Xbox COD: Ghosts invitational going down this weekend

This weekend we see a unique event taking place – Afrihost and IventsZA have organized a COD: Ghosts LAN tournament on Xbox. No, it isn’t open to the public; this is an invitational, but all the top teams have been invited. You can watch all the action here through live streaming on twitch. I’m still a bit worried about the organization, though.

Before I give you all the details, I’d just like to point out that the local gaming media was not informed about this event until Monday, when a random tweet went out from Afrihost – IventsZA only established their official twitter account last Thursday to begin promoting this event. We were obviously taken by surprise. There isn’t inherently anything wrong with getting a week’s notice of an eSports event, it just seems strange when they are billing it as a huge event, claiming that all the big names in eSports and the local gaming industry will be there. Unfortunately, we will be unable to attend as we are hosting our awesome community get together. Even after requesting information about the event, we received very little until I specifically requested more details – I hope that they are more open to the media in the future.

So, how were the teams selected? Well, half of them were invited due to their outstanding performances recently – the other half were through an application basis conditional that they could be in Joburg on 1 February. I wonder how many more teams would have applied if we could have informed them of this in advance… But that’s besides the point. Here are the teams that will be facing off on Saturday:

• Adept
• Arte Conservatus
• Hi5 Mcloving
• Hi5 White
• Insane Gaming
• Liquid Gaming
• LOST
• That Gaming
• UndL Opulence
• UndL TFO
• Vinco black
• Vinco Yellow

The double elimination tournament will kick off at 10am on Saturday and will be shoutcasted and live streamed. Considering the number of games to be played, it makes sense that two twitch channels will be lending a hand. So, you can watch the stream from AnCGamingInc here:

Watch live video from AnCGamingInc on www.twitch.tv

While the stream from R3B3LGamingZA is here:

Watch live video from R3B3LGamingZA on www.twitch.tv

There are prizes on the table, but we don’t know what they are. As I was informed:

The prizes on offer we have kept confidential due to
the prerequisite that the gamers join for the love of competitive gaming and
not the promise of prizes.

While I like that sentiment, it does preclude some teams from farther afield joining in – if they aren’t even sure if their tickets can be covered by prize money, it really isn’t worthwhile.

So, tune in and watch all the COD: Ghosts action going down this weekend. Good luck to all the teams involved, and to Afrihost and IventsZA – I hope that the tournament is the first of many. We need more alternatives for eSports in South Africa.

Like esports?
Check out esports central

Last Updated: January 30, 2014