Today, GotGames is proud to present GGLIVE. It's an exciting new concept developed by our unofficial demi-god and sometimes coder Twelve-60.

What is GGLIVE, you ask? It's the product of hours of endless work, and it's going to take a bit of explaining.

First and foremost, it's designed to make gamers' lives easier. Essentially it's a complete system that integrates chat, PUG and scrim features, making it far easier to manage your online gaming from the one location. The system now allows you to seek out scrims, advertise looking for ringers, advertise yourself as a ringer and private message people using a facebook-esque interface... all while cruising for a PUG.

The PUG has been further developed and expanded to include Counter Strike 1.6. We now have four 1.6 PUG servers available for use, which in my opinion is a remarkable achievement. It will make it far easier for new people entering the competitive scene to learn about the game and get used to playing it with other skilled and experienced players.

The chat interface is innovative and a pleasure to use. Functionally, it's very similar to Facebook. You can now send live private messages to anyone browsing the website. The messages appear in a roving chat window which conveniently follows your actions around the website. It's the next generation of interpersonal communication within GotGames.

We can't wait to see what you guys think of these changes - especially the scrim and ringer system. We think it's going to improve the efficiency of looking for players, PUGs and practice. Whether you're looking for a quick game, a proper team to scrim or a new roster to call home, GGLIVE is likely to save you time and effort. We're really excited to be able to provide you with this new service, and we hope you make the most of it and give us as much constructive feedback as possible.

In other news, GGTV has been progressing well. The latest COD5 patch enabled ingame recording, an incredibly valuable tool for generating footage to be used on the show. We also managed to grab an exclusive interview about the next big game for 2009. Modern Warfare 2 is the next addition to the Call of Duty franchise.

The downside to this is that we've been put slightly behind schedule, although not without significant benefit by any means. We have decided to do the first episode of the first season in its entirety rather than in two episodes for a number of reasons, including those listed about. We expect the first episode of GGTV to air in July.

The new content system seems to be going great guns at the moment, with everyone racing to get a hold of the exciting SteelSeries Prizes. If you are interested in producing any content or want to know anything about it, let us know and we will give you the lowdown.

The other big news that most have you have probably witnessed is the launch of the SteelSeries Aimstars competition. Fletch has provided 3 professionally designed aim maps which will become the arenas to showcase the sharpest aim in Australia and New Zealand. The test competition is very close to being launched and should provide some intriguing and exciting match ups. We're also planning on including the AimStars maps in the PUG system as a part of GGLIVE, which will enable people to play 1v1 practice matches on each of the competition maps.

It's great to once again see eSports in Australia going from strength to strength. All of us at GotGames are proud to say that we look forward to working with you for the rest of the year and beyond to continue the advancement of eSports in Australia. We're only just beginning.

Alex "Hybrid" Mottshaw

GotGames - The home of Australian eSports