The Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships

QuakeCon 2008 will mark the debut of the first-ever Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships pro tournament. QUAKE LIVE is id Software’s new game created to deliver the excitement and energy of a first-person multiplayer game to a broader audience through a free and easily accessible browser-based experience. The Intel QUAKE LIVE Championships will feature a classic $12,500 One Versus One tournament along with a $12,500 Capture the Flag Team Tournament.

The Activision Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Team Championships

Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars™ makes its second annual tournament appearance with the Activision Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Team Championships. Featuring competitions on both PC and for the first time on Xbox 360, the tournament contests will enlist six-person teams to battle it out in double-elimination bracket-style competitive play, in which each squad will have the chance to attack and defend. On the Windows PC side, 16 teams will compete for $15,000 in prize money and in the Xbox 360 competition, eight teams will vie for $10,000 in prizes.

The Alienware Quick-Draw Challenge

For anyone who’s dreamed of competing for prize money on the QuakeCon main stage, the Alienware Quick-Draw Challenge offers $10,000 in prize money to randomly selected attendees competing in special QUAKE LIVE competitions throughout the course of the event.

In addition to their prize money, the top 2 finalists and teams in each of the above competitive tournament events will also be given tickets to the previously announced “QuakeCon Ultimate Power Up” raffle contest, sponsored by Ventrilo, for the brand new 2008 Corvette. Additional raffle tickets and eligibility will be subject to contest rules.

“QuakeCon 2008 will be the grand slam of competitive gaming with the best games and an amazing prize list,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “We’ve partnered with our sponsors this year to bring the top competitive players what they want most: skill based games, top money prizes, the most enthusiastic fans and audience and the world’s best Finals party!”

More information, including map names, prize money distribution, detailed format and rules, and sign-ups for both tournaments will be available soon at www.quakecon.org.

QuakeCon Ultimate Power Up Rules:

QuakeCon 2008 registered attendees who are 18 years of age and older AND are legal residents of the United States, its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia are eligible to participate. No purchase necessary. 250 raffle tickets will be distributed throughout the event. Additional information about contest rules, eligibility and requirements will be available at www.quakecon.org.

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Mayor Tom Leppert, 53, made sweet sweet love to his main axe with "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," craning the guitar neck up and grimacing dramatically. Sure he handed it off to his 11-year-old "personal Guitar Hero coach" Aaron Blackmon mid-song. But Leppert got it back to drop to his knees for the big finish.

"I might not have hit the keys, but boy I sure got the style points," Leppert said. Aaron says the mayor is "good for his level," (ouch) but that he shouldn't play Guitar Hero as a career.

"The heck with this mayor stuff," Leppert replied.

Leppert was matched against Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes, whom Leppert accused of practicing for "hours and hours" to get "School's Out" right. When Keyes started his licks, Leppert stuffed $5 bills in his guitar strap and half-heartedly interfered with the guitar's signal back to the console.

The fund-raiser hopes to raise $625,000 for the mayor's "Igniting Opportunity for the Children of Dallas Campaign." This is part of leadership, too — having fun at an event that's supposed to be fun. Good on Mayor Leppert.

Dallas Mayor Leppert Jams at Blockbuster Charity Event [Dallas Morning News, via GamePolitics]

You know what it's like. You get in a rhythm, you can't stop playing, you continue. Until the back of your eyes hurt. So, take a Nintendo fanboy, add forty-three liters of Mr. Pibb, mix 16 hours of Super Mario Bros. and you get one seriously delusional gamer. (That, and a spirited, fun video.) Brian Ashcraft

Handsome Tom from game site ScrewAttack made a wager if the Dallas Mavericks were defeated by the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, he'd blow up his Xbox. Well the Mavs tanked, and Handsome Tom held true to his word.

Funny, I'm from Dallas and didn't even know the Mavs were in the Finals. I didn't even know the Finals were going on. Thanks ScrewAttack for making me feel totally unconnected with my birthplace and like I have been in Japan way too long. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [ScrewAttack]

Yesterday, Metro's Robert Summa let us know he'd received an email, saying the cancelled CPL World Tour was not cancelled. No no no, the tour was still on. Robert fired back an email to the PR peeps and asked what the deal was. The reply? Read on:

The CPL is not cancelled. The season will commence in August. CPL will announce the 2006 schedule in mid-June and the Dallas Winter Championships will conclude the season in December.

Hope this helps explain things, stay tuned for more news later.

Neither a silver bullet or the organization's founder can kill it. The CPL lives! It lives!!!

CPL [Official Site]

"It's always been a risky kind of market to look at." (Patrick) Hudson admits. "And then you see WoW come out, and turn the industry on its head, and you start to reevaluate. 'Wait a minute, there's a true business case out for a game like this.'"

"Maybe it's not crazy to go spend thirty or forty million bucks to actually make one of these things." Hudson points out, "At some point, they'll get tired of WoW and want to play something else."

"We haven't settled on anything," Hudson cautions. "It's safe to say we won't be chasing the fantasy genre. It seems like there are so many coming out. [We're] still pretty far out from even thinking of taking that prototype to a greenlight phase."

As for monthly subscription fees: "Yeah, I think that's the business model we mostly believe in," Hudson says. "There could be things that come along and change our mind, but there's a lot of people trying different things... If anything, WoW is charging too little, not too much."

WoW is either going to destroy the MMO market or spur it to greater heights, I'm sorta leaning toward the latter.

Ensemble Goes MMO [Blue's News]