What is Skillground?

Skillground is today one of the world's most interesting gaming arena that lets you download real video games for free and play for cash prize or just for fun. People of all skill levels can play and a proprietary Skill Ranking system ensures each player will find his match.

Types of competition:

• One on One - Challenge your opponents by selecting them from a list of players in the lobby
• Deathmatch - Here you will have multiple opponents and you must try to  score higher than all other participants
• Score-based Games - You against the machine fighting for the highest score and the best prizes
• Progressive Tournaments - Tournaments are like Score-based Games, but you can play again and again within a specific time limit and thereby also optimize your score.

Here are some of the games you can play:

• WarPath - Two different alien races, Ohm and Human, fight to bring the planet Kaladi, a veritable utopia full of resources and beauty, under their sole control
• CQC: Close Quarter Conflict - Darkrock Corporation and Force Objective International, two Private Military Corporations (PMCs), staffed with the cream of the Specwar crop (Navy SEALs, US Army Recon Rangers, SAS, GIGN, SPEZNAZ), square off in squad combat around the world, when small governments and large multi-national corporations can’t or won’t get involved, when lobbying fails.
• L.A. Street Racing -  Put prestige, pink slips and cold hard cash on the line. The finish line! Just make sure you get there first. The night is yours, the streets are yours and that sucker's ride is going to be yours too, just as soon as the pedals drop and this show hits the road, literally.
• Kung Fu: Deadly Arts - In the province of Hunan, in ancient China, a village has lost its leader and four brothers have lost their father. A tournament of hand to hand combat has been arranged to decide his successor. The four brothers, each deadly in their own style of fighting, must also compete against other Kung Fu artists who have also stepped up to claim the title of village elder.

Groove Games unveils the latest in UTour Golf game features

Virtual Golf Game UTour Golf Offers More Ways to Win with Latest Game Features

November 13, 2007 (Dublin) – Groove Games Limited today announced the launch of several new features to UTour Golf, the free, full-featured online golfing experience where players can challenge other virtual golfers for real cash prizes.

The new features include increased challenge options where players can utilize handicap play. This feature allows players to offer or request strokes, in order to make the games fair and challenging for both regardless of the players skill rating. The new one-hole challenge mode offers a quick, one-hole game for players and opponents and combined with the new entry fee options, it is now possible to put up to $100 on the line for just one hole.

Personalized play has also been introduced as players can now invite up to eight of their friends to an exclusive tournament with customizable game options; including course played, number of holes and entry fee. A score based Driving Range game also rewards players for their tee shot accuracy.

Michael Haines, Managing Director, Groove Games Limited said “handicapping has been introduced to increase liquidity. Whilst skill ranking systems segment the audience, handicapping levels the playing field so anyone can challenge anyone.”

He continued, “We are marketing to the gambling audience – a move that spans our target across the player interested in casual game play on 18 holes to the person who is looking for the rush of high stakes with as little as one hole. Combine this with strategy and top it up with some risk, the handicap play spices things up for the true thrill seeking sports enthusiast.”

Player Created Tournaments and Stats Tracking are just a couple of initiatives which have been undertaken to build the community and social networking aspects of UTour Golf giving players the tools to engage with each other and shape the way they play.

New Challenge Option: Handicap Play – Players can utilize the new handicap play feature which allows players to offer or request strokes, in order to make the games fair and challenging for both players regardless of their skill rating.

New Challenge Modes – The new one-hole option lets players challenge an opponent to a quick, one hole game. Combined with the new entry fee options, it is now possible to put up to $100 on the line for just one hole!

Player Created Tournaments – Players can now invite up to eight of their friends to play exclusive tournaments with customizable game options; including course played, number of holes and entry fee.  This puts a new spin on the classic “office pool”.

Mini-Games – A Score-Based Driving Range game rewards players for their tee shot accuracy.  The closer the player comes to the pin, the more points they earn.  The player with the highest cumulative points wins the game.

Stats for Everyone – All players now accumulate free lifetime golf statistics including handicap, holes played, longest successful putt and much more!

What are Progressive tournaments? If it does not mean anything to you, please read the following short introduction.

 

Progressive tournaments are a great way to experience the fun of playing real video games for real cash. In a Progressive you play games against computer-generated opponents by doing what you do best - fragging, driving, or generally kicking butt - and in the process you get a score which is based on a variety of factors. Your final score is ranked against the other tournament participants.

Each tournament has a set start and finish time. Any number of players can participate in a Progressive. You can enter a Progressive as often as you like. At the end of the tournament, the top ranked players win cash prizes.

The amount of the prizes gets progressively larger as more people join. This is why it is called  a “Progressive” tournament.  The more players, the more prizes and the bigger the prizes become.

Each tournament starts off with a guaranteed minimum amount of prizes to be won.

Players then start joining the tournament, with 85% of every player’s entry fee being added into a prize pool. No matter what the size of the prize pool, prizing will never be below the guaranteed minimum, but there is no upper limit to the amount of prizes that can be won!

Prizes are awarded no later than 30 minutes after a tournament ends.

There is a series of Progressive tournaments running right now. Each game has three different tournaments, one capped at a Skill Rating of 1025 for 'Amateurs'; one capped at 1150 for 'Pros'; and one with no Skill Rating cap - 'Open' - for the best of the best.

Pick the one that's right for you and see if you come out a winner!