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Girl gamer recruitment good reality TV?
Recruiting a new member for a sponsored girl gaming team can't be easy. When Eekers (one of Ubisoft's Frag Dolls) left the line-up last summer, a nationwide search for her replacement rolled into motion, requiring everything from a gaming CV to glamour shots. Months later, when all but the hopefuls have forgotten the empty space to be filled, the shortlisted candidates have been announced and the final selection procedure outlined.All eight of the finalists will be flown to San Francisco to "join the existing Frag Dolls in a weekend of playing games and interviewing", a party that sounds like good fodder for frazzled nerves -- especially when you add in the filming. For this is no ordinary interview -- instead, the whole thing will be covered by Internet TV site GameTrailers, providing a reality TV glimpse into the mysterious world of girl gamers.
World Cyber Games '06 titles announced, Halo 2 dropped
The World Cyber Games, an international professional gaming competition, has announced which titles will be used for this year's competitions. With the advent of a new platform, it's been interesting to see where the focus of professional gamers will lie.A return to Counter-Strike 1.6 (last year's competition used Source) and upgrades for FIFA Soccer and Dead or Alive are all on the cards, but the surprise switch outlined is the removal of Halo 2 from the line-up; it's being replaced with Project Gotham Racing 3. Console FPS players will be disappointed.[Via Gamespot]
Single player games get competitive again
Many gamers' favourite moments include racking up high scores at the local arcade and boasting about them to friends--that's about as competitive as single-player games could get. Multiplayer games, with their inherent replayability, are dominating the sales charts; has the humble high score died a death?No, says this article from competitive gaming site MLG Pro. Instead, single player games have moved into a new era of competitiveness via the likes of Xbox Live. With achievements and gamerscores that are influenced by your single-player prowess as much as your multiplayer muscle, we have incentives to do well at single player games again; we have our friends' scores to beat, and the world records to challenge.It's an interesting observation. Given the number of fiercely competitive FPS gamers who have been spending more time in the Live Arcade, racking up score after score, it seems to be spot-on, too. The next step? More obscure achievements, perhaps -- games that award points just for finishing the game don't really carry the feeling of competitive triumph that gamers seem to be lusting after these days.[via /.]
Trackmania Nations ESWC free to download [Updated]
If you've ever wanted to flirt with competitive gaming, now's your chance. The 2006 Electronic Sports World Cup has commissioned a special edition of Trackmania, Trackmania Nations ESWC, which will feature in this year's competition with a $40,000 prize.This is apparently the first time a game has been created especially for the competition, and it's being offered free for anyone in the world to download and try their hand at. Even if you're not a veteran Trackmania player, you've nothing to lose. It's an interesting move, and will doubtless be popular--perhaps further genres will be forthcoming in future years if this experiment succeeds.[via Eurogamer][Update: It appears that despite being a free game this has Starforce copy protection built in -- labelled by some as 'malware', Starforce installs hidden device drivers on your system. More information, including removal details.]
