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£35,000 Season 1 Prize Fund
£35,000 Season 1 Prize Fund
Posted by SmellyMoss on Jan 13th 2009 12:07
13th January 2009 (London, UK) – The United Kingdom eSports Association (UKeSA), the official governing body for competitive gaming in the UK, today announced a £35,000 prize fund for the new eSports leagues: The Premiership, The Championship and The Cup tournaments. The first ever UKeSA national season starts in February 2009 with the announcement of the free to enter Open Divisions
Competitions will be played on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii platforms. New games released which have an online competitive element will feature immediately in the free play Open Divisions, popularity will define which games make it to the all important Championship levels and ultimately professional Premiership levels where teams will get the chance to compete for prize funds, and even earn seasonal retainers. The game titles kicking off the historic first Open season are now confirmed as:
PC
- Counter Strike: Source (Valve Corporation)
- Day of Defeat: Source (Valve Corporation)
- Counter Strike: Condition Zero (Valve Corporation)
- Counter Strike 1.6 (Valve Corporation)
- Team Fortress 2 (Valve Corporation)
- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Company of Heroes (THQ)
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- World of Warcraft: WotLK (Blizzard Entertainment)
Nintendo Wii
- Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Nintendo)
- Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
Microsoft XBOX 360
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Gears of War 2 (Microsoft Games Studios)
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- Guitar Hero 3 (Activision)
- Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft Games Studios)
- Halo 3 (Bungie)
Sony PlayStation 3
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 (Ubisoft)
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Pro Evo Soccer 9 (Konami)
“UKeSA aims to make eSports accessible to everyone,” said Ray Mia, Chief Executive of UKeSA. “We are looking very closely at how we can build a sustainable model. Anyone who has competed in an eSports league or tournament will tell you, once you’ve played videogames competitively there’s no looking back. This roster of Season One games for the Open Division mixes online favourites with the latest chart successes. In short, there’s something for everyone, pick up and play for fun in our Open Divisions, or get motivated and become a professional eSports Star at Championship or Premiership level, or maybe perform a giant killing act in our knock out Cup competitions. We’ll be launching new titles in the Open Division over the coming weeks and months, ultimately it will be the gamers who decide what titles we run with, but its simple, we’re giving gamers the option to decide what level they want to play at.”
Season One for the 2009 UKeSA Premiership, Championship and Open Divisions is due to start in February and will be featured online (IPTV/VOD) and in print, the professional levels will also have significant coverage on television, with the events culminating at a Gaming Exhibition in London in April 2009.
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beef.Cake said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:33:43 GMT)
Mario Kart competition, awesome :D Got to get my Wii overheating issues fixed now :/
Tommz said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:38:43 GMT)
aye mk is the shizzle :)
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:43:00 GMT)
Good to see COD4 back in the frame instead of COD:WaW!
TI Sacred said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:45:03 GMT)
No Halo 3 on the 360? Are they completely crazy?
Harper7 said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:52:47 GMT)
Halo has the biggest community for competitive gaming and you dont include it. Gears of War 2 over Halo3 hahaahahahahahahah
Socro said: (Jan 13 2009 at 12:55:48 GMT)
Complete screw up if you ask me, going to lose alot of interest and to ditch the biggest community? A possible fail like Xleague? :)
TI BUK 20 said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:00:45 GMT)
Im sure there must've been some error when you typed this up, you forgot to put Halo 3 on 360 ;)
Waylander said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:01:47 GMT)
People will be able to vote things in.
Socro said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:03:12 GMT)
Yeah hopefully it is an error, or people can vote or something like that, halo3 has a very big community.
Waylander said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:06:11 GMT)
Socro, spread the word and get people to post on this thread. The more people that say "I want Halo3 on there" the quicker I can get it added.
The Trunk Munky said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:08:52 GMT)
Halo 3 should be a part of this!
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:09:15 GMT)
I believe the list is for The Championship. To my understanding, it's an initial list and more games will be removed and added as time goes by. To get Halo 3 in The Championship, you have to get enough teams playing in the Open Division first. Then the committee will do reviews each season.
An7hony said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:12:40 GMT)
Quite suprised to see Halo 3 hasn't been included, considering it has the largest community in the UK (and a massive EU following to), gets the biggest LAN turnouts (ie. at MB360 XL), and has a rapidly growing online following with so many gamers getting into competitive Halo.
I think its strange to include a dead game like COD4 and Gears 2 when so many Gears players are coming over to Halo because they don't like Gears 2. Halo also has the most potential to grow and improve in size and by not including it you will potentially lose out on at least 250 players.
A real shame to see the most competitive 360 shooter with the biggest following and most potential get left out.
TrevVv said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:13:18 GMT)
Halo 3 needs to be used IMO for them to reach thier full potential as an organisation
ThePoostick said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:14:22 GMT)
Gears & COD over Halo 3 on the 360? lol
Halo 3 is the most competitive console game bar none.
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:15:04 GMT)
I WILL KEEP REPEATING THIS: To get Halo 3 in The Championship, you have to get enough teams playing in the Open Division first. Then the committee will do reviews each season.
Pyronox said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:15:33 GMT)
Where's Halo 3, surely you need the game that gets the biggest turnouts! The best Gears players are converting to Halo these days because they hate the sequel (can be seen by the amount joining h3f.eu every day).
TrevVv said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:17:40 GMT)
Hibiki? why did you not chose halo in the first place? that is what everyone is getting at
Harper7 said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:17:55 GMT)
Halo3 has bigger comunities than COD and Gears it should already be on the list. www.Halo3forum.co.uk
Waylander said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:18:05 GMT)
Ryoga Hibiki it needs to be an open game first and the list above is for open games.
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:18:40 GMT)
I didn't choose anything. I'm not part of this UKeSA.
TI Sacred said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:19:28 GMT)
Ryoga Hibiki that really shouldn't be the case Halo 3 is a an obvious choice as a Championship title considering they've included cod4/gow2, hopefully they see this interest and revise the list.
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:21:48 GMT)
Oh.. yeah.. kinda read it wrong.. my mistake! Anyways, send an email to the UKeSA about it then. Be nice to them.
NeoKubrick said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:22:58 GMT)
The exclusion of the most competitive and popular game on the Xbox 360, and on any console, in the initial list doesn't reflect very good on this organization who are attempting to create a competitive scene. Attendance for Halo 3 LANs dwarf all the other console games as an Upton to a midget.
zMVP said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:26:09 GMT)
Agreeing with Neo and Anthony.
DeLiVeRaNcE said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:27:42 GMT)
what????/// wheres halo lol more ppl turn up at events for halo than any other console game in the eu and america/canada must be a typo or sumthing lol im sure at xl5 there were more halo teams then cod and gears of war put togetehr i no it was close anyways lol put halo in silly billys
DeLiVeRaNcE
Epiiiiiii said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:29:00 GMT)
Lol halo 3 being left out of this is a joke. Are they trying to reproduce another xleague?
x
Crown JoOls said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:39:50 GMT)
This really makes little sense. If the UKeSA are serious about promoting the console gaming scene then ignoring the biggest realease on the XBOX360, Halo 3, is either a huge oversight or very foolish.
Pyronox said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:41:34 GMT)
halo was in xleague, and was pretty successful there (not sure what people are getting at when they mention xleague) but i do agree halo 3 being left out sucks.
Epiiiiiii said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:45:30 GMT)
because xleague failed and this has the potential not to, but not putting halo 3 in will probably cause them to fail also.
TI Mellow said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:47:34 GMT)
I've got to ask, why omit any games at all at open level? Surely, the best thing to do would just include every title that would potentially have a worthwhile following and let the sign ups do the rest of the talking.
Like everyone has mentioned, Halo 3 most probably would have got the best sign ups from the console side of things. But as well as that, there might be games where the community are less known that come out of the woodwork for this. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on the 360 for example was more than capable of becoming a championship game and the community has just recently got back together properly.
But I guess there has been decent work put into this. I would suggest, however, adding the following titles for the 360 side of things: Halo 3, Gears of War (1), Call of Duty: World At War, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Project Gotham 4. If the games aren't going to work, you will find out by adding them based on sign ups.
Noy said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:48:51 GMT)
YES a Mario Kart competition is DEFINITELY on the cards ;)
Paranoia FTW said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:51:08 GMT)
THE BIGGEST console game there is and ever has been isn't included.
Surly after WOW and CS, halo would be next on the list?
TI Mellow said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:52:08 GMT)
Also, when will information be released about prize fund distribution?
Again, I don't wanna go on about this matter but considering the PC scene is already bigger than the 360 scene, as an active member of the 360 scene, I can't help but feel a bit shafted because it almost seems as if UKeSA is telling us which games to compete on rather than letting us decide ourselves by massively limiting our options. The PC side has one less games than all the other three platforms combined.
Still, on a positive note, it still sounds good and I look forward to this beginning.
Filtertip said: (Jan 13 2009 at 13:59:07 GMT)
I got to agree with what everyone is saying here, Halo 3 is the game on the 360 finding it very od my self that halo 3 is missing
Waylander said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:01:46 GMT)
I am sure it is just an oversight that will be rectified guys. TI Mellow moving forward it would be great to cover absolutely everything there is demand for. Things have to start somewhere and this is just the beginning.
Fragby said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:02:01 GMT)
Halo 3 needs to be added, nuff said im afraid.
Strive Reaction said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:14:48 GMT)
im sorry but this is rediculous the people who are trying to organise this event for console gaming obviously dont know what they are doing, leaving the most competitive console game out of this is just insane please rethink and get halo 3 added ! The turnouts for halo 3 will exceed past all the other console games !!!
Gashhh said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:17:06 GMT)
The biggest console game with the biggest community in Europe which will definately generate the biggest interest (excl PC games), and it isn't included?
It's dissapointing after seeing the excitement by other fellow Halo players when we heard of someone with interest in console gaming willing to put money and time into it. I think UKeSA would profit by including Halo 3 as one of their chosen games. I've always said the person/company who invests into European Gaming (not only Halo) will make alot of money. Not wanting to compare to MLG once again but they started exactly how EU Console Gaming did with small venues/turnouts/prize money.
I'm hoping UKeSA have made an error not including Halo or i hope they do realise they have made the wrong decision and change their minds.
Sorry for my essay. ;-)
TI Mellow said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:17:21 GMT)
I'm aware that you can't support every game but you could work it another way. Maybe add more games and remove the least popular titles. I don't know really, but still, I'm just wondering how the titles were decided?
Slinkyy said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:25:03 GMT)
...Where's Halo 3? :(
Massive mistake imo, had better be a written error ;)
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:28:03 GMT)
Guys and girls, I've just looked at passed press releases and come across this: Open Division
This is the amateur category for the UKeSA. Players and Teams are still bound by the rules of conduct defined by the UKeSA,. Key points on the Open Divisions:
Key points on the UKeSA Open Division
* Financials: Free to play but there is no prize money, no retainer or sponsorship assistance.
* Physical events: There are no physical finals for events.
* Media coverage: There is no written news or video media footage, supported or endorsed by the UKeSA
* Team numbers: No limit to the number of Teams who participate at this level.
* Games: All games to be represented in this division.
* Team support: Managers of Teams in this division will receive specialist support from the UKeSA only if they have a Team competing in the higher divisions.
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:28:46 GMT)
ALL GAMAES TO BE REPRESENTED IN THIS DIVISION - so maybe there is hope for Halo 3
Vardd said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:30:32 GMT)
Why isnt there anything to do with Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. IMO the biggest game online atm.
PDH said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:37:31 GMT)
These guys have taken the time, made the effort & organized a £35,000 prize fund... I think they deserve to have whatever games they want in the list..And we should respect that.! Hopefully they will inject a new Interest in competitive gaming in the UK. And don't forget the opportunities that may open up for some of you. Not just in winning prizes, but the option of support for your teams, training for team managers/Captains and Introductions to potential sponsors for gamers and teams across all platforms... I say..."Good luck UKeSA !"
Riotz-FTW said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:38:47 GMT)
No H3? not really a good decision, to also put GoW on there instead, when there are so many players from GoW that are coming over to H3. Really big mistake :(
Ryoga Hibiki said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:40:59 GMT)
I agree with PDH. Nice comment!
SmellyMoss said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:45:31 GMT)
That may be a mistake. But how is that crazy? How many care about Halo 3 outside of halo3forum? Now go look at the amount of the sites for a lot of the other games out there.
SmellyMoss said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:48:42 GMT)
I honestly think this was just a mistake.
TI Mellow said: (Jan 13 2009 at 14:49:12 GMT)
@ SmellyMoss. Lots in reply to that. Hence why Halo has the biggest user base on Xbox the majority of the time.
@ Ryoga Hibiki. I think when they say ALL games, they mean all the games they're supporting, not literally every title.
@ PDF. I agree whole heartedly, but at the same time, you've gotta take into account what your target consumer wants and you must understand why the Halo community feels a tad like they've been left out in the cold.
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