Cyber Evolution Blogs

Charlie needs your help!  Listen to this phone message from what appears to be an Asian Parlor hostess gone mad.  This very amusing message was left on Charlie's home phone and while innocent in nature, unfortunately his wife is in law enforcement and is looking to hunt down the alleged offender for one of many reasons.  Help find this eSports prankster and you could win a prize.

LISTEN HERE -  http://www.cevo.com/FILES/voice-message.wav

The following is a REAL phone message and contains adult content and should only be listened to by parties over 18 years of age.   If you think you might know WHO this prankster is... email report_pranks@cevo.com.

The contents of this post are property of CEVO and cannot be copied, distributed, or re-broadcast in any form without the express written consent of CEVO.

Read Entire Article »

CEVO sponsor OCZ Technology recently announced a partnership with Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel to produce Fatal1ty Brand high-performance gaming products. According to the press release on their website, OCZ will collaborate with Fatal1ty to produce "high performance memory and power supplies which will be specifically engineered to meet the unique needs and requirements of gamers."

The move brings Wendel one step closer to having an entire Fatal1ty Brand PC solution. His product line already includes motherboards, sound cards, video cards, mice, mousepads, a headset, and even a keyboard. With the addition of OCZ RAM and power supplies, an entire Fatal1ity gaming beast may not be far off.

Read Entire Article »

Overview:

The Engineer is a powerful defensive class in Team Fortress 2, a relatively stationary cornerstone to any team’s defense. He is capable of building sentry guns, dispensers, and teleporters and wields three weapons: the shotgun, the pistol, and the wrench.

Weapons:

Shotgun – The Engineer’s primary weapon is the shotgun, a weapon shared by many other classes in Team Fortress Two. This shotgun is useful for close range combat (do to it’s ‘shot ammo’) and can crit for a large amount of damage (180). When fighting alongside a turret, the Engineer’s shotgun is extremely powerful but can only be fired 6 times before reloading.

Pistol – The Engineer’s secondary weapon is the pistol, a weapon of the rapid-firing variety. It has 12 rounds to be used prior to reloading and 200 rounds total. This is similar to the Scout’s pistol except that it has many more total rounds than the Scout’s.

Wrench – The Engineer’s melee weapon is a wrench and is, without a doubt, the most dynamic melee weapon in the game. On top of its Spy-crushing capabilities, it speeds the building of all of the Engineer’s contraptions and also allows the Engineer to repair these contraptions. Many Engineers do not use the other two weapons and instead prefer to simply ‘wack’ their machines.

Read Entire Article »

CEVO Professional
LayeredTech Counter-Strike Championship
$10,000

CEVO LLC. (www.cevo.com) announces today the Layered Technologies CS 1.6 $10,000 Grand Championship. This weekend event, which will happen on May 3rd and 4th, serves as the playoffs for the CEVO Professional Division of Counter-Strike 1.6 Season 8. These finals are sponsored by Layered Technologies (www.layeredtech.com), an exclusive and affordable gaming network consisting of premium HP server hardware utilizing a user-friendly web based control panel.

The top six Professional division teams from CEVO CS 1.6 Season 8 will play the entire playoffs online over the two-day period, for a playoff pot of $10,000 cash.

The playoff format will be single-map double-elimination, with a best-of-three Grand Championship Final. The map rotation will consist of de_nuke, de_inferno, de_dust2, de_tuscan, and de_train. In the Grand Championship Final, each team will select one map, and if needed a third different map will be selected by CEVO.

Playoff Seeds:

1. x3o
2. MoB.Gaming
3. Eximius Sports
4. Interstate 95
5. EG
6. Mug N' Mouse

The condensed two-day format eliminates scheduling issues, facilitates smoother coverage, and provides a continuous flow of action-packed matches for fans.

Prize Distribution:

Professional Division - $10,000.00

1st Place - $5,000.00
2nd Place - $3,500.00
3rd Place - $1,500.00

Brackets:

http://www.cevo.com/playoffs/bracket.php?id=276

###

About Layered Technologies:

Layered Technologies (LT) provides dedicated, self-managed “on-demand” hosting and utility computing solutions that are reliable, affordable and scalable. LT invests in the hardware, software, and network infrastructure to support our clients’ technology needs thus allowing them to focus on their core business competencies. We recognize our long term success depends on great service, a solid client understanding and technology innovation, all the while working to perfect our price points.

When you choose Layered Technologies, you get the experience, quality and assurance you need for your business success. From entry level servers to complex enterprise systems, we have a solution that will match your technology requirements. For more information about Layered Technologies, visit www.layeredtech.com. Press Contact: Chris Murphy, Layered Technologies, Inc.

CEVO would like to thank Layered Technologies (enterprise server solutions), NationVoice Communications (top quality ventrilo servers and service), and NuclearFallout Enterprises, Inc. (premium competition game servers) for their support of CEVO's CS 1.6 Season 8.

CEVO LLC.
Are You Game?
www.cevo.com

Read Entire Article »

The field of business communications is undergoing a rapid change at a rate that is phenomenal. Better developments aimed at improving both the quality and price are being made almost every day. With newer developments, business communication is becoming cheaper and at the same time, its quality is being improved. The pace of development is not surprising because of the potential role that communications play in business organizations. The very functioning of any organization depends on how communication takes place between its employees and customers. Not surprisingly, success to any organization comes with its ability in choosing better options and in remodeling itself whenever market situations call it to do so. The field of business communications is no exception. Opting for better technologies like VoIP over the traditional land line and cellular phones can give business organizations an upper edge in the already saturated and highly competent market.

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a form of communication in which voice is transmitted over the Internet in the form of data packets just like email. It is also known by other common names like Internet telephony or broadband telephony. VoIP can dramatically cut down telecommunications costs and at the same time boost business productivity. A VoIP business phone system can effectively replace the current communications system with minimal expenditure. VoIP also offers some features that traditional forms of communication like land line and cellular telephony cannot provide. Using VoIP in combination with software like Ventrilo, anyone can make phone calls over the Internet. This ease of operation that is comparable with traditional land line telephony makes VoIP communication an indispensable part of business organizations.

Read Entire Article »

Overview:

The Demoman is a powerful member of any Team Fortress Two team.  Capable of killing any class with potent explosives, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Weapons:

Grenade Launcher – The Demoman’s primary weapon is a grenade launcher that fires bouncing pipe bombs (four before reloading).  These pipe bombs explode upon impacting an enemy or blow up after a certain amount of seconds on the ground.  The key to this weapon is getting used to the ‘arc’ of fire.  Once you learn how to judge where the enemy is going, you can begin pre-firing and hitting them on the run.  Although this strategy works for some of us who can judge arcs and distances well, fighting scouts is another story.  Since scouts move so quickly, it is hard to nail them in flight unless they are moving in a straight line.  Because of this, proper use of the Sticky Bomb Launcher can handle even the most agile scout…

Read Entire Article »

Overview:

The Scout is a quick and agile class that is useful for aggressive attacks and eliminating choice targets. Two good Scouts in a 6v6 match are a powerful combination…if they work together.

Weapons:

Scattergun – The Scattergun is the Scout’s shotgun that has six ammo rounds available prior to reloading. This shotgun is powerful against enemies that are close to the Scout; the Pistol is more accurate at longer ranges. Because of this, use your shotgun when you are close to an enemy. Use surprise and speed to close the distance between you and your opponent as rapidly as possible.

Read Entire Article »

Out of all the maps in CoD4, mp_pipeline is probably both the most loved and most hated map.  Some teams seem to excel far beyond their expectations while others simply fall apart on this one sided map.  The debate whether Pipeline should even remain a competitive map goes back and forth, but with a limited supply of competitive stock maps available, it’s pretty much safe to say Pipeline will be sticking around for a little longer.  With that in mind, we’ve come up with five simple tips to help your team succeed on Pipeline.

Utilize Grenades

Too many teams do not use their grenades to their full potential on Pipeline, especially on offensive, which is tough enough already.  If everyone on your team does not use their secondary grenade (smoke or stun) on the offensive side of Pipeline there is a serious problem with your strats.  More often than not, you’re going to want everyone to take smoke grenades on offense to allow you to actually move around the map at the start of the round without getting picked apart from multiple directions.  This is absolutely essentially if your opponent is able to make the back B hanger building jump at the start of the round, otherwise your just letting him pick you off one by one down the street.  These cover smoke grenades are usually best thrown by players with Spec Ops because they are often the first to die rushing into a bombsite.  Some teams like to have their Spec Ops use flash grenades to take bombsites.  While this can work, Pipeline is a very open map and unless you know exactly where your opponents are playing flash grenades can be ineffective at times.

Read Entire Article »

Charlie Plitt is the CEO and founder of CyberEvolution, the premier professional league for on-line gaming competitions.

For years I have been asked what it takes to become a professional gamer and I have heard thousands of opinions of what being professional means, but at the end of all the questions and talking are we any closer to answering the question?

Here is my answer to the question “what does it take to be a professional gamer”. First we must understand what it means to be professional. Professionals are often considered self-regulating, in that they control the training and evaluation processes that admit new persons to the field, and whether the skills and work ethics are up to their professional standard. Likewise to be a professional means that one is providing or performing a service in exchange for payment or salary in accordance with established protocols for licensing, ethics, procedures, standards of service and training / certification. Therefore it would be appropriate to state that a 'true' professional must be proficient in all criteria for the field of work they are practicing, accepted by their peers, and have a high standard of professional ethics, behavior and work ethics and activities while carrying out one's profession.

Read Entire Article »

Understanding game servers can be tricky business. With all the various settings, it’s hard to know which configuration will maximize your server registration and make for the best playing experience. Fortunately, the pros over at NuclearFallout (nfoservers.com) have been kind enough share some of their secrets on how to choose the right game server for you.

The Basics

To understand server settings, it’s important to understand how your computer interacts with the game server. As you play, your computer sends little bits of data, called “commands,” to the server. These commands tell the server where you are and what you are doing (i.e. shooting, ducking, jumping, etc.). The server accepts and processes these commands and sends more little bits of data, called “updates,” back to your computer.
There are several settings you can configure on your side to manage the sending and receiving of data, but that is for another guide. This guide focuses on settings specific to the game server itself.

There are two major factors that impact a server’s performance and registration:

• Frames, usually referred to as “FPS” (frames per second, not first-person shooter)
• Tickrate

FPS is a measurement of how often the server engine processes “network frames.” Network frames are simply incoming and outgoing network events – the packets of data coming from your PC (commands) and the packets of data being sent back (updates).

Tickrate, on the hand, refers to how often the game server engine recalculates the world. Every time a “tick” happens, the server runs all the necessary calculations to decide where people are located, where shots have landed, etc.

What the Numbers Mean

Most Game Server Providers (GSPs) offer varying levels of “server quality”, usually centered on the FPS statistic. 250, 500, 1000 FPS -- what exactly does this mean? How does 1000 FPS translate to better registration?

Read Entire Article »