The sixth CyberEvolution Professional season is right around the corner, and the placement tournament has come to an end. Six teams have been selected to join the professional division.

http://www.fragbite.se/?newsID=12536

 

if you can understand it, or you can just check the roster......

The sixth CyberEvolution Professional season is right around the corner, and they will be holding another placement tournament to determine who will compete in the upcoming season.

I changed the old name which is "The Counterstrike Union" to "The Counter-Strike Union". The new one looks better and people will understand it quicker. Also I want to let people know that a lot of changes are going to happen to this union.

we have an mIRC channel now

 

#counter-strike-union @ gamesurge.net

 

 see inside for instructions on how to get to the mIRC channel

I hope everyone likes the new changes to the CSU layout please feel free to comment on them whether its good or bad I want to know.  I will also be making us official CSU tags and sigs for those who want to show there CSU pride!

After my long disappearance in GS many moons ago (and the dreaded updates that killed the union in the past). I've decided to come back and get this union up and running just like it was 2 years ago. I welcome to all new and old users to this union, and I look forward meeting you all and getting this union back up. Expect changes to this union, like getting Counter Strike news and announcements posted up, I'm also considering adding steam news, and clans.

Another announcement: I have promoted 2 recruits (PatsFanVince and Cross_eye) to help me out making this union alive again. I know them very well and I'm sure they'll do well serving the community. 

thank you for being so patient, but our admin Lazyboy is finally back, and he will help return the union to its glory days

The Poland based team took back the top spot in the GotFrag Official World Rankings.

Steam has released a major update for CSS.

Updates to the Steam Client have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Friends

* Friends is now officially released, ending the Beta
* Fixed case where friends list would show as empty
* Added prompt for new users to choose their Friends name

Defrag

* Added file defrag option in game->properties dialog

Backup

* Improved speed & reliability of the Backup utility
* Added custom disk size option, in addition to the DVD & CD standard sizes
* Fixed case where backup would produce files too large for some CD burning software to handle
* Added an auto-run to created backups

Steam Client

* Added 'Games' option to settings -> interface -> favorite window dropdown
* Fixed developer name & icon not showing for mods in the games list
* Fixed issue causing apps a user owned to show as 'pre-loaded' in the games list
* Fixed case where steam:// hyperlinks wouldn't work for users who used a registry restore tool

Source Engine

* Updated base content with assets to support newer engine features

CS:S just had an update to give gammers some love. And the updates were:
Graphics
# Fixed occasional graphics artifact tearing run running on Nvidia 6800 hardware
# Fixed mismatch of bumpmapped/non-bumpmapped surfaces in HDR
# Fixed bug where mat_colorcorrection wasn't getting set properly on when running for the first time
# Updated default configuration settings for some newer video cards
# Fixed full-screen flicker bug when Alt-Tabbing out of fullscreen (particularly at high resolutions)

User Interface
# Added progress bar state to print a description when the server changes levels
# Show disconnect dialog when client connection times out
# Fixed anti-aliasing on fonts
# Fixed a memory leak in vgui
# Fix for startup video not showing correctly if running fullscreen with desktop resolution less than or equal to 1024x768
# Fixed bug where game would crash when taking a bug screenshot if the screen/window resolution was wider that 2048 pixels

Taco Bell and Xfire is Teaming up to set up this great event happening at May 21.
"Mountain Dew’s new Baja Blast, available only at Taco Bell, has announced executive orders straight from El Presidente for an evening of Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source, Battlefield 2, and Call of Duty 2 on Xfire.

On May 21st top teams including 3D, u5, EG, Check Six, verge, EFG, 20ID, -P-, TGBF, HOT, and shock~ will be each be playing two hours of public play and two hours of private pick up games through Xfire with event participants. Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source activities will take place from 6 pm PST 10 pm EST and Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 2 games will run from 8 pm PST 12 am EST."

Half-Life 2: Episode One, the first in series of episodic games from Valve, is now available for pre-purchase and pre-load via Steam. Those who pre-order the game before it is made available on June 1st will save 10% off the $19.95 price. For more information, visit www.steampowered.com.

Its the official headcrab plushie from valve! If youre interested or wanting to buy it heres the site:
http://store.valvesoftware.com/productshowcase/productshowcase_HL2HeadCrabPlush.html

Yes its true Valve will be making games for the 360 as said in the quote below. And who knows what games they could make with the source engine! They can probably be making CS2 for the 360 O_o.

"First title coming soon to Microsoft’s Next Generation Console

Bellevue, WA – April 26, 2006 – Valve®, a leading entertainment and technology studio, is pleased to announce development of future game releases for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

The coming titles will be powered by a customized version of SourceTM, the technology that powered Valve’s Half-Life® 2. Source provides state of the art performance in graphics, networking, artificial intelligence, physics simulation and more.

“The combination of Source and the 360 provides game designers the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “Whether developing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, the Xbox 360 is a great platform for expanding Source and our game experiences.”

The Valve 360 products are being designed to leverage the Xbox 360’s advanced graphics hardware and integration with Xbox Live® online game service."

This can either be a bad thing or a good thing, but I'm here to say Viacom (a very very huge company whore) just bought Xfire for about $102 million.

" NEW YORK and MENLO PARK, CA, April 24, 2006 – Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Xfire, Inc., the fastest-growing online gaming communication and community platform in the world, for $102 million in cash.

Judy McGrath, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MTV Networks, said, “Online gaming is an intensely social phenomenon, with millions of young adults around the globe interacting constantly, not only to play, but also to share information and evaluate games. Xfire is the leading gamer community platform, and we look forward to integrating its services and user base into our multi-platform strategy at MTV Networks, which already includes assets like Neopets, GameTrailers, iFilm and more. We are thrilled to welcome Mike Cassidy, Chris Kirmse, Adam Boyden and the rest of Xfire’s management team to the table.”

Mike Cassidy, Chief Executive Officer of Xfire, said, “We can think of no better home for Xfire than MTV Networks, a company that’s as user-obsessed as we are. We look forward to working together with a shared commitment to giving teens and young adults the best in digital entertainment, and the operational flexibility to maintain the integrity of the Xfire brand for our users. Having the benefit of MTV Networks’ marketing expertise and the power of their brands behind us will allow us to reach more users in more countries, across more platforms. We’re excited to work with Judy McGrath and everyone at MTV Networks to continue to deliver even more for our members. " - Quote from the Viacom website.

We might expect MTV ad's all over Xfire's interface, but that's not certain...

Updates to CS:S, HL2, and the Source engine have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Counter-Strike: Source

* Removed FCVAR_ARCHIVE from cl_minmodels
* Added a workaround for linux servers sometimes being frozen after changelevel
* Linux dedicated server -condebug captures all console output now
* Fixed an exploit when joining a team that could spawn live spectators
* Fixed mp3 player advancing more than 1 song during level transitions

Half-Life 2

* Fixed bug where NPCs would ignore hintbrushes that should block line of sight

Source Engine

* Fixed really long game directories not being able to upload game statistics
* Fixed listen server host not being able to hear sounds from bsp .zip files
* Fixed demo smoother not being able to select samples in certain demo files
* Fixed partial-HDR exploit in DX7 allowing wireframe materials

Well this is the first Steam related bulletin to make this union a live. SiN is about Colonel John Blade, the leader of HARDCORPS, quickly finds himself up against Elexis Sinclaire, a very rich and very intelligent biochemist in this action-packed FPS. Elexis has her own plans for the city of Freeport and they aren't good. Sin is a fully-integrated first-person 3D action game utilizing id software's Quake II 3D engine.
Anyways the updates are:
* Added new deathmatch map Spool
* Fixed incorrect game name being reported to Steam
* Fixed French version of the game dropping the player to the console in the Chemical Plant and Mountain Gorge levels
* Civilian females no longer turn bright red when shot
* Unused map name removed from multiplayer map list

Well its been a year since this union formed and let me tell you that its been pretty good serving this union even though it had some up's and downs. I remember back then when this union bearly got 36 members and now we have a close to 700! I guess time flies by when you're fragging noobs in CS.