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Be the First to Play Mario Kart and Win a New Car! Only if you’re in the UK

Play Mario Kart Win the Race and drive home with a new real Mario Kart VW Beetle Convertible. It’s the same old PR crap blah blah blah! I am sorry just bitter I don’t live in the UK.Â

To celebrate the launch of Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo and GAME are challenging the nation to take part in the Mario Kart Grand Wii, a tournament set to find the country’s best Mario Kart driver. Keen drivers will be first off the grid, trialing the new game before it goes on sale anywhere in the world and could win themselves their own Mario Kart VW Beetle Convertible.

Thirty GAME stores across the UK will be opening their doors to fans old and new of one of the world’s best loved racing games from Saturday 5th April. Heats will be taking place at each of the specially selected GAME stores throughout the day and the finalist from each location will go forward to race for a chance to win a Mario Kart Wii inspired VW Beetle Convertible.

Prizes up for grabs at GAME stores include copies of the game and £250 of ‘Experience Vouchers’ for activities including Karting, Paintballing, Quad Biking and other action packed family adventures. In addition, each GAME store will feature its own prize draw with the winner receiving a Mario Kart Gift Card worth £50 to spend in-store! The ‘Grand Wii’ final will take place at an exclusive racing day event at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, Surrey on the 12th April which will see a winner cross the finish line and claim their prize.

You may think you’ve been racing as the Mushroom Kingdom’s finest for a long time, but now there’s a new racer in town: Your Mii! Put your Mii behind the wheel and take on all comers! For those who want to get into the game even more, Mario Kart Wii comes packed with the Wii Wheel. Shaped like a steering wheel, you place the Wii Remote inside the Wii Wheel’s casing and get ready to ride! In addition to the Wii Remote, you can also use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers in combo, or use a GameCube Controller to take those tight turns and challenges Mario Kart Wii throws at you.

Those looking for world ranking domination can take on up to 11 players simultaneously worldwide using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service which will offer them the chance to race other players across the globe in a nail-biting contest of speed and skill! Prefer to keep the rivalry a little closer to home? Try the Multiplayer Mode, in which up to four people will be able to challenge each other in the comfort of their own living room, bringing the on screen excitement into a whole new dimension.

MARIO KART GRAND Wii EVENT DETAILS:

WHEN: Saturday 5th April 2008

WHERE: GAME Stores at the following locations:

MANCHESTER Unit 59 Arndale Centre
TRAFFORD 124 Peel Centre Trafford Centre
BOURNEMOUTH Unit 4, Avenue Centre Commercial Road
PORSTMOUTH 226 Commercial Road Portsmouth
STEVENAGE Unit 4A The Forum
MERRYHILL Unit 87, Lower Mall Merryhill Shopping Centre
READING Unit 18 Oracle Shopping Centre
BASINGSTOKE Unit 15 Festival Place
BRAEHEAD Unit 57 Braehead Shopping Centre Kings Inch Rd
GLASGOW 146 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow
MILTON KEYNES 15 Crown Walk Milton Keynes
NOTTINGHAM Unit 308A Victoria Centre
LEEDS 50-52 Albion Street Leeds
LUTON 142-144 Arndale Centre Luton
CHELTENHAM Unit A 100/104 High Street
CRIBBS CAUSEWAY Unit LR53 Cribbs Causeway
CARDIFF 92 Queen Street Cardiff
NEWCASTLE FENWICKS (GAME CONCESSION) 39 Northumberland Street Newcastle
GATESHEAD

METRO CENTRE 17 Red Pathway Metro Centre
BLACKBURN 10-12 Market Way Blackburn
WIGAN 27 Standish Gate Wigan
HANLEY 214-215 The Potteries Hanley
LONDON HAMLEYS 188-196 Regent Street London
LONDON 100 Oxford Street London
THURROCK Unit 106 Lakeside Shopping Centre
ROMFORD Unit 15 Liberty 2 Centre
TAUNTON 45-46 Fore Street Taunton
EDINBURGH 127 Princes Street Edinburgh
DUNDEE 51 Murraygate Dundee
KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES 3rd Floor The Bentalls Center

Mario Kart Wii launches in the UK on the 11th April at the estimated retail price of £35.

One more Gaming league Down the Tubes – The CPL has closed

Citing financial concerns the Cyberathlete Professional League has ceased operations and cancelled all future events, eleven years after being first launched:

Effective immediately, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) will cease operations. Therefore, all CPL events currently scheduled for 2008 are hereby canceled.The CPL was launched in June 1997 with the pioneering mission of promoting and sanctioning video game competitions as a professional sport. For ten years the CPL events experienced increased growth – commencing with a small LAN event in Dallas, Texas, and culminating in world-class competitions across five continents.

However, the current fragmentation of the sport, a crowded field of competing leagues, and the current economic climate have prompted the CPL to suspend its pro-tournament operations. The CPL regrets that this news will disappoint those that were planning on attending the summer and winter events this year.

Many thanks to all of the sponsors and partners that helped CPL establish the groundwork for professional video game competitions. Their vision and pioneering spirit should always be remembered.

The CPL was in the process of developing Severity with Tom Mustaine’s Escalation Studios, and had planned to release it on all major formats. Severity was designed from the ground-up as a pro-gaming title and was to be used for many of the CPL’s major tournaments – with the CPL out of business it is quite possible that Severity’ll be canned, though we are attempting to contact Escalation to confirm its fate.

Microsoft And US Army To Sponsor Halo 3 Tournament

Microsoft announced plans to hold a Halo 3 Championship Tournament, co-sponsored by the US Army. The tournament will be preceded by three online “Training Schools” where players will learn new tips and tricks in “Sniper School”, “Heavy Weapons” and “Vehicles”. The registration for the actual tournament begins in February with prizes like Halo 3 artwork, Microsoft points and more.

Microsoft and U.S. Army Present First Ever “Halo 3” Championship Tournament on Xbox LIVE

Microsoft announces a winner-take-all “Halo 3” tournament March 2008; Gamers can prepare for battle with a series of Basic Combat Training exercises starting Christmas Day 

More than five million gamers have been glued to their Xbox 360s since the launch of “Halo 3” on Sept. 25., including scores of fans in the U.S. Army.  Microsoft Game Studios and the U.S. Army today announced that U.S. gamers will have a chance to prove their fragging skills in the first ever “Halo 3” Championship Tournament, hosted exclusively on Xbox LIVE.  The tournament kicks off this March, complete with prizes for winners and finalists, and registration will begin in February.

In preparation for any battle, a soldier must train and prepare for combat. As such, gamers will have the opportunity to participate in a series of Basic Combat Training exercises leading up to the tournament kick-off. Registration for these training sessions begins on Dec. 18, and the games begin on Dec. 25, exclusively on Xbox LIVE.

Designed specifically to prepare gamers for the Championship Tournament, these Basic Combat Training sessions will help gamers hone their skills with different weapons groups by setting up specific games where only one or two focus weapons will be available to play. Winners of these Basic Combat Training competitions will receive prizes, including Microsoft Points, exclusive “Halo 3” art, and more.

The Basic Combat Training schedule is as follows:

•  Registration begins: 12/18, Training begins: 12/25 – Sniper School
• Registration begins: 1/8, Training begins: 1/15 – Heavy Weapons
• Registration begins: 2/5, Training begins: 2/12– Vehicles
• Registration begins: TBA February, Tournament begins: TBA March – Championship Tournament

To further ensure that players are trained to the top of their games, the Army is also hosting a Destination Experience blade on Xbox LIVE. When the program begins, gamers will be able to access the blade via their Xbox LIVE dashboard, gaining access to multiple videos and a Tips and Tricks section dedicated to providing the best combat strategies and advice the Army experts have to offer.

Training registration opens Dec. 18. Gamers should watch Xbox LIVE and xbox.com for upcoming registration details, full contest rules and regulations.

Tournament.com Goes Down The Drain

Tournament.com, a web site that presented a way to win money by playing and winning matches has now announced that after only about 7 months Tournament.com is closing its doors.

The Tournament.com website have given the lame excuse of “the servers are temporarily offline”, and added that “We have taken a step back to take a fresh view of our business model and have decided we need to change direction. We can give no guarantee as to when our service will resume.”

People who still have money in a Tournament.com account are asked to email them by Dec. 7 so they can get access to withdraw their money from a PayPal account. It is really kind of shitty to give so little time to get the cash that is rightfully your own off Tournament.com’s banking system.

Tournament.com Adds Multi-level tournaments And true Deathmatch mode

Tournament.com, today announced the addition of two highly sought after features: Multi-level tournaments, and a true Deathmatch mode for Counter-Strike: Source.

Multi-level tournaments up the ante for competitive Counter-Strike: Source players by allowing up to 20 players to compete in a multi-round tournament, featuring quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals matches to determine winners. Gamers skilled enough to make the finals will have a chance at more lucrative cash rewards. Even more exciting is the possibility of full-fledged tournaments with up to 80 players vying for cash prizes.

The new Deathmatch mode takes teams out of the equation for the first time on Tournament.com, allowing players to test their true skills in an all-out melee. The addition of this mode answers the hopes of many gamers who enjoy free-for-all shooters over team play.

Forza 2’s First Ever Downloadable Content

The first downloadable content for Xbox 360’s acclaimed racer “Forza Motorsport 2” is now available. Speed on over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace now to download the all new free Nissan car pack, featuring three premiere Nissan models: the 2007 Sentra SE-R, Altima, and 350Z.

To celebrate this release, Xbox and Nissan will be hosting several activities focused around these new additions to “Forza Motorsport 2’s” already extensive car list. The first of these activities will be a Nissan Sentra SE-R tournament on Xbox LIVE. Fans are encouraged to customize and upgrade their Sentras and then race head-to-head in an all-out Nissan Sentra brawl. The 32 bracket 256 player tournament will kick off on 18th August and take place over the course of seven weeks. It will finish on the 6th October with a championship race live at the L.A. Auto Show. Finalists will compete for a series of prizes including a chance to win a new Nissan! Full tournament details, registration and rules can be found at www.xboxlivetournament.com starting on 10th August.

In addition to the tournament, Nissan and Xbox will also be hosting an in-game customisation contest, as fans utilise the incredibly deep livery system of “Forza Motorsport 2” to create unique and stunning paint jobs on their Nissan Sentra SE-Rs. The contest will be judged by a panel comprised of Turn 10 developers and Nissan representatives, as fans battle for the title of ultimate Nissan customiser. Full contest details and rules can be found at www.xboxlivetournament.com also starting on 10th August.

Also the famed Peugeot 908 race car is also now available for download. Coming off a second place finish at the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 908 not only brings yet another amazing racecar to the Forza universe, but it is also the only paintable racecar to be included in the game. Please visit forzamotorsport.net for a full list of available downloadable content, as well as in-depth Pit Pass reports, Auction House bid wars, tournament standings, and stat tracking.