SOCOM: Confrontation Inaugural Tournament

We are happy to announce that the very first SOCOM: Confrontation tournament will start registration on Friday August 28th at 9am Pacific Time.

Tournament Name: Fireteam Clash
Tournament Type: 4v4 Weekday
Sign Up: August 28th – 9am Pacific Time
Number of Teams: 32
Maximum Team Size: 6 players
Game Days: August 31st and September 1st

This tournament is for the North American region only. Over the coming weeks, tournaments will become available across all regions so please bear with us as we ramp up.

There have been many questions since the launch of 1.50 asking about the functionality of tournaments, the answers to many of these questions can be found below.

Registration
Each tournament will have a time and day where the sign-up window opens. Once the registration window opens, open the Calendar screen. Days that have open registration for tournaments will have a green icon on them (blue icons signify that the tournament sign-up has not started yet).

To register for the Tournament, scroll to the day on the calendar, press X and then select Tournament Sign Up at the top of the screen. From there select which Tournament to participate in and select to Register.



Creating or Joining a Team
Tournaments are open to all SOCOM: Confrontation players, whether they are a clan leader, member or not in a clan at all. After a player has registered for a tournament, they can select to Create their own team or Search for an already registered team and request to join.

Players who are registered for the tournament but not in a specific team will be automatically assigned to empty slots on existing teams so they may still participate.

Those who choose to create their own teams are encouraged to invite players only once as there have been infrequent reports of players being returned to the XMB when inviting a player repeatedly.



Playing in a Tournament
Once a player is registered for a tournament, when returning to the Calendar, days with scheduled matches will have a gold icon on them. To see the scheduled match time, scroll to the day and select it.



If you have SOCOM Confrontation running prior to your tournament match you will receive tournament match reminders 15 minutes, 10 minutes and 5 minutes before you need to join the Pre Game lobby.

You must join the Pre-Game lobby in the 10 minute window before your scheduled match begins, this can be done by either accepting the Game Invitation you will receive at the start of this 10 minute window or if you need to finish something up you can navigate there via the Tournament Match menu option under the Briefing Room main menu option.

At the scheduled time matches will automatically begin. The winning team from each match will advance through the tournament brackets with first, second and third place winners receiving gold, silver and bronze trophies respectively.

Enjoy Yourself
Over the coming weeks new and larger tournaments will start appearing so check the Calendar screen often to stay updated. This tournament has a limited number of players, so those who wish to participate with their friends and clans should not delay in securing spots.

We are also looking to name each of the regularly scheduled tournaments, suggestions are welcome but are limited to a 15 character maximum.

You can comment on this post here.

ps3gamingladders

GC 2009: MAG Progress Report

US, August 19, 2009 - Zipper Interactive, the developer responsible for the bulk of the SOCOM series, showed off the latest version of its forthcoming massively-multiplayer first-person shooter, MAG, exclusive to PS3, at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this week. The title promises online military-style shooter battles with up to 256 players, a feat demonstrated at E3 2009. For Gamescom, Zipper showed off something a little different -- a brand new 128-player extraction mission on a new level; the goal being to get in, find a prototype vehicle and then get out with it. Either that, or, if you happen to be on the defensive side, to blow the forces attempting that goal to smithereens.

If you're new to MAG, here's a little background, as relayed to me by the fine gentlemen from Zipper. The game is set about 20 years in a future when world governments can no longer feasibly deploy their armies to global battle because the democratic nations of the planet won't stand for sending men and women off to die for foreign interests. As a result, private military companies form and three in particular -- all of them very different in nature -- come to prominence.

The Raven, based out of Austria, are largely compiled of European fighters. These guys are extremely high-tech and streamlined. They use only the best, most futuristic weapons and gear and they operative out of Central America, where many of their missions unfold. The Valor, much more traditionally military, are perfect for you SOCOM purists. They don't have the latest and greatest weapons, but nevertheless port very powerful, battle-tested guns. They've also got experience to spare, having seen and survived multiple wars. These veterans are based in Alaska, where many of their missions transpire. Finally, there are the Sver, the youngest of the three armies. They're very aggressive fighters recruited from the irregular armies of central Asian regions. Not only are they very hardcore, but exceptionally adaptable to different military situations.

MAG is a dauntingly complex and comprehensively connected community shooter overrun with features starting from the character creation process, where you can choose from the aforementioned PMCs and take part in the endlessly waging Shadow War. Whether engaged in all-out battle or alternatively the extraction missions, Zipper has crafted scenarios designed to pit one massive army against the other either in the offensive or defensive position, both thrilling for their own reasons. If you're on the defense, your goal is to keep your home base safe. If you win battles, your PMC gains standing in the Shadow War and team members are ultimately rewarded with gameplay bonuses and character growth. Leveling up earns skill points, which can be spent on special new weapons, attachments, gear and physical enhancements. If you advance to level 15, you'll be given the chance to lead a squad, a position that challenges you to guide your entire group. If you're successful, you'll get double the experience points. If you've got what it takes, you can ultimately take control of entire armies -- up to 255 people at your command.

The Shadow War describes the perpetually fought online battles -- 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Each game mode is a separate tournament. MAG allows you to fully customize your clans, not only with unique names, but tags that can be appended to titles, and both will be shown in all screens that list players. The game will keep track of an extensive list of trusted teammates policed by players, you'll be able to quick join into existing clan battles, and see the online or offline deployed status of all clan members.

The Gamescom build of MAG took place at the Corvus Research base, a high-tech military compound in Raven's neck of the woods. The goal for the attacking team, comprised of 64 people, was to destroy the defending bunkers, obliterate enemy aircrafts and finally to secure a prototype transport vehicle and then safely extract it. The defending team merely had to stop those plans by any means necessary, a process that, of course, involved copious amounts of gunplay, but also going out into the field with kits and repairing damaged bunkers and other resources. If you're thinking that 128 soldiers (double that at E3) running around blasting each other might be just a few too many for comfort, rest assured that Zipper has solved this potential dilemma by creating absolutely enormous maps that stretch off for great distances in every direction to explore.

The developer has maximized the PS3 controller. The left stick is obviously used for movement and the right for aiming. L2 switches gears and objects. L1 activates the scope, useful for picking off far-off enemies. R2 cycles between weapons. In the demo, I spotted everything from auto-rifles to simple pistols, rocket launchers and, of course, grenades. R1 fires those weapons. L3 activates your sprint. R3 brings up voice chat. Then you've got D-pad up to choose your chat channel, right to request / call troops, and down for context-sensitive orders and targets. X is for jumps and square for reloads. Meanwhile, the select button pops up your tactical map. All of this might sound like a lot for your average shooter, but SOCOM fans shouldn't find the configuration overly cumbersome. Control sensitivity remains a little loose for my liking, a fault likely due to the game's fluidity, which strives for 30 frames but sometimes dips below. Positioned against the Call of Duty franchise, which is bound to draw comparisons, Activision's shooter just feels better. That said, MAG controls are more than adequate for the fierce online battles that transpire and I'm confident that the militarily inclined will prefer the title's squad management and its massive selection of community options.