As much as I'd like a game to take the place of RTCW, i'm afraid ET is the only one that has (and will) come even remotely close. Brink will like ETQW, get 6 months and perhaps 2-3 events before vanishing very quickly. It's trying to be everything and unfortunately it just doesn't look like it's going to work competitively, although i hope it does.
Bethesda would be smart to pump in a little money into a third party tournament or two to kick start it, i know they've been involved with the community in different ways with mixed response and i feel that's the only way they'll truly gain the trust of it's potential player base.
It's just a TF2 knockoff, but with a poorly designed movement system that doesn't add to the gameplay. TF2 already has a huge competitive scene, and I doubt that Brink will compete.
the gameplay settings were changed for that press video (you'll also notice the player is in godmode), the gl won't be insta-kill in the actual game. splash damage's creative director richard ham talked about this among other things when he came to the crossfire.nu brink forums in 09.