Yesterday, SteelSeries unveiled a new line of gaming surfaces featuring art from Blizzard Entertainment’s highly anticipated StarCraft® II. The QcK Limited Edition Terran Marine and Kerrigan vs. Zeratul editions are designed with a non-slip rubber base which prevents the pads from sliding, no matter what surface the mousepad is placed on, and is optimized for optical and laser technology providing an overall more reliable gaming experience.

“StarCraft and its expansion have together sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, and we believe StarCraft II will prove equally influential and popular, making this a great opportunity to provide gamers with surfaces that help to improve performance and game play,” said Brian Stech, SteelSeries President of the Americas. “We are incredibly excited to have an opportunity to continue our partnership with the designers from Blizzard Entertainment and develop surfaces that we know StarCraft players will enjoy.”

The SteelSeries QcK Limited Edition Terran Marine and Kerrigan vs. Zeratul gaming surfaces are made of high quality cloth material and optimized textured surface which guarantees both smoothness and glide. The special surface graphic on each mousepad depicts characters from the upcoming StarCraft II, which will pick up where the events of StarCraft: Brood War left off, following familiar characters and new heroes through the next chapter of the series’ epic story.

The gaming surfaces will be available in July 2009 and will be sold for $14.99.

–> SteelSeries StarCraft II Gaming Surfaces <–

Finally all threads were counted and the top 5 nominations were added to a poll. Exception is the Heavy of the Season award which will directly go to Pace who received over 50% of all Heavy nominations.

Now it’s time for everyone’s opinion. Follow the link below and take your right to vote. Good luck to all candidates!

–> Season 5 Awards: Polls <–

The 1st ETF2L public server is ready to go! We invite everyone to join up and have some public fun. Only registered players from etf2l.org are able to join which will raise up the skill quality. No newbies without clan experience!

For the start, all primary map pool maps and the top 5 mapping contest maps can be played. Take your chance to get some experience on the new maps!

Details

• IP: 84.244.189.238:27015
• Slots: 24
• Registered players only
• Note: If you recently registered, it may take up to 24 hours until you can join the server

Map Pool

• [cp_afterdusk_b2b]
• [cp_gullywash_rc6]
• [cp_outlaw_b1]
• [cp_waste_final]
• [cp_yukon_rc4]
• cp_badlands
• cp_gravelpit
• cp_granary
• cp_well
• ctf_turbine
• cp_fastlane
• [cp_freight]

Our official partner SteelSeries announced a new Facebook lottery! Have a read and good luck winning :)

The indian summer conditions and massive heat waves have finally caught up with us here at the HQ office, and you should be happy for that!

That basically means that we’ve dedicated the upcoming month to giving away gaming gear on our Facebook site for free – on a (close to) daily basis. All you have to do is sign up as a SteelSeries fan on Facebook, and you’re in the draft for an insane number of give-aways coming up.

During the first week of this month-long craziness, we’re introducing the SteelSeries Sunstroke Days, giving away products worth of over $850 as three daily prizes.

Following that, we’ve got giveaways coming up of some very unique items, signed by a bunch of very interesting gamers and industry icons. More info will be posted on our Facebook site and on Twitter in the following days.

–> Sign up as a SteelSeries fan on Facebook <–

Season 5: Winner

The regular week phase of our 5th Season is over! 25 divisions have found their winner. Big Congratulations goes to:

Division 1

• Team Dignitas
• Team Coolermaster
• Team YoYoTech

Division 2-6

• Division 2a: I Don’t Know?
• Division 2b: Afterlife
• Division 3a: OverGame e-Sports
• Division 3b: Oh My God It Is
• Division 3c: Clones-Inc
• Division 3d: Precursors of Death
• Division 4a: plan-B
• Division 4b: Smart Move
• Division 4c: Northwave
• Division 4d: #paradox
• Division 4e: NeXt Century esports
• Division 4f: Nobody’s fault but mine
• Division 5a: Team Future
• Division 5b: dA-Gaming
• Division 5c: Deathless Gaming
• Division 5d: VIER-Clan
• Division 5e: The Good Guys!
• Division 5f: Timmy And The Fratellis
• Division 6a: The Real Warriors
• Division 6b: nicey-tf2.
• Division 6c: ze Dummkopfs
• Division 6d: flashpoint
• Division 6e: Pocans In Fortress
• Division 6f: New Force

Season 5: Awards

Like every Season we will distribute some Awards to accentuate impressive accomplishments. Besides the regular Season Awards which are decided by communities nomination and poll results, two new awards were added which will be given away directly.

The Domination Award will be awarded to all teams who finished Season 5 with a perfect streak; ETF2L is our home Award is for all teams who managed to complete all five regular Seasons. Congratulations!

Schedule

• Nomination Phase: Tuesday, 14th July till Sunday, 19th July, 23:59 CET
• Poll Phase: Monday, 20th July till Sunday, 26th July, 23:59 CET

Overview

• ETF2L is our home Award – teams who completed all five Seasons
• Domination Award – teams who finished with a perfect streak
• Most Surprising Team – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Fairplay Award – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Division 3 team of the Season – all division 3 winners nominated
• Division 4 team of the Season – all division 4 winners nominated
• Division 5 team of the Season – all division 5 winners nominated
• Division 6 team of the Season – all division 6 winners nominated
• Most Underrated Player – [Nomination Thread] – only players from Div3-6 can be nominated – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Demoman of the Season – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Heavy of the Season – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Medic of the Season – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Scout of the Season – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Sniper of the Season  – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Soldier of the Season – [Nomination Thread] – top 5 will be included to public poll
• Player of the Season – all separate class of the season winner + most underrated player will be nominated

ETF2L is our home Award

• 9 Men
• clanda
• Die Philosoffen
• diamondZ (former account name: Plan-B)
• jAgarna
• LOL Team
• Northwave (former account name: FADER)
• Team Dignitas (former account name: 4 Kings)

Domination Award

• New Force (Division 6f – stats 18-0-0)
• nicey-tf2. (Division 6b – stats 16-0-0)
• Northwave (Division 4c – stats 14-0-0)

Nations Cup: Announcement

What’s the most requested competition in the European TF2 scene? Another Nations Cup! Today we are happy to finally announce our second ETF2L Nations Cup which will take place from September to October 2009. Every national team is invited to participate as long as you are fine to play on European servers and at regular European times.

System will be a classic World Cup mode: All teams will be divided into groups first. After the group phase is over, 1^st and 2^nd will continue at a straight K.O. phase. The big final will be played as Best of 5 Maps!

We also created a [Nations Cup Forum] for any related discussions or gathering of players for a National Team.

Schedule

• Sign Ups open: Sunday, 23th August, 20:00 CET
• Sign Ups close: Sunday, 30th August, 23:59 CET
• Group Phase – start: Tuesday, 1st September, 00:01 CET
• Group Phase – General Schedule Deadline: Sunday, 20th September, 23:59 CET
• Group Phase – General Match Deadline: Thursday, 1st October, 23:59 CET
• Playoff Phase: 2nd October till 1st November

Season 6: Dates

Surely many of you would like to know when our next Season will start. As mentioned earlier, we will have a summer break until we continue with a 6^th Season. Note down the dates if you don’t want to miss the Sign-Ups!

Schedule

• Sign Ups open: Sunday, 6th September, 20:00 CET
• Sign Ups close: Sunday, 13th September, 23:59 CET (or earlier if all spots are filled)
• [Pre-Playoffs: Sunday, 20th September till Monday, 21st September]
• Map Pick Phase: Tuesday, 22nd September till Sunday, 27th September
• Week 1 start: Monday, 28th September
• General Match Deadline: ~Sunday, 6th December
• Playoff Phase: Monday, 7th December till Sunday, 20th December

Mapping Contest: Final Phase

After some general organization problems about the end of the ETF2L Mapping Contest, there was an internal discussion about how to end the contest in a smooth way.

The final phase of the Mapping Contest will start with a public decision to reduce all submissions to a Top 3. Every map will get his own public poll where players will be able to rate it from 1-10. As everyone should have played a map before he rates it, ETF2L will set up a public server including all maps (hopefully done soon). Polls will open after everyone was able to test these maps on our server.

After the polls are over Top 3 will be included into an invite tournament with 8 top teams. These teams will be split up in two groups. First two of each group will go into the Semi Finals, winner of that will play the final. All participating teams do another rating of the Top 3 maps. Top rated map will be declaimed as winner.

The winner map will be included to the primary map pool of Season 6 and also be part of the next regular Cup final.

Map Overview

• [cp_afterdusk_b2b]
• [cp_gullywash_rc5]
• [cp_outlaw_b1]
• [cp_waste_final]
• [cp_yukon_rc4]

Ban: joske

Also another punishment has to be announced. After joske was banned in May due to excessive flaming, he created another account and joined a new team. Of course he got caught and his ban will be extended for another 7 months till February 2010. Well done!