Hi everyone!

We will be holding a play with event tonight, where you will get a chance to play with MIBR (more info here), one of the top ranked teams in the world, and we will also be hosting a press conference at the ESWC press room with the winners of tonights game between PGS GAMING and X6TENCE.

Here are some pics from just that press-room, by the way. We have our own cosy area where me, Torsten, Nicolas and Mathieu have a lot of fun. You can count on getting pictures where we goof off, play eachother or whatever, as the night progresses, or tomorrow, if we aren't up for it tonight .

Well, if you are at ESWC, stop by and look at the press area tonight when we have the press conference, or sit on Xfire and read and ask questions yourself.



The press room itself, crowded with people writing for fan pages, community sites and the teams.




The Press conference area inside the press room. Entrance is restricted to this area, so anyone who wants to watch has to stand outside.





The very nice and cosy Xfire room, the entrance is on the right side of the first picture and on the second pic you see Mathieu on the left and Torsten on the right. Torsten is very focused since he's playing CS. Note to self, beat Torsten in CS (rakaka - boom headshot)...





And here's a pic of Nicolas, in all his glory.




Well, this is Hans 'OliT' L. Olofsson signing off for now, I'll be back with more, soon-ish.

UPDATE

MIBR is getting some instructions for the Play-With Event. They will be playing public for one hour together with Xfire users, and after that there will be mix-games where random Xfire users get invited to play together with the pros.

Here are some pics:

Hi,

I'm just back, here is the result :


home, sweet home


On duty


Take a seat !

I know this is just a small update, but there is more to come soon!

++

Tieum

We’re in !!

As i said before, it’s huge. People are playing and cheering their team as players stand up their chairs smiling from victory everywhere.

While games started this morning, we get into our private room to set up the computers and stuff we will be using during the ESWC to keep in touch with you. Now everything is ready, I’ll go get pictures so you can see where you step in today.

++

Tieum

Hello again !

I have my schedule ready for the next 4 days! Do you have yours?

The XFire team is ready for 4 days of live coverage of the Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, France. There will be a lot of official games and plenty of fun since there is also an exhibition running in the same hall for video games. Plenty of game zones will be open for the public during those 4 days. Don't miss anything and plan your weekend with us !

The main stage matches schedule is available here.

We will stay close to every game to bring you results and major updates about the tournaments running. Pictures will also be available all over this blog, you will have to log on your XFire account to follow the live chats and be in the "Play With" events.

Check out this page to learn how to sign up for the XFire events.

Again, are you ready?

++

Tieum

Hi !

This is Tieum from Paris, yes, lucky me, I will travel in tube again this year to attend the ESWC 2007 with the XFire Team!

I have been following the main gaming event for years, I'm totally happy to be a (tiny) part of it for your pleasure only. I'll do my best alongside the whole XFire Team to bring up to date comment and information about the competition. It is going to be a real marathon for all of us including lots of reports and interview of the best gamers coming for their world title

XFire will be running many inside and outside gaming event such as "Play With" events and Live Chats with the Pros! I know I will not miss that, and I'm looking forward to help you be a part of it every day. No doubt it will be huge!

I checked our planning; you definitely have to save time to spend with us since lots of things are coming up. Get ready to log on your XFire account to be there with us!

A bientot / Catch up with you later

Tieum

Hello there!

This is Torsten. I'm an Xfire Helper and Gamer from Germany and I'll be in Paris with a bunch of other members from Xfire.

We're looking forward to this great event which will have 1000 gamers from around the world. For me it's gonna be very exciting as this is the first real big event for some years now.

The trip is not gonna be so long for me as for Hans for example. I just need around two hours to get to Paris but nevertheless it's gonna be a nice trip and I'm looking forward to meet some of the people I only know by typing.

We have loads of stuff for you in Paris so make sure you drop by and visit us. We hope you'll enjoy your stay in Paris and have as much fun as we're gonna have.

We will be posting about the event here in the ESWC blog on Xfire.com so make sure to check it out.

So long,
Crispin

Counter-Strike World Champions, MIBR have confirmed their attendance at the Xfire Play with the Pros event! This is an amazing opportunity to play with these guys because they don't often visit Europe, so don't miss out!

Made in Brazil is ranked as the 3rd best team in the World in the GotFrag Rankings. It is the only Latin American team in the top 10 list. MIBR has had figures like bsl, elemeNt, and vesslan in its lineup. The team’s biggest achievement came in 2006 with the Electronic Sports World Cup win. They’re now aiming at repeating as the ESWC 2007 World Champions.

Come to Xfire during ESWC to meet and play with them. Exact schedule to be determined.

Please head to the ESWC page for more details and updates!

-- brin5tar

Hi everyone, this is Hans, and I'm one of the guys that will be attending ESWC on behalf of Xfire. I'm a Swedish Xfire helper and gamer, and I just couldn't turn down the invitation to come down and help out at the event.

My trip is coming up soon, and I thought I'd write something about it.

The title as you can see refers to the north pole, and while that is a bit of an exaggeration, it's somewhat correct. I originate from the northernmost parts of Sweden, above the polar circle. Luckily I'm flying all the way, so it doesn't take that many hours to get to france.

I've travelled quite a bit before, attended DreamHack in Sweden a couple of times and a CGS event in San Francisco.

ESWC is going to be something out of the ordinary though, and I'm starting to get really psyched about it.

We have a ton of great stuff coming up for all of you Xfire users out there, and all of us working there will do our best to make the most out of it.

I hope that we will get a lot of people reading this blog and checking out the stuff we will be hosting.

I'll check back with more blog-stuff as the week progresses, until then, have a nice time

Sincerly yours
OliT

Feel the pressure! ESWC is coming, starting in only 6 days. And today was the first very special day when it comes to the competitions since groups were drawn at ESWC offices in Paris. You may now officially start the predictions and the scheming : Who will match up with whom? What country will your country face? What could the second group stage look like? Without further ado, if you haven't seen the groups yet, here you go:

Counter-Strike groups
Counter-Strike Ladies groups
WarCraft 3 groups
Pro Evolution Soccer groups

I couldn't find links to the Trackmania Nations and Quake 4 groups, so if someone has that, I'll read the comments.

I'm sorry for the other games, but we'll mostly talk CS in here, even though we won't forget about WarCraft 3 and the others during the event as you can't tell for sure where the biggest excitement will be once the competition is underway.

So for now, let's talk CS. And let me start by telling you two secrets. The first one is that I'm French, based in Paris. No one is perfect so I can handle that. The second one is that I actually am running one of the teams that's taking part in ESWC, that's goodgame (GG), from France. And well, there's a crazy group in the Counter-Strike tournament... I've attended all ESWC events so far - this will be the fifth - and I don't remember such a tough group in any of the previous years. That's group G. There you have World Champions title holders MIBR from Brazil, Norwegian top team MYM, featuring the infamous Element, Danish top team (again) H2K, XCN from Singapore and... goodgame from France of course. I'm wondering where the love is, some French (innocent) guy drew these groups. Tell me where's the love fellow French citizen? Anyway, besides personal matters, this group will make sure you get into the competition as soon as it starts. Out of all these amazing teams, only 2 will have the right to advance to the next stage: get ready for some nice pressure-filled matches!

The other groups seem to be easier to predict. Here's my take on...

The Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) is one of the biggest competitive gaming events in the world. Each year, close to 1,000 gaming champions from more than 50 countries gather in Paris after hard fought national qualifiers.



Xfire will be live from the event starting July 5th until July 8th. From there, we will give you an exclusive access to the best gamers in the world through live chats, press conferences and events in which you will be able to play with or against the best fraggers in the world. You can learn more and register for these events by visiting the "Xfire at ESWC" official page.

Xfire will also post daily here on this blog about the day at ESWC. Expect pictures of the champions that took part in the Xfire events as well as all the insider stuff from the event you can dream of.

Before the event starts, this blog will be updated as we gather more information on what's to come as far as teams and a more precise schedule go!

If you want to learn more about the Electronic Sports World Cup, you can check the official event site.

See you very soon!