The CoD4 and Halo3 console teams of SK Gaming recently attended their first LAN events, taking up serious space on the prize podiums.

First of the Halo3 team took home 2nd place at i36 in UK over Easter, and last weekend the CoD4 squad secured double gold (4v4 and 2v2) at ARLAN in The Netherlands.

Check below for a bunch of pictures from the events:

SK.Halo3 at i36

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I wrote earlier on the blog about our LAN event attendance over Easter, and I’m happy to let you know that we had a blast at all the events and so did the partners who represented us in UK and France.

I made a little collection of photos for your viewing pleasure:

DreamHack Göteborg, Sweden:

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Just a quick, sunny, crispy, Wednesday morning update, letting you know that the guys over at Zath.co.uk are throwing a contest for a World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse together with UK e-tailer Game-1.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment over on the competition page.

/Casper

A few very positive changes in the top ranks of the gaming scene has happened over the course of the past week, seeing as American/Canadian based e-sport organization Evil Geniuses has added some serious, European force to their team.

First off, Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen has announced his move to EG. The world famous WarCraft III brings along Russian player Dmitriy “Happy” Kostin and Rene “Ciara” Krag from Denmark, introducing EG as a serious contender on the international WC3 scene.

Secondly, Finnish Tomi “Lurppis” Kovanen has been chosen to replace Corey “Hanes” Hanes in the Counter-Strike 1.6 lineup. In opposition to the new WC3 players who will still be based in their current home country, Lurppis moves to Dallas in order to play together with his new team.

All in all, this is definitely exciting changes and as always a hot topic when American teams sign European players.

Remember that the Facebook contest is still running so if you haven’t yet publicly declared yourself a SteelSeries fan, now is the time. ;)

/Casper

In cooperation with Brady Games, Jinx and Upperdeck we’ve just announced a quite awesome and easy-to-enter Facebook contest.

The concept is very basic: During April we’re drawing out one winner every week among the SteelSeries fans on Facebook, who will be awarded the Ultimate World of Warcraft Prize Pack, consisting of:

1x World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse
1x SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition Keyset (WotLK)
1x SteelSeries Zboard Gaming Keyboard
1x SteelSeries 5C Limited Edition Mousepad (WotLK)
1x SteelSeries QcK Limited Edition Mousepad (WotLK)
1x Wrath of the Lich King Strategy Guide
1x World of Warcraft Atlas Set
1x $100 World of Warcraft apparel Gift Certificate
1x World of Warcraft Trading Card Game -DoW 2 Player Starter Set
1x World of Warcraft Miniatures Core Set Booster

Check out the SteelSeries page on Facebook - and become a fan to enter the weekly drawing. Good luck!

/Casper

While most people are off for vacation during Easter, some (or actually a lot) choose to spend their vacation going to LAN events - and so do we.

As a matter of fact, the SteelSeries brand will be present with a product showcase and sales booth at a total of four gaming events in four different countries, during the holidays:

France - Gamers Assembly (11th-13th of April)
Without a doubt, the happening of the year for French gamers. On top of giving away prizes worth of 66.000€ in a big list of various console and PC games, GA also offers a large exhibitors area where you’ll find the SteelSeries booth amongst others as well as public conferences targeting subjects such as addiction to video games, jobs opportunities and open source development. By the way, Gamers Assembly is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year.

United Kingdom - MFestival i36 (10th-13th of april)
Quite similar to the influence of Gamers Assembly in France, MFestival is by far the largest gaming event in the UK welcoming up to 2000 BYOC participants and thousands of visitors at the Stoneleigh Park. Fnatic will be present at the event, representing SteelSeries and showcasing and selling their newly branded products as well as announcing a new line of Fnatic apparel. Fnatic’s professional gamers will take challenges over the course of the event and loads of other activities will take place in the booth. KustomPCs will also be selling close to the entire line of SteelSeries products, so make sure to stop by.

Denmark - Copenhagen e-Sports Challenge (12th-14th of April)
Held inside, Tivoli, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Denmark, Copenhagen e-Sports Challenge is set be the event that seriously puts electronic sports on the map in Denmark. With the municipality of Copenhagen being the main partner, as well as MTV and the largest, national news paper lined up as sponsors, CeC will feature celebrity visits, world record attempts in the “Innovative Gaming Lab” as well as seminars and lectures from international icons within the gaming industry. Turning the Tivoli into a virtual battlefield will be exciting for sure and we’re lined up in the exhibitors area to showcase and sell SteelSeries gear.

Norway - The Gathering 2009 (8th-12th of April)
Gathering 5.200 gamers in one single hall is one heck of a job. The Gathering has been throwing LAN events since its inception in 1993 where 1400 gamers showed up and with 15 years of LAN event organizing in the backpack, we’re sure this event will be as amazing as always. SteelSeries will be present at the event alongside ASUS, helping out with the professional gamer shoot-outs and showcasing product.

Make sure to stop by and say hello, if you’re around. Happy holidays. :)

/Casper

Yesterday we announced the addition of North American powerhouse Team Evil Geniuses, to the list of professional teams developing products with us.

Here’s a snippet from the press release:

First founded in 1999, Evil Geniuses is North America’s premier professional gaming team. With more than 50 players from both the United States and Canada, Team EG truly consists of the finest gaming talent North America has to offer, in a wide range of games such as Counter-Strike, DotA, Guitar Hero, Quake, Unreal Tournament, and World of WarCraft. Over the years Team EG players have accumulated numerous podium placements at the world’s most prestigious eSports tournaments.

“No other gaming organization in North America has accomplished as much as Team EG; add to that an ever-growing global fanbase, and it is a logical choice for us to sponsor them,” said Kim Rom, VP of Marketing for SteelSeries. “We’re really happy to expand our operations in North America with professional gamers experienced enough to help us shape, design and develop gaming products, something that will be evident in our upcoming gaming mouse, which has been developed in coordination with such players as fRoD, Storm, and Warden.”

Check out the whole sha-bang over here.

/Casper

Okay, so since we just got confirmed that it’s at least not all bad for our eyes to play video games, why not spend a bit of the time in front the screen watching some of the big dogs clash together?

ESLTV broadcasts the ESL Pro Series UK at the moment and we’ve teamed up with them to give away a bunch of prizes for their weekly shows, going forward.

In order to get a hold of the SteelSeries prizes, all you have to do is guess the winning team in the weekly, professional Call of Duty 4 and Counter-Strike: Source match being shoutcasted.

Check out more info and enter the competition here and here.

Have a great weekend!

/Casper

 

Have you ever heard the line, “Don’t you think it’s about time you shut down that game?” or “You play so much you will ruin your eyes”

If you’re tired of these types of comments then you should perhaps read the rest of this post.

The scientific publication Nature Neuroscience, has recently published an article that explains how young people that play action games actually improve their ability to track minor changes in grey areas by enhancing their contrast sensitivity. In other words: They’re improving the ability to see in the dark and navigate in bad visibility situations.

The study made by researchers from the University of Rochester in New York, shows that it’s important what type of game you play if you want to improve your vision. Over a 9 week period (50 gaming hours), researchers compared the vision in young test subjects playing Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2 against subjects playing Sims 2.

The result – an increase in contrast sensitivity from between 43 to 58 percent in the group that played action games. Effects for some were temporary, but in some cases the increase held for months or even years.

For full details of the study, check the article at nature.com
sources: nature.com / jp.dk

/Tino 

The guys over at Empire are throwing a contest at the moment with the SteelSeries Zboard and 5C WotLK editions as well as the MMO Gaming Mouse up for grabs.

To enter the competition, simply answer the question:

In World of Warcraft, what is the Dwarven capital city?

1. Orgrimmar
2. Ironforge
3. Darnassus

Head over to the Empire competition if you want your share of the loot - good luck :)

/Casper