Welcome to the Alienware Winter Frag Fest,

an opportunity to show off your gaming skills for a shot at an alienware Area-51®X58 desktop and other kickass gear.

As a gamer you need the frames cranked up to the highest, through the biggest firefights, with opponents charging at you on all sides, bullets a blazin' and grenades a flyin'. That is why we're offering up the Alienware Area-51® X58 desktop, one of the fastest systems our Alienware engineers have ever designed, featuring one of the newest Intel® Core™ i7 processors, an ATI® Radeon®™ 4870 graphics card, Windows Vista® 64-bit, and every other leading component you need for a high-performance rig.

You'll need teammates by your side for this challenge. The Alienware Winter Frag Fest is a 5-on-5 team-based tournament for Counter-Strike: Source, one of the world's most popular competitive titles. The tournament will begin with single-elimination play until only 5 teams remain; those teams will advance to the double-elimination finals to face each other as well as the top three teams from last summer’s Alienware PC Gaming Season open tournament.

It's all set to go down January 17 to 24, 2009. It is free to participate in the tournament, but you’ll need quick reaction time to get in; only the first 160 fully registered teams will be accepted. To register go to the Sign-Up page.

For other details have a look around this micro-site. Everything you need is here at a click of a mouse. While you're at it, check it out all the latest Alienware gaming grade desktops and notebooks in the Products section of the main navigation bar.

F.A.Q.

Prior to competing in the tournament and prior to contacting Support, please review these frequently asked questions:

Q: What game is the tournament for?: A: Counter-Strike: Source (PC)
Q: Who is managing the tournament?: A: The tournament is being managed on behalf of Alienware by iGames with tournament partner CEVO.
Q: What are the tournament rules?: A: Standard competitive match rules will be used. All players are expected to review the full details on the Rules page.
Q: How much does the tournament cost to enter?: A: The tournament is entirely free to enter. Registration is limited, however, so sign-up quickly to secure a team slot.
Q: How many players can we have on a team?: A: A team consists of at least 5 players, plus up to 2 optional alternate players, for a total of 7 players. A team cannot start a match with less than 5 players.
Q: What are conferences?: A: Teams will be divided up into one of three conferences, based on region - Atlantic, Central, and Pacific. Up to 64 teams will be accepted into the Atlantic and Central conferences. Up to 32 teams will be accepted into the Pacific conference. All matches in the initial phase will be played within each conference.
Q: How can we schedule our matches?: A: All match times are pre-assigned and cannot be rescheduled to a different time. All match times can be seen on the Schedule page. To contact your opponents, simply login to the CEVO Match Network client at your pre-assigned match time. Please ensure that your team can field at least 5 players for every potential match time prior to registering for the tournament. Matches will not be rescheduled for any reason. Please allow up to 1 hour and 30 minutes for each match, from start to finish.
Q: Are demos (replays) required?: A: All players must record match demos (replays) for every match using the format: teamname_playername_vs_opposingteam. Within 1 hour of the end of each match all players must upload their demos (replays) within 1 hour to ftp://cevo.com/ (username: fragfest password: fragfest). For help contact Frag Fest Support (not Alienware support).
Q: How can we report a match score?: A: To report a match score contact Frag Fest Support (not Alienware support). One player from each team must report the match score immediately following each match.
Q: How are disputes handled?: A: A team can dispute against up to one opposing player per match. To file a dispute contact Support. All demos and CMN log files will be reviewed on the same day by qualified iGames and CEVO tournament administrators.
Q: Where can I get help?: A: Tournament administrators can be reached nightly via e-mail, Ventrilo, or Kayako web support. For details go to the Frag Fest Support page (not Alienware Support).