ESWC 2008 preview

Gamers from around the world invade San Jose to take part of the NVISION 08. Inside NVISION we find what most of us is looking for, the ESWC 2008 Grand Finals.

The 2008 Grand Finals will be the first time ESWC has their event outside of France, as the event will be held in the city San Jose this year. San Jose is the third-largest city in California, and tenth-largest in United States. San Jose is located in Santa Clara Valley, the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region referred as Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is today home to most of the technology giants of the world (Intel, Adobe, Apple, HP and so on). NVISION is a visual computing conference held by NVIDIA, among other events and activities, ESWC will be located inside of NVISION.

The ESWC 2008 Grand Finals will be gathering thirty-two male and twelve female teams to compete in Counter-Strike competition. ESWC Masters might have been the master event of the year. The Grand Finals have been cut down from forty-eight to thirty-two male teams. Due to the traveling-expenses and the usual visa-problems, we do not see a bunch of teams in San Jose the coming days.

The tournament structure will be classic ESWC style. Starting with a group stage eight groups of four teams, top 2 of each group will be advancing. Next up second group stage, four groups of four teams, where top 2 from each group will advance. The playoffs will feature eight teams playing a single elimination best of three map bracket. The overall winner of can pocket 40.000$, the total prize purse sums up to 79.000$.

The defending champions from MYM (former PGS) will be returning to defend their title. Last year’s runner up from mTw (former NoA), have been going strong since last year, placing second at WCG, winning KODE5 and ESWC Masters. Is it to be determined between the usual mTw, fnatic, MYM or can others beat them too it this time? ESWC is a sparkling diamond for the gamers, whoever comes out on top can crown themselves with one of the most prestigious titles of the eSport universe.

HLTV.org is in San Jose and we will have a solid grip on the pulse at ESWC 2008 Grand Finals. Providing you with our unique coverage, for both male and female, ESWC 2008 Grand Finals will most certainly be worth following. Get your HLTV IP’s, results, standings, demos, galleries and live updates right here on HLTV.org.

ESWC 2008 Grand Finals

Groups (male)
Groups (female)
Pre-interview – mTw, fnatic, MYM, mibr, roccat, x3o
SteelSeries competition

All group stage matches for both male and female have been added, including bets. Do you wish to place real-money on the matches, then drop by XLBet and place your bets right away.

Make sure to tune in on our coverage section already now and do not tune out until the event ends this Wednesday. ESWC 2008 Grand Finals, up close, right here on HLTV.org.