Hello people ,

It's been a while since you didn't get any official news from The Elite Clan Killers Community. We are sorry about that but as in any other decent old clan/community, we had to deal with a few important problems that took longer than we previewed. We're trying to explain you, briefly... First, Team 4 went totally inactive due to unavailability (in officials) of players, players that are still active on our forums, random public servers and sometimes in fun mixes. Team 1 went inactive not so long time ago but after the summer holiday they should come back, better than ever. Team 3 turned into Team Fusion and is currently the most active team. The second Team Bravo moved away and the new Team 2 is on the way to assume the reputation of the old Team 2 and eventually improve it. Anyway, other changes may occur in the upcoming future as eCK is at the moment in a some long-term restructuration phase. The most important thing for us, is that many of the oldskool members are still here, really involved in our new plans. The essential, we got it, but only the essential is not always enough.

This summer, we decided to summon a wonder, an eCK public server. And this public server would be one of our priorities. We are aiming to bring it, at least, to the level that our old public server was in 2005-2006. This, obviously can only be done with your participation.

If you want a good CSS public server where to relax and have fun but also testing your gaming skills, we invite you to join the elite clan killers forums for more detailed information, or simply connect: 87.117.208.14:26700 as a guest and get help directly from our admins online.

 Have fun!

The Elite Clan Killers Community

There have been rumours that Microsoft were going to make Xbox live free for all, instead of the current system where a base service is free and the feature packed Gold service is charged for. But why should Microsoft make it free?:

• It is the best online service of its kind by far. Miles ahead of supposedly rival offerings from Sony and Nintendo.
• It cost Microsoft a fortune to develop. An investment they need a return on.
• Continued investment is needed to keep going with the fantastic rate of enhancements coming from Microsoft. The money has to come from somewhere.
• At £39.99 (UK) per year it is the best value in gaming short of stealing games using torrents.
• Many millions times that £39.99 add up to a significant income stream for Microsoft, why throw it away?
• As the industry moves further to a subscription basis this is the future. Why give up on it now?

If anything what Microsoft should do is to further stratify the offering:

• Platinum, for the true gaming enthusiast with every feature possible at £99.99
• Gold, as is at £49.99
• Silver, minimum service with a few key added features £29.99
• Bronze, minimum service

Then they will make more money from the keenest gamers to spend on the more advanced features that they want. And they would make more money from the people who currently pay nothing but who would pay a bit for some added features. The trick is to always have the motivation there to upgrade.

The news follows weeks of rumors that Take-Two would be the subject o an acquisition bid, with Viacom touted as a possible suitor at $1.5 billion. EA has, it turns out, attempted to buy Take-Two for $25 a share, and, after being rebuffed, has upped the ante by a buck. But the firm has warned shareholders that they won't get a better price.

EA's proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two's closing stock price prior to the company's bid.

EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello said "Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities."

He urged Take-Two shareholders to accept the bid, "There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today."

EA had warned Take-Two's bosses that if they refused to engage in negotiations, the company would go public with its bid. Today, EA made good on that threat.

Take-Two's assets include Grand Theft Auto 4, which ought to be the biggest game of 2008. EA says it wants to get the deal done before the game's release in order to avoid disruption.

The blockage came to light when a British bloke living in Canada - but who still banks with Halifax - found he couldn't pay the WoW subscription with his plastic.

Halifax told him that it has "made the decision to decline all Blizzard transactions due to the high volume of fraud and a high incidence of compromised details".
The statement continued, "We have seen a significant number of fraudulent transactions through Blizzard's gaming sites. We have, therefore, blocked the majority of Visa/Mastercard transactions we receive from there in order to combat this.

"We do not believe the fraud is anything to do with Blizzard themselves, their sites or the integrity of their billing systems, rather it is site users utilising stolen credit card details to pay for subscriptions.

"If a customer does want to subscribe to a game site operated by Blizzard, using a Halifax or Bank of Scotland credit card, we can arrange for the payments to be processed for them if they contact us."

Success such as World of Warcraft has achieved is like a red rag to a bull for dirty criminal scum. Have you been the victim of WoW credit card fraud? Vent your spleen in the comments below.

According to website Smarthouse, insiders at Microsoft have confirmed that company has already configured a stand-alone Blu-ray player, subject only to marketing and sales approvals before the release can go ahead.

In addition, the same sources said that the company has also been working on a new iteration of the 360 with an internal Blu-ray drive.

Personally, we think it's a bit too soon for Microsoft to be this close to a final Blu-Ray product, especially given that HD-DVD was holding its own up until Warner Bros. went exclusive with Blu-ray back in January.

However, Japanese broadcaster NHK did announce this weekend that Toshiba has halted production of HD-DVD players and is considering the future of the product. So it would make sense...