Right down to business - lets kick things off with the when, where and what for anyone who hasn't been paying attention...

When : This coming week Friday 6th (SLAM! Party night only), Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June (venue open overnight and access to PC's at no extra charge).

Where : Omega Sektor, Corporaton Street, Birmingham. Google Map

What : ESWC UK National finals for Counter-Strike 1.6, Warcraft III : TFT, Quake III and Trackmania Nations Forever - also theSGL events for Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike Source and Call of Duty 4.  Other events such as Rock Band and GTA4 challenges along with extra fun cups and events.

Price: £25 per player, for which you receive the exclusive use of a PC at the event for the whole days.

We do ask that any players wishing to "pay on the door" send us an email to mail@theSGL.com including their UID and the team they will be playing for stating clearly that they are coming and wish to pay on arrival. We know how many players we have signed up and paid - all we wish to do is ensure that there are  seats available for players who do not wish to pre pay and as such we do  really need for you  to let us know you are actually coming!

On the Friday night the centre will play host to the SLAM! party (for full details please click the image). Anyone coming to this night should ensure they have photo ID as proof of age. Without this you may be unable to enter the premises if you look young (which given the nature of our membership there is a strong chance you will be "carded"). The Omega Sektor has it's own security staff who will have final say over who comes in and who doesn't (shouting out that you "know uzi!" as they bar your way will not do you any good....). Please note that as a licensed venue you may not bring your own drinks onto the premises. Finally for the Friday night please remember the Omega Sektor will close overnight so you need somewhere to stay or know of a good all night club to hang out in until morning.....

Saturday morning will see the centre open it's doors at 9am. At this time you will be able to register at the reception (you will need to provide your SGL username and UID number at this point - whilst most players have paid in advance we are aware of a number of players who wish to "pay on the door". These players will be clearly marked and unable to enter the venue until such payment is made.) and move through into the gaming area and take your choice of seat. Due to the thousand and one changes we will no doubt be requested to make if we set up a seating plan we have decided that players and teams can take their seats on a first come first served basis, so if you are the first player from your team to arrive and get set up - choose wisely!

The events will not begin until noon on the first day so you have no need to arrive at the venue at 9am if you do not wish to do so. With the advantage of having one PC for each player we will be able to run through the events very quickly indeed and there will be no mad rush to get teams on servers before they are ready. Teams and players should ensure they are available and ready to play no later than noon however as if you are not there when the events begin you will be defaulted against.

Players may still sign up for the Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne and Quake III ESWC National finals at the standard rate of £25 for which they will receive the exclusive use of an Omega Sektor PC for the duration of the event giving them plenty of time to warm up or just generally play...

ESWC UK 2008  Quake III

Cup

1v1

07/06/08

Accepting signups

ESWC UK 2008  Warcraft III TFT

Cup

1v1

07/06/08

Accepting signups

For Trackmania players who have paid £5 to enter the event already they can compete at no extra cost. If they wish to reserve a PC for the two days however then a fee of £20 will be in order to get one. If they do not wish to reserve a Pc for the duration of the event then tournament PC's will be provided for the Trackmania competition but will not be made available for "free play" Sign ups for the Trackmania event remain open.

ESWC UK 2008  Trackmania Nations Forever

League

1v1

04/05/08

Accepting signups

The ESWC UK 2008 Finals will be played though until only two teams or players remain in each discipline. We anticipate that this will be easily taken care of on the first day. The finals for the ESWC disciplines will be played from 1pm the following day (Sunday). Remember we have four different games to be played here and they will be played back to back with an estimated finish of 5pm. Players who manage to win their events should make themselves available for photographs and interviews afterwards - so no rushing off!

Alongside the ESWC events will be the less formal Counter Strike 1.6, Source and Call of Duty 4 "SLAM!" tournaments. These matches will be played from the same time of noon but where teams have an ESWC match at the same time we will simply wait for the ESWC match to be played first. We have all night at the venue and as mentioned before - having so many PC's means we can play a lot of matches in a very short space of time so expect a relaxed set of tournaments for these three games.

The outstanding match that you, the community most wanted to see between incumbent King of the Hill  Dignitas and the challengers from Four Kings will also be played at this event in a one off special LAN version of this series of matches. This may come as a surprise to the teams but since we have them both in attendance and with their game faces on we thought "why the hell not?" - we will make sure it is played AFTER the ESWC matches however as we are sure neither team wants to give anything away tactically before the (strong chance of it happening) meeting in the latter stages of the ESWC event.

Any budding guitar heroes amongst you can while away the small hours taking part in our very own battle of the bands in the Omega Sektor bar area. For more info on the Rock Band contest just click the image. For those of you who may not know what Rock Band actually is, what you have in nutshell is a guitar hero style game but with vocals, drums and a bass guitar as well - get your four man Rock Band squad lined up and ready to wail!

Ok, so who do we have registered and paid or unpaid at this time? Rather than fill the page up even more and have half of you asleep before you get this far down the page, the teams for each event will be on the FAQ section of the respective event. The format and the brackets (and/or) groups will all be in place shortly and you will have almost a full week to predict the outcome of the opening matches (if not the whole event!)

You can of course still sign up to the events, as the undisputed king of LAN centres, the Omega Sektor offers us plenty of room for late signups. Please remember that the entire venue is being used for this event (yes, both floors). Details on payment can be found on the sign up pages.

Summer SLAM 1.6 Cup  Omega Sektor, Birmingham

Cup

5v5

07/06/08

Accepting signups

Summer SLAM CSS Cup  Omega Sektor, Birmingham

Cup

5v5

07/06/08

Accepting signups

Summer SLAM CoD4 Cup  Omega Sektor, Birmingham

Cup

5v5

07/06/08

Accepting signups

Finally - again, we do ask that any players wishing to "pay on the door" send us an email to mail@theSGL.com including their UID and the team they will be playing for stating clearly that they are coming and wish to pay on arrival. We know how many players we have signed up and paid - all we wish to do is ensure that there are  seats available for players who do not wish to pre pay and as such we do  really need for you  to let us know you are actually coming!

Thats all for now - but expect more updates tomorrow including the players and teams signed up and paid for this event! Any other queries please contact mail@theSGL.com where your question will be answered asap.