New video up on PBStar of Dynasty vs Infamous in World Cup
Dynasty vs Infamous More World Cup Vids including the Finals with Russian Legion and Naughty Dogs
Go Legion :D
Legion vs Dogs wrap up by Dale Ford of 68 Caliber
Headlines : Top Articles
World Cup Weekend
By Dale Ford
Nov 15, 2006, 07:04
Email the editor
Send to a friend
Print version
Submit News
With the arrival of World Cup, the end of the season is near. World Cup is traditionally seen as the place to introduce new products, and for teams to settle scores that have festered over the year, as well as prove themselves in the biggest possible way.
This year's trade show was slightly smaller than in previous years, but all day Saturday everyone's booth was busy, be it a large company or small. Newcomers Hybrid, Lucky Paintball, and Bob Long Technologies were all busy selling and showing off their latest gear. DYE had the DM7 out, and Proto was showing off their PM7 along with the budget priced Rail. National Paintball Supply and Empire were showing off the latest and greatest in their lines, including the extremely interesting Invert marker. The Invert is simply the smallest marker on the market, and while the attendants were sparse with details about it, we suspect there will be a lot of them out there in the near future. Smart Parts was displaying the NXT Shockers, as well as the ION-inspired Epiphany. The Epiphany is described as an Upgraded ION, with a magnesium body and other upgrades, with an MSRP of $425.
International Paintball Systems was on hand showing off and selling "The WRAK", a well-made marker stand, right next door to Energy Paintball. Custom Products was busy selling their new air system. Travis Dusek noted that they'd ordered 1000 bottles to mate to their regulators, and was projecting that they'd run out before Christmas. Former Custom Products employee Dan Kereluk was gleefully showing off the new Bob Long Action Sports Technologies (BLAST) Onyx, which was very well received by players. WDP had a small presence at World Cup, with Owen Ronayne happily announcing Sunday morning that all of the Angel Ones that he'd brought along with him had sold. Tippmann was also on hand selling their marker lineup, and they had pre-production and production prototypes of their new scenario marker, the X7. Centerflag Products' Dennis Ashley was on hand coaching a team, and he allowed that Centerflag was up to some 'cool' projects which would be coming online 'soon'.
The star of this year's trade show was ProCaps, with 2 new product releases, the Grille and the Pulse. The Grille is an evolution of the Profiler mask, while the Pulse is a new loader designed by Mike Spurlock formerly of Dragun. The Pulse is a 'proactive' loader, constantly pulsing the paddles to keep pressure on the ball stack, or in another mode, linked to your marker via a RF link. During a press conference on Wednesday, they also announced that they�d be supporting the Oklahoma D-Day game, to the tune of a rumored $100,000.
Speaking of rumors, as usual World Cup is a hot bed of rumors, speculation, and outright falsehoods. Amongst them were the rumored (and all but confirmed) buyout of PMI and National Paintball Supply by New York-based Angelo, Gordon and Company, an investment firm with roughly 10 Billion (that�s with a 'B') dollars in capital to work with. Rumors were flying about that the deal had already happened, but informed sources stated that it hadn�t been closed as yet, but everyone involved was anticipating that the deal would close in the very near future. A related rumor stated that Shocktech had bought PMI, and after talking to Rennick Miller of Shocktech, we were able to get a solid denial on this rumor. Rennick showed a rare display of humor when asked about this allegation.
Another rumor that was going around was that Smart Parts had lawyers on-site serving companies making ION bodies with either Cease and Desist orders or possibly serving them with summons. We spoke with several companies making bodies, and one company noted that it is required to buy a license to manufacture ION bodies, and the individual we talked to said it wouldn't surprise them if Smart Parts was using the World Cup as a way to have all of the offending companies in one place to ease the process of service.
An amusing rumor surfaced that I'm actually a multi-millionaire, based on an interview in the November issue of Face-Full Magazine. For the record, my assets are significantly less than what could be mistakenly read in the "Corrected Interview". However, I do submit that it would be extraordinarily pleasant if I were a millionaire.
On the fields, in the NXL Boston Red Legion destroyed all comers. In Open X-Ball, San Diego Aftermath emerged as the winner, besting Team Impact, Miami Rage/Str8killas, and Gridlock. In Division 2, Gridlock-PBC beat out Gulf-Coast based Team Speed, leaving Quiet Storm and Voltage to fight it out for 3rd and 4th, which Voltage managed to claim. In Division 3, Dynasty Entourage beat out East Coast Killers, while PBC-Gridlock beat out X.O. Industries Sponsored Toronto Mavericks for 3rd place.
Over on the 5 man side of the house, Division 2 team RNT All-Starz took first place, beating SplatAttack.Com handily in two games. In Division 3, TX Justice League beat out Team Predators, leaving behind WHO TOO and EAS to finish 3rd and 4th, respectively. In Division 4, Gulf Coast-based Final Justice destroyed all comers to win that division. Final Justice player Shawn Koehn was thrilled with the win, and the former 68Caliber.Com player looked forward to seeing what happened in the 2007 season.
In young guns, Team Rush beat out Naughty Dogs, Jr. for first place honors, leaving Fox Young Guns and Crossfire Indoor Black to finish 3rd and 4th.
In any tournament, there are going to be controversial referee calls, and mistakes are going to be made. Unfortunately this year was no different, and in one incident score cards for several 5-man games were lost, with the result being that the teams affected by the lost scorecards received scores of zero for those games. In one instance, the loss of these scores cost the team a chance to move into the next set of games. Another rumored incident involved an Ultimate Ref 'helping' teams in some fashion, but several versions of the story were heard, enough so that it's hard to say what, if anything actually untoward happened. Everyone we asked about the new 5-man X-Ball 'lite' format loved it, and all were having an immensely good time playing the format. It offers the pace and excitement of X-Ball, without as much of the attendant high cost and high paint consumption.
With that, the 2006 season ended. The NPPL has already announced their confirmed dates for the 2007 Huntington Beach event, and we expect that the PSP will be announcing their dates in the very near future.
< Back
© Copyright 1999 - 2006, 68Caliber.Com
Top of Page