A Linux-Watch reader today reported difficulties using Microsoft’s Hotmail service with Firefox browsers running on Linux. We confirmed that creating a new Hotmail account was not possible, due to an error message suggesting a “browser upgrade.”

read more | digg story

PLACE AND DATE
The 7th Kick Off 2 Gathering World Cup (aka WC) will be held in Rome, Italy, the 10th (aka Day1, Saturday) and 11th (aka Day2, Sunday) November. Players may qualify to Day2 matches ONLY attending Day1. On contrary, it is possible to partecipate on Day1 and withdraw from games on Day2.

CONFIRMED PLAYERS ATTENDING THE WC:
TOTAL PLAYERS CONFIRMED: 11

ITALY
1 - Gianluca T - “Foxsoft” - confirmed 24/05/07 - Rank: 1
2 - Marco S - “Stox” - confirmed 24/05/07 - Rank: 92
3 - Filippo D - “filippodb” - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: 47
4 - Giacomo T - ?? - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: 35
5 - Franco C - ?? - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: 77
6 - Fabio A - ?? - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: 106
7 - Francesco L - ?? - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: newbie
8 - Lorenzo L - ?? - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: newbie
9 - Daniele B - ?? - confirmed 31/05/07 - Rank: newbie

NORWAY
1 - Jorn F - “Freshmaker” - confirmed 24/05/07 - Rank: 33

GREECE
1 - Alkis P - “Alkis21″ - confirmed 25/05/07 - Rank: 4

TO BE CONFIRMED PLAYERS:
1- Mark B - “Bounty Bob” - ENG - Rank: 40 (trying to buy tickets…)
2- Rollo T - ITA - Rank: newbie (as reported by filippodb)
3- Francesco D - ITA - Rank: 50 (as reported by filippodb)

Ranks are indicated at the date of registration.

GAMING ROOM AND SCHEDULE
Address of the venue and schedule of Day1 and Day2 will be posted ASAP

FLIGHTS AND HOW TO REACH THE CITY / THE VENUE
Rome is very well connected especially by air.

www.ryanair.com
www.easyjet.com

A detailed map of the venue location and how to reach it from the airport and/or train station will be prepared soon.

HOTELS
Two hotels of different class/price will be proposed ASAP near the venue or connected to the venue by quick subway trips.

TOURNAMENT RULES
These settings will be used in every game, with no exceptions:

- NO WIND
- PBD MIX
- NO RANDOM PITCH
- NO LINE UP CHANGES AT START
- RANDOM REFEREE
- AFTERTOUCH

Please refer to the forum for details on these keywords.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
Seeding and group forming:
Seeding will be done as usually by the “seeding experts” on the KOA forums. Groups will be formed by the seeding results and extraction on Friday evening, at the Day0 dinner. Location will be posted ASAP.

Day 1 Format:
Groups depends mainly of the total number of players, but the target is to create groups of 8 players. The format will be TEAM A = TEAM B, 2×5 MIN, 1 LEG.
Each player should have the same amount of TEAM A and TEAM B matches.

Day 2:
This match day is charachterized by three parallel competitions, all TEAM A > TEAM B, 2×5 MIN, 2 LEG knockout matches. Both playoff and playout will be fully played until each player will have its unique ranking position (like Koeln05 and London06).

The TOP16 players will have access to the WORLD CUP.
The MID16 players will have access to the KOA CUP.
The other will access to the FUN CUP.
Qualifiying mode depends of group of day1. Generally, the same qualifying rules as London06 will be used. Organizers will post the final format for discussion after the preregistration.

In case of tie matches, extra times will be played. In this case, a coin will be tossed to decide Team A. The extra times are played in TEAM A = TEAM B mode, 2×5 MIN EXTRA TIME, PENALTY SHOOTOUT.

These games will be displayed on screen:
- SEMI FINALS WC
- FINALS WC (both 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th place)
- FINAL KOACUP
- FINAL FUN CUP
- GAME OF SHAME (1 leg TEAM A = TEAM B match, organizzers will decide the conditions, camber-windy game possible )

PRIZES
The prizes are:
1st WORLD CHAMPION the shield and a golden COLOSSEUM CUP
2nd RUNNER UP CHAMP a silver COLOSSEUM CUP
3rd a bronze COLOSSEUM CUP
4th a smaller bronze COLOSSEUM CUP

KOA CUP WINNER a small golden COLOSSEUM CUP
RUNNER UP a small silver COLOSSEUM CUP

FUN CUP WINNER a even smaller golden COLOSSEUM CUP
RUNNER UP a even smaller silver COLOSSEUM CUP

There will be THE GAME OF SHAME with prizes (Tshirts).

Obviously some special prices for best attack and defense too… and a special price to the 3 best ranked NEWBIES (definition of newbie: rome2007 should be your first WC attendance).

PS: gold, silver and bronze mean that the cups are painted not that they are made of 24k gold, pure silver or acient bronze

Registration
Each person can preregister at website. No fee payment is required. We’ll setup a website form to handle all the registrations.
Registered players can vote for the introduction of

- EXTRA TACTICS

This is the ONLY ONE RULE that can and will be polled. The rule will be voted by preregistered users.The poll starts on 10 July and ends on 10 October.
Please register also in this post so that I can keep the player list updated by posting: KO2 name - KOA forum name (if available) - nation - KOA rank (if available)

WebSite
http://kickoff2worldcup.org

Main reference to the Worldcup with this post.

Fees
Calculations in progress. They will be not that high, no need to frighten up for this…

Vote one of the best soccer games ever created. All of this game from 80s and 90s are still updated and supported by active communities!

Here you can take part of the poll:  Vote the best soccer game of all time for Coin OP, Commodore 64, Amiga and MS-DOS

Mexico 86 (Kick n run)
www.kickoffworld.net/wiki/index.php?title=Mexico_86

Technorati Tags: Kick Off 2, Player Manager, Sensible World of Soccer, Goal!, Dino Dini Soccer, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer, Microprose Soccer, The Manager, Tehkan World Cup, Mexico 86, Kick n run, MAME, Arcade, Amiga, MS-DOS, soccer game, football game

It’s Started the poll of the year: Vote the best indie soccer game of 2006! Vote the best Old-school Football game of the year here: The best old-school soccer games of the year

Sensible Soccer 2006

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/sensible-soccer-2006/

Jon Hare, designer and producer of the original Sensible Soccer series, here collaborates with Codemasters and developers Kuju Entertainment for the return of the long-standing soccer series. This revival plays up the fast action and wild multiplayer of the original series, now with 3D visuals and new aggressive new arcade-style gameplay.

Throw in

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/throw-in

Throw In is the tribute to the best game ever, Kick Off 2. It’s developed by Gianluca Troiano, the 2003, 2004, 2005 Kick Off 2 World Champion. Throw in attempt to reproduce the classic gameplay of Kick Off 2 and is designed to offer fast action with responsive controls. You can do anything on the pitch with just a single fire button.

Yoda Soccer

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/yoda-soccer-73-released/

The Open Source clone of Sensible World of Soccer is available for all OS: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It’s developed by an italian team of coders to reproduce the playability of the classic Sensible World of Soccer.

www.kickoffworld.net/blog/pulp-of-soccer/

The vocation of Pulp Of Soccer is to procure a lot of sensations for everybody who like funny video games and soccer, purposing easy but efficacious gameplay. Pulp Of Soccer is an original concept purposing intuitive gameplay accessible to everybody

New Star Soccer 3

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/new-star-soccer-3/
New Star Soccer 3 is the award winning career football game that lets YOU be the star player. Take full control of your career and work your way to the top. Defender, midfielder or attacker, the choice is yours, just make sure you keep the boss, fans and everyone else happy on your rise to football stardom!

Netsoccer

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/netsoccer
Netsoccer is a Multiplayer Online Soccer game. Each gamer controls a player, not a team as is common in most Soccer games. You can join different teams and have matches aginst other teams or you can just have a practice match online.
Sensational Soccer

www.kickoffworld.net/blog/sensational-soccer-released/>

Sensational Soccer is a New game made by the same creator of New Star Soccer 3. The match engine of Sensational Soccer is the same as New Star Soccer 3 (updated a bit though). The tactics editor is complete, and available on a Sensible Soccer style with a 2-player football game where you control the whole team

Webchamps 06

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/webchamps-06

In webchamps06 you play with your team against a variety of computer-controlled teams. webchamps06 doesn’t only convert the fascination of football into a clever online game and give us a virtual foretaste of the World Cup atmosphere.

Kickin’ Soccer

www.kickoffworld.net/blog/kickin-soccer/
Kickin’ Soccer is a fast-paced arcade soccer game. Dribble the opponent players, slide into their defenses with quick and accurate passing, score with shoots from a distance or use crosses and try to head the ball in the back of the net.

Pixelkick

www.kickoffworld.net/blog/pixelkick/>
pixelKick takes all the best elements from the classic footie games from the 90’s and is set in it’s own primary coloured, pixel playground world.

pixelKick is a game which captures all the excitement of a real football match and conveys it through 16×16 blocks.

Slam Soccer 2006

www.kickoffworld.net/blog/slam-soccer-2006/>
Slam Soccer 2006 is a funny football game in 3D-comic-style - it’s Freeware and open source with Funny 3d-comic-style

Addictive Football

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/addictive-football

Addictive Football is similar in style to the great games of yesteryear such as Sensible Soccer and Kick Off. Play 5-a-side rules on a variety of different pitches with 5 different game modes to choose from. Including Knockout Cups and League style games as well as a Custom Game Mode where you set the team skills yourself.

Nutella Football Game

http://www.kickoffworld.net/blog/nutella-football-game

Nutella Football Game is the soccer videogame created by gianluca troiano and Artematica, it was sold on italian big malls as a promotional gift together with a can of Nutella during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Goofy Soccer

www.kickoffworld.net/wikickoff/index.php?title=Goofy_Soccer

This game is designed to develop the creative skills of soccer gamers. Now it’s time to get the best soccer game that can reflect your creativity. Choose your team and league from the wide databases freely distributed or create your own league.

Technorati Tags: Sensible Soccer 2006, Throw in, Yoda Soccer, Pulp of Soccer, New Star Soccer 3, Netsoccer, Sensational Soccer, Webchamps 06, Kickin’ Soccer, Pixelkick, Slam Soccer 2006, Addictive Football, Nutella Football Game, Goofy Soccer, football games, soccer games

12 september is a free Flash game where players try to solve the terrorist problem - a sort of editorial cartoon rendered in simple simulation.

September 12 is the first game with a non entertainment goal from Powerful Robot Games, based in Uruguay. Powerful Robot is run by Gonzalo Frasca (of ludology.org), who has been studying the social implications of games for years; now he’s finally glad to be using game design to trigger discussions: “It was the first game we made where every design decision was hell. Do people cry over dead terrorists?”

“The art is fantastic in September 12, the sound is critical (play with your speakers turned on). Frasca is eager to use video games to provoke political and ethical discussions. September 12 is a witty little thing - we look forward to more like it from the folks at newsgaming.com.”

Play now

Technorati Tags: middle east, palestine, lebanon, israel, iraq, free game, flash, september 12, terrorism, terrorist, war, september 11

A new MAME has been released, bringing it into line with the regular version:

• xMAME for Linux
• MacMAME for Mac OS X
• MAME OS X universal binary for intel Mac
• Mame32 for Windows
• MAME Plus for Windows
• VectorMAME for vector games
• EEMAME, MAME for Symbian Mobile Phones
• PocketCultMAME for Pocket PC
• PalmMAME for Palm OS
• MAME4ALL PSP for Playstation Portable
• MAMEPSP for Playstation Portable
• PSPMame for Playstation Portable
• XMame PSP for Playstation Portable
• MAME has a sister project called MESS which applies the MAME philosophy to emulating home computers and consoles.
• MAME arcade cabinet, homebuild replicas of arcade cabinets to run MAME software.

As usual you can download from it’s home

Technorati Tags: MAME, 110, emulator, arcade

Here is the latest version, This version seems much more stable:
Sensational Soccer v1.17

Changes
Fixed keeper freekick bug.
Added match time option.
Fixed some translation problems.
Updated some languages.
Fixed random crashes.
Fixed Keepers getting swapped in database
Your choice of set-piece takers is stored during a league
Improved quick shot
Rain is quieter
Rains less often
Updated some languages

Technorati Tags: Sensational Soccer, football game, soccer game

It’s available version 1.2 of Addictive Football. The demo can be downloaded at here

In this version we’ve added the following:

• Names appear above players’ heads during the game. Can be turned off from the Options menu.
• Player Name Editor. Allows you to rename each player in every team.
• Improved A.I.
• Goal celebration improved - large 3D version of your player now appears on screen doing a celebration dance.
• Team running speeds have been increased.
• Passing speeds have been increased.
• Some extra polish to the game.

In the demo version you can have a look around at the Name Editor but you can’t save or make any changes. This is only available in the full version.

There’s also an offer of a 15% discount off Addictive Football.
Just go to the purchase page at here and click on the Buy Now button. Near the bottom of the actual purchase page there will be a box called “Discount Code”. Your discount code is UPM000X4.

This offer is available until Thursday 30th November 2006. So be quick to take advantage of it.

As always, all feedback about the game would be appreciated

DOWNLOAD NOW! 

Technorati Tags: Addictive football, soccer game, football game

Related Link: NFL Football Picks make the season fun. Yeah, I know baseball just started but there is a reason I frequesnt a forum called ADDICTS!

This is an updated version of Player Manager 1.1 with Kick Off 2 graphics and european players with their real names. It’s made by a brazilan fan, Le Cusi and he already made the brazilian version of PM!! , enjoy:

DOWNLOAD Player Manager 2006/07

Technorati Tags: Player Manager, Kick Off 2, Dino Dini, Amiga, Champions League, update, 2006, 2007

Related Link: Champions League Wetten (German for “Betting on the Champions League”) can be done online at good odds for ManU, Chelsea or Real Madrid all over the internet.

Amiga SWOS 2006-07 update includes:

Updated Teams:
Austria - Stephen Smith
Belgium - Stephen Smith
Denmark - Poul Olsen
England - Stephen Smith
France - Ben
Germany - Stephen Smith
Greece - Whiteulver
CUSTOM - Stephen Smith
Holland - Rob Groot
Japan - Ben
Portugal - Pedro Antunes
Russia - Stephen Smith
Scotland Pre- Stephen Smith
Serbia - Yossarian
Spain - Stephen Smith
Switzerland - Stephen Smith
Turkey - Cem Turan
MLS USA - Luis Antonio Soto Cedillo

The first 4 groups of Champions League 2006-07 Competition

Updated graphics:

Installation and Usage
-Download
-Unzip
-Run Installer and extract the contents to a folder.
-Run winuae.exe and select from configurations tab Sensible World Of Soccer 2006-07
-Press ok for 16bit GPU test(if prompt)

Technorati Tags: Sensible World of SOccer, SWOS, Amiga, update, WinUAE