Kotaku
UK-based tournament.com has announced a deal with Valve Software to be the provider for play-for-cash/skill-based tournaments for Half-Life 2 and Counter-strike, following two formats: "a 6 player tournament where players each put in $3.60 and an $18 pot is split between the three top finishers" and "an open, continuous tournament where players win $1 if they kill someone and lose $1 if they are killed ...."
PlayNoEvil has an interesting analysis up on the potential problems with this format - and points out that cheating gets a whole new purpose: "Cheating is different when money is involved. While hackers may share cheats for these games in online forums when it is 'just for fun'. The rules change once money is involved. The value of attacking the game goes from being an ego-boost to money in your pocket."
