Socrates would have to get totally naked in front of the Quake 4 final crowd to put on his shirt so I let him off.

Purri gets ready to accept a [+]

g0d-Missy poses with the ESR t-shirt.

zr0, Fnatic manager, shows how excited he is about this CPL event.

Another blast from the past, SLK from Mexico is here taking photos with the biggest camera of the event.

I put my camera in the wrong mode while trying to take the first photo of Zaccubus and Gellehsak hanging out in the BYOC area of the event, but it looks a little crazy-cool anyway.

I try to explain this to Zaccubus and he does his careface for me.

The Fnatic guys arrive at the Hyatt after their long flight, here's Purri putting on a happy face for the camera.

Madfraga, Immortal, Socrates. It's just like old times for me seeing these guys back at the Hyatt for a CPL event.

This was our first view of the Hyatt Regency on the journey from DFW airport.

All players queued up to register for their tournaments and pick their seeding.

Photos from the CPL Winter Event 2005, held at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.

Having failed to buy a bag of the correct size, I had to resort to a drill and a visit to the hardware shop.

Who needs sound when you're KILLER.

DSC00251.jpg

Falcon and DevilMC watching Missy and Trito play.

This is where Fatal1ty, Stermy and Purri were holding shootouts for prizes.

Oh he's gonna kill me...

Getting ready to play.

Tim was from VIA technologies, sponsoring the g0d shootout booth.

<3

Doing some shoutcasting?

Help me!

No prizes, kthx.

Someone sent me JDOG's mobile phone pics, so I have uploaded the photos here - I hope he doesn't mind! He has the same phone as me so these photos put me to shame.

"Five sugars won't even dissolve in a mug of coffee", I say.

"That's the best part, at the end when you're just drinking syrup", she replies.

The last day of dreamhack and we're all sitting in the lobby trying not to fall asleep, having stayed up until 8am to watch the final matches.

Leifje is wearing the hat, but Fat looks like the cowboy. Howdy Pardner!

Hmm what does Carmac spy with his little eye. And where is Carmac's gallery. All these questions and more will be answered soon.

There's some sort of story that goes with the hedgehog. I don't remember it, however.

On the other side of the room J-Dog tried to steal Purri's jeans, while Liefje and Prozac watch on. This was probably just after Ms.X stopped him from taking on the security guy who had just visited for the 6th time telling us to keep the noise down.

See there's a whole story accompanying these photos, but it may never be told. Oh unless Redeye uploads the movie...

Just to prove how hard this is, here is the photo Daishi took of anouc and I.

On the second night we headed to a Jonkoping club called Central. It was very dark so my phone has a one second shutter or so. This makes it hard to take photos. Anyway I told Anouc to stay still, but it took three attempts to get a decent pic. Or is it like the people that have seen that film? And someone phones and tells you that you'll die in seven days.

Never fails to deliver...

I couldn't get my hands on the camera in time, so my only photos from DreamHack are taken with my mobile phone. Unfortunately I can only get sharp photos with good light on this thing, so the result is some very blurry pictures.

If that hasn't put you off, click on for a few photos showing the kind of weird and wonderful things going on during DreamHack Winter 2005.

Gametype: Trick
Map: Over the Edge
Mod: N/A
Viewpoint: Sujoy
Version info: Retail
How to play back Q4 demos


After reading some forum posts I spent some time practicing jumps to get to the box armour and megahealth on Edge. So here it is, a two-jump to armour on the boxes, possible from both entrances opposite the stairs.

I expect other people may have already managed this, so I'm not trying to take credit. I saw an avi where someone used a circle jump, followed by a strafe jump then the slide and ramp jump, but this is much simpler. I also don't like the idea of making an avi, it gives the impression that you've been recording a long demo for hours and just spliced the good bits together!

My technique here is to use one circle jump for the initial speed burst so I'm turning the mouse for the first jump. Then I go into crouch just before landing which triggers the slide. While sliding I hold forward and right strafe to turn the player momentum around the other way, then lift crouch and jump quickly at the right moment. There's a fair bit of tolerance. If you time it right you can easily hit your head on the ceiling, or even go flying past the armour without landing.

Gametype: N/A
Map: N/A
Mod: N/A
Version info: Retail
How to play back Q4 demos


Trickjumps, I guess.

View Coverage: CPL Winter05
Organiser: The CPL
Website: http://www.thecpl.com/winter2005/
Location: Dallas, Texas
Duration: 14 Dec 2005 to 18 Dec 2005

The CPL® Winter Championships 2005 will take place Wednesday, December 14 to Sunday, December 18, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Dallas.

Event attractions include: computer game tournaments, exhibition area, BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer), workshops, raffles and more.

The two main tournaments will be a $60,000 Counter-Strike event, and $30,000 Quake 4 tournament.

I've been considering going to the CPL Sheffield tournament, weighing up the pros and cons. I have a bad feeling about this event. For one thing it's in Sheffield, and I think it reflects badly on eSports to hold a major event in a place where journalists aren't going to visit it; the UK press are notorious for not travelling more than stumbling distance out of their office. Hell, even I'm hesitant to make the journey and I love gaming events. But who knows, maybe there's a master plan up CPL's sleeve to herd journalists out of London and 200 miles up the M1. We'll have to wait and see.

Then on the plus side, the Painkiller players are pretty much guaranteed to attend so there will be loads of familiar faces there. Also I'm pretty certain there'll be plenty of poker going on and I wouldn't mind playing with some new faces. Finally I did all those upgrades to the ESR gallery so I'd quite like to get a CPL Sheffield gallery up.

Yes that's convinced me, I'm going. Now I just have to find a camera. Dom took my good Sony on holiday with him. I might be able to borrow my Dad's D100 if I can convince him I won't lose it. I have a tendency to leave digital cameras in a Dennys for some reason (happened twice already). Thankfully the chance of finding a Dennys in Sheffield is quite low so I think I'm safe.

So who else is going to CPL Sheffield. Oh and which hotel are people staying in? There are two listed on the website, I don't want to be at the wrong one!

Some quick links to change themes in the new ESR:

Retro XSR *Internet Explorer ONLY* (In progress)
http://www.esreality.com/?a=changecss&new...;newmenu=1

Bootes Quake 4 theme:
http://www.esreality.com/?a=changecss&new...;newmenu=0

Quake 4 theme fixed for IE
http://www.esreality.com/?a=changecss&new...;newmenu=0

sh4un's PINK theme:
http://www.esreality.com/?a=changecss&new...;newmenu=0

The $50,000.00 Doom 3 final between fnatic.gopher and Rocketboy from QuakeCon 2005 has now been converted to a movie file for those of us that don't have the game installed. The file can be downloaded directly from the Fnatic website and weighs in at 250MB.

To download the movie from Fnatic, you have to be registered on their website.

Gametype: Duel
Map: ztn3tourney1 - Blood Run
Mod: N/A
Viewpoint: Both
How to play back Q3 demos


The all g0d finals of QuakeCon 2005's Inaugural Quake III Arena Ms. QuakeCon Championship. This is map 2 of 2, with Missy taking on Ms.X for the first place prize of $15,000.

Gametype: Duel
Map: pro-q3dm6 - Campgrounds
Mod: N/A
Viewpoint: Both
How to play back Q3 demos


The all g0d finals of QuakeCon 2005's Inaugural Quake III Arena Ms. QuakeCon Championship. This is map 1 of 2, with Missy taking on Ms.X for the first place prize of $15,000.

Purri was probably one of my favorite people i've ever met at a LAN. He has alot of really great stories and is a seasoned and wise veteran gamer. He has a good heart too. His Q2 community pitched in together and funded his trip to QuakeCon, and he says that he is going to take the money he won and pay them back first and foremost, a trule chivalerous man. I salute you, Michal.

Anyone remember Machinima? Well they're here!

Machinima are a company that make films using game engines. They released something for Quake 1 ages ago where you could watch the whole movie in-game. These days they use Neverwinter Nights as their engine and create movie files instead, but it's still pretty interesting.

The original eSports reporter is here aswell. Hugh "Nomad" Hancock used to run a UK eSports site back in 1996 where he reported on Quake/Quakeworld action on his site, News from the Front.

A PS2 karaoke game. Thankfully we're not close enough to hear the singing.

Looks pretty nice.

This is basically a game show-style game for the PS2. You get a controller with 4 buttons to select one of the mutliple-choice answers, and a big red buzzer for the rounds where you have to buzz in to answer. All the questions are music based. For example in the first round they play an intro to a song and you have to pick out the name of the song or artist. The different rounds have loads of different types of questions all based on music.

I'll probably buy a Playstation just so I can play this at home.

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OMG this game rules. We pretty much left the IGUK stand empty and played this all day.

Pretty standard.

Another angle.

Console gaming *sigh*.

Well at least they put some effort in!

... consists of 3 TV's looping a DVD of game footage. Oh you can pick up a free DVD of game footage also while you're there. BONUS.

View from my hotel window.

A few photos from the EIEF at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It's not a particularly good set of pictures but it does give me an excuse to take photos of the Xbox girls.

All photos take on my phone (forgot to bring a camera).

View Coverage: QCon 05
Website: http://www.quakecon.org/
Location: Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine, Texas
Duration: 11 Aug 2005 to 14 Aug 2005

QuakeCon is a free convention held every year in the Dallas, TX area. Thousands of computer gamers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to play with their friends on a giant gaming network, see the latest cool technology, and compete in a world-class tournament. Though mostly volunteer run, QuakeCon is sponsored by id Software, makers of the immensely popular Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein series of games. While the convention celebrates these games in particular, it is really a huge party for fans of computer gaming in general… from the hobbyist to the hardcore.
Often described as the Woodstock of gaming, QuakeCon is "4 Days of Peace, Love, and Rockets".

Imagine a room with rows and rows of computers full of people playing all kinds of multiplayer games. Noise, explosions, people yelling at each other and having a great time! The next room is full of booths where companies showcase their newest and upcoming games and hardware. Close by is the main tournament, where hundreds of the most talented players from around the world compete for cash and prizes. In other rooms there are conferences with people talking about the future of gaming and other topics of interest to the gaming community.

No other event is quite like QuakeCon.

July-September 2005 of ESR virtual betting is sponsored by Corepad, the person with the most E$ on 30 Sep will win a Corepad Magna, Corepad Skatez, a Corepad Wristband, a Logitech MX510, and a Sennheiser PC150. Read the ESR Corepad review for more information on this great mouse surface.

ESReality virtual betting is now running in 3-month seasons thanks to the efforst of Bootes and other admins, with prizes at the end of each season. On 30 June, the person with the most E$ will win a Corepad Magna Blue for their efforts and a set of Corepad Skatez Pro.

It doesn't end there, however! Corepad are offering up a whole load more goodies for next season beginning 1 July.

Insert humourous caption here.

White men can jump, by pressing A.

Ok, I don't know their names...

The top 8 people (those that clocked up the most wins) go through to a straight single-elim knockout bracket.

No mice here...

Various people trying to qualify.

Winner-stays-on style qualifying for this tournament, with 4 stations and players called in order of number to come challenge whichever person has just won a game.

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Part of the first floor of the gaming centre. People hanging around waiting for the Tekken to kick off.

Harrowlife is my gaming centre, here's the front in Harrow town centre. We've got an Internet cafe on the ground floor, the gaming centre on the first floor and offices on the second floor.

On Saturday 26th March, Oli and nEo Empire held a Tekken 5 Fighting Legends tournament at HarrowArena (my gaming centre). Here are photos from the day.

View Coverage: E3 2005
Website: http://www.e3expo.com
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Duration: 17 May 2005 to 21 May 2005

OVERVIEW
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), "Where Business Gets Fun," is the world's leading trade event exclusively dedicated to showcasing interactive entertainment and educational software and related products. E3 2005, kicks off at the Los Angeles Convention Center May 18 - 20. Conferences are held May 17 - 19 and the show floor is open May 18 - 20.

The industry's annual focal point, E3 draws tens of thousands of industry professionals to experience the future of interactive entertainment. The industry's most influential people leading the most innovative companies come to this event to showcase groundbreaking new technologies and never-before-seen products for computers, video game consoles, handheld systems and the Internet.

Show attendees also have the opportunity to participate in a variety of learning workshops and conferences focused on the specific interests and educational needs of professionals in the interactive entertainment business.

WHO ATTENDS
In 2005, about 400 exhibiting companies representing 80 countries will converge on the Los Angeles Convention Center. During E3 2004, exhibitors debuted more than 1,000 never-before-seen computer and video games and related products.

Tens of thousands of industry professionals from around the world attended E3 2004, including software developers, buyers and retailers, programmers, distributors, entertainment industry representatives, financiers and venture capitalists, importers and exporters, manufacturers, resellers, researchers, educators, financial and industry analysts and worldwide electronic and print media.

OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION
E3 is owned and operated by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S. in 2003, and billions more in export sales of American-made entertainment software. The ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, owning the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show, business and consumer research, government relations and First Amendment and intellectual property protection efforts.

We held the Acon5 UK Qualifier as part of the GameOn LAN at Uttoxeter Racecourse. Players fought it out through heats of Counter-Strike and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne to find the best players to represent The UK in China, for the Acon5 finals later this year.

This gallery contains photos of the event taken by the Abit representative.