The cards are finally on the table for the world to see! The thirty two teams comprising the FIFA™ World Cup tournament were divided into eight groups today in Cape Town. The group selections may very well determine the fate of certain teams (looking at you Italy and Spain).

Here are the hands that were dealt:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
South Africa	Argentina	England	Germany
Mexico	Nigeria	United States	Australia
Uruguay	South Korea	Algeria	Serbia
France	Greece	Slovenia	Ghana
Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
Netherlands	Italy	Brazil	Spain
Denmark	Paraguay	North Korea	Switzerland
Japan	New Zealand	Ivory Coast	Honduras
Cameroon	Slovakia	Portugal	Chile

My predictions:

Group Stage:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Mexico	Argentina	England	Germany
France	Nigeria	United States	Serbia
Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
Netherlands	Paraguay	Brazil	Spain
Denmark	Italy	Ivory Coast	Honduras

Round of Sixteen:

Nigeria > Mexico

England > Serbia

USA > Germany

Argentina > France

Netherlands > Italy

Brazil > Honduras

Denmark > Paraguay

Spain > Ivory Coast

Quarterfinals:

England > Nigeria

Brazil > Netherlands

USA > Argentina

Spain > Denmark

Semi-finals:

England > Brazil

USA > Spain

3rd Place:

Spain > Brazil

Final:

USA > England

A statement on the United website confirmed that a deal for the 24-year-old should be completed by the end of the month.

Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

At Cristiano’s request – who has again expressed his desire to leave – and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice.

Ronaldo has long been a target for the Spanish giants, whose president Florentino Perez vowed earlier this week to do “everything possible” to take the 24-year-old to the Bernabeu.

Via ESPN Soccernet

Valve announced today at E3 that Left 4 Dead 2 would be released this fall. Coming to PC and Xbox 360 L4D2 will feature new weapons including melee weapons such as a chainsaw, axe, baseball bat, and frying pan, 5 new campaigns, a new game mode, 4 new Survivors and a new Special Infected, along with updates to the AI Director and more.

L4D is one of my favorite games, and it definitely needs more content, but I’m not sure I would pay $50 for what seems to be nothing more than an expansion pack at most. The thing that worries me the most is that this just might divide the L4D community if the sequel is not compatible with the original for online play. It’s also surprising that Valve would release this as a new game instead of updates like they have done with TF2, especially considering that TF2 sales increase after every update. TF2 has added 14 new maps, plus modified some for new game modes, 18 new weapons, new hats, and still more to come. Going off what has been revealed about L4D2 it just doesn’t seem to measure up.

Below is the press release from Valve announcing Left 4 Dead 2

June 1, 2009 – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2), the sequel to the best-selling and critically-acclaimed co-operative multiplayer thriller.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009′s marquee titles.

“A large part of how Left 4 Dead became 2008′s top-selling new IP on Xbox 360 and the PC was the custom-tailored gameplay made possible by the AI Director,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “With the knowledge gained from creating the original, new technology, and a passionate team, L4D2 will set a new benchmark for cooperative action games.”

Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and more.

Introducing the AI Director 2.0, L4D’s dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Featuring new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.

Supported by a $10+ million marketing campaign, Left 4 Dead has sold over 2.5 million retail copies since it was released in November of 2008. Left 4 Dead 2 is targeted for release on Xbox 360 and the PC on November 17, 2009, and will be launched worldwide with a multi-million dollar marketing campaign across TV, Outdoor, and Online.

“Left 4 Dead was backed by our most aggressive advertising campaign to date, and resulted in a top 5 showing on two platforms during holiday 2008,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “Left 4 Dead 2 is a larger game and will be supported with even more consumer and retail advertising programs than the original.”

Left 4 Dead 2 will be featured as the cover story on PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazines this month.

Some great news I saw from The Android Site – The official US version of the Android 1.5 “Cupcake” update is out. Someone on the xda-developers developers found it and now I don’t have to wait until T-Mobile pushes the update out over the air.

I have already updated mine and so far so good. The feature list can be found here, the most notable things I saw were the nice UI changes; ability to upload pics to Picasa natively instead of just email or MMS; can now take video with the camera as well as upload them straight to YouTube; the on-screen keyboard; and stereo Bluetooth. Everything seems a little faster and more responsive now as well.

If you want to upgrade to Cupcake without waiting for T-Mobile below are the instructions from The Android Site:

1. Download the image. https://android.clients.google.com/updates/partner/signed-kila-ota-148830.de6a94ca.zip
2. Rename it to update.zip, and place it at the root (the very top directory) of your Micro SD card. (If you added the file to your microSD card by connecting the handset to your computer via USB [rather than using a dedicated microSD card reader], make sure to unmount it and disconnect the USB cable now.
3. Turn off your G1, then turn it back on by holding the Home+End keys until you see an icon popup after the T-Mobile G1 logo.
4. From the icon screen, open the keyboard and hit Alt+L. This allows you to see what’s going on during the update.
5. Press Alt+S to begin the update. Remember, the update needs to be in the root of the Micro SD card and needs to be named update.zip.
6. Once it finishes, follow the onscreen instructions and press Home+Back to finish.
7. The G1 will reboot a few times to flash different parts of the firmware.

• Those of you running rooted ROMs like JF1.5 check this link: Unroot your Phone / Place Phone Back to Stock

The long awaited update for Android has been delayed a week so T-Mobile can finish the build. The rollout has been delayed by about a week, meaning all G1 owners should have it by early June instead of the end of May. Below is the announcement from T-Mobile.

G1 community,

We’d like to provide an update on the rollout of Android 1.5 for T-Mobile G1 customers.

We are working diligently to get Android 1.5 out as soon as possible, while aiming to ensure a consistent, positive experience for our customers. We’re finalizing the build this week to ensure optimal functionality and smooth delivery. Therefore, the rollout schedule has been reset by approximately a week, and we expect all G1 customers will have the update by early June.

Your device will notify you when the update is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

T-Mobile Forum Announcement

Now I really hope I am one of the first to get the update next week.

Football Manager Live is a brand new game from Sports Interactive, the creators of the hugely popular Football Manager series. It is a combination of Fantasy Football, Auction sites, Social Networking and the Football Manager concept all rolled into one. Buy now for these great benefits…

• Create and manage YOUR very own football club
• YOU create your team name, colours, badge & home ground and YOU decide which players to sign.

• Choose your own dream team
• Take your pick from Sports Interactive’s world famous database of over 330,000 footballers, tailored to your part of the globe.

• Show the world how good you are
• Play against your mates or other managers from around the globe in a gameworld that’s LIVE and online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Choose from over 10 official associations
• Choose the league that suits both your play time and style and work your way to the top.

• Develop your club
• Use the innovative skill system to develop and improve your managerial style; unlock bonuses that will give you the edge.

• Exchange banter with other managers via the in-game chat facility
• Will their mind games affect you?

• Play the game your way
• The AI/Stand in manager takes control of your matches when you’re not online.

• Wheel and deal on the transfer market
• Buy, sell, loan and exchange players in the lively transfer market, or snap up some talent with the exciting new auction system.

• Create and run your own mini-leagues and cup competitions
• Take on the best or compete for bragging rights against your mates.

• Balance the books
• YOU have control over the financial running of your club. Will you sign your favourite superstar footballer or invest in a youth system for long term stability?

• Manage matches live
• If a game’s not going your way, change tactics on-the-fly from the virtual dugout. Will YOU take the glory?

The newest “Meet the…” video for Team Fortress 2 has been leaked out – Meet the Spy. I can’t wait to watch it in HD, this is my favorite Meet the video yet. Video is below.

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T-Mobile’s much awaited 1.5/Cupcake update for Google’s Android OS might have been let out, and hopefully it is true. I have been waiting for 1.5 for a while and I’m hoping I am one of the lucky people who get it sooner rather than later. Below is the possible release schedule:

• 5% of Android Devices will receive the Android 1.5 Cupcake Update on Monday, May 18th
• 15% on Tuesday, May 19th
• 30% on Wednesday, May 20th
• 45% on Thursday, May 21st
• 60% on Friday, May 22nd
• 75% on Saturday, May 23rd
• 90% on Sunday, May 24th
• 100% on Monday, May 25th

I wish T-Mobile would have it uploaded somewhere so the people who want it right away can go download and update themselves instead of waiting for the over-the-air update. Here’s hoping that I get the update on the 18th. I’ll probably spend the whole day hitting “Check for system update”.

This update might actually get me playing TF2 again. I haven’t played it in a while because it lost it’s fun after some of the updates, but I will have to try it out.

Any experienced sniper will tell you how irritating it is when your targets keep moving around. The question is how to stop these cheaters from wind-sprinting around like they own the place. And the answer is to pin them to a wall. How? With arrows!

“Now, hold on,” you might be thinking. “I’m strong, but no one could throw an arrow that hard.” Introducing the Huntsman longbow, which solves that age-old throwing problem.

“Now, hold on,” you keep saying. “Aren’t bows and arrows primitive and harmless?” Why don’t you ask the dinosaurs? Except you can’t, because the cavemen bow and arrowed them to death. One headshot from the Huntsman can mean an instant crit, in addition to a bolt-riddled corpse hanging from a wall that’s gruesome and funny.

And even if you don’t kill them, they’ll carry around a certain arrow-shaped something as a living testament to your awesome archery skills and their frankly unawesome dodging skills. Comes with 18 arrows and a one-second charge for full power shots.