On the 18th of February, Fnatic kicked off their StarCraft II Rookie Draft and I wanted to make sure you guys are aware of this project. :)

Basically, the Rookie Draft opens up the possibility of 4 amateur StarCraft II players to become professional players in the Fnatic organization. The draft initially went through a 10-day phase of public ladder games to identify the top32 players, who where then announced yesterday in 8 different groups. Top2 of every group will eventually move on into playoffs where the final 4 players of the new Fnatic StarCraft II team will be found.

This way of recruiting players is extremely exciting and I’m eagerly following the progress. Check the Fnatic news posts below for more information on the draft.

SteelSeries helping to power the FnaticMSI Rookie Draft!
FnaticMSI Rookie Draft - top32 and Group Stage

/Casper

An exciting project of ours went live this Monday in France, where the French are able to get their hands on the extremely limited Golden-themed SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse.

Surprisingly simple, a gift voucher for a Golden Xai is hidden within two different, randomly selected SteelSeries Siberia v2 headset retailboxes on the shelves of French retailers/webshops Virgin, Surcouf, Materiel.net, Pixmania, Rue De Commerce, LDLC, Grossbill and Darty, until April 2nd.

Final note: Only 100 of these babies were produced. Worldwide. :)

/Casper

We’re continuing our partnership with Burton for their 28th Annual U.S. Burton Open Snowboarding Championships at the Stratton Mountain in Vermont on March 16th-21st.

However, this year we kicked up our activities a notch, and got together with Volvo to offer you guys a chance at winning a trip to the event to check out the competition, the pro riders and even the SteelSeries booth. :-)

Basically we’re putting in the whole lot - VIP treatment, hotel accommodation, roundtrip airfare, all-access VIP tickets, cash to spend and finally ground transportation in a selection of brand new Volvo cars throughout the event.

To enter the win-a-trip contest, simply fill in your details on the SteelSeries Burton 2010 event page. See you on the slopes?

/Casper

To celebrate the availability of the most-definitely-awesome StarCraft II beta, Fnatic, SK Gaming and ClanBase are now giving away a bunch of the StarCraft II themed SteelSeries QcK mouse pads on each of their community sites.

In both cases we are talking easy-to-enter drop-a-comment-give-aways, which should leave you no other option than to join in. ;)

Check below for competition links:

StarCraft II competition at SK Gaming
StarCraft II competition at Fnatic
StarCraft II competition at ClanBase

- both are running throughout this week.

/Casper

We’re running an awesome giveaway these days for all SteelSeries fans on Facebook in cooperation with NCSoft, which basically revolves around us giving away a massive amount of Aion Basic Potion Packs to all our Facebook fans - while supply lasts. :-)

To get your Basic Potion Pack, simply follow these steps:

1) Become a fan of SteelSeries at Facebook
2) Check your updates after 15:00 CST the day you become a fan
3) Follow the link and enter the appropriate information
4) Check your email to receive your unique in game potion pack code

Make sure to all info in the tournament note HERE.

/Casper

A rather small, but very significant software update has been released for the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse.

Updates:

- Fixed WoW Armory link for character info on the profile screen

Download the new software via our SteelSeries downloads page.

/Casper

Zath is hosting quite the epic World of Warcraft competition, running through to 7th of February.

Up for grabs you got basically the complete line of World of Warcraft peripherals from ourselves, as well as prizes from BradyGames, StarBucks and more official World of Warcraft products.

Head on over to the Monster World of Warcraft competition to enter!

/Casper

More SteelSeries products are being unveiled at CES: Today we have publicly announced the SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition StarCraft® II Keyset as well as the SteelSeries QcK March of the Scourge Exclusive mousepad.

SteelSeries QcK March of the Scourge Exclusive.

The new QcK will complement our current range of Wrath of the Lich King-themed QcK’s very well - and with the extreme level of anticipation currently built up around the release of StarCraft II, rest assured the keyset will be a great tool for both protoss’, terrans and zergs.

SteelSeries Zboard Limited Edition StarCraft® II Keyset.

Check out more info over on the product pages (linked above) - and enjoy your weekend. :-)

/Casper

A new version of the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse software is now available on the SteelSeries downloads page.

Here’s a rundown of the software upgrades:

1. Fully localized to all languages with the new in-game mode including the updated user guides. (With the exception of Chinese, where the in-game functionality is not introduced in the game client yet).

2. Improved Windows 7 performance. This should resolve the driver disconnect issue when the mouse settings can not be changed. Note that on Windows 7 the tray icon is by default hidden just like all other icons and you need to click the “Show hidden icons” arrow to access it. You can also make it always visible by pressing “Customize” in the same window and selecting “Show icon and notifications” next to the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse icon.

3. Improved installer. Now the newer version is installed automatically after removing the old one.

That’s it for the first FragYou post of 2010. I hope you all recovered well from NYE. :-)

/Casper

I kind-of-ish feel entitled to disturb you in whatever you’re doing, to make sure you don’t forget the SteelSeries Winter Wonderland bundle which is available on our webshop at a discounted price, as part of the SteelSeries 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways.

The bundle consists of the SteelSeries Siberia Full-size Headphone, SteelSeries Ikari Laser White and SteelSeries QcK.

Have a festive New Year and good luck with entering the 12 Days of Christmas contests. :-)

/Casper