– It’s a Team Fortress 2 bonanza! Yes, it’s finally here, although by this point I’ve forgotten what the fuss is all about. On the timeline of late-arriving games, TF2 rates ahead of Duke Nukem Forever, but far, far behind StarCraft 2 and CSPromod. And both of those aren’t even out yet: they’ve got move-down potential. If you’re picking up the game, here’s a helpful strategy tip (with some cursing) from Penny Arcade. Once you’ve read that, you're surely ready to play, which is good because the ESL already has a league up and running. For a beta. Does anybody remember what Source looked like as a beta game? I can’t wait to see what fun and interesting bugs are found. If you’re not ready for a league yet, or you’re just testing the waters, here are some servers from GameRail and GotFrag, and a game review by GF, as well.
– Apparently the names of the Region Two and Region Three CGS franchises have been leaked. That’s not too surprising, but there’s a very interesting article on sk-gaming that gives us a look into how the CGS reacted to the leak, namely by asking that the websites take down that information and offering some kind of compensation from the CGS. The messages on the site could be easily faked, but I don’t think that’s the case. As a side note, one of the franchise names is allegedly going to be the “London Mint”. I think that’s setting a dangerous precedent. Through karma, aren’t we basically ensuring that they’ll wildly overspend any budget they’re given? If we renamed the New York Yankees the “New York Mint”, I’d guarantee a payroll of $300,000,000. Just something to watch for. (And I’ve learned my lesson: be quicker next time, and maybe the CGS will offer me something!)
– The drafts for Region Two and Three are almost over, and here’s a list of the gamers that made the cut so far. For the CSS picks, it was strange to see fnatic left off the list in favor of EYEballers and NoA. NoA finished third in the combine behind the other two teams, and fnatic beat them in the Lower Bracket Finals. Fnatic only lost twice during the tournament, both times it was 8-10 against EYE. Just from the results, I would have gone with fnatic, but “bsL” has been around the block a couple times. Maybe he saw something that didn’t show up in the scores.
– inRage was one of the draft hopefuls for Region 2, but their trip didn’t go as planned. Kat Hunter from the SF Optx has a good interview up with GinXTY about what happened during the event, and some insights into the teams and how well they played. Hopefully inRage can learn from their mistakes, they’re still a great team, and if they keep their heads up, I’m sure we’ll see them in competition for a CGS spot again.
– On one hand, I understand why the CPL getting licenses for Valve games is a big deal. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s the huge news people make it out to be. From what I can tell, this isn’t a broadcasting license. They’re not going to put all this stuff on TV, they’re just allowed to use it at the CPL. Judging from the reaction, people are confused about this, and frankly, it’s making me confused. But there wasn’t any broadcasting announcement as part of this, so I’m inclined to believe it’s just a deal to continue using the games at CPL events. Which is still big news, but it’s not like they’re going to be on DirecTV next week.
– The Last Resort might be the most surprising team in CEVO-P. They’re 6-3 despite playing in a league with the six CGS teams and plenty of CGS Taxi teams. And now they’ve picked up Chris "deppy" DePaul, formerly of EFG. He’s a top Source player, and considering their good start, it wouldn’t be surprising to see TLR go deep in the playoffs at the end of the season. I'm not predicting anything, but you can be sure they're getting a bump in the pwnage rankings soon.
