GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Tournament Prelims: Track Change Notice

Hey GEEX TrackMania 2 Canyon contestants!

I need to let you know of an update I had to make to the official track pack for the GEEX prelims on 07 October.

The atphavoc map called "Spare Parts 2" has a Push Forward (PF) start and we had a lot of contestants practicing on the Prelims server that the PF wasn't working correctly on each start/respawn.

I discussed this with atphavoc and he provided me an alternate track that doesn't have a PF start.  We ran it on the server tonight and have decided to use it instead of Spare Parts 2.

The track is called "Cradle of Speed" and I have made the change in the official prelims pack.  The GEEX Prelims server also reflects the update.

Download the GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon Tournament official prelims map pack.

Good luck!

GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon Official Rules Update

Attention all TrackManiacs in the USA that are planning on or thinking about participating in our TrackMania 2 Canyon tournament at GEEX 2011!

I have made a change to the official rules regarding the scoring system.
The scoring system, originally based on Motocross Madness 2 (2000) tournament scoring (which I believe to be based on AMA Pro Racing MX scoring (or something similar)) has been updated to match the 2011 AMA Pro Racing MX scoring (See section 2.20 Championship Rules).

As always, make sure to read the official rules document for any updates, but here is how the new points system will work:

Points will only be awarded to those that finish the track during a round  (that hasn't changed.)
Points will be awarded to finishers in the following structure:

Finish Position	Points
1	25
2	22
3	20
4	18
5	16
6	15
7	14
8	13
9	12
10	11
11	10
12	9
13	8
14	7
15	6
16	5
17	4
18	3
19	2
20	1

I tested this last night on the GEEX prelims server through 2 runs of all the tracks and an average of 13-20 people on the server.  It worked well and everyone seemed to like it.  I hope it will feel more fair to all participants.

GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon Tournament Details Finalized

I, along with Ubisoft, Intel and GEEX am proud to officially announce the first USA LAN event TrackMania 2 Canyon tournament since the game was released on 14 September 2011.  We're excited to be one of the first to help the United States get introduced to the ManiaPlanet universe.

We have finalized all details except the map pack that will be used in the finals.  This is because I have some of the best track authors in the TrackMania community hard at work creating tracks special for this year's GEEX tournament!

It gets better...

This year's tournament is free to enter and open to EVERYONE (just make sure to read the fine print below...)  We will be holding an online preliminary event on:
07 October 2011 9:00PM (Mountain time.)
Online - GEEX 2011 TrackMania prelims server


All details can be found at the official GEEX TrackMania 2 Canyon Tournament website.

The top 10 contestants in the online prelims will advance to the finals, which will take place:
14 October 2011 6:00PM
GEEX - South Towne Expo Center - Sandy, UT
Tournament stage


Ubisoft and Intel really came through for us.  Intel is sponsoring some really killer prizes... including:
1st place: Customized GEEX 2011/TrackMania 2 Canyon gaming laptop
2nd place: Boxed Intel i5 processor
3rd place: Boxed Intel i5 processor
(All finalists will also receive cool TrackMania 2 Canyon t-shirts)


We expect this to be an epic event and hope to see a ton of you there.  And if you're not in the competition or aren't fortunate enough to make it to the finals, come cheer on your friends and have a blast at this special event.

Register Now!!!

And now the fine print...
Note: All finalists are responsible for any travel/lodging necessary to permit them to participate in the GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon tournament finals.


DISCLAIMER:
This Contest is open to legal U.S. residents (excluding residents of Rhode Island and residents of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and other United States territories), who are thirteen (13) years of age or older at the time of entry. Employees, officers, and directors of Sponsor, and each of their affiliated companies, subsidiaries, licensees, franchisees, distributors, dealers, sales representatives, their advertising and promotion agencies, and any and all other companies associated with the Contest (collectively, the "Promotion Entities"), and each of their immediate families (i.e., parents, spouse, siblings, children, grandparents, step parents, stepchildren and step siblings, and their respective spouses, and those living in the same household, whether or not related) are not eligible to participate. All eligibility is subject to all federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations.

GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon Tournament Registration is Live

Register for the GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2 Canyon tournament

Registration is $35.00 and includes admission to the LAN party.

The competition is not team-based but the registration form allows to put your Team Name; so if you are registering and are part of a TrackMania racing team, make sure you and all of your teammates but the same Team Name (either acronym or full name - example: "FNG" or "Friday Night Gamers") so you'll all be grouped the same.

We hope to have participants from all over and from many different teams to come help us show off to the USA how great this game really is.  Come one, come all... Sign up now so you can come join us in one of the United States' first official LAN event TrackMania 2 Canyon tournaments, brought to you by Ubisoft!

GEEX 2011 LAN Registration is Live - Tournament Registration Coming 08 Sept 2011

Register for the GEEX LAN party (price includes show admission/weekend pass)
First 50 people get EVGA t-shirts and lanyards.

$35.00/person
Only 100 seats this year - so sign up SOON!

EDIT: I guess it helps to mention that GEEX 2011 is happening Friday and Saturday, October 14-15, 2011!!!  :)

Tournament sign-ups start tomorrow and will include the following games:
(according to the GEEX tournaments page at time of this post)
PC Tournaments
League of Legends
Starcraft 2
Team Fortress 2
Trackmania 2

Console Tournaments
Call of Duty: Black Ops
- TBA -
Halo: Reach
Super Street Fighter 4:AE

You read correctly.  This year, Ubisoft presents the first official USA LAN TrackMania 2 event, right here in Utah!

More details to come in the near future... so if you're interested, make sure you register early for the tournament!  If everyone that wants to participate is able to register for the LAN, we'll do our prelims on Friday at the LAN -- if not, we'll consider doing prelims online prior to the event and having the finals only at GEEX.

(Everyone interested in entering the tournament should go pre-order the game on the official website.  Pre-purchasing (only $25.00) gets you into the Multiplayer Beta going on right now; so you can start practicing before the release in a week!)

We're looking forward to an exciting TM2 tournament this year and can't wait to show America how awesome the new TrackMania is.

See you at GEEX 2011!

Valve and DRM - They "get it" and that's why they're winning.

Kotaku posted an article today with selections from an interview with Gabe Newell (Valve) discussing piracy and Valve's plans for the future. I'll include a few quotes, then link to the article below.

" 'We're a broken record on this,' Newell told me, 'This belief that you increase your monetization by making your game worth less through aggressive digital rights management is totally backwards . It's a service issue, not a technology issue. Piracy is just not an issue for us.' "

"But when Valve looked into what was going on there [Russia] they saw that the pirates were doing a better job of localizing games then the publishers were."

" 'They best way to fight piracy is to create a service that people need,' he said. 'I think (publishers with strict DRM) will sell less of their products and create more problems.' "

" 'Customers want to know everything is going to be there for them no matter what: Their saved games and configurations will be there. They don't want any uncertainty.' "

http://kotaku.com/5835328/why-portals-publishers-dont-fear-piracy-competition

Thank you, Gabe Newell & Valve, for understanding your customers.

GameSpot Exclusive TrackMania 2 Canyon Trailer

I couldn't get a better link to this, but here's trying anyway.
Another cool trailer for TrackMania 2 Canyon. Enjoy!

Ubisoft lied about From Dust DRM

So, more reason to despise Ubisoft. Ubisoft originally stated that "From Dust" would require a one-time activation with your game/cd-key.

One of the original posts:

"We are aware of some confusion over the inclusion of DRM in the release of From Dust on PC.
To prevent any on-going confusion we would like to clarify From Dust PC will release with DRM requiring a one-time only online activation. After which you will be able to play the game offline.
We hope this clears any outstanding confusion on the matter
With thanks"

However, now that the game has been released, people have found that is not the case, and an internet connection is required EVERY time you run the game. In addition, the game is capped at 30 fps, and no cutscreens can be skipped. Apparently, after it does this DRM check with Ubisoft's servers, you can disconnect or lose connection and not get booted from the game. This is only a slight improvement over their "always on" DRM they'd used in prior games. After complaints started rolling in, Ubisoft went back posted a new one that says,

"Due to the recent confusion over the type of DRM used in From Dust:
Please find the following detailed explanation of the type of DRM used.
'From Dust' requires an internet connection when you start the game.
Make sure you are connected to the internet when you attempt to start the game.
After you have signed in and the game is running, you no longer need the internet connection for that session and can disconnect and play offline you so wish."

Due to user complaints, Ubisoft did remove the "always online" component of the new Driver: San Francisco, however all reports are that this game will use a similar system where a connection is required at every game boot. At least with Driver we know ahead of time, and they didn't flat-out lie like they did with From Dust.

TrackMania 2 Canyon Release Date Announced

Check out what I saw when I launched TrackMania United Forever today:
(Click the image to see full size.)

Remember, if you pre-order on 17 August, you get to play early as part of the massive multiplayer beta!
And we'll get the full game on 14 September 2011!

TrackMania 2 Canyon
14 September 2011

TrackMania 2 Canyon beta: Want in?! Preorder!!!

Want a little of this?!

NADEO announced today on their ManiaPlanet blog that all players that pre-order TrackMania 2 Canyon, starting 17 August, will be allowed into the Multiplayer beta.

They even provide a widget you can install on your computer so you don't forget (yeah, right) to go download it the second it's available.

I'm not sure if the pre-order opens on 17 August, or if they'll start before and the download won't be available until then, or how they'll do it... but this is incredible news for those that want in early.

GG Nadeo!