After extensive preparation, CEVO is proud to support the Source community with the opening of registration for our second season of league play. Registration will be open from Monday May 29 until Sunday June 18 at midnight.

Event Details:

The event will consist of two skill divisions, Amateur (CEVO-A) and Professional (CEVO-P). The Amateur division will have three regions (Atlantic, Central, Pacific) and compete for a guaranteed $1,500 prize pot. The Professional division will invite 12 teams and have one region (National), competing for a guaranteed $3,500 pot. The total guaranteed cash prizes for this event is therefore $5,000. The prizes are subject to increase, as we often do, if lots of teams register – so spread the word!

Four teams (yet to be announced) have been invited to participate in the Professional division. An additional 16 teams will compete in the “Pro Placement Tournament”, a double-elimination competition to determine which eight of them are the best and most deserving to compete in our top division. The teams competing in the placement tournament have been decided by source community members. The bracket for the event can be viewed HERE

Both skill divisions will play one match per week. Amateur matches will be played on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM for your region’s time zone (EST, CST or PST). Professional matches will be played on Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM CST. Matches will begin on June 21st for Amateur, and June 20th for Professional. The full event schedule and map rotation will be announced soon.

New to the Source event this season is the CMN3, a revamped and recoded version of our successful cheat-detection program. Updates include lag-free scanning, many new cheat-detection methods, auto-updating and more. A review of the CMN3 has been conducted by Amped eSports and can be read HERE

How To Join:

All competing players will need a personal user account. If you do not already have one, go to the top right corner of the CEVO website (cevolved.com). The team Captain or Manager should register the team slot. To create a team slot, login to your personal user account and then click on “Manage Teams” and then “Create New Team”. Once the team is created, each roster member (player) will need to join the team by logging into their personal user account on the webpage and then clicking on “Manage Teams” then “Join A Roster”.

When you (a player) try to join a team roster, you will prompted for payment. Event membership fees for this event will be $15 per person. This fee is payable only through Paypal. Note that you can process a Credit Card payment through Paypal without using a Paypal member account. To pay for a teammate’s account, please do so by logging into their personal account, or come to Support for help.

CEVO Support:

For any help, questions or assistance please contact CEVO Support. We are available at #cevo-support on GameSurge, and also on Ventrilo at .

We’re looking forward to another great Source event, in what we hope in a long-term game in the future of CEVO.

June 15th on the Team Sportscast Network the World Series of Video Games (WSVG) will begin in Louisville, Kentucky. Lanwar will be in charge of this event, featuring PC and console games such as: Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake IV, Warcraft III, Halo 2, Project Gotham Racing, and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Lanwar is the first stop in the series of competitive events that will be held all around the world by the WSVG organization. Sit back, relax, and watch the Team Sportscast Network on our website ( www.tsncentral.com ) where we will provide live video and audio streaming via Internet right to your PC!

Join the Team Sportscast Network for the live play-by-play commentary along video feeds of the event and the additional tour stops for the WSVG. In case you miss this exciting event (or unable to watch the event live,) remember to check out www.tsncentral.com/ondemand for matches of the WSVG Lanwar's event along with all your favorite CEVO matches.

TsN crew attending:

Bret Lutz
Alexandre Cang Nguyen
Corey Dunn
Megan Ceder
Andrew Horton
Ryan Harder
Alex Hackney
Jaimy Thornton
Hunter Luisi

Sign-up and win, before the matches even begin! CEVO is very excited to announce that we will be giving away over $1,500 in prizes to registrants for our upcoming CS:Source and Call of Duty 2 events!

To be eligible to win, all you have to do is be fully signed-up on a roster during the registration period. Maximum one prize per winner and one winner per team. Sign-ups for both events are currently open and will close on Sunday June 18th at midnight.

Grand Prize: (1x) eVGA nVidia 7600 GT CO PCI-Express Video Card

Headset: (5x) Sennheiser PC 165 USB

Mouse: (10x) Logitech MX518

MousePad: (20x) Steelpad QcK (or QcK+, your choice)

There are 36 prizes in total, to be given away among an expected 200 teams. That’s a 1 in 5 chance that someone on your team will win a prize! Simply for signing up. Remember registration closes Sunday June 18th at midnight, don’t delay.

After a very successful first season, CEVO is excited to announce the opening of registration for Call of Duty 2 – Search & Destroy Season 2. Registration will be open from Saturday May 27 until Sunday June 18 at Midnight.

Event Details:

The event will consist of two skill divisions, Amateur (CEVO-A) and Professional (CEVO-P). The Amateur division will have three regions (Atlantic, Central, Pacific) and compete for a $1,500 prize pot. The Professional division will invite 12 teams and have one region (National), competing for a $3,500 pot. The total cash prizes for this event will therefore be $5,000.

Both skill divisions will play one match per week. Amateur matches will be played on Thursday nights at 8:00 PM for your region’s time zone (EST, CST or PST). Professional matches will be played on Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM CST. Matches will begin on June 20th for Amateur, and June 22nd for Professional. The full event schedule and map rotation will be announced soon.

How To Join:

All competing players will need a personal user account. If you do not already have one, go to the top right corner of the CEVO website (cevolved.com). The team Captain or Manager should register the team slot. To create a team slot, login to your personal user account and then click on “Manage Teams” and then “Create New Team”. Once the team is created, each roster member (player) will need to join the team by logging into their personal user account on the webpage and then clicking on “Manage Teams” then “Join A Roster”.

When you (a player) try to join a team roster, you will prompted for payment. Event membership fees for this event will be $15 per person. This fee is payable only through Paypal. Note that you can process a Credit Card payment through Paypal without using a Paypal member account. To pay for a teammate’s account, please do so by logging into their personal account, or come to Support for help.

CEVO Support:

For any help, questions or assistance please contact CEVO Support. We are available at #cevo-support on GameSurge, and also on Ventrilo at .

We’re looking forward to yet another outstanding Call of Duty 2 event. Join the chatter and give us your feedback at #cevo-cod2.

$10,000 Professional Championship Weekend

BALTIMORE, Md. – June 1, 2006 - CEVO LLC (cevolved.com) announces the LayeredX Professional Championship Weekend, to be played Saturday July 15 and Sunday July 16 2006, sponsored by LayeredX (www.layeredx.com).

The top six Professional division teams from CEVO CS 1.6 Season 3 will play the entire playoffs online over the two-day period, for a playoff pot of $10,000 cash. These winnings will be in addition to the $10,000 earned during the season as $100 per match won making the total cash prize for the CEVO-P division $20,000.

The playoff format will be single-map double-elimination on Saturday, followed on Sunday by a best-of-three Grand Championship match-up. Only standard tournament maps will be used (nuke, train, dust2 and inferno). In the Grand Championship finals, each team will select one map, and if needed a third different map will be selected by CEVO. The full playoff bracket can be seen HERE

The condensed two-day format will eliminate scheduling issues, facilitate smoother coverage, and allow the professional teams to focus their efforts in this upcoming summer full of events. For these reasons, spectators will also enjoy a more fluent and complete fan experience.

TsN: The Team Sportscast Network (www.tsncentral.com), GotFrag (www.gotfrag.com), and Amped eSports (www.ampedesports.com), will be providing full coverage including shoutcasts, scores, HLTVs, and scorebots.

###

About LayeredX:
LayeredX, a division of Layered Technologies, was created in 2006 to address the growing needs of the game-hosting industry by providing on-demand enterprise-level solutions to small businesses, gameserver providers, demanding performance gamers, teams, and communities. Hosted from special
gaming-only networks, LayeredX datacenters provide the purest available streaming bandwidth across diverse blended networks, offering the best routes and ping times to gamers who demand only the best. LayeredX recognizes the need for premium networks, premium HP hardware, and fast setup times to feed the need of gamers. LayeredX offers the xCommand Panel
(xComm), a web-based control panel, allowing clients to setup any game on-demand, to host multiple game types, to control sub-user access and more from a simple user-friendly interface. The unique LayeredX Core Network design allows you to utilize xComm without causing lag or hindering gameserver performance.


CYBER EVOLUTION
See The Future, Witness The Change
Are You Game?

As we look towards the future, CEVO is currently looking to hire experienced Day of Defeat players and community members. Applicants should have several years experience involved in supporting the community or competing at a highly competitive level. These hired staff will act as advisors and give us insight into the status of the Day of Defeat community.

All positions are volunteer. Staff members are expected to be available at least 15 hours per week, on a flexible time arrangement.

To apply, simply go to: https://cevolved.com/misc/cevo-application.php. Please fill out the application form truthfully and in detail.

All rosters for CS Season III will permanently lock on Saturday May 27th 2006 at midnight Pacific Time. Before the lock, rosters will only be open on the following days: May 19, 20, 21, 26, 27.

Following the lock, there will be no additions and no removals for the remainder of the season and the duration of playoffs. Exceptions will only be made for extreme circumstances. This permanent roster lock is in the rules to prevent team hijacking, and to stop teams from stacking-up on talent for playoffs only.

Teams should be aware of the CEVO prize distribution rules, and make roster changes as they see necessary:

“Each and every player that is on the team roster going into the playoffs will receive
an equal share of the prize monies should a team become eligible for prize monies, regardless of matches played or not played by any such player.”

Intel $5k CS Open
Event Dates: 6/24/2006 to 6/25/2006
Registration: 5/18/2006 to 6/21/2006

Prize Distribution

Day One (at each game center)
1st place = Pass to National tournament (minimum of $300 in winnings)
2nd place = $200 (requires a minimum of 4 participating teams)
3rd place = 4 hours free (a $15 value per person)
4th place = 2 hours free ($7.50 value per person)

Day Two
1st place = $1,500
2nd place = $1,000
3rd place = $600
4th place = $500
5th place = $400
6th place = $400
7th place = $300
8th place = $300

Event Signup:HERE

iGames Announces Series of Six National eSports Events: $40K Competitions Kicking Off This Summer

40+ Game Centers Will Feature Today’s Top Competitive Games,
Including Counter-Strike™ 1.6 & Call of Duty® 2

Series Begins June 24-25 with Intel $5K CS Open,
Sponsored by Intel, in Association with CEVO


MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, May 24, 2006—iGames, the world’s leading game center organization, today announced its first-ever Intel-sponsored competitions, comprising a 6-month series of tournaments and other special events to be held at 40+ iGames member centers across North America. With $40K in cash and prizes in the balance, the Intel competitions will feature the best local LAN teams fragging it out on today’s most popular competitive games, including Counter-Strike™ 1.6 and Call of Duty® 2.

“This campaign is focused on bringing the excitement of eSports to the grassroots level,” said Mark Nielsen, Executive Director of iGames. “iGames and our 500+ member centers have run hundreds of local and online tournaments. With Intel’s continued support to LAN centers, we are excited to launch the first phase of a comprehensive program to provide both aspiring professional players and local weekend warriors the chance to showcase their skills with the same professional format and high-end systems used by big-tournament players.”

“We are excited to be working with iGames to bring this level of competition to local game centers featuring Intel-based technology” said Tim Takeuchi, gaming campaign strategist at Intel Corporation. “iGames centers and the greater eSports community will benefit from these broadly coordinated LAN events and Intel products will provide the infrastructure needed for an amazing gaming experience.”

The Intel events will begin in June and will run monthly through November. Sponsored by Intel, in association with CEVO (cevolved.com), the first event will be the Intel $5K CS Open
(Counter-Strike 1.6 Open Tournament), which will be held Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25, at eight (8) iGames member centers.

Centers participating in the Intel $5K Open will include:

• eBash (Terre Haute, IN)
• euphNET v3 (San Jose, CA)
• Head 2 Head Games (London, ONT Canada)
• interPeer (Williamstown, NJ)
• NETplay (Indian Trail, NC)
• PC Gamerz Hawaii (Aiea, HI).
• Sin City PC (Las Vegas, NV)
• Xtreme Player Zone (Flower Mound, TX)

The matches will be 5v5 competitions, combining pool play and double-elimination matches. In addition to $5K in cash to be divided between the best Counter-Strike players, there will also be special raffles and other surprises for all participants.

To register for the Intel $5K Open, and to find out more about the event and other upcoming events in the Intel series, visit www.igames.org or contact the iGames events team at . For rules, competition structure, and prize allocation visit: cevolved.com.

Game centers interested in participating in the program can email .

About iGames
iGames, Inc. offers a wide range of services to help independent and franchised game centers. iGames’ mission is to promote and develop the growth of the game center industry. Its services unite game centers with the goal of establishing them as the driving force enabling the interactive entertainment industry to become the number one form of entertainment around the world. iGames has established strong relationships with industry leaders to provide a wide variety of products, services and programs to member game centers and gamers including software licensing, hardware discounts, exclusive game premieres, tournaments, and game nights. Today the company counts well over 500 centers and 1.2 million gamers, initiating and co-organizing more than 200 events a year. To learn more about iGames, go to www.igames.org.

Week 7 marches on with intense Forge action. TsN will once again be bringing you their coverage with zEx vs. JMC’s match at 10:30EST.

Forge has received a very positive reverberation from the community and has shown very interesting match results from its first official matches. The map statistically is still in slight favor for the Terrorist side and we’ll continue to look into the coming results.

We once again, also want to remind the community that we are taking criticisms and suggestions on de_forge seriously for the next season of play. If you have any ideas or suggestions for logical implementation for game play, please e-mail

--MATCH OF THE NIGHT--
zEx vs. JMC (10:30 PM EST)
Shoutcast: www.tsncentral.com
HLTV: hltv.gotfrag.com:3102
ScoreBot: #JMC

Virus Alert

Caution All Players:

Various new viruses and worms may interfere with proper system functioning. All players are responsible to ensure that their systems are operating properly and are free from malicious files. If you do not already do so regularly, please conduct a full Anti-Virus scan of your system before your next matches.

We recommend AVG Anti-Virus, a free, popular and effective program. You can download AVG Anti-Virus at: http://www.downloadwizard.com/avg4

For information and possible removal tools for all known viruses, go to:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/

If you would like clarification on any issues, contact Charlie Plitt (), Justin Carmony () or Eric Ping () on the CEVO Ventrilo Server ( ) or by e-mail.

WiredLabs, the definitive gaming entertainment company, today launched the redesign of Amped eSports (www.AmpedeSports.com) – the internet’s premier competitive gaming news outlet.

The new Amped eSports was theorized from over two years of feedback and research from its predecessor. Its content-centric style is complemented by revolutionary features and resources, built around a clean, intuitive layout.

A primary focus of the rebuild was on user interaction. Every effort was taken to not only accept, but value and showcase the community’s input. Amped eSports now features a World Ranking system to gauge the best teams and players across the globe in all of the covered games. Not only can you view the list as ranked by the world-class staff, but also a dynamic list as ranked by our users. In addition, the revolutionary Noise section is a collective list of the hottest eSports content, as voted on by our users by “Amplifying” different articles, downloads, and other media around the site.

Other key features include a comprehensive eSports search engine named Amped Link and the Voices of eSports. Link allows users to get results on everything from news and downloads to a player’s past eSports teams based on their Steam ID. The Voices of eSports is a showcase of hard-hitting columns from various authors. Additional features including streaming video, a comprehensive downloads and demos archive, a broadcasting section for live eSports radio and TV coverage, and dedicated event coverage pages.

“We’re very pleased to launch the new Amped eSports into the community. This site is the first in our network wide revamp that will focus on ease of use and content. On top of the design for eSports, or readers can expect to be able to engage in new forms of media starting this summer. Combine the new look, new content staff and the launch of additional types of media, and we are confident Amped eSports will quickly become every competitive gaming enthusiast’s destination of choice,” said Ryan Schumacher, WiredLabs CEO.

Upcoming redesigns of the Amped Network sites include Amped IGO (mainstream console & PC reviews, previews, media and downloads) and Amped DX (modification community resource).

Amped eSports will also be the first website to fully support the search for CEVO players SteamID 's. This feature is expected to go LIVE within the next 24 hours.

Forge action continues again tonight with two more highlight matches. TsN will be bringing you first mugNmouse (6-6) vs. Green Berets (7-5) at 10:00 PM EST, followed by the match of the week – 3D (10-2) vs. JMC (9-3) at 11:00 PM EST.

The opening night of Forge yesterday revealed some innovative strategies and boosts. So far the map has played slightly to the Terrorist side, as Ts took 53 of the 90 total rounds last night. Tonight we will see whether the Pro teams build off yesterday’s strategies or introduce a whole new set of tactics.

mNm v. GB (10:00 PM EST)
Shoutcast: www.tsncentral.com
HLTV: hltv.gotfrag.com:3102
ScoreBot: #GB

--MATCH OF THE WEEK--
3D vs. JMC (11:00 PM EST)
Shoutcast: www.tsncentral.com
HLTV: hltv.gotfrag.com:3101
ScoreBot: #GotFrag


Forge Map Download

Video Preview

GotFrag Forge Breakdown

Amped Forge Review

Are You Game?

Competition on the new week 7 map, de_forge, starts tonight between two of best teams in America. United 5 (10-2) will be playing against zEx (8-4), starting at 10:00 PM EST. TsN will be shoutcasting the match live; you can tune in at www.tsncentral.com. An HLTV will also be up at: hltv.cevolved.com:3101. Finally, a ScoreBot will be running at #gotfrag.

Following the U5 vs. zEx match, TsN will also be casting EG vs. Confederacy at 11:00 PM EST. The other match going on tonight is wcR vs. Pandemic at 11:00 PM EST. Check out GotFrag Melee for full coverage and scores.

Forge is a rebuild of de_cbble, made by BrutesMaps for this CEVO season. While maintaining the traditional elements of de_cbble, expect some of the changes to speed up gameplay and better balance out the map. Community feedback so far has been very positive.

Forge Map Download

Video Preview

GotFrag Forge Breakdown

Amped Forge Review

Many have predicted how Forge will playout, but tonight we will see for sure as two American powerhouses go head-to-head for $100 and to improve their records moving into the $10,000 playoffs. With so much on the line, expect intense action and innovative strategies. All players currently competing in CEVO are encouraged to spectate to gain strategic insight for your upcoming matches.

Are You Game?

After 15 weeks of heated competition the CEVO CoD2 Grand Championship finals are here. Tonight's match features End Effect and their 13 – 1 record, against Shockwave and their 13 – 2 record.

While End Effect is the #1 seed beating Shockwave earlier in the Grand Championship playoffs, and winning the upper bracket, many expect this to be a very close match. If End-Effect wins they will end Shockwave's streak of large tournament victories.

The match is being broadcasted by TsN. Special thanks to Nuclear Fallout for providing the server. A score bot will also be on at #cevo-cod2

With $2,000 going to the victor, expect intense action in every round. The tournament runner-up will finish with $1,000.

--
Update: Congratulations to Shockwave for winning the CEVO CoD2 Grand Championship in 3 maps (2 of them going into overtime).

CEVO is proud to announce the public release of our latest map, de_forge (“Forge”), created by BrutesMaps. Forge will experience its first competitive play in the week 7 matches of CEVO CS Season III.

Along with all the other maps we have had developed, Forge is royalty free and un-branded. We believe that maps should be owned collectively by the community, open for use in any server or tournament. We also hope this will help the map become widely used and a community favorite.

Forge has been modeled after de_cbble, a common tournament map with many gameplay problems at the competitive level. Forge has restructured cbble and added several new hallways and other elements to improve tactical options and increase the speed of play.

Forge has been in development for several months and has undergone extensive testing by our staff and players in CEVO-Main and CEVO-Professional to ensure its quality and game play. Those who have seen the map so far have responded very positively.

“I think it’ll play a lot like inferno, with the possibility of close halves,” comments Shawn “DeS1re” Khan, captain of team Jax Money Crew. “I personally like this map a lot better than cbble.”

Charlie “cbz” Pyo, leader of team zEx had this to say, “I think it’s a map with potential… it’ll definitely be more balanced [than cbble].”

Our initial testing suggests that the map will be slightly sided to the Terrorists, however developments in Counter-Terrorist strategy may change this.

Forge is available for download at the following links. We have also created a video tour of the map so that you can preview it without installing.

Download Video Preview
Video Preview

Download Mirrors:
Mirror #1: CEVO

Mirror #2: BrutesMaps

Mirror #3: zPliskin

Mirror #4: Gotfrag

With previous map releases, you the community informed us that it was difficult to find scrims. To help this process we’ve registered #forgescrim, a special channel to help get scrims on Forge over the next two weeks. We encourage everyone to join this channel for Forge scrims, to try the map for fun and to prepare for matches.

As with everything done in CEVO, your requests and concerns are high priority. Once the week 7 matches on de_forge are complete, we would love to hear your ideas, thoughts and criticisms so that we can make any needed revisions for our next season. You can send all feedback to , please include “Forge Feedback” in the subject line.

We hope that everyone enjoys their future scrims and matches on Forge, and that it develops into a popular map throughout the Counter-Strike community.

In light of several personal team conflicts tonight and other issues, CEVO has issued a week postponement of matches. CEVO had planned to issue a week break for the teams next week, but due to the issues of tonight, it has been moved up.

This essentially means, that all matches slated for this week that have not already been played, will be rescheduled to next Sunday and Wednesday accordingly. All matches that have already been confirmed for Wednesday can still be played if the teams so desire, but are not expected.

With that said, we are nearing the conclusion of the regular season. Following the end of week 6, all matches will be scheduled by record, allowing teams to fight for the six-playoff spots in a fairer environment.

If any teams have any questions about the postponement or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact CEVO|DiVito.

Are you an energetic team player who loves competitive gaming? Do you want to help make a difference in the Counter-Strike Source community? CEVO, LLC. (CYBER EVOLUTION) is now accepting applications for the soon to be launched second season of Counter-Strike Source league play. We are looking for applicants who have a passion for helping others and the desire to spend 10-20 hours a week performing related tasks such as:

• Customer support (IRC / E-Mail Support)
• Reviewing disputes
• Spectating matches
• Writing predictions
• Writing team or player bios
• Interacting with teams
• Writing editorial articles
• Making match of the week determinations

Successful applicants will meet the following minimum requirements:

• At least 16 years old
• Team player
• Able to take direction and task-oriented
• Honest, mature, loyal and dedicated
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral
• Self-motivated and uses good judgment
• League experience preferred
• Previous customer service experience preferred

The hiring process for CEVO is as follows:

Stage 1: Application – Complete and submit the new official application. Please note only completed and thorough applications will be reviewed. All others non-complete applications will be discarded. We are seeking serious applicants only.

Stage 2: Oral Interview – If your application is passed through initial screening you will be contacted for an oral interview to be conducted on the CEVO Ventrilo Server (, port: 4000) with the Director of Human Resources or his designee. This is to determine whether you’re a fit for CEVO and if CEVO is a fit for you.

Stage 3: Conditional Offer – After successfully passing through stage 2, a conditional offer will be made reaffirming your commitment to the organization and explaining to you further the benefits associated with being a CEVO Official.

Stage 4: New Official Orientation – You will be put through an hour long intensive orientation to better familiarize yourself with CEVO internal guidelines and policies. After your orientation you will be placed on a 1 month probationary period in which your future with the organization will be determined.

Are you ready to embark on a journey unlike any you have taken? Do you feel that CEVO is the perfect place for you? Apply below!

Any questions or comments can be directed to .

APPLY TODAY!!! – CS:S Season 2 Official Application

The Team Sportscast Network (TsN - www.tsncentral.com) is ready to bring you new ways to see all your favorite CEVO matches. Their announcement is below:

The Team Sportscast Network is dedicated to bringing you the best Counterstrike and Counterstrike: Source coverage available. This season we have provided you not only with an audio stream to hear your favorite teams going head to head, but a video stream to see it as well. With TvSN you are able to get up-close and personal with your favorite players without the hassle of begging for an ip or the need for the game software. With just a click of the mouse you are transported into the war zones seeing exactly what the players see and are synced up with our audio stream bringing you the live play by play action. In addition, TsN now has "Content-on-demand" for you to view. Miss the match at game time? Did you hear about a last second defuse from your favorite team but haven't seen it? You can view all previous CEVO Counterstrike video casts at www.tsncentral.com/ondemand.

We at the Team Sportscast Network want to hear the Counterstrike communities' feedback as well as suggestions on how we can bring you better coverage of your favorite games. All feedback whether it be positive, negative, or suggestions for coverage such as: "I think casting ore cevo-a season matches would be great" - we want to hear it! Please send all your comments, complaints, concerns, and suggestions to

TsN - We Call the Shots

After over 20,000 downloads of the hottest shots in gaming, you the community have selected David “DchozN” Cho’s – Lunatic Project as the best movie in the Thermaltake Your Best Shot Contest. Congratulations to DchozN who thanks to Thermaltake (www.thermaltakeusa.com) has won $500 cash. Lunatic Project featured outstanding visual effects combined with amazing shots by Korean powerhouse teams Lunatic Hai and project_kr. Runner-ups were the Warden – Lockdown Trailer by Kyle Shellhouse and Final Reality 2 by Greg Knudson. If you haven’t already, you can still download these outstanding movies.

Congratulations also to the 7 random selected voters who each won a Thermaltake Blue Orb II: Mike “Ninja” Foster, Mike "flatline" Karels, Robert "dip_kaystar" Kohl, Shane "koto" Robinson, Stephen "teky" Mikell, Robert "nikkon" Husak and John "NoX3" Abele. Thank you to everyone who entered and to all those who voted, we hope you enjoyed the contest.

Over the past several days we have had thousands upon thousands of members download and vote in the Thermaltake "Your Best Shot" movie contest. As we stated in the original press release, everyday one (1) lucky voter would be randomly picked to win a Thermaltake Blue Orb CPU Heatsink.

Daily Winners:
Wednesday Night - Mike "NinJa" Foster from Long Beach, CA

Thursday Night - Mike "flatline" Karels from Richfield, MN

Friday Night - Robert "dip_kaystar" Kohl from Flushing, NY

Saturday Night - Shane "koto" Robinson from Tucson, AZ

Sunday Night - Stephen "teky" Mikell from New Brunswick, NJ

Monday Night - Robert "nikkon" Husak from Baltimore, MD

Tuesday Night - John "NoX3" Abele from Millbrook, AL


If you are one of the lucky winners, please contact a CEVO Official via ventrilo ( ) to verify your personal information so that we can ship out your prize.

There is still plenty of time to download and watch all of the movie entries and vote.

CEVO is continuously pursuing the development of professionalism in eSports. Today, we're excited to announce our latest contribution towards this goal.

For too long has Counter-Strike at its highest level been under controversy as to how much commitment is involved online, especially when teams are playing for money. After a somewhat disappointing last season, CEVO has decided to implement a few new changes in hopes to once again raise the bar and increase the respectability of online play.

Starting in Season 3, CEVO will be assigning a monetary value to each match, in which each team will be able to accumulate earnings throughout the season. The Professional pot has now been raised to $20,000 to compensate for this new format. The new prize pot will be allocated as follows:

- $10,000 allotted for regular season matches
- $10,000 allotted for the Grand Championship

The new format will award $100.00 cash for each regular season match won. These seasonal winnings will be added to the team’s pot, to be paid at the end of the event. This new format creates a constructive environment and provides immediate results. Even when a team doesn’t have an opportunity to make playoffs, they will have an opportunity to win cash for their performance.

Matches lost will simply result in no money won towards the team pot, however, matches forfeited, or failure to play upon a scheduled time will result in a loss of $100 from the teams’ pot. This means that any match won will be negated each time a team forfeits or does not show up within reasonable time for the match. If a team should enter a negative value in their team pot during any portion of the season, they will be removed from the event.

In other news, similar to last season, teams will have to schedule their matches with the CEVO Match scheduling system one (1) week in advance. With that, all CEVO-P matches have been scheduled up to week 7 to help teams schedule around other acceptable priorities.

There will be absolutely no exceptions for teams that fail to communicate with CEVO regarding a need for a reschedule at least 5 days before the match. Excuses regarding missing a player on match night or other similar reasons, will not be accepted.

With all that said, we hope everyone is looking forward to this CEVO-P season as much as we are. If any of the Professional teams have any issues or questions, please don't hesitate to contact CEVO|DiVito or CEVO|Pipher through IRC, or e-mailing them directly.

#1. Match Times

Season 3 is ready to start. Schedules for Pre-Season Week #1 (de_dust2) have been released and can be seen on your team page. The match days are Monday for Amateur, Tuesday for Intermediate, Wednesday & Sunday for Professional, and Thursday & Sunday for Main. The default time for matches is 8PM in your region’s time zone (PST for Pacific, CST for Central, EST for Atlantic).

#2. New Scheduling System

CEVO has developed a brand new scheduling system that all teams must use in order to properly initialize matches for CMN3. When you login to your account on the website, you will see “Schedule Matches” inside your control panel. The scheduling system works like a forum thread, where all members of both teams can reply. The Captain and Assistant Captain on each team can propose and accept match times. Once a match time is accepted, the scheduling is completed. All match scheduling for the entire event must be done through the new scheduling system. We will only give consideration to match times agreed upon in the scheduling thread.

This new scheduling system offers several advantages over other scheduling methods. Unlike a private messaging system, all players on both teams can see what times are being proposed. This way, match times can be negotiated and agreed upon without all communication going through only each team Captain. Unlike the previous IRC system, Officials can now always see what scheduling has been done, without needing to contact the teams or rely on logs. Also, scheduling can be done without needing one person from each team online at the exact same time.

Although it is not required, we prefer that you also use the match scheduling thread to agree on servers.

#3. CMN3 Released

The latest, and completely recoded, version of the CMN is now available from download off the website. Instructions for installing and using the program can are at: https://cevolved.com/?page=cmn. If you need any help go to #cevo-support on GameSurge, or go to Ventrilo Support ( ).

#4. NationVoice Ventrilo Servers

With special thanks to NationVoice (www.nationvoice.com), teams will receive a Ventrilo Server for the duration of the event. To be eligible, your team must have at least 5 players paid and ready on the roster. To request your server, have your Captain login to the control panel on the website. Next, click on “Request Ventrilo Server”. Once you fill in the details, the server will be set up within one day and the information will be e-mailed to you. Last season, nearly 95% of teams only used 6 slots and therefore all servers will be setup with 6 slots. If you need additional slots because of your team size, you will need to submit a request by e-mail to . For any other Ventrilo inquiries also send an e-mail to .

In association with Thermaltake Technology™ (www.thermaltakeusa.com), CEVO is excited to release all of the movie submissions for the Thermaltake™ "Your Best Shot" Contest! Thank you to all those who entered the contest, it is now time to see what the community thinks of your work as they determine which lucky contestant will win the $500.00 USD prize.


VIEW ALL MOVIES entered into the Thermaltake™ "Your Best Shot"contest . Please watch all the movies and give careful consideration before voting.

To vote for your favorite movie log into your CEVO Account and then CLICK HERE.

If you do not have a CEVO account you MUST create one to view and vote. Please note there is no cost to create a CEVO account.

As a registered voting member, you play an important role, and are eligible to win exciting prizes! Each night, one randomly selected voter will win a Thermaltake Blue Orb™ Heatsink thanks to Thermaltake Technology™.

Good luck to all of our contestants who entered the event, and good luck to all of our voters. We hope you all enjoy the movies.

Pre-Season #1- de_dust2
Pre-Season #2- de_comrade_3rdroute

Week #1- de_inferno
Week #2- de_nuke
Week #3- de_tuscan
Week #4- de_train
Week #5- de_russka
Week #6- de_dust2
Week #7- (To Be Announced)
Week #8- de_inferno

Prize Pots:
Amateur Division: $1000.00 USD
Intermediate Division: $2500.00 USD
Main Division: $5000.00 USD
Professional Division: $15000.00 USD

All Pots Are Subject To Future Increase

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we open registration for CEVO’s Counter-Strike 1.6 Event 3. Team registration will be open from Sunday February 26, 2006 to Sunday March 19, 2006 at Midnight Pacific Time. During that time, your team must be signed-up into the event.

Event membership fees are $15 per person for all divisions. This fee is payable only via PayPal (note that PayPal will process your credit card without requiring a PayPal account).

The deadline for filling your rosters is Friday March 24th - at that time all teams must have at least 5 players paid and ready or else you will not be scheduled for preseason matches. After that date, anyone who wants to join a team will be subject to an additional late fee, such that it will cost in total $20 per player to enter. Rosters will remain open through preseason until April 9th.

All returning CEVO players should note that it is not necessary to create a new account, but all players need to do is login to their CEVO account, join a team, and make the required membership payment for the event. All registration is done through our website on the registration section. Contact a CEVO Official in #cevo-support if you need any assistance.

The Amateur and Intermediate divisions will compete once per week at 8:00 PM for their respective night, time zone and region, and twice a week for the Main and Professional division at 9:00pm for the respective nights.

Default match days are as follows:
Amateur: Monday
Intermediate: Tuesday
Main: Sunday and Thursday
Professional: Sunday and Wednesday

The event will kick off with two (2) week of preseason on March 26th followed by eight (8) weeks of match play.

We're looking forward to a great third season!

The gaming community is rightfully skeptical of anti-cheat software. We’ve seen over the years many popular programs widely bypassed. We’re very proud to say that our own CMN cheat-detection software was the first and continues to be the hardest to beat and most effective tool ever to grace this community. We don’t expect you to just take our word for it either.

We are the only organization with a cheat-detection tool to put it to the test by the community’s independent news organizations. When CEVO first started, GotFrag.com reviewed the CMN1 Read Here.

In their review, GotFrag’s Jason “Alchemist” Baker wrote:
“I was very skeptical about this CEVO system… I picked up an unknown cheat … [and] placed [it] on my D drive while my CS ran from my J drive... By the time we switched sides the CEVO staff was calling me out. Not only did they know I had a cheat running but they knew the name. If only VAC worked so well.”

We recently announced the “CMN3”, a revamped and recoded version to introduce lag-free scanning, many new cheat-detection methods and additional program features.

This time we asked Amped News, the other leading North American eSports news agency, to do an extensive review of the latest CMN3. You can read the full article by Stuart Brooks Here.

Stuart Brooks of Amped News wrote:
“It installed in under a minute… [and] the match channel itself loads faster… Once inside the server... the skipping and fps drop I had experienced while using CMN2, was completely gone. It felt like nothing was running on my computer… I ‘loaded’ up and went into the server to test CMN3’s anti-cheat capabilities… I was confident that I had a few tricks up my sleeve and would somehow not be caught cheating by the CMN. Well it caught every cheat that I threw at it; even ones that I knew were private cheats and have yet to be caught by VAC or any other anti-cheat for that matter. Needless to say I was pretty impressed….”

We expect that you’ll be just as impressed by the CMN as both GotFrag and Amped News.

Team registration for CEVO’s third season of counter-strike 1.6 league play is open only until March 19th. Teams will have until March 24th to finalize their rosters. Hurry and you can still sign-up for a great event with outstanding customer service and over $20,000 in cash and prizes. For registration details go to cevolved.com and read the news.

If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to come talk to us on irc at #cevo-support or on Ventrilo at

In association with Thermaltake Technology™ (www.thermaltakeusa.com), CEVO is excited to launch the Thermaltake™ Your Best Shot Contest! Whether you’re an aspiring director or just an avid movie fan, you can win great prizes.

Demonstrate your talent in graphics, transitions, effects and editing, to highlight the best shots in any of Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike Source, or Call of Duty 2, and you could win $500 cash.

Contest submissions will be accepted from Monday March 6th to Monday March 20th 2006. To enter, start by creating an original movie that is less than 2 minutes in length (including opening & credits) and less than 150 megabytes (mb) zipped in size. Compress the movie in .zip format and name it: thermaltake_moviename_yourname.zip. Next, using an FTP program, upload the file to the CEVO FTP, username: disputes, password: disputes. Lastly, once you have submitted the file, send an e-mail to that includes your movie name, your name, your contact information, and a brief (less than 200 words) description of your entry. There is a limit of one entry per person. Failure to meet all the contest requirements may result in disqualification.

The broader community, you play an important role too, and may also win exciting prizes! After the entries are in, you the community will vote for the winner from March 21st to March 27th 2006. To vote, you will need to create a free CEVO user account through our website (cevolved.com). Each night, one randomly selected voter will win a Thermaltake Blue Orb™ Heatsink thanks to Thermaltake Technology™.

Everyone has a chance to win. Show us your hot shots and then Coolall your life with Thermaltake Technology™.

Contest Disclaimer

###

About Thermaltake Technology™:

Founded in 1999, Thermaltake Technology is the world leader in the supply of thermal management cooling solutions, high-end power supply, and chassis for desktop PC and industrial application systems. Building on the strength of its people, products, and extensive expertise in Thermal Management, Thermaltake raised the level of excellence on its Award Winning Purepower branded power supply as well as Xaser line of chassis.

While mission-critical applications for Enterprises and ultimate video gaming experiences available for gaming enthusiasts all rely on today’s cutting-edge PCs to deliver, high-end PC makers rely on Thermaltake to provide the most reliable power supply, thermally efficient chassis and cooling solutions.

As a leader in Thermal Management, Thermaltake is the trusted supplier to many computer manufacturers providing Intel Validated and AMD Approved CPU coolers for today’s high frequency and mainstream CPUs.

At the pace of current technological advancement in multimedia application and multi-core processor, Thermal Management will become an evermore-challenging task requiring innovative product design and reliable manufacturing processes; a task that has made what Thermaltake is now and into the future.

The extremely popular CEVO Counter-Strike 1.6 GUI has just been updated to GUI v. 2.0 and is now available. The GUI is a visual enhancement of the basic Steam and game skins and also features improved in-game menus. The GUI does not alter your gaming environment and should be legal for use in other leagues and tournaments.

This version features two different color schemes White and Black. This update includes improvements to the command menu, registry entry and other miscellaneous updates.

Screenshot Previews:
White Scheme
Black Scheme

Download: CEVO GUI v. 2.0

Suggestions/Issues/Help:
Please start by reading the readme file included in the download zip.
A Forum Thread is open
or message CEVO|Heckert on IRC
or send an e-mail to

CEVO LLC. (cevolved.com) is very excited to announce the “CMN3”, a revamped and recoded build of the highly successful CEVO Match Network (CMN). The CMN is a cheat-detection client that runs while competitors play their matches. Utilizing a variety of independent scanning methods, the CMN ensures legitimate and fair game play in all our events.

The CMN3 has been six months in development by professional programmers with over 20 years experience in coding. The latest build includes remarkable improvements in efficiency and performance. Also, the software is easier than ever to install and use. The CMN has been rewritten in cross compatible language across nearly all Windows Operating Systems. Further, the installer now includes all system software that is needed.

Changes and improvements include:
-Lag-Free Scanning: Users never notice any scanning or system delays.
-Light Resource Use: Requires less system processing to run.
-Cross Compatibility: Works among different Windows operating systems.
-Interface Improvements: Easier for everyone to use.
-Added Security: Improved security features to ensure program integrity.
-New Methods: New cheat-detection techniques.
-Auto-Updater: Automatically detects and installs updates.
-Total Package: One download includes all the needed software.

The CMN3 is currently undergoing extensive testing to ensure maximum performance, bug reduction, and a smooth public release. The program will be ready in time for our next event, Counter-Strike 1.6 Season III, which is currently open for registration at cevolved.com.

Together with the community we’re continually looking to take gaming to the next level. As always, we’ve taken your feedback and suggestions seriously and believe that the CMN3 will greatly exceed your expectations. We’re looking forward to exciting future events and hope that you’ll join us.



CEVO LLC.
Are You Game?

The CEVO-P Placement Tournament is underway to determine which six teams will join Team3D, compLexity, EG, MissedMe, Green Berets and Rival to form next season’s CS 1.6 CEVO-P Division.

Check out the Event Bracket for live HLTV and results as they happen.

Check out GotFrag's coverage details HERE

CEVO LLC (CYBER EVOLUTION) is proud to announce an expanded and renewed partnership with TsN - The Team Sportscast Network (www.tsncentral.com) to provide you with top-quality coverage for all of our hosted games and events. TsN’s experienced and engaging radio personalities will be covering weekly highlight matches during the seasons, as well as additional coverage for the playoffs in all divisions.

Featured Regular Broadcasts include:

-CEVO 1.6 Professional: Match of the Week.
-CEVO 1.6 Main: Match of the Week.
-In The Crosshair.

-Continuing Source Playoff Shoutcasts.
-In The Crosshair: Source Edition.

-Call of Duty: Match of the Week.
-Call of Duty Roundtable.

----------------------------------------------------

For full broadcast schedules, we encourage you to visit www.tsncentral.com and visit #TsN on IRC.Gamesurge.net.

CEVO-P Grand Finals Tonight (Sunday Feb 12th)

We have reached the end of Season 2 and the Grand Finals of our CEVO-Professional division.

Grand Championship Finals
compLexity vs. 3D
Start Time: 8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST
Date: 02/12/2006
HLTV: hltv.cevolved.com:3101
Coverage: TsN (Casting by Vradi and Dunn) at www.tsncentral.com
Maps: russka/inferno/train

Making their way through the playoffs and Grand Championship brackets saw compLexity do what they have done so much of and that is win, while 3D faced an early scare only to climb back to their expected position and have to face Complexity in the finals. Who would have thought we’d see these teams clash once again?

The format for tonight’s match-up is best of three maps. First on de_russka, then on de_inferno, and if necessary the tie-breaker on de_train. The winner will take away $8,000 cash!

As always with the CEVO-P division, TsN will be covering the match with shout casting and video. Gotfrag and CEVO will be covering with HLTV and with a new implementation; Hi-Definition Gaming will be testing the new HiDef TV for tonight’s match.

CEVO in conjunction with Team Paragon of Virtue (#pov) is proud to announce the HYPE Energy Promotional Give Away.

HYPE Energy will be giving fifty (50) lucky winners a case of HYPE Energy drink. How can you become one of these fifty people? Simply be in the # channel from 7:00pm EST to 1:00am EST while registration for the HYPE Energy enjoyLife Tournament registration is open.

The process to win is simple! Once an hour the HYPE Energy logo will be displayed in IRC with a lucky registration number for that hour. When you see that logo, go to the HYPE Energy web site (www.hype.com) and fill out the quick registration form and if you are the lucky registrant YOU WIN.

The lucky winners will be announced every hour in the #hypeenergy channel, and then contacted to verify shipping information.

Good luck to all who participate and remember to liveLife, loveLife, loveHype.

Contest Disclaimer & Guidelines

CEVO LLC (CYBER EVOLUTION) is proud to announce the Hype Energy™ (www.hype.com) Enjoy Life Preseason Counter-Strike 1.6 Tournament. Registration for the event opens on February 6, 2006, and is only open to CEVO-A / CEVO-IM caliber teams.

“We're very excited about our latest partner Hype Energy. It's an energetic company that is set to impact the US beverage market as well as the eSports community through this new relationship with CEVO. We are proud to represent them in the eSports marketplace.”
-Charlie Plitt, CEO / President CEVO LLC

The Hype Energy™ Enjoy Life Preseason Tournament will take place February 14th to the 26th. There will be one central division with scheduled matches to be played at 10:00pm EST / 7:00pm PST. The event will be a single elimination format until four teams remain when it will transition to a best-of-three format.

Additional Hype Energy Tournament details are as follows:

• 
  
• Cost: $5.00 per player
• 
  
• Registration Opens: February 6th, 2006
• 
  
• Registration Closes: February 12th, 2006
• 
  
• Maximum Team Size: 5 players
• 
  

Prize Distribution:

• 
  
• 1st - $600.00 & Paid team entry into CEVO Season 3 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  
• 2nd - $400.00 & Paid team entry into CEVO Season 3 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  
• 3rd - $175.00 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  
• 4th - $175.00 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  
• 5th - $100.00 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  
• 6th - $100.00 & Five (5) cases of Hype Energy™ Drink
• 
  

*All CEVO rules will be enforced.
*Teams will be permitted to dispute a maximum of two players per team per match.


###

About Hype Energy™:
People love to see a product that has its own identity, and is not a copy of the typical energy drink. Hype Energy™ is currently sold in over 23 countries and is market leader in Canada, France, Kazakhstan and Iran. The three products that currently make up the Hype Energy Drinks range are, Hype Energy™ (45 Kcal), the NEW Hype Energy Lite™ (9.9 Kcal), both in 250ml Aluminum Slim-line cans and the unique HYPE Energy X2™ in a beautiful looking 500 ml aluminum can. Why is Hype Energy™ so successful?

The Hype Energy™ brand embodies energy, health, taste and style. One reason is that Hype Energy™ uses only premium ingredients. It has 1% fruit juice and no artificial coloring, the color and flavor comes from the Cranberry and the Elderberry fruits. Hype Energy™ also fulfills the consumer demand for a refreshing drink which delivers mental and physical stimulation.

Special thanks to Colin DeShong and Team Paragon of Virtue (http://www.teampov.com) for all their contributions in organizing this upcoming preseason event!

Logitech has really dove into the gaming community as of late, and to the praise of many a gamer. With the laser introduction of the Logitech G5 mouse, and their latest keyboard design the Logitech G15. One could say that Logitech is paying special attention to this vast and developing market, but the real question “Is the G15 really as good as all the hype?” In our latest featured article, “Logitech’s G15 keyboard: Is it just all show?” CEVO|Divito gives us an in depth look at Logitech’s latest release in an attempt to answer this question.

Read The Review

The CEVO GUI v1.1 was released today to address and fix the issues with the originally released GUI after Steam updated several weeks ago. We are working on a "Black / Dark" background version as well and hopefully have that available for download in the upcoming week.

Download Here: CEVO GUI v1.1

In traditional form, this holiday year in review will serve to reflect on the more notable – and possibly some overlooked and forgotten – happenings of 2005. While I certainly have omitted some of what we witnessed this year, I think this glimpse captures the essence of what occurred, both serious and comical.

To begin, we cannot let the misfortunes and hardships escape our memories this holiday season. The War in Iraq continues, and may our hearts remain with those heroic troops still facing adversity in treacherous lands on behalf of the freedom of our country and others. At this time last year, many of us awoke to the horrific images of a catastrophic tsunami affecting more lives than we can fathom; we would be remiss not to consider their ongoing plight and struggle to rebuild. Similarly, we are haunted, if not directly touched, by a disastrous hurricane. Both events forcing the reality that life, in some cases, can be swept away in a moment. May the best be with the victims of these natural disasters, and may the world continue to support their recovery.

We also lost several cherished personalities and newsmakers this year. Among those were our friends Peter Jennings, Johnny Carson, Johnny Cochrane, Rosa Parks, Frank Perdue, Luther Vandross, John Denver (aka Gilligan) and Chief Justice Rehnquist. And, regardless of faith, the passing of Pope John Paul II affected the world in immense ways, crystallized by the elaborate ceremonies worldwide to honor his service and legacy.

On the legal and political fronts … Innocence was declared for Michael Jackson (in his pajamas) and Robert Blake. Martha served her time and found a new Apprentice. Cindy Sheehan’s crusade perpetuates. We have a new dirty politician in Tom Delay. The Terry Schiavo and right-to-life debate seems to have ended. The identity of Deep Throat was made public. Scott Peterson was sentenced to death. Questions remain about Aruba’s system following the disappearance of Natalie Holloway. Bernie Ebbers is guilty and going to jail. Three democratic elections occurred in Iraq. And, most importantly, it has become a priority for Congress to tackle the “inevitable” plague of Bird Flu in this country.

Sprinkled within the tragedy and sadness, though, were some more innocuous events both entertaining and interesting. Under the assumption that you’ll be easily reminded of them and react appropriately, I’ll simply list a nice sample … Airbus released a completely unnecessary 800-passenger jet, Prince Charles and Camilla finally married, the BTK killer was arrested, Britney had a baby, Lance Armstrong “retired,” iPods are everywhere, the Runaway Bride came forward, there’s a new Xbox but you can’t get one, Everybody Loves Raymond ended, Paris Hilton continued to make headlines for no real reason, Pink Floyd reunited after 24 years, and gas prices mimicked a volatile NASDAQ stock.

It was truly a year of phenomenal events serving to humble, educate and humor us in many ways. This holiday season, cherish those who surround you, and consider those who are distant. As I learned this year, tiny gestures can yield monumental riches for all involved.

So that we can all appreciate and reflect on another year gone by, I am asking everyone to put down your guns, grab a glass of eggnog and enjoy the season. CEVO will be on break from Friday December 23rd 2005 to Sunday January 1st 2006. All events will resume starting on Monday January 2nd 2006, likewise the CEVO staff is going to take some very well deserved time to relax and enjoy the festivities, so support will not be available on Ventrilo or IRC. During the holidays, no matches will be scheduled, although teams are welcome to play any previously unplayed matches or make-up matches during this period.

CEVO wishes everyone a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, and may 2006 be healthy and prosperous.

Today is a special day for CEVO as we celebrate one year of operation. My how far this league has come from our initial launch and all of the speculations that surrounded us with our visions of grandeur and our lofty goal to forever change online eSports.

“Pay to play in a new league that we didn't know if it will run successfully? No thanks”
GotFrag Forums, 12/20/2004

“We will only know after one season, they have been the first league in over a year that has lured out CAL Invite teams to play in it. If the money is there and they pay up after the end of the first season I think it will give new meaning to online play!”
GotFrag Forums, 2/18/2005

After a somewhat rocky start to the 2005 year, the skepticisms about CEVO and our pay-to-play business model have been answered. CEVO is growing thanks to the tireless dedication of our wonderful staff and the faith the community has placed in us.

CEVO thanks you all for helping this day to come, and looks forward to the future and birthdays to come.

Due to the Vavle update tonight 12/20/2005 all teams are requested to reschedule their matches for another time and date before the end of week 7. If teams can play their matches tonight then please do so, other wise please reschedule your match and email with the rescheduled time and date of the match.

Thank you for your patience and good luck.

CEVO is proud to announce the release of our highly anticipated and popular map, de_russka, for Counter-Strike: Source. Fight in snowy Siberia while Terrorists attempt to destroy either of two industrial storage yards. The source release of this map is a near replica of the 1.6 version, so if you’ve seen it before you won’t be lost. Russka will be played during week 5 of our Source event. Practice hard and some surprising strategies may result in a some big upsets as teams wind down the season towards playoffs.

Download: de_russka_source

Screenshots:
de_russka0000
de_russka0001
de_russka0002
de_russka0003
de_russka0004
de_russka0005

In reponse to popular community demand, we have selected de_cbble as the Week 3 map for our Source event.

The map rotation for CEVO's first CS:Source event is as follows:

Preseason – de_train
Week 1 – de_contra
Week 2 – de_dust2
Week 3 – de_cbble
Week 4 – de_train
Week 5 – de_russka
Week 6 – de_inferno
Week 7 – de_nuke

CEVO would like to extend a helping hand to any and all playoff teams that wish to have HLTV for their upcoming playoff matches. If your team wishes to have HLTV, please e-mail CEVO|Fleitas.

In other news, CEVO is also glad to finally release a functional skin for the new Steam GUI and for CS 1.6. The CS 1.6 GUI does not alter any of your personal configurations and/or environment. Keep in mind; CEVO still encourages the use of default settings and configurations for event play.

Features
- Steam v3 skin
- Steam In-Game skin
- User-friendly CS 1.6 Background
- Powerful In-Game command menu
- Complete list of legal/illegal HL1 Engine CVAR's

A second color scheme is also being developed for those who would like something different.

Screen Shots:
- Screen Shot 1
- Screen Shot 2
- Screen Shot 3
- Screen Shot 4

Download: CEVO GUI v1.0

Suggestions / Issues: Click Here

The brackets have now been released: Staff Challenge Brackets

That's right folks, it's time for the Staff Wars to begin! This Saturday at 12:00 PM (Noon) EST, the event will get underway with loads of intense action.

For the fans, we have ensured that full coverage of all matches will be available for you to follow the tournament. We will be running scorebots on the GameSurge IRC network for all of the matches, while GotFrag and CEVO will be providing HLTV proxies for you to see the action live. We will also have shoutcast coverage for several of the bigger matches on the official compLexity radio station, coLcast! This tournament should be very fun, so don't miss out as all of the teams face off in hopes of winning.

(Warning: The rest of this post will be an overview of the tournament rules. If you're not participating and simply want to see the prizes, scroll down to the bottom of the post.)

Since the skill factor for most of the teams participating is unknown, we have decided to use random seedings to set up the tournament brackets. Because our goal is to finish playing over the weekend, we will have to play a lot of matches in a short amount of time to find the top of the thirty-two teams participating. In order to deal with the large amount of matches we have to play in a short amount of time, we have come up with two solutions.

The first will be in regards to teams not showing up on time. If nothing can be worked out ahead of time, we will expect teams to show up at the scheduled times. If a team does not have five players in the server after 10 minutes, they will receive a forfeit loss. The scheduled times will be meant for the match to begin, so teams should plan to warm up before this, as we will not wait for you to get ready.

The second way we are going to make this tournament go more smoothly is by starting it off with two rounds of single elimination play, with the first round on de_dust2 and the second on de_inferno. This means each team will have to get two wins in a row in order to have a shot at winning the tournament.

Once these two rounds of single elimination are completed, the matches will be played in the best of three format. In order to choose the maps for this, we will be doing something a little different than normal. For the entire tournament, we will be using the following five maps: de_dust2, de_nuke, de_inferno, de_train, and de_cbble. Before the tournament begins, each team will submit one map to be veto'd on their behalf. (More information for team captains can be found here) This means that they will never see the map for the rest of the tournament, so it is in a teams best interest to pick their weakest map, but teams must also consider what their opponents will veto. This will leave us with three remaining maps, which is perfect for the best of three series. To keep things even more fair, we will then do a "coin toss" in a private channel with all of the team captains. The winner of this will have another option of the following choices:

A) To pick the first map and the starting side of the second map
B) To pick the second map and the starting side of the first map

If the winner picks option A, then the loser of the coin toss will get option B and vice-versa. We feel this will avoid any unfair advantages in gameplay and should prevent teams from being eliminated for any reason other than being outplayed.

As far as other rules are concerned, such as flashbang exploits, substitutes, configs, sprites, and all of the other standard information, we will be following the standard CEVO rules. A full list of these rules can be found here, but obviously rules such as membership fees should be ignored. Also, keep in mind that rule sections 4.1 and 4.3 will be in effect for the tournament, so all players must record demos and take screenshots as if this is a regular league match. If you have any questions, be sure to ask an admin ahead of time, but if any disputes come up that have not been mentioned in this post and are not listed on the rules page, the decision will be left up to the CEVO officials.

Now I'll get down to the part you've all been waiting for, the prize distribution. Although the main goal of this tournamet is for entertainment, four of the teams will be going home with a little bit more. The prize distribution will be as follows:

1st Place: $500
2nd Place: $300
3rd Place: $200
4th Place: 5 Steelpad QcK Mousepads

Last but not least, I would like to wish all of the participating teams good luck! Remember, this event is meant to be fun so play your best and enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame.