UKCT - UKCounterTerrorist

[steam] has been updated again, but unfortunately VAC wasn't looked into as we all might have hoped. Instead, some fairly minor issues have been dealt with, and there have been updates for CS: Source as well as HLDS.

As usual, restart [steam] to get the update. The changelog is below.

Steam

Pressing the cancel button while Steam is loading will bring up the offline dialog

Fixed 100% CPU use on startup

Fixed use of quoted parameters in "-applaunch" command lines

Source Engine

Fixed exception info spam in debugger output window for SDK users

Half-Life Dedicated Server

Enabled support for new query protocol (fixes HLTV server not appearing in the server browser)

When Valve get round to VAC remains to be seen - if they do at all, given how far behind it is, it will require a very, very substantial update and a whole lot of work to eliminate all the CS 1.6 hacks and cheats that bypass it, and what with CS: Source soon to inevitably take over the flag for CS, will Valve just concentrate on anti cheat for the Source engine?

Over at a Brazilian community site, cs-br.net, they have interviewed Hyper and HeatoN from the newly reformed Ninjas in Pyjamas. The interview mostly discusses the team's future, where they'll first perform and on what platform of CS they'd rather do it, but does hint on some interesting rumours - below is the obligatory quote:

There were also some rumors that Potti didn't get along with Hyper. Could you guys please explain to people (it's almost clear that it isn't true, otherwise they wouldn't play in the same team again)

NiP-Hyper: That rumour is false.
NiP-HeatoN: They are like salt & pepper now always been

So bds fucked up with you?
NiP-HeatoN: quite

Seems like he wanted to focus in the whole SK-Gaming structure and didn't give so much attention lately for you guys. Am I wrong?
NiP-Hyper: Not fully. There were contract problems as heaton said

Unfortunately, most of the questions are answered as the ones above are - very short, concise, and to the point. And as with the samples above, it seems like the interviewer is trying to put words in their mouth - although this could be dodgy translation from Portuguese.

Either way, worth a read if you're interested in the whole situation - and you can do that here.

After the first round went more or less according to seedings, the second round of the Optihack LAN in Sweden is underway and almost complete. Of those 1st round games that didn't go according to seeding, #21 seed zX9 defeated the newly reformed xP.se 16-14, and #19 seed Playtown.se knocked #14 seed erratic into the lower bracket with a score of 16-10.

Round 2 fixtures & results

Some interesting results and fixtures still to come - notably the mix of Begrip and Destination Skyline's Swedish talent in Skolpojkarna overcoming ex TAG/PCG bsl and ex 4k Juve9le in their team of Catch-gamer. In addition, MYM.cs (formerly Asylum) take an early dive into the lower bracket after a close defeat to the new HLO sponsored side.

As for matches yet to come - PCG's ZaG, Magix and MegatoN and their mix team of SmilE are due to come up against a real challenge in Polish giants CNN, which will be an interesting game to watch.

EYEballers

16 > 5

Omega 5

Skolpojkarna

16 > 13

Catch-Gamer

Northern *

16 > 6

zX9

Clanblomma

14 < 16

e-star

mTw.ATi

16 > 14

Playtown.se

HLO gävle

16 > 13

MYM.cs (ex Asylum)

Embrace

16 > 10

HQ.Generation

SmilE

6 < 16

CNN.Pentagram

Upper bracket quarter finals: fixtures & results

Some good fixtures in this round, HLTV info will be updated as available. The impressive performances of mix team Skolpojkarna will face a real test in one of the very finest teams in the world, EYEballers - this will be a real highlight of the round, no doubt. With CNN on the opposite side of the bracket to EYE, it looks as though the two teams will first meet in the upper bracket finals - provided there is no major upset in the mean time.

EYEballers

13 < 16

Skolpojkarna

HLTV: proxy6.eu.hltv.org:27020

e-star

16 > 14

Northern *

HLTV: TBA:27025

mTw.ATi

16 > 11

HLO gävle

HLTV: proxy6.eu.hltv.org:27025

Embrace

16 > 8

CNN.Pentagram

HLTV: proxy6.eu.hltv.org:27022

HLTV info can be found at both HLTV.org and HLTV.nu, and brackets can be views on the CS.nu site - upper brackets here, and lower brackets here.

With the first season of [esl]'s CS Champions' League nearing its LAN finale, they have announced the qualifiers for the second season. It seems that only 16 teams will be given the opportunity to qualify, at least that is what I understand from the term "8 qualifiers."

Below is their full statement - date formats have been changed to dd/mm/yy, and times to GMT.

We are pleased to announce that the 8 qualifiers for Season 2 are now online. Each team is able to sign up until 14/01/05 22:59 GMT. Two days later we will announce which teams have the chance to try to qualify themselves for the Season 2.

As in Season 1 the Map pool still consists of the 5 basic maps de_cbble, de_dust2, de_inferno, de_nuke and de_train. The playdays are still Tuesday and Thursday 20:00 GMT. The difference to the first season is that 2 rounds will be played each week.

This means the winner of the match on tuesday has to play next match on thursday. The whole qualifiers will be finished 08/02/05 so a few days before the ESL CSCL Season 1 will finish.

A very good opportunity with very significant prizes, the former [clanbase] league has been flourishing since its move to [esl] - whether Four Kings and PC Gamer re-apply for the second season remains to be seen, especially with the former competing in the WEG and the latter going through temporary inactivity.

For the entire statement head over to the [esl] UK section, here.

As Optihack concludes, some major upsets have already taken place. First seed and most people's favourite EYEballers were initially knocked into the lower bracket 16-13 by the mix team of Skolpojkarna, which consists of the Swedish players in D`Skyline and some Begrip, and have since been eliminated by Embrace 16-10, which means EYE will have to settle for a 5th-6th placing. Second seed and the other main favourite, CNN.Pentagram, who recently smashed The Titans out of the [clanbase] Eurocup X with a score of 16-6 online, have done even worse than EYE and will finish 7th-8th, after being beaten in the upper bracket by Embrace and then by Clanblomma in the lower bracket. Another good looking side Catch-gamer, which included bsl and juve9le who have played for NoA and 4K respectively, have also been eliminated relatively early, and will have to settle for a 9th-12th finish.

So, upsets aside, the final rounds are due to conclude today. Times are in GMT.

Upper Bracket Final - 13:00

Skolpojkarna

16 > 12

mTw.ATi

Lower Bracket Round 7 - 16:00

Embrace

16 > 11

e-star

Lower Bracket Final - 18:30

mTw.ATi

10 - 16

Embrace

Match was played on de_nuke, and in the first round an Embrace flashbang landed under the dreaded box, which meant mTw.ATi decided to take advantage of a rule that stated that if a bug exploit was abused, all remaining rounds would go against the guilty team. So the half was therefore defaulted 15-0 to mTw.ATi without a single round being finished, and Embrace decided not to bother with the second half, defaulting the game.

However, since, Embrace asked for the configs of mTw.ATi to be checked, and the 'stopsound' command was present - illegal in this competition, and the admin's verdict? Rematch. So, a likely delay to the grand final, but more importantly, a proper lower bracket final that consists of more than half a round.

Grand Final

[match] time=21:00 flag1=swe team1=Skolpojkarna score1=16 flag2=swe team2=Embrace score2=12 hltv=proxy6.eu.hltv.org:27020 irc=N/A [/match]

HLTV info can be found at both HLTV.org and HLTV.nu, and brackets can be views on the CS.nu site - upper brackets here, and lower brackets here.

Final Rankings & Prize Money

#1 Skolpojkarna (~ 4,629£)
#2 Embrace (~ 1,929£)
#3 mTw.ATi (~ 1,157£)
#4 e-star

#5-6 Clanblomma
#5-6 EYEballers
#7-8 xPerience.se
#7-8 CNN.Pentagram

#9-12 HQ.Generation
#9-12 Northern*
#9-12 HLO Gävle
#9-12 Catch-Gamer


So, disappointment to ZaG, who was in mix team SmilE with his PCG team mates Magix and MegatoN, who finished 13th-16th. MYM.cs, formerly 'Asylum' will also be disappointed, what with their 17th-24th finish. Overall it is fair to say this tournament has raised many eyebrows what with various under and over performances, whether these are a true reflection of the participating teams' abilities or a one-off post-Christma LAN, remains to be seen.