After a series of qualification cups, eight finalists were found. These elite and consistent players from UK and Ireland entered a double elimination bracket in order to win a Dell XPS 730X computer with Intel® Core™i7 Processor 965 Extreme Edition. The top four seeds; GaRpY, zsx, kRoNic and pulseh, progressed to the second round with relative ease. GaRpY faced the toughest challenge in the opening round in the form of Dignitas teammate, VIZARI, but progressed with a 2-1 win. kRoNic's progress in the Upper Bracket ground to a halt in Round 2. A close match against zsx finished 2-1 in favour of zsx but it was a close affair. zsx pipped kRoNic on the two decisive maps by just one frag. kRoNic took the scalp of VIZARI in the Lower Bracket but was dumped out of the tournament by pulseh.

GaRpY was clearly the in-form player with wins over pulseh and zsx to claim his place in the Grand Final. pulseh was able to set up a rematch after a close 2:0 win over zsx. pulseh started the final strongly and picked up the first map but GaRpY was ruthless and claimed two map wins back to back with some breathing room.

Source: ESL

Final Standings: 
1st: GaRpY - Dell XPS 730X computer with Intel® Core™i7 Processor 965 Extreme Edition + place in European Finals
2nd: pulseh - Intel® Core™ i5 Processor i5-750 and Intel® Desktop Board DP55KG
3rd: zsx - Intel® Core™ i5 Processor i5-750, Intel® Desktop Board DP55KG
4th: kRoNic

The 3.5 session of the Dragonslayers Ranking Battle featuring Street Fighter 4 has drawn to a close. The season is getting closer with a number of strong competitors putting their hands up for a shot at the tournament win. Newtype, Roogle, Chunkis and Blag were dominant in the group stages with three wins from three. Xinkai, Cobelcog, The Truth and Liquidswords followed them through in each group respectively. But the second place finishers came undone in the first round of the Double Elimination bracket as they fell to their opponent 2-0 in all cases.

After the initial shock of being knocked into the Lower Bracket, the pressure was on to keep the tournament hopes alive. The Truth fell early with Cobelcog securing his place in the final after 2-0 victories over The Truth, blag and Roogle. After Chunkis was defeated by Newtype in the Upper Bracket final, he had to face the hot running Cobelcog. Cobelcog took the place in the Grand Final after a 2-0 win. Cobelcog's performance became even more impressive in the Grand Final as he defeated Newtype in two sets (3-0, 3-0).

Final Standings:
1st: Cobelcog (Cammy)
2nd: Newtype (Ryu)
3rd: Chunkis (Zangief/Sagat/Ryu)
4th: fake_roogle (Balrog)
5th: Blag (Bison)
6th: LiquidSwords (Fei Long)
7th: The Truth (Blanka)
8th: Xinkai (Ryu)

Source: boards.ie 

The 3.5 session of the  Dragonslayers Season has been announced. Street Fighter 4 willl be the competitive fixture with the tournament kicking off at 19:00 GMT (February 6th 2010). Casual matches will run from 12:00 GMT. This session will run as part of a Dragonslayers 24 event (12:00 GMT on 6th February until 12:00 GMT on 7th February).

Entry into Dragonslayers 24 is £8 but membership is not required. Entry for the Street Fighter 4 competition is £1 with the proceeds going to Childs Play Charity. It is necessary for all participants to be 18 or over however.

The tournament will feature a group stage followed by an eight player double elimination, best of three, bracket. Button binding is acceptable and participants are advised to bring their own controllers. Queens University Belfast will host the tournament once again.

Links:
Source: boards.ie
Dragonslayers 24 Info
Dragonslayers Website

It's time for another European Nations Cup from the ESL but this time, it's serious. ASUS has partnered with the tournament which sees six game titles sharing a prize fund of €120,000. This is the largest prize fund in the history of the European Nations Cup. The 2010 edition of the European Nations Cup will feature players and teams from around Europe competing in Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike 1.6 Female, Warcraft 3, FIFA 10, Counter-Strike:Source and Quake Live.

Game Titles:
Counter-Strike 1.6 (5v5)
Counter-Strike 1.6 Female (5v5)
Counter-Strike Source (5v5)
FIFA 10 (3x 1v1)
Warcraft 3 (4x 1v1, 1x 2v2)
Quake Live (4v4)

Applications for National Managers and Team Captains are also currently being accepted. Each will have their own role to play over the course of the Championship. Interested participants can read more information here. Those who wish to apply should e-mail an application to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Links:
Game Selection
Prizes
Partner Application

The newly opened Joypad Gaming Centre (Dublin Road, Maynooth) is to host a Modern Warfare 2 tournament (13th February 2010). There will be a Free For All and a Team Deathmatch tournament with cash prizes up for grabs. Door registration for each tournament begins at 12:00 although it is possible, and cheaper, to pre-register. The Decerto V1 Ruleset is to be used for the event.

Free For All (Registration at 12:00-13:30 GMT with tournament beginning at 14:00 GMT):
Entry Fee: €10
Buyback: €5
6-8 players per match with the top 2 (or 4 depending on number of players) progressing to the next round. 8 minute time limit with no score limit. If you are knocked out, you are entitled to one buyback which sees you into the next round

Team Deathmatch (Registration at 12:00-14:30 with tournament beginning at 15:00 GMT):
Entry Fee: €20 (for pre-registered teams). €30 (for teams registering on the day)
4v4 teams will compete in a best-of-three series lasting 30 minutes. Each series will consist of 10 minute games of Team Deathmatch, Domination and Capture The Flag

For Pre-Registration or general queries:
Phone: 01-6106851
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Facebook: Joypad Gaming Centre

Source: boards.ie

LanParty.ie 3 (5-7 March 2010) has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Unfortunately, as a result of the school calendar and exams the event will not take place until the Summer. All those who have paid in advance will receive refunds within the next 48 hours. All queries may be directed to info {at} lanparty.ie. 

Source: LanParty.ie

Ireland are to enter two squads in the Call of Duty 4 NationsCups from ClanBase. kev19 captains the Hardcore side while wannabe was elected as captain of the Search & Destroy squad. The groups have been drawn for both teams and matches are to kick off in the coming days. The first match in each competition must be played by February 7th. The full group draw for each cup can be found by clicking 'Read More'.

Call of Duty 4 Hardcore Group D:
Denmark
Poland
France
Ireland
Slovakia

Call of Duty 4 Search & Destroy Group G:
Belarus
Ireland
Netherlands
Poland

CoD4 Hardcore Source: ClanBase 
CoD4 S&D Source: ClanBase

Gamesnash Live hosted their first tournament in the newly opened venue in Dunboyne, Co. Meath. The entry fee was just €10 with a range of fantastic prizes up for grabs. Adam Sheridan was ranked as an early favourite and lived up to the hype in the group stage as he went undefeated. Adam's run came to an end in the semi-final with defeat to Mazin O'Meara. After this upset, Mazin may have looked to go one better in the final but Bryan Valencia held his nerve and took a 4-1 victory.

The Gamesnash Live team has received very positive feedback from the event and will be looking to run another tournament in the near future.

Final Standings:
1st: Bryan Valencia - Game of choice + Gaming party at Gamesnash Live (Prize worth approx €160)
2nd: Mazin O'Meara - Gaming Party at Gamesnash Live (Prize worth €100)
3rd: Adam Sheridan - €30 cash
4th: Shaun Thornton

Links:
Gamesnash Live

The groups have been revealed for the upcoming groupstage of the Counter-Strike Source ClanBase NationsCup. The Irish squad would have been hoping on a kinder draw as they clearly sit in a very tough group. Sweden, Germany, UK, Netherlands and Spain will provide the opposition for the groupstage which begins on February 8th. Click 'Read More' for the full breakdown of groups.

Source: ClanBase

Group Schedule:
1st Match Week: 8-14 February - de_dust2
2nd Match Week: 15-21 February - de_nuke
3rd Match week: 22-28 February - de_tuscan
4th Match Week: 1-7 March - de_inferno
Last Match Week: 8-14 March - de_train

Group A:
Sweden
Germany
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Ireland
Spain

Gamesnash Live recently opened and Sabre0001 took a trip to Dunboyne, Co. Meath to see how "gaming as it should be" should be. Gamesnash Live is a gaming centre which sets itself apart by providing gamers a "living room" within a gaming centre. Gamesnash Live has opened the doors to all gamers of all interests with a wide range of games on offer.

Excerpt from "Gamesnash Live: Gaming As It Should Be":
"I got a taste of how Gamesnash Live differs from other places during my visit. While talking with one of the owners, a birthday party arrived and were treated to their food. In addition, choruses of "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Rubay" were belted out. The clients: a group of ten-year old girls who were able to visit this venue, play some games, socialise with one another and have a good time."  

Find out more about the venue on the Gamesnash Live website. The full article can be found here. A 'thank you' must be extended to Pat and Joanne who were very welcoming and friendly during the visit.

Vaticon 16 (26-28 March 2010) is going to be "bigger and better than ever". Vaticon is a weekend long event with all forms of gaming from Video Games to Card Games to RPGs and more! There is something to suit all interests over the course of the weekend. Planned activities include RPGs, LARPs, Rubber Swords, Video Games, Board Games, Pub Quizzes and games of Assassin.

Video Games Lineup:
Smash Bros. Brawl

Goldeneye (4 player)

Rockband: Battle of the Bands (Red Hot Chilli Peppers - 'Dani California’. The highest score wins!)

Mariokart (The track for this year is Koopa Capa race)

Modern Warfare 2 (Favela level challenge - Try get the highest score in the shortest time)

Street Fighter 4 (In conjunction with the Irish Street Fighter community)

Free Play (On the Wii and X-Box 360 throughout the weekend)

Vaticon is known to be the cheapest 'con in Ireland as a weekend pass costs just €10 while a day pass costs €8 - "Vaticon is light on the wallet but heavy on the fun". The majority of games, excluding card games and the Pub Quiz, are free with a €1 deposit required for RPGs and LARPs to ensure that players arrive at the game. Each tournament has a prize which is donated by sponsors and appropriate to the tournament in question. Participants do not have to bring anything though players are welcome to bring their own equipment for video games (this must be clearly labelled). 

More details are to be made available in the coming days. A schedule of events is to be posted on the Vaticon website soon. More information can be received by contacting the Vaticon team.

Source: Vaticon
Discussion: boards.ie

The brackets have been released for the Intel Extreme Masters GameOn Regional Finals. In the UK & Ireland region, kRoNic topped his group with victories over VIZARI and xyloe and a default win over Martel. kRoNic was originally drawn against HawK_ in the first round of the knockout bracket but has been awarded a deafult win. kRoNic will face zsx in the second round after he defeated med1zxa in two maps. pulseh has also confirmed his place in the second round after beating IspAH 2:0. The fixture of the first round is the meeting of Dignitas teammates, GaRpY and VIZARI. One of the contenders for the championship will be going home empty handed in the first round.

Source: ESL
All Regional Fixtures
UK / Ireland Brackets