Ed from Xleague.TV just sent me an email with details of the XLeague World in Conflict Tournament. Here is the press release in full:
XLEAGUE.TV GETS READY FOR CONFLICT
XFX SPONSOR WORLD IN CONFLICT TOURNAMENT
XLEAGUE.TV has today announced that it will be featuring the hotly anticipated Sierra masterpiece World In Conflict within it’s online competitions, sponsored by graphics giant XFX.
The XFX World In Conflict European Open is open for registration as a 5 v 5 Tournament on 28th September, with UK based PC clan Team Dignitas currently hot favourites for the title in this 32 team tournament. So if you think you can challenge for the title, get onto www.xleague.tv for more details of how to enter.
Prizes have also been announced with 1st place receiving £800 cash plus 5 x 8800GTS XFX Graphic Cards, 2nd place receiving 5 x 8600GT Fatal1ty Cards as well as 5 signed Fatal1ty Shirts and 5 x 8500GT cards for 3rd place.
“We’re very happy to be working with XFX for World in Conflict, they are one of the leading Graphic Card companies which we feel will push the graphic engine that World in Conflict has to offer” says Mike Bembenek, XLEAGUE.TV Presenter & Commentator.
XLEAGUE.TV is the UK’s first dedicated eSports channel and fully integrated website launched in May 2007. The revolutionary channel, which broadcasts on Sky channel 279, offers a comprehensive range of services to its members including leagues and tournaments, customisable user profiles, match scheduling and club and team creation. By competing on www.xleague.tv, gamers can win the opportunity to be invited to the studio for the chance to play on television.
Check out www.XLEAGUE.TV or tune into Sky Channel 279.
I’ve had a few things to sort out over the past week, hence the lack of blogging and twittering. However, I’m getting back into the swing of things and everything should be back to normal soon. Anyhoo, World in Conflict was released last Friday and the review scores are pretty good. I’ve listed a number of reviews below for your reading pleasure:
Computer & Video Games
IGN
GameSpot
GameSpy
Pro-G
Yahoo Games
Also, the WiC FaceBook is growing at a steady pace. If your a member of FaceBook feel free to join the group and of course, order the game if you haven’t done so already.
Eurogamer.net has posted up their review of World in Conflict. The review is a good read and they scored the game nine out of ten. Go have a read of the review then order the game… it’s due to be released in the UK on Friday!
I’ve got a current account and multiple savings accounts with the Halifax in the UK. I transfer money every so often from my savings account to my current account to pay bills, buy things with the debit card etc.
Up until Sunday afternoon I was very pleased with the service the Halifax was providing, that’s until they sent me a letter explaining the charges they were going to add onto my account. Apparently I was overdrawn by £2.10 and as a result, the letter pointed out that there would be a £30 charge added to my account and a further £28 charge would be added to my account in October. Within seconds of reading the letter, I was on the phone to the bank. Once I had confirmed my details I asked the customer service agent if they thought the charges they were adding onto my account were excessive. No reply apart from “how can I help you?” and so the conversation went like this:
Me: Can you explain why you are charging me £58?
Halifax: You have gone over your overdraft.
Me: Sorry but I don’t have an overdraft nor do I want one. Why are you charging me £58?
Halifax: According to our system, your account is in arrears.
Me Oh, really… by what amount?
Halifax: Two pounds and ten pence.
Me: Again, I’ll repeat what I asked you at the beginning of the conversation. Do you think the £58 charge is excessive or even fair?
Halifax: I’m sorry sir but that’s the charge we add onto accounts in arrears.
Me: OK. I’m really sorry but can you look at the totals of the savings accounts? Those accounts will be closed and the money will be withdrawn first thing tomorrow morning.
Halifax: Let me see what I can do about this charge.
Oddly the charges were removed from my account and the customer service agent was extremely nice to me after she’d looked at the total of my savings accounts. Obviously, I’m not going to declare how much money I have in the UK on my blog but let’s say its a comfortable amount. However, I’m not keen on using any British bank any more and I’m thinking about transferring everything back into my Canadian bank. As far as I’m concerned the banking system in the UK is flawed and the majority of banks customers do nothing about it.
This morning, executives from Apple and o2 gathered at a press conference in London and finally announced the release date of the iPhone in the UK.
- The iPhone is exclusive to the o2 network.
- The iPhone will go on sale on the 9th November 2007.
- The iPhone will cost £269.00 and you’ll have to sign up to an 18month contract via o2.
- Tariff’s range from £35 per month to £55 and includes unlimited data usage.
- iPhone uses EDGE technology which is a downgrade from 3G, meaning the iPhone is slow whilst using the internet.
- Free Wi-Fi access at 7500 hotspots in the UK via The Cloud.
Obviously, I was interested in the iPhone and have waited for this news with great anticipation. However, I’m currently on a Vodaphone contract and own an N95. If I wanted to buy an iPhone, I would have to buy-out my Vodaphone contract, purchase an iPhone and sign up for a fresh 18month contract. That alone would cost the remainder of the Vodaphone contract, and the cost of the iPhone with new contract.
Although I have the cash to buy it, I doubt I will. I never waste money. I’m not keen on downgrading to a new product that features old technology. I’ve become accustom to 3G and use it every day. Unless an upgraded version of the iPhone gets released in the near future and features 3G then I’ll reconsider but until then, no iPhone for me.
World in Conflict is a very social game. WiC has it’s own FaceBook group, it now has its own skin on the UK’s first video game social networking site, Eurogamers. I was just browsing over EuroGamer website and noticed the World in Conflict skin. You can add the skin to your Eurogamers profile. I’ve posted a screen-grab below:
I’ve got a mouse mat with the same image and it looks sweet!
It took me two years to purchase a HDTV. Gareth recommended the TV before I brought it, I’m glad he recommended it because I’m really pleased with every aspect of the TV. I’ve had a few weeks to play around with the HDTV.
I’ve connected up a Windows Vista PC, a Sky TV receiver, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 Elite and HD DVD Drive. Hand-held hardware like the iPod, N95, PSP are all connected to the USB ports on the consoles. I will eventually upgrade to Sky HD. The set up of the system was a breeze, it took roughly ten minutes to tune in and set up.
When I had the old 30inch TV in the living room, I often found it difficult to read text on the TV alongside the text from some video games i.e. Dead Rising is a perfect example. Now, viewing everything in HD is pretty cool. I’m able to see everything clearly 
Gaming
Playing games in HD has become a visually entertaining experience. I love the fact that I can boot up World in Conflict and play it on the 37inch TV. I’m looking forward to MassGate going live on the 18th September to take part in some epic multi-player battles and of course, watch replays of matches.
Xbox 360 games look stunning in HD. I picked up Dead rising when it was first released but due to the text problem on standard definition TV’s I couldn’t really get what I was doing in the game, apart from killing a bunch of zombies. Anyhoo, I recently got back into Dead Rising and I’ve played the game properly by unlocking the true ending. Gears of War looks great and at some stage I’ll finish it on insane difficulty. One thing that I’m doing is revisiting the games I’ve got in my collection, mainly to see what they look like in high definition.
Movies
HD Movies look amazingly clear. The first HD DVD I purchased was Batman Begins. I’m really impressed with the quality of HD DVD’s alongside regular DVD’s. The only thing I can’t get my head around at the moment, is the cost of HD DVD’s.
Robert Haxton, the team leader of Dignitas World in Conflict squad has started up a weekly column. The column provides an interesting insight into the teams preparations for the World in Conflict Cyber Professional League (CPL). You can read Robert’s weekly column via Intel’s Game On website.
Gareth and I had a gamerscore challenge. Basically the first person to achieve twenty thousand points on Xbox Live wins. The loser therefore has to buy the winner beers for life… I’ve won the challenge. I’ve just gone over twenty thousand points.
Gareth will most likely try to dispute this but considering the fact that he is a games journalist and gets paid to play and write about video games for a living, he really doesn’t have an excuse.
Whenever we go to the pub in future, it’s going to be rather expensive for Gareth…
On Thursday afternoon I went down to Ubisoft’s offices and was able to see a number of yet to be released titles. I’m covering the games for the Book of Games Volume Two. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you which Xbox 360 game I got to play but the brand manager for a certain title let me play the game for a few minutes…. I think its going to do well when it’s released in November.
Was able to jam with Jam Sessions for while on the DS. The game is pretty sweet and is certainly worth picking up when it’s released. I was given a copy of Happy Cooking and Blazing Angels 2. I’ve got to find some time over the weekend to try out the games.
Eventually, when I arrived back in London. I met up with Gunit at Waterloo and headed over to The Match Bar for Simon’s leaving party. Simon was the Product Manager at Sierra Entertainment / Vivendi Games for World in Conflict, F.E.A.R and a number of other great games. It’s sad that he is leaving the fray at Vivendi. It was good to catch up with everyone and finally meet Rupert, the MD of the Eurogamer Network. I was introduced to Duncan, an entertaining dude that runs Cranberry Publishing.
Thursday night was a lot of fun and I think everyone was wasted by the end of the night. Pictures are on FaceBook. I’m still feeling the effects today but it was a good night out.
Simon, thanks for the party. It was good fun and as I mentioned on Thursday night, it was a pleasure working with you, have fun in Oz next month and all the best in the future
