Cologne is set to be 300x larger than Edmonton's Championship.

6 months and 3 continents of action are about to wrap up in Cologne, Germany, for the Intel Extreme Masters ((Electronic Sports League) ESL), with a final pot totaling $170,000.

The competition is to take place during CeBIT 2010: the world’s largest trade fair for digital IT and communication solutions which managed to attract over 400,000 visitors and 4,300 exhibitors in 2009.

Gamers from around the globe will once again be drawn to the ring to battle till death in the very PC-centric gaming finale. The competition will duel digitally in Counter-Strike 1.6, World of Warcraft and Quake-Live.

Aside from a chief gaming competition, visitors will also be treated to a bevy of gaming culture, including kiosks of Guitar Hero to hardcore PC demo’s. When the ESL invaded Edmonton, Canada, they had James Cameron’s Avatar running. But not in 3D. So… that was great.

Intel Gaming Hall at CeBIT 2010 takes place in hall 23 from March 2nd to 6th 2010.

On February 11, at or around 10pm, James Swan, a 27 year old man, while playing World of Warcraft, got into a fight with his mother when she had asked him to quiet down as her 3 grandchildren were attempting to sleep. After ignoring her requests, the mother walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, which sent James into a rage. He then grabbed her by the hair and threw her across the room. From here, she somehow managed to get to a phone and began to dial 9-1-1. In which James got to the phone and ripped it out of the wall, proceeded to push her to the ground and choke her. At around this point the James’ Grandfather came in with a handgun and accidentally shot James in a power struggle after the gun, still holstered, misfired and grazed his left ear.

We believe we could all agree that a more civil solution would have been simply to turn the volume down, put a set a headphones on, or stop screaming at the game, but it seems to be that this particular fight was bound to happen regardless of which game he was playing, though there was no clarification on what the fight was actually about.

Source:

Kotaku.com

Bradenton.com

Alfred Hightower's World of Warcraft Character

After more than two years of eluding authorities, fugitive Alfred Hightower was caught last month in Canada. His slip-up after two years on the lamb

Playing World of Warcraft.

According to a report by the Kokomo Perspective, Hightower, who was wanted for distributing marijuana and other drugs, fled the United States in 2007. Indiana deputy Matt Roberson, of the Howard County Sheriff’s Department, learned that Hightower had supposedly left for Canada, and that he played “some warlock and witches game.”

Roberson immediately thought of World of Warcraft. “I used to play it,” he said. “It’s one of the largest online games in the world.”

World of Warcraft lives up to that claim entirely. The game, which sports an impressive 14 million online players (and then some), is a product of Blizzard Entertainment, the California developer of games Diablo II and Starcraft. Roberson took what action he could: he sent a subpoena to Blizzard.

The subpoena went unanswered for four months, said Roberson. “They [didn't] have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption they wouldn’t.”

Then, Blizzard suddenly complied, sending Roberson Hightower’s IP address, billing address, and account history. They effectively gave Roberson everything he needed to track Hightower down. Needless to say, Roberson got his man.

Blizzard Entertianment developed World of Wacraft.

Discussion over the arrest has popped up on multiple websites, including the official World of Warcraft forums. Some have made Big Brother jokes, while others have ominously signed their posts: “Blizzard is watching…” Many gamers, it seems, aren’t comfortable with Blizzard giving out their information.

Others, though, don’t seem too worried. A large number of posters point out that if you aren’t doing anything illegal, you don’t have anything to worry about. One poster referenced Blizzard’s Terms of Use (Article 17, Section C ), which states, “ Blizzard may, with or without notice to you, disclose your Internet Protocol … personal information, Chat logs, and other information about you and your activities… in response to a request by law enforcement [or] a court order or other legal process.”

Looks like Hightower should have read the fine print.

The case is reminiscent of the allegations against Yahoo in 2005 and 2006, when the company supposedly gave the Chinese government information on political dissidents, information the government used to carry about their capture and imprisonment. Granted, drug dealing and political dissidence belong in two very different camps, but the feeling from both cases is the same. The Internet is not the safe haven some think it to be.

While the arrest is unlikely to affect World of Warcraft subscriptions in any notable way, it may change the way users view the digital world, if not the entire internet. The fact that even regular chats are saved by Blizzard, in case they’re ever requested by the proper authorities, warrants some caution.

If nothing else comes from this case, more people will at least be clued in to what, exactly, they agreed to when they checked the box and accepted Blizzard’s Terms of Use.

Watch your mouth, kiddies. Big Blizzard is watching you.

China’s Licensing bureau and Ministry of Culture can’t quite seem to decide who has the power to monitor World of Warcraft within their borders. Either way, content monitoring of WoW in China will be harsh and territorial. Until the interagency dispute is reconciled, the bureau demands people stop being signed up for the service, while the Ministry of Culture contends its authority and a go for WoW.

Ministry of Culture

This is a power struggle between which agency controls the internet in China, World of Warcraft merely a catalyst. The episode gave rise to public concern over who monitors the internet, and prompts the question of to what extent.

“They see the pie is getting bigger and bigger, so it is no wonder different administrations are fighting over pieces of that territory,” said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, an internet research firm in Beijing.

Li Xiong

Inter-agency exchanges over power are not new in China, and this one affects the largest industry on the net. The General Administration of Press and Publication released a statement Monday that no license was approved and that game registration cease. The Ministry of Culture, under Li Xiong, stated the games were under their pervue and WoW met its requirements.

Looks like a lot of red-tape.

via The Associated Press