Out of Hell 18 May 2004

Gamers Hell is looking for Writers in the US to do editorials and reviews. If you have great writing skills and strong opinions on the games industry, please send an email to pr@gamershell.com with a sample of your writing. Other news:

Konami announced they will publish a comic book adaptation of “Metal Gear Solid" series. The first volume of the comic will be released in September 2004 in the U.S.

mtvU and Global Gaming League announced today plans for the 2004 Video Sports College Challenge (Vs2C), a nationwide two-month college tournament in which players hailing from over 720 colleges and universities will represent their school to compete for the crown of the #1 college in video game play, and to win thousands in cash prizes. Vs2C will begin this Fall with a four-week online tournament ladder competition. Top winners advance to the one-week online regional playoff tournament followed by an even more intense two-week online playoff tournament. The top 16 teams and individuals will finally compete at the National Championship Finals with an audience of thousands of college students and live entertainment.

Wargaming.net informed us that subscription to the 1st International Tournament for Massive Assault Network is open now. Entry to the tournament closes at 5pm GMT on June 1st and is available for registered players. This tournament will run for 11 weeks and the winner will be determined in accordance with Swiss system. Each player will have 16 battles on 8 different planets (two battles on the same map - one for Phantom League’s and one for Free Nations Union’s side). For more details, click here.

DreamCatcher Games and Ligarena announced a Painkiller “Masters” Tournament as part of the 2004 Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) finals at the Futuroscope, July 6th to 11th, in Poitiers, France.

Xfire, "the instant messenger for gamers", has now over 500,000 subscribers, announced Xfire, Inc.. "Xfire automatically tracks when and where gamers’ friends are playing PC games online. With one click, gamers can instantly join their friends’ games or play with friends of friends. Xfire also lets gamers message their friends who are in-game without crashing their game".