CEVO Articles

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at the competitive team Sure Shot. We contacted Eric Posen to give us his insight on such topics as, the future of Sure Shot and the future of E-Sports competitive scene.

If you could start by introducing yourself.
My name is Eric Posen, most people know me as Stryker. My notable past teams are CyberRev (briefly for Alienware and PNY tourney, then 3 of us were replaced with KBS), Skull Gaming, mugNmouse, GX, and Upper^. I have attended and placed top 3 at every west coast LAN in the last couple years, most of which concluded with losing to +} in the finals (I’ll get you one day, misty!). I also competed at both CGS Combines.

What focus has your team been taking in the past months?
This pug was formed soon after CEVO-m playoffs when I was on jCp because my attempt to be a back to back CEVO-m champ was crushed by some of these guys near the finals. Since I was cool with some of their teammates, I asked if some of them wanted to make a team for the tourney and win some video cards. We also brought my buddy RoN on board from GX/Skull to make a pretty sexy lineup. This roster usually only practices a few scrims a couple nights a week because Sure`Shot has their own team to worry about for ESEA league.

After the Redemption tournament where do you see you and your team going?
I don’t really know yet. Sure`Shot already has a CEVO-pt spot and so do I from jCp, which may be used for stormakt if they can’t get a spot from Redemption. I fit in really well playing with these guys and I enjoy playing with them, but I don’t know how much time I can actually commit to a real team right now because I’m a full time student at UCSB and school is consuming my life. They have a pretty good roster already for their actual team and I know they will continue on through CEVO-pt with or without me and probably do just fine. These guys are not as hardcore about this game as some of my previous teams and it’s much more laid back playing with them, but in the end everybody still wants to win.

How do you feel competitive CS:Source fits into the overall scheme of E-Sports?
I think CS:S is one of the best competitive team FPS games out there, second only to 1.6. Unfortunately, there is not much money in it anymore, and it’s going to take something huge to change that. I think Newegg really needs to host a LANFest 2K9 (in L.A.) with Source as a tournament game, because that would own.

Any last words?
Good luck to the rest of the teams still in the tournament. If you suck after a client update, we’ll understand.

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Posen for taking the time to participate in this interview.

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at the competitive team Hausen. We contacted Logan Burke to give us his insight on such topics as, the future of Hausen and the future of E-Sports competitive scene.

If you could start by introducing yourself.
My name is Logan Burke and I am 19. My alias is Synergy. I have been playing this game competitively for about 4 years now

What focus has your team been taking in the past months?
Well, as I’m sure you all may know, with the banning of one of our team members last season; we have been trying to find a solid replacement for him so we have been doing some extensive roster revisions. We’ve actually been struggling as of late to get practice time in with our member ezpk living in Hawaii; it is very hard to practice with him being 7 hours behind my time zone. So as a team we have all talked it over and some changes will have to be made once again to the team.

After the Redemption tournament where do you see you and your team going?
Well, we hope to do very well in this tournament. So we are hoping to get a spot in the Cevo-pt tourney as well as focusing on the ESEA league.

How do you feel competitive CS:Source fits into the overall scheme of E-Sports?
Well, to be honest, CSS has been slowing dying over the past year. Especially with the demise of the CGS. There just isn’t really any BIG goals that people can make anymore. There is a lack of CSS LANs throughout North America. So many people find it hard to stay motivated to even play this game anymore. However, our team is hopeful that things will start to head in the right direction soon. With the Birth of the new ESEA league, it has brought back some teams, as well as show some signs that CSS might not be dying after all. So hopefully within the next couple years, we’ll see something big happen once again like the CGS. But hopefully they can finally do what’s right for this community

Any last words?
Hausen is looking forward to the next couple years of competitive CSS and we want to be one of the teams to try and keep the competitive CSS community alive People should watch for Team HAUSEN as a whole to become one of the most well known and competitive organizations in almost every game division.

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Burke for taking the time to participate in this interview.

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at the competitive team stormakt. We contacted Brandon Hull to give us his insight on such topics as, the future of stormakt and the future of E-Sports competitive scene.

If you could start by introducing yourself.
Hello, my name is Brandon Hull and I alias by the name “manbearpig”

What focus has your team been taking in the past months?
Well everyone on our team has played with one another at some point in time, but never all together. Over the past three months or so we’ve really been trying to build chemistry and get to know how each other plays. We have a lot of individual talent and we’re trying to find out how to tie it all together.

After the Redemption tournament where do you see you and your team going?
Well, we are hoping to make it into CEVO-P for the upcoming season and take it from there. We are all very busy with college at the moment but plan on attending a few LANs this summer. From there, who knows?

How do you feel competitive CS:Source fits into the overall scheme of E-Sports?
I feel like Source is a growing game that will only get stronger as time goes on. Obviously, many people perceived the “death” of the CGS as a big hit to the source community. However, having played this game before the CGS was announced, I think it was a blessing in disguise. Counter-Strike 1.6 has had 7 to 8 years of play behind it, with all of the players rising from “pubs” in early Counter-Strike to the SK’s and 3D’s we see today. Source is a fairly young game and has a very young community. Over the next few years, I think you will see these kids grow and move up into the competitive level, making Source that much stronger.

Any last words?
Good luck to all of our opponents in the tournament and hope to see some of you in CEVO-P next season!

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Hull for taking the time to participate in this interview.

If you could start by introducing yourself…
My name is Michael Fleming. I’m the owner of Insider eSports, www.insideresports.com, a relatively new eSports coverage website.

What type of experience do you have that qualifies you to run this sort of project?
I worked with the Los Angeles CompLexity and Carolina Core during the CGS. I also was involved in a company called MainSports - another eSports coverage website several years ago - that never really got off the ground. I felt that the owner didn’t care and that I could do better. It was put off to the side for awhile, but during my time in CompLexity I decided to start planning for Insider eSports’ release, which was January this year. I have helped Team Vortex - a new Canadian team - from time to time. Working with Mark Dolven, Jason Lake and others has helped me get a lot of experience in the field, but I still have a lot to learn and am learning a lot every day.

What separates you from other E-Sports media outlets and makes you the site to go to?
I think we have a lot of dedication and commitment to our project. We are certainly new, but Insider eSports is dedicated and devoted to the community. I see people wanting change in how eSports media is done; coverage beyond what eSports has had thus far, features to help players improve their game and learn new things, and editorials to provide fans with strong opinions based on facts. We believe we are capable of that. We have spoken with many companies about working together to cover events, talked to players and teams, and just trying to build our reputation in the community.

Our staff is extremely devoted to the project and believes that by the end of the summer we will be one of the best North American eSport websites. Right now, I think our best assets are that we are very professional and dedicated, and not afraid to speak our minds. We have no one to answer to but the community, making us - in my opinion - one of the premier sites for unbiased, professional news. Our goals are certainly larger than what we have now, but we think that - overtime, of course - we will have features that few or none have ever implemented into eSports coverage.

In addition, our features and editorials are very thought provoking and insightful. Insider eSports has decided to redesign both our left and right sides of our current website to provide a much easier look on the eyes and easier navigation for the mind. We will include a new column section, where several staff members will express their thoughts on recent eSports happenings. We know we cannot compete – at this time – with some of the big name sites and want to do something to catch the readers’ eyes in a different way, and feel a column section might be the way to go.

Insider Esports has had somewhat of a lack luster launch, are there any upcoming projects we should look out for?
I disagree with that question; Insider eSports has not had a lackluster launch at all. One problem with the community today is that they expect everything immediately. Insider eSports is a small group of individuals; we cannot cover everything a larger website would. Contrary to what some people have said, we never expected the entire GotFrag community to “march over to Insider eSports waving a flag and cheering”. I didn’t expect to have the amount of users a website like SK-Gaming had for a long time.

I will admit, however, that we have had some problems. When we decided to launch in January, I believed I had picked the perfect time to release a new website. However, the new semester for many of our staff came, and some needed to focus clearly on school. That is the main reason why our StarCraft coverage has been poor. Soul Caliber 4 was a complete bust as well; I put confidence in the wrong games and decided to scratch off the game completely about a month after the website’s release.

As for HLTVs, demos, and match coverage, it can be difficult to maintain good coverage with a smaller amount of staff. HLTV demos cannot be stolen from a website like GotFrag.com or Esportsea.com without permission, and obviously GotFrag would not give us that right (we are a competitor). Fortunately, with us taking over much of the CEVO coverage and receiving a good partnership with NexGen Servers, we will hopefully be running the HLTV coverage for CEVO. It is still in the works, however, so I cannot say when we will be taking over that responsibility.

As for upcoming projects, Insider eSports management has begun designing and discussing Version 2 of our website. We feel that Version 1 has problems that can be fixed, but will be unable to compete in the long term. Version 2 will be taking on a much more traditional news coverage page, much like FoxNews.com or CNN.com with ESPN mixed in. We will be adding a column section for some of eSports best writers and analysts to express their opinions. We will be changing up games a bit as well, as well as improving staff coverage and features, among other things. Working with PwnageTV, E-Rev, and others has also been discussed.

I still am very confident in Insider eSports and our goals, but know and remind fans that this will take time. We cannot go from zero to hero overnight. I work endlessly on the website – sometimes upwards of ten hours a day – and have not had a full eight hours of sleep a night since December. Insider eSports has come before many things for me and while I cannot expect fans to love Insider eSports due to my level of dedication, I think that it does deserve some respect and “Good Lucks!” from the community.

With many E-Sports media outlets being owned by sponsors or parent companies such as GotFrag-MLG and MYM now being a franchise formerly of ESN, and most other outlets being owned by team organizations, is there any sort of pressure to provide a non biased atmosphere at IE?
Definitely so; Insider eSports believes we are an unbiased website and will remain so. I do not think Insider eSports will ever be owned by a league, team, or company. I believe we can work with leagues and teams – in fact, we already do – but would not be pressured by them in any way.

Being on your own causes a lot of financial hardships, but it also gives you the freedom to do and say anything, do you find it easier being your own entity or would you prefer to be well funded?
I love being our own entity, but understand we need funding to produce quality content. However, I have contacted some companies with good business proposals and hope to reach advertisement and partnership deals with several companies. We recently partnered with MaxFrag, who will help fund Version 2. Insider eSports was built on a “we don’t give a f****” about what you as a corporation want. We provide the news and ask the hard hitting questions. We cover anything that wants to be covered and people will read and hopefully debate about. I don’t think Insider eSports can be owned by an entity, especially at this time.

I see you are covering the ESL, CEVO and a couple of other premier leagues/events, what made you choose your current selection over say larger leagues such as the NGL or the ESWC/WCG’s of the world?
Since we are based in North America, it is easiest to cover North American leagues. I wanted to build a strong relationship with ESEA, CEVO and CAL first and then build our worldwide coverage. It comes down to manpower, really. We simply do not have a large enough staff to cover every single league and match. We are based in North America, so – in my opinion – North American leagues and teams take precedent. As we grow, however, we will expand our reach.

With the North American scene all but dead, do you feel any pressure as a media outlet to provide the means of a resurrection for the community?
I don’t believe the American scene is dead or close to death. Many teams have come back and America is finally getting a face back in the international scene. Yes, we played terribly at Extreme Masters and I don’t think we will win KODE 5, but as players from CGS come back and get situated, we will start to improve. With the economy how it is, I expect companies to try to find new advertising outlets, and Insider eSports will be one of those.

As for resurrecting the community, I think we have an obligation to help restore what North American gaming was before CGS, before 2007 really. eSports is certainly in a changing time and I think Insider eSports will be a key part of its success in the future.

With new titles in the works such as SCII, and the introduction of SF4, will IE adopt them as titles to cover?
I cannot confirm that we will take on the games, because we have to see how the community reacts to their releases. Provided there are enough tournaments and we have the resources to cover those events, as well as actually receiving traffic from our coverage, we will cover those games.

What made IE decide to take on the game titles it did with, both CS and CSS, even though the CSS scene is virtually dead with all pro teams going back to 1.6?
First, I want to say we certainly made a mistake trying to take on so many games at once. It was my belief that we needed to broaden our perspective immediately so we didn’t become fixated on a game, such as Counter Strike 1.6. I thought we needed to make sure we kept our options open and reach the largest possible audience. It was somewhat of a mistake, however, as it has been taxing on me and the coverage staff to handle everything.

As for our selection of Source, we believe that there is no coverage for the game – especially in North America – and it was our opinion that the game needed some kind of support from a professional media outlet. Also, we had selected our games – with the exception of Soul Calibur – prior to the CGS’s closing because we felt the CGS was not receiving proper outside media coverage. When the CGS closed, we felt the Source community would shrink, and likewise we wouldn’t place a large emphasis on the game, but we certainly were not ready to pull out of the game just because many of the professional players were off to 1.6.

Now with SF4 out, will you replace SC4?
This has been discussed since we first picked up Soul Calibur, but I don’t believe that we have the resources to keep up with the fighting game community. The fighting game community is very grass rooted, meaning that the tournaments are there just not in the limelight, and it’s hard to find out about them all. If there are major events with them they could easily receive a news post and some coverage, but we have decided to not cover the fighting community as of this time.

And any last statement/words you may have for the community.
I wanted to thank CEVO for the opportunity to discuss our website. We thank NexGenServers, who will be providing us with all of our HLTVs and servers for coverage purposes and MaxFrag for their support as we move in to version two. I’d like to make a large thank you to the entire Insider eSports staff and supporters as well.

If you are interested in contributing to our website, please feel free to message me at #insideresports@irc.gamesurge.net or email mfleming@insideresports.com.

Finally, if you have not looked at our website yet or put us aside, I ask that you reconsider your actions. Insider eSports has goals that few others have ever put on themselves. Gamers want more, and Insider eSports will take on your call for more and for better. It will take time but I assure you we will be what you have wanted.

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Fleming for taking the time to participate in this interview.

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at Pwnage.tv and its owner Dustin Jackson. Dustin Jackson, an E-Sport veteran of 9 years, and somewhat of an E-Sports entrepreneur, starting his own Ventrilo company and then eventually, Pwnage.tv has plans to expand his latest creation, Pwnage.tv, as well as expand the community. We ask him exactly what these plans will be, and what he thinks of the recent state of the CS:Source community, and E-Sports in general.

If you could please start off by introducing yourself.
My name is Dustin Jackson 20 years of age grew up in the Philadelphia area, but originally from LA. Been gaming for past 12 years competitive for the past 9 and started my first gaming related company 2 years ago and now I own PwnageTV, LLC. and am looking to bring together a large community based off of community ideas and input

Pwnage.tv has no shortage of events happening lately with the Redemption tournament going on as well as the regular seasons of 1.6. Do you plan on taking on any other events or projects in the near future?
Well right now we are in the process of releasing a bracket based free tournament website that allows teams to play in tournaments for whatever game they play and win stuff at no cost. As far as keeping our calender full CEVO is doing a great job with that haha and we appreciate the help.

Speaking of the Redemption tournament, did you expect things to run the way they have been? Most of the ‘top teams’ were taken out early due to harboring cheaters in their ranks, leaving this event wide open.
Well no one ever expects a professional team to have cheaters on their team. But in the years that i’ve played online you learn that not everyone is legit and it kinda ruins the game for lots of us. But overall it hurts the younger kids that are hoping to grow up and be professional gamers when they find out the only way they can get their is cheating just like the people they watch today.

As a broadcasting company, do you often come across teams that seem ‘too good’?
Its not usually something that sticks out in our minds from what we see at the pace we see it, it looks as professional as the rest of them. After review and maybe a couple replays we might notice sketchy stuff, but our job is to provide good casting not decide who cheats and who doesn’t

Now that many teams are out of the running, who do you think will come out on top?
To be honest I’m not sure and I don’t want to predict anything quite yet. We wish the best of luck to all the teams and hopefully our viewers get to see some good matchups

Now that the CGS has come and gone, so to it seems has the Source scene, what is your stance on the current situation the Source community faces and where do you think we will see the scene in 1 years time?
As far as the community, it won’t go anywhere. CEVO, ESEA, MLG are all chipping in some type of support to keep it alive.

With new games coming out such as QL, SF4 and SCII soon to release beta keys, will pwnage.TV change focus? Possibly cover something outside of its regular realm and branch off into a dueling game or possibly a fighter or RTS?
Well expanding is always on our minds, we have plans to include QL, SC2 and more in our broadcasting. But we promise not to lose focus on the games most of our fans love.

Pwnage.tv still has many of its site sections ‘under construction’, when can we expect these new additions to be completed? Also, what other expansion ideas should we look out for?
Well, if you’ve been tuning in weekly each one of the parts of the website that are under construction are new to the website. We are planning on releasing our tournament website near the end of march, and also finishing up our upgrades on our regular site by the 2nd week in april

The North American E-Sports scene is pretty stagnant at this point, where do you see things heading in the near future of 1-2 years?
Hopefully now that ESL has expanding to the US, our country will become more competitive and active than it currently is.

Any last words?
I’d like to thank the community for their support and hopefully we give back to them more than they give to us. Along with great thanks to our sponsors www.Axis-Pro.com and support from CEVO. Thanks again Cameron

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Jackson for taking the time to participate in this interview.

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at one of the most reliable E-Sports broadcasting companies to date, TGBF. We contacted Chris Schetter, TGBF’ Director of North American operations to give us his insight on such topics as, the future of TGBF, the future of E-Sports commentating and how to get into shoutcasting if you are just starting out.

Just start off by introducing yourself to the community
I’m Chris Schetter, I run the North American operations for TGBF.

What made you get into casting with TGBF?
My initial foray into doing gaming shows and commentary came way back when I was an admin at TWL, and I took it up as a way to give the BF2 competition I was running some additional exposure. That was around four years ago now; it has since taken on a life of it’s own. I didn’t start with TGBF but it wasn’t long after I had started doing this stuff that I met up with the-swede and started collaborating with him under the TGBF brand. We shared a common outlook towards gaming and what could be done with coverage to make it entertaining for both enthusiasts and the uninitiated alike, and so working with him on this project was a no-brainer.

What are the future plans for TGBF? Will we be seeing you at any major LAN events in 2009?
Well I think the only proper response to that question is: Will there be any major events in the states this year? I think any coverage group that answers that with any sort of conviction have to be accused of blowing smoke. We all know the gravity of the current economic situation and no sector will be untouched, and gaming events - which has to be considered a non-essential in the larger picture - are likely going to be hit pretty hard as a result as marketing budgets and available capital shrinks globally.
So to answer your question, I think that everything is really up in the air for event coverage, not only for us but for everyone with projects doing gaming coverage. Our future plans have not changed in the slightest from the basic outlook that got us to this point: keep at it and have fun doing it. I will mention that we did have a great time covering the X3O Winter Classic in January, and we hope to be able to collaborate with Nick and the crew there for future events.

What about events such as kode5/ESWC/WCG Qualifiers as well as the Pan-AM games and Blizzcon?
Well if I remember right the KODE5 qualifiers are in like a week. We’re definately not going to be a part of that one : ). As for the others, WCG does their own thing with coverage.ESWC if I’m reading right hasn’t even finalized details towards having a USA stop yet, so at the very least that needs to get done first before anybody can start to think about that, unless they’ve got an inside contact, which we don’t. So right now it’s a waiting game. I’m sure most of those events will happen; my point wasn’t to say that they won’t be. However these larger events often have their own crews that do them or prior contacts that they will likely hit up again.

Most of us involved at TGBF do this as a side project and are actually interested in holding on to their full time jobs and professions, so flitting around the globe covering events really isn’t in the cards in most cases.
We’re not here to try and take over the gaming commentary world, become super e-famous, and let our egos inflate like we see far too often in this scene. We’re here because we enjoy what we do and we have a sizable audience that seems to enjoy what we do too; anything above and beyond that is great but we also have to temper that against more important goals and responsibilities.

With other organizations such as djWHEAT.tv/coL and the ESL having their own radio/tv shows streaming over the internet, as well as places like GOMtv and Nicez! Does TGBF have any plans to have a regular radio or TV program?
I think that area is sufficiently saturated as is, so no we’re not planning a sort of periodical straight gaming news program. I think there’s far more interest digging deeper than just the scores, frags, stats, and player movements between teams, and getting to what makes players and the scene tick. I think a lot of folks think we need some sort of ‘Sportscenter’ for gaming, and it’s been attempted a fair number of times; the reality is that kind of format takes far more work than is reasonable on a volunteer basis and a far larger scene than the states has now.

Shifting focus now, what would you suggest to newcomers who want to get into shoutcasting? How should they go about doing it?
Just start doing it. And don’t feel like you have to immediately have to jump on with any organization right away. There are plenty of new resources out there now that empowers just about anybody to be able to put a stream up - a luxury that wasn’t around when I started. Also, don’t give in to the urge to just emulate everything you’ve heard and seen before, and become another faceless generic scorebot. If anything make a determined effort to find your own voice and approach with it, it’s really the only way what we do will continue to grow and evolve. But most importantly, make sure that you put emphasis on the real meat of the project - the show and the commentary itself - and not the hype and the trappings around it. Too many folks get caught up in the potential to let your ego get too inflated in the process, and spend more time hyping what they’re doing than they do on their actual craft; the result is usually embarassing for everyone. If you keep your head down and just put out a good product, people will show up.

With North American E-Sports in a downward spiral, what place do you feel E-Sports commentary has in the future of North American E-Sports?
Similar to the current state of the global markets, eventually we’ll find a bottom in the decline of the scene. In the end I think that it will be a good thing for the scene, for the folks that will be left around are the people that truly want to see gaming grow as both the means and the end, instead of the long line of failed endeavors designed to monopolize gaming to the extent that money could be made off it, and when it didn’t then cash out. From a solid foundation of people who have the best interests of the gaming scene at heart, the NA scene will recover and be much stronger than before. The real variable is when exactly that will happen, and I think those of us in gaming coverage have an integral role in defining the ‘when’ in this process.
Continuing in the same vein that we’ve seen in years past of hostile competition between commentary groups, the working of backroom exclusivity deals, and working under the idea that the arena of gaming commentary and content production can and should be monopolized will only serve to hurt the rebound of the scene here in the states. Now I’m not suggesting that we all merge up, hold hands, and sing kumbaya. I’m suggesting that competition should be welcomed and not shut out; that the more product is out there there better; and the more different approaches there are to what we do, the more opportunities then exist to reach people both inside and outside gaming and turn them on to what the scene is all about. Infighting about who is ‘better’ is pointless. We in gaming coverage need to focus solely on putting out a better product than we have before over trying to convince other organizations that they should close up shop. When that is realized and put into practice, then the gaming commentary world will be able to have an extremely positive impact on the scene as a whole.

Any closing remarks?
Thanks for the opportunity to stand on my soapbox for a bit; I hope I wasn’t too preachy, but I think everything I said in that regard needed to be said by someone, so I might as well have. And thanks to you Cameron for your time this afternoon, and thanks to CEVO for their cooperation over the past year or so in helping us hook up some great coverage. Cheers!

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Schetter for taking the time to participate in this interview.

In this edition of CEVO Frontline we take a look at Gamefire and its owner, Hunter Luisi. Gamefire, born of the ashes of TSN, is the latest broadcasting project of Hunter Luisi, former owner of TSN. We caught up with Hunter and asked him about the future plans of Gamefire, what he plans on doing with Quake Live and what Tales of War is all about. Also, do you know where North American E-Sports is heading in the next few years? We asked Hunter to see where he thought the next few years would bring us, do you agree with him?

If you could please start by introducing yourself.
Hi I’m Hunter Luisi, CEO of gamefire.com

We haven’t heard much from GF lately, and viewing the site the only recent update is QL, should we be worried or excited?
We’ve been working hard on the backend, as you can see from our new site design. There are a lot of new features that will make some excited.

As mentioned, QL is latest announcement on the website, will GF being some special things at Qcon this year?
We are very excited about the game. It’s free, a 4 meg download, and quake… Whats not to love. As far as quakecon. Still too early to tell. Let’s just say that we want to be there

GF was born from the ashes of TSN, are there things that you wish you could have brought from TSN?
Yes and No. At first we wanted gamefire to be TsN 2.0, but we quickly dropped that idea. Gamefire is more focused on the commuinty now. So yes at first but now we’ve moved in our own direction.

Being the leading shoutcasting/broadcasting station in North America what do you feel your place is in the E-Sports community? Do you feel any pressure to help bring NA E-Sports back to what it once was?
Yes. It’s hard looking at esports around the world and then back at NA. Things have really slowed here in US. And not just on the casting side. The teams are feeling it too. Its part of the reason why we are so community focused now

What is Tales of War all about? It has been running for a few weeks now, what plans do you have for this project in the near future?
Tales of War is our new show hosted by Bridger and Caemdare. It’s based on the game Dawn of War II. Not sure if you saw Bridgers old show “Tales of Heroes”, but bridger is taking that format and applying it to a new game with a new cohost. He just released his first (pre) episode. The offical show should start this week. It’s great stuff. You can check it out at http://www.gamefire.com/shows/tales-of-war.html

What do you think the NA scene needs most of all to succeed?
It needs to come together more as a whole. The scene now reminds me of how it was back in 2002 (before you saw eSports on TV). Everyone going their own way without giving much thought to the sport as whole. If we are to succeed again then we all need to focused on the same goal, the progression of the sport.

How do you think the NA scene will progress over the next 1-2 years or so?
You’ll see a bigger focus on the online side of things and less on the large “e3 like” events of the past. That will slowly change over the next 2 or 3 years, but its going to take time. More small lans, smaller prizes, more playing for the fun of it and to hangout with friends

What does Gamefire plan on doing to help out the E-Sports scene?
Anything and everything. You’ll see a lot more community based shows, more online match coverage, and its all free. We’ll leave the tournaments to the leagues and continue to bring you great professional coverage of games that the community wants to see

Any last words?
Sure. I’d like to say thank you to CEVO for providing us with the some of the best matches out there, and thanks to all of our fans who make gamefire what it is today.

Interview conducted by CEVO|Carson. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Luisi for taking the time to participate in this interview.

Welcome to the CEVO Weekly Round-up for the week of Sunday, Nov. 9th. So what is the CEVO Weekly Round-up? Miss out on the week’s highlight match in your favorite game? This weekly report give you the best matches and the teams and who won, every week, in all on-going CEVO tournaments, right here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to a new weekly series presented by CEVO and conducted by Bobby “Weenus” Hicks.  Each week Bobby will sit down with someone in the esports world and will get their feedback on a range of topics.  We welcome your suggestions on who should be interviewed.  Please post your ideas in the comment section.

3D.NY is one of a handful of the most recognizable names in eSports, and that popularity pre-dates their addition to a televised gaming league by about five years. Becoming a player on a team with that sort of history could be a great advantage toward exposure, but it also leaves massive shoes to fill. After being drafted by 3D.NY in 2008, Jon “Juan” Mumm found himself in the position of filling those massive shoes that were once occupied by legendary Counter-Strike strategists such as Ron “Rambo” Kim, Dave “Moto” Geffon and Johnny”boms” Quach.

Juan has handled himself impressively, to say the least. He’s managed to take 3D.NY from a position of being an old team attempting to reclaim former glory to becoming one of the top Counter-Strike Source teams in the Country, similar to his previous team, Pandemic. Above all, Juan is always great for an interview. He’s honest, candid, and thorough in his answers. As a treat for you CEVO readers out there, we sit down with Juan to find out his opinion on 3D.NY’s future in CEVO, their bad breaks over the past two weeks, and the importance of Online competition. Enjoy!

Your team has lost its previous two matches, both to CGS teams, very closely. What happened in those matches and what needs to be changed or fixed?

We’ve been trying to change around our play as much as possible as of late in an attempt to vary our play a little bit more, because I think teams have gotten used to the way we play certain maps. As a result, I think we haven’t been as prepared as we should have been in our recent matches, and we’ve run into things we didn’t expect to see which has caught us a little off guard.

When playing against such good opponents like Chicago and Carolina, you can’t afford to be thrown off like that.

So will you plan on just playing by the 3D.NY basics again, or will you continue to try to add new variety, except spend more time preparing with the new flavors?

We’re going to continue to experiment, try new things, add more to our arsenal so that we’ll be better prepared for next season of CGS.

Ahead, you still have to play against LA Complexity on de_russka, do you think you’ll be able to turn a win for Week 3-2, as Complexity is likely to be a tougher match than Chimera?

It’ll be a tough match, but tougher than Chimera, I don’t know. It will all depend on how much time coL puts into working on de_russka, as I know they have a lot on their plate right now with Pro-Am 1.6 and Source playoffs, and CEVO-P.

Next week, you’ll be facing off against Cyber Revolution and Dallas Venom. Since about half way through the 2008 CGS Season, 3D.NY and the Venom have been battling back and forth for the title of the best Source team in the US, do you think that’s justified?

Yes, though I’ll admit we haven’t maintained that status very well online thus far this season, Venom is definitely the hottest team right now and I’d be lying if I said we weren’t aiming to take them out.

What are some of the Non-CGS teams in CEVO this season that give you some trouble, and that the fans should keep an eye on?

CyberRev beat us in Pro-Am, though we did have Dave playing instead of Mikey, they still looked like a really solid team. The Knicks will pick it back up soon, I’m sure - they are too good of team and have too good of a mindset to not bounce back.

How serious will 3D.NY be taking the competition in CEVO this season? In the past, a few CGS teams seem to have coasted through the league, is it finally time to start taking the online competition seriously?

We’re taking it seriously - though now having played a season of CGS, it’s hard to put the same amount of energy into Online leagues knowing the experience doesn’t even come close.

If you were to put your money on your season’s outcome right now, should fans expect a Playoff appearance by 3D.NY this season? Bonus question, think you could promise a top three run?

Yes, I’d bet on both of those outcomes.

Article By J.P. McDaniel

It’s that time once again to kick off another exciting season of Counter-Strike:Source CEVO-P play. This season, Season 7, we have the top six teams from last seasons playoff (Dallas Venom, Carolina Core, ‘94 Knicks, Devastation, x3o, and Zomblers) automatically being entered in. The other 10 teams will fight it out in the Counter-Strike: Source Season 7 - Professional Placement Tournament taking place this weekend. We have 15 teams advancing from group play which took place earlier this week. Below you can find a preview of 10 teams who possess the best chance of making it into CEVO-P.
Read the rest of this entry »