The first ever Doritos Pro-Gaming Combine from Major League Gaming kicks off today in Nashville (26-28 March). If you are one of those unable to attend, plenty of coverage is being provided throughout the next few days. A dedicated Combine subsite has been set up which will allow fans to track the latest news stories.

Coverage will include:
Photo Galleries
A Live Blog bringing you updates from the tournament floor by the minute, including match scores, interesting stories, stats, polls, and more
News Articles updating you on the tournament and the players competing
Brackets allowing you to follow the competition
And more!

Links:
Source: Major League Gaming
Combine Subsite

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the latest addition to the i39 (2-5 April 2010) tournament roster. Multiplay has announced that EA and EA Store will sponsor Europe's first Battlefield Bad Company 2 tournament with a prize pot of £2,500. There are a maximum of 48 team places so interested players and teams are advised to sign up quickly. The tournament will take the format of a 4v4 Squad Rush competition.

Prize Distribution:
1st: £1,500
2nd: £750
3rd: £250

Source: Multiplay

The Electronic Sports World Cup Regulation Committee has revealed the official rules for the 2010 finals. Ten games have been selected across PC and XBox 360 and these regulations will apply in all national preliminaries and in Electronic Sports World Cup Grand Final in  Paris in July. The eligibility regulations for participating players have also been released.

Rulesets:
Counter-Strike 1.6 (PC)
Warcraft 3 (PC)
Trackmania Nations Forever (PC)
Quake Live (PC)
Defense of the Ancients (PC)
FIFA 10 (XBox 360)
Street Fighter IV (XBox 360)
Virtua Tennis 2009 (XBox 360)
Need For Speed Shift (XBox 360)
Guitar Hero 5 (XBox 360)

Eligibility Regulations

Source: ESWC

Games-Solution, the company handling the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC), has announced that the 2010 cash prizes for the Grand Finals are to be guaranteed by a bank. After the recent collapses of international events, Games-Solution recognised that the eSports community and partners were worried to see a new company handling the ESWC brand.

In order to allay concerns, Games-Solution has secured cash prizes to the value of $213,500 under a bank guarantee. As stated by Games-Solution, "this money is set to be exclusively delivered to the ESWC 2010 champions and nobody else". This is to ensure that prizes are both paid and paid promptly. The Fidal group, an international law firm, is able to provide an official certification of the bank guarantee upon request.

Statement From Games-Solution:
"Games-Solution, the new company handling the Electronic Sports World Cup, wish by this move insure the community that the ESWC organizing committee is putting the necessary energy in order to deliver an ESWC 2010 reaching the hopes of the esports world".

Source: ESWC

It was previously announced that the Electronic Sports League (ESL) in association with new partner, ASUS, would host five offline events as part of the European Nations Championship. These events will be held in  France,  Germany, the Nordic region,  Netherlands and  Austria.

The first of these events will be held at  Gamers Assembly (3-5 April 2010). Along with the European Nations Championship, there will be a Free Gaming area sponsored by ASUS. Gamers Assembly is also the largest LAN party in France which guarantees that there will be plenty to keep visitors occupied over the course of the event.

Links:
Source: ESL
Gamers Assembly

GameGune 2010 (22-24 July 2010) has been announced and will take place at Bilbao's Exhibition Centre (BEC). The event will feature 32 Counter-Strike 1.6 teams battling for a share of €22,500. The entry fee is €42 per player if paid in advance or €45 per player if paid on the door. This attendance fee must be paid, regardless of how a team earns it's place at the event.

There are two ways to ensure that your team attends the event; be invited by the organisers or earn a place through a qualification event. Teams that feel that they deserve an invitational place may contact the organisers at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Information regarding qualifiers will be released in the coming days. 

It has also been revealed that GameGune 2010 will not coincide with the 2010 edition of e-Stars Seoul, for the first time in two years. This will mean that top quality Counter-Strike 1.6 teams will be able to attend both events rather than choosing one over the other.

Links:
Source: HLTV
Tournament Site: GameGune 2010

The Major League Gaming 2010 Pro Circuit is rapidly approaching and will open in Orlando, Florida (16-18 April). In the buildup to this event, the 2010 Pro Circuit section has been officially launched with details regarding a change to the bracket system, rules for the game titles to be used and registration details for the live tournament and the online series.

Registration for Orlando begins on Tuesday, March 16th. Halo 3 registration opens on March 16th at 19:00 ET (March 16th at 23:00 GMT), while Tekken 6 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl registration gets underway at 19:00 ET on Wednesday (23:00 GMT on March 17th). Registration for the online qualifiers of Halo 3, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Tekken 6 has also been opened. 

Source: MLG Announcement
Tournament Site: 2010 Pro Circuit

Last week, a number of Irish Fighting Game players returned from Cannes where they had attended, and participated in, the World Game Cup. Many returned after having made a name for themselves or represented themselves well.  All returned with a determination to build the Irish scene, develop talents and return to competitive action with a new focus. I put a standardised set of questions to them. Click 'Read More' for the full article. Featured in this article are Roogle (fake_roogle), Orim (HMUYA), ChopperByrne, Xinkai, Ry, Doctor DooM, Dreddy, Cobelcog and Liquidswords.

Hello; who are you and who do you main?
I'm fake_roogle (although everyone just calls me Roogle), am part of the N. Ireland and I play Balrog.

What were you playing and where did you finish?
I played in the SFIV Masters tournament which was a qualifier for EVO and the SFIV 1v1 Main Event for a cash prize. I came out of groups in the Masters group and unfortunately had to face one of France's top players, Yamazaki93. I managed to win the second set but he clutched it out in the end to knock me out. In the Main Event, I came 3rd in my group with 2 losses and unfortunately two players only had one with two to qualify, so I was out.

After a strong showing at the 2009 World Cyber Games finals in which Seán 'HotSwat' Walsh participated in the Trackmania Nations tournament, it has been announced that Ireland will not participate in the 2010 World Cyber Games. Ireland may feature in the 2011 games but nothing has been confirmed as yet. Ireland is not in a position to finance the cost of a qualification event along with the trip and player license for the finals which will take place in Los Angeles later this year. LanParty.ie and The Digital Hub may cooperate in the Summer to host a LAN event in the meantime.

Statement From Mark 'Kinetic^' Kenny:
"With restrictions in place on sponsors as well as requirements for marketing, funding for an event or even an offline qualifier like last year isn't going to work."

Source: boards.ie

The World Game Cup has concluded with tournament action in a number of competitive fighting games including Street Fighter 4, Soul Calibur 4, BlazBlue CT and Tekken 6 among others. The event featured solo tournaments, team tournaments and special tournaments such as the 'Master Series of Street Fighter 4' and the 'World Team Cup'. An Irish group was also in attendance to fly the flag and did themselves proud. Cobelcog in particular appears to have made some ripples after placing top 32 in the Street Fighter 4 Masters tournament and top 16 in the main Street Fighter 4 tournament. Ireland also faced London in a 5v5 matchup but lost out 5-4 after Ryan Hart pulled off back to back wins to clutch the match. 

Links:
Source: World Game Cup
Discussion: boards.ie
DooM's Video Log: YouTube

Final Standings:
Ireland v London 5v5:
London: Ramzi (AK), TastyC (BL), Dawgtanian (EL), DBUK (BL), Ryan Hart (SA)
Ireland: fake_roogle (BO), Blag (DI), Dreddybajs (ZA), Newtype (RY), Cobelcog (CA)

fake_roogle (BO) > Ramzi (AK)
fake_roogle (BO) > TastyC (BL)
Dawgtanian (EL) > fake_roogle (BO)
Dawgtanian (EL) > Blag (DI)
Dreddybajs (ZA) > Dawgtanian (EL)
DBUK (BL) > Dreddybajs (ZA)
Newtype (RY) > DBUK (BL)
Ryan Hart (SA) > Newtype (RY)
Ryan Hart (SA) > Cobelcog (CA)
London wins 5-4.

SPECIAL EVENTS
MASTER SERIES OF STREET FIGHTER IV:
1st: Eita
2nd: Allioune

WORLD TEAM CUP OF SOULCALIBUR IV:
1st: TEAM FRANCE
2nd: TEAM ITALY