Xfire™, the premier online tool that automatically keeps track of when and where gamers are playing PC games online and lets their friends join, will be hosting two online tournaments preceding NVIDIA's annual GeForce LAN. Taking place on August 25-27, 2008 in San Jose, California, this year's GeForce LAN will be at NVISION 08, a three-day mega-event for thousands of professionals and enthusiasts who are passionate about visual computing.

NVIDIA has partnered with Xfire to host two online tournaments for two of the hottest gaming titles being featured at this year's LAN. The online tournaments will be 64-team bracket for Call of Duty 4 (5v5) and Team Fortress 2 (6v6). The tournaments are free to enter for Xfire users with prizes to include preferred seeding at the official GeForce LAN tournaments where thousands of cash and prizes will be awarded, free BYOC entry GeForce LAN at NVISION 08, free tickets to the Video Games Live concert at NVISION 08, and graphics cards from BFG and PNY Technologies. The tournament is titled: Countdown to NVISION 08.

• Call of Duty 4 Details
• Team Fortress 2 Details
• FAQ
• Countdown To NVISION 08 Terms

Team Selection Process

Due to each tournament's limit of 64 teams, reserved spots for the online tournaments will be made for those teams that have at least one member who has a confirmed GeForce LAN at NVISION 08 ticket and complete team rosters. The remaining tournament spots for each game will be based on a random lottery for teams that have registered their entire team rosters for NVISION 08 by the close of registration on July 23rd at 5:00pm EST. Not all registered teams are guaranteed an entry and a wait list will be created after the initial lottery. Wait list teams are highly encouraged to show up on the date specified, as it is not uncommon for a tournament to use waiting list teams for 20% or more of the first round matches.

      

      

Microsoft will no longer make Windows XP available to large computer makers, such as Dell, Lenovo, or Hewlett-Packard, or to software retailers.

With a few exceptions, Windows XP will be unavailable to computer makers and retail shoppers after Monday -- a fact that will force many Microsoft PC users to migrate to the widely maligned Vista operating system or wait until the arrival of Windows 7 in 2010 to upgrade their systems.

Implementing a move that's been planned for months, Microsoft will no longer make Windows XP available to large computer makers, such as Dell, Lenovo, or Hewlett-Packard, or to software retailers, after June 30. It will continue to offer the OS to "system builders," that is, small, independent PC makers, through July of next year.

Microsoft also said it would make Windows XP available to builders of ultra-low-cost PCs and laptops, such as Asus, until 2010. It's widely seen as an attempt to prevent Linux from establishing a beachhead in emerging markets.

Also, some PC makers, including Dell, are giving customers continued access to XP for an indefinite period if they buy certain models of Vista-based computers. A loophole in Microsoft's licensing terms lets users of its most current operating system "downgrade" to a previous version at no additional cost.

For the most part, however, Monday marks XP's last official day on the market after a seven-year run, as Microsoft ceases bulk shipments and retail sales of Windows XP Professional, Home, Media Center, and Tablet PC edition.

Some XP diehards aren't giving up their OS without a fight. A petition to save XP launched by a computer industry publication has so far drawn more than 210,000 online signatures.

Fueling the fight is the fact that many computer users have given XP's successor, Windows Vista, the thumbs down. Many have balked at Vista's cost, resource requirements, and lack of compatibility with older software.

Acknowledging that many customers won't be moving off XP anytime soon, Microsoft recently said it wouldextend support for the OS until 2014.

Just B

I hear he is one cool cat and knows himself around the COD4 arena. Welcome to your new family and home brother!

Patch 1.7 has been released today (6/27)from Infinity Ward. Linux users, stay tuned, your patch is on the way.
This patch specifically:

• Fixes an exploit that allows players to access certain console dvars during multi-player matches.
• Fixes a crash that could occur when a Chinatown Sabotage match would go into over-time.
• Fixes a bug where the MP icons (Bomb, Defend, Capture, etc) were always showing up in English regardless of the install language.

You can download the patch at the sites below:

See more screenshots in the read more

Katana swords, flame throwers and an altogether grittier look at WWII.

The very first images of the next Call of Duty, World at War, were leaked online last night. If you were worried about the franchise's return to the safe and stale theater of World War II, these nine explosive - and surprisingly violent - screenshots may change your mind. Check them out below.

Developer Treyarch (yes, yes, it's not Infinity Ward) is clearly taking advantage of the new Modern Warfare engine, with some impressive-looking fire and light effects. Better yet, they seem to be taking full advantage of the new Mature rating - just check out the nasty katana blade to the face, or the soldier toasting like a flame thrower marshmallow.

With its release today via nVidia (who are sponsoring the release to the PC platform) to their SLi users in an email link, we get the long awaited 1.6 patch. Within it there are four new maps for us to get to grips with and a few updates on killcam, and other minor bugs.

The new 1.6 patch for Call of Duty 4 has been something of speculation for a while now within the competitive community. There has been a long burning hope that this patch might see a Call of Duty TV brought into existence. Infinity Ward have continued to hint that they are looking into the posibility of TV for CoD4. This really is the next step for the game, and if it is to ever reach the hights of popularity that games such as Quake3 and Counter Strike have then it is imperative for the games long term survival that it's released. Unfortunately Infinity Ward have not released a version of CoDTV just yet, and there has been no word from them regarding it in the recent months.

Within this new patch however there are some new interesting maps :-

Chinatown - A remake of a Call of Duty series classic, Carentan. It pretty much has the same layout as the old Carentan's but with a different feel. This time rather than a sleepy french village, we are plunged into, surprise surprise, a Chinese setting! It could prove to be an interesting competitive search and destroy map.

Killhouse - Killhouse refers to the S.A.S training facilities that this map is loosely based on. A tight enclosed map that has the feel of an aim map from CS. More of a public map for Team Death match than anything else, I don't expect to see this one in compeitive competitions.

Creek - A classic sniper map with big open spaces this is another public map that could work well in capture the flag and team deathmatch game types.

Broadcast - This map reminds me a SoF2 map, and seems like it might play quite well. However badly designed bomb sites let it down and in competition play I do not think it will stand the test of time. It should prove to be a good public map however.

Only time will tell if Infitiny Ward are working on CoDTV - perhaps we will see it in the 1.7 patch!

-soe- Members please check the private forum if you haven't already, there are two new posts which require your input, thanks!

There will be a live 24/7 feed of SOE FEST VII on our main page during the event.