experience. Instead of just a guitar controller, it provides a microphone, guitar, bass and drums. The game will also launch simultaneously with Rockband.com, a social networking site that will feature band pages, classifieds, leaderboards, blogs, forums and more. Think of it as MySpace for your fake band.
With a price tag of approximately $90 for both the game and a guitar, Guitar Hero III is more pricey than a normal console game, which runs for about $50. However, the cost is relatively low compared to Rock Band which runs $160 for the game, guitar, drum set and microphone. It’s also worth noting that while Rock Band is meant to be a 4-person game, the package fails to include the second guitar to act as the bass. The casual gamer may not be intrigued enough to form a full band for a higher price, when Guitar Hero III is available.
Regardless of how these two games fare against each other, it will be interesting to see how the video game industry reacts to the growing popularity of interactive music gaming and how first-time gamers respond to the latest incarnations. Now grab your plastic axes and rock on!
– Heather Mumm
The following is an article I wrote (October 15, 2007) for the Next Great Thing, a blog about recent trends in Youth, Mobile, Marketing and Media.
– – –
This fall season might be a dream come true for video game enthusiasts. Just when gamers thought Halo 3 couldn’t be topped, Valve debuts The Orange Box, an exciting five-game collection that includes the second installment of another fascinating historic videogame trilogy. Half-Life 2: Episode 2, the much-anticipated follow-up to the Half-Life: Episode series founded from the hugely successful original Half-Life, is bundled together with an assortment of quality First-Person-Shooter (FPS) games based off of the Half-Life 2 engine.
The Orange Box is already beating out Halo 3 and Bioshock in reviews. Metacritic, a site that complies critics’ ranting and raving for gaming and other entertainment, gave the collection 
an average score of 98/100—its second highest ranking for a game ever.
While The Orange Box’s $60 price tag may seem a tad bit expensive, the quantity as well as the quality of this package is well worth the price tag. The set comes with five different games: Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and its predecessors, Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1, as well two other new titles, Portal and Team Fortress 2. The graphics in all of these games are top-notch and the assortment of games provides for hours of gaming with a new adventure in each game.
First released in the late ‘90’s, the Half-Life series takes gamers on a combat journey through an alien-inhabited Earth. Players are not only eager to fight off the aliens but the compelling story line can attribute to the heightened anticipation of the game. Sounds pretty similar to the alien-fighting trilogy of Halo 3, right? Well, The Orange Box doesn’t stop there.
Portal includes innovative features including a requirement that players manipulate maps or layouts at each level of the game, instead of simply accepting developers’ plans.
Finally, the collection focuses on multiplayer online gaming with Team Fortress 2, the sequel to the old Team Fortress Classic, which many consider the first popular team action game. New weapons, new levels, improved team play and best of all, beautiful graphics that truly emphasize the power of the Half-Life 2 engine give TF2 the credibility to be the next hit in competitive team gaming.
So while Halo 3 delivers an action-packed alien fighting adventure, The Orange Box looks capable of providing that same adventure, plus much more, as it may just become the hottest game (or games!) this year!
–Heather Mumm
The following is an article I wrote (October 1, 2007) for the Next Great Thing, a blog about recent trends in Youth, Mobile, Marketing and Media:
This past weekend the Javits Center in New York City was host to Digital Life 2007, one of the largest technology conventions in the world. What sets this one apart from others is access. Anyone can go. The exhibits were catered to people of all ages, hobbies and level of experience in technology. Several thousand attendees came on Friday, hoping to be the first in line to try out the latest technologies and to collect the free tech swag. We were no exception.
Here were some of the highlights from our trip around the exhibition floor:
- Movie addicts found their niche in the HD DVD exhibit which displayed the newest in High Definition television,
projection and DVD technologies for an at-home theater experience.
- In the Reactrix display, children jumped around on images of footballs and airplanes projected on the floor which moved by the touch of a foot.
- On-the-go businessmen and women were introduced to the latest in wireless computing, internet and phone technologies from Motorola and Sprint.
- The eBay University hosted several tutorials for those wanting to make the best of their eBay experience, a good majority of the exhibits, including HP, Dell and NERO held demonstrations of the newest products to show their use to even the most inexperienced tech-user.
- Much of the event was specifically designed to appeal to gamers. Along with several professional video game tournaments, vendors also displayed their latest gaming gadgets. The Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero 3 exhibits were packed with hundreds of people eager to step on stage to show off their rhythm.
For those needing a little bit more of an adrenaline rush, Intel had two life-sized Indy racing cars, equipped with LCD monitors, to view the track as you race against your opponent with the real car as your game controller.
– Heather Mumm
Filed under: gaming | Tags: gaming, Halo, NGT, Technology, Video Games, Xbox360
The following is an article I wrote (September 26, 2007) for the Next Great Thing, a blog about recent trends in Youth, Mobile, Marketing and Media:
As one of the most highly anticipated video game releases of all time, Halo 3 has created a multi-billion-dollar franchise, surpassing over 1.25 million in pre-orders 
and predicted to compete with first week sales of the much anticipated book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” as well as blockbuster movie “Spiderman III”. The game itself is a narrative, following Master Chief in the year 2552 as he hopes to save humanity. But why all the hype? Sure, it’s the conclusion to one of the greatest video game trilogies of all time. Everyone is eager to know…will our hero Master Chief survive? But besides the desire for closure of the six year drawn out story, does Halo 3 really offer a video game revolution?
Halo 3 is made for the XBOX 360, Microsoft’s latest console platform. The system provides for phenomenal 3D-animations and graphics and Halo 3 uses the platform to its fullest. Especially in the ideal setting using a High-Definition TV, which the 360 is designed for, the graphics easily supersede Halo 2, taking full advantage of the 360’s capabilities. But then again, so does a game like Gears of War, also on XBOX 360. Consequently, the graphics don’t necessarily make this title a groundbreaking feat in next generation games.
As a first-person shooter, gamers expect to have a good assortment of weapons that are powerful and exciting to use. Most gamers know that in video games the bigger the gun, the more powerful it is. No one wants to use a pistol when they can use a rocket launcher. Once again, Halo 3 delivers as a wider variety of weapons are available, larger, more powerful and even graphically appeared better equipped on Master Chief than in previous versions of Halo. But this is to be expected of a sequel. The most talked about new weapon in Halo 3 is the self-shooting turret. However, gamers can find this same ‘cool’ weapon in the new and also anticipated PC game, Team Fortress 2. Creators failed to implement any revolutionary weapons or gadgets unheard of in other video games, to fight off the aliens.
Also receiving much hype is the improved multiplayer portion of the game. The Halo series is no stranger to multiplayer online games, as Halo 2 was the most-played XBOX Live game for years. Halo 3 allows players more control of the online setting. The Forge allows players to customize existing maps and saving it in a manner that will allow online users to download and play on it. Furthermore, online games can be replayed, recorded or screenshotted then saved for download by other users. While XBOX Live subscriptions are sure to increase, these features are not much different from PC games offered by Valve or Blizzard which allow a vast amount of customization and recording features.
Improved graphics, new weapons, more multiplayer features and a compelling closure to the story all help to bring the Halo trilogy to an exciting end as well as make for a great game. Even though the action-packed conclusion to the Halo series has left millions of fanboys and fangirls satisfied, gamers will still have to wait for the game that will truly grasp the power of next-generation consoles. In the meantime, four college students have figured out how to utilize the power of next-gen consoles in a way other than through video games. Even without the help of Master Chief, they designed a way to map the human brain with a cluster of PlayStation 3’s.
–Heather Mumm
Well, I decided to take up Photoshoping – something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. Sal and I went to Borders where we spent some time looking at books about Photoshop CS3.
Heres a few graphics I’ve created so far…they are anything but stunning but it was my first day and my first attemptt learning the program.
First, the banner on my website..I created that, with a little help from Sal. I also took the photo myself!
Nebula Texture
Neon Lights Texture
Fireball
Chrome
Stars
Outline
Gel
One free taco from Taco Bell courtesy of Jacoby Ellsbury from the Boston Red Sox.
Head to your nearest Taco Bell on October 30, 2007 between 2:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.
Taken from MSNBC :
Many Americans will be wagering on this week’s baseball World Series. For Taco Bell, the stakes are a free taco for everyone in the United States.
The fast-food chain on Monday unveiled a promotion it is calling “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco,” which will run through the best-of-seven matchup.
Along with the promotion, a $20,000 donation will be made to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in the name of the first player who steals a base in the 2007 MLB World Series.
Enjoy that yummy taco. Also the (most likely) very long wait in line to get your Taco that probably costs around 59 cents!
hmumm.wordpress.com 