Game and Game World Champion 2007 (GNGWC2007) has just wrapped up the European leg of its online game tournament series and is now heading for American shores. The last of the square-offs was concluded in Leipzig's Game Convention 2007, yielding regional champions.

GNGWC2007 is the world’s first MMO e-sports global league that has attracted 150,000 participants across Europe. This month, it will start preliminary matches in North America and East Asia. The registration for the respective events are already underway.

Titles such as Bomb N' Flash, Silkroad Online, and Shot Online were among the MMO games played where gamers showed off their skills. Winners took home tickets to the grand finals which are set to take place in South Korea after all the preliminaries.

A representative for the event's sponsor, Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA), commented on the recently-concluded European leg of the tourney:

Continuing from last year, many European MMO gamers have participated in the event. We expect to see more gamers join this global MMO game festival and show off their excellent play.

OnNet USA announced today that it has inked a channeling partnership deal with Flyff publisher Gala. Due to the partnership, OnNet USA will be providing Gala with the rights to offer Shot Online, OnNet USA's golf-centric MMORPG, on Gala's gPotato games portal.

"We are happy to have the opportunity to partner with Gala. Their experience in the online gaming industry is extensive and we look forward to this channeling partnership with them", said Kevin Kim, CEO of OnNet USA.

With over one million players worldwide, Shot Online is one of the biggest free-to-play MMORPGs in the world. Players can choose from among 15 exciting courses and are able to play either by themselves or against other players from around the world. The game also has a community feature that allows players to interact with each other in real-time.

We never thought online golf could be so cutthroat. With a US$ 1,200 cash prize for the winning guild, Shot Online's second Guild Tournament will have guilds stepping up to the tee for a shot at money and golfing supremacy!

From midnight of December 19 to 11:59 p.m. of January 7, guilds in OnNet's Shot Online can enter any course and play to acquire guild points. Your main job is to earn as many points as you can by having your guild go into a golfing frenzy.

The tournament's winning guild will be chosen by the average number of guild points for an individual member of that guild, so guilds with more members will need to earn a lot more points to reach the same average number as a guild with fewer members.

Here are the prizes:

• 1st Place - US$ 1,200
  
• 2nd Place - US$ 600
  
• 3rd Place - 5,000 Cyber Cash
• Lucky Guild - Lucky box for every member of the winning guild, with each box containing rare items
  

Well, what are you waiting for? Grab those clubs, learn how to golf, and play to win!

When was the last time you've washed your golf balls and waxed your clubs? Online, lots of people are stroking their way to victory as the 10th Progressive Open has just started. Shot-Online's monthly golf tournament started December 12 and is on-going until the 18th.

Here, players get to compete against each other in the same class. Beginners stick with beginners, amateurs with amateurs, pros and pros. Courses are randomly selected for the tourney and that adds that much more unpredictability and poses a challenge for old and new gamers alike.

OnNet USA will be collecting the "200,000 NG per try" entrance fees as the pot to be won by the top 20 in each category. Also, one lucky winner will be given a 3x Lucky Box - Putter!

If you're not feeling too comfortable with your ball-thwacking skills just yet, don't worry. There's still going to be another Open this January. You could win the cup there. If you need any practice though, it wouldn't hurt to try your hand in this month's Open.

How'd you like to be on TV? Okay, so maybe it ain't exactly the case, but in celebration of the opening of their GamesCampus.com games portal, OnNet is announcing the start of their Shot-Online Amateur Video Contest.

There won't be any age restrictions for this contest so anybody who thinks they can make the cut are welcome to join. The rules are simple: The video has to have at least one golf-related item in it - golf balls, clubs, courses, or carts are acceptable. Aside from that, contestants are challenged to go wild with their creativity, and are also challenged to send in as many videos as they can - there's no limit to video numbers either.

Winners of this contest may win an Alienware Area-51 7500 Desktop Computer with 17 inch LCD monitor, Microsoft Zune 30GB Digital Media Players, and other prices yet to be announced. We'll announce the details and submission deadline when we get more news on this.

Chris Yamauchi, Shot-Online GM, on the contest:

Many of our users are media savvy and we thought that it would be a fun way to get the Shot-Online community involved with the brand in a unique way.

To those out to score in this video competition, we wish you the best of luck. Click on the Read link for more info about the contest.

Yup, a guide to better online golfing, except it's not written by Tiger Woods, but then again, this isn't exactly his field either. The paperback guide to OnNet Co.'s Shot-Online is written by indie guide publisher Incan Monkey God Studios, Inc., with the full cooperation of OnNet Co. Which was very helpful since this nifty guide to "How to be a better online golfer" instructs you on the various fundamentals of whacking MMO golf balls:

• Characters
• Tutorial and Practice
• Preparation for playing a round of golf
• How to play, with hints
• How to earn experience and money, and what to do with it
• Guilds
• Fan sites
• Map, description and statistics for each hole
• Stats and other details for all standard equipment in the game
• Stats and pictures of all styles of clothes for all characters
• Leaderboard, that details all current course and guild leaders
• Winners in all past tournaments
• Glossary

Caddies not included.

And the price of game-pwning knowledge, or at least a pro holding your hand through the game? US$ 17.99. Granted, a bit steep for a paperback book, and there are free alternatives on the net (ahem), but having OnNet onboard does give this stratguide the extra loft it needs to make that hole in one.

So, been having fun with Shot Online so far, huh? No problems or bugs so far? Everything all good? If you answered yes to all questions, then good for you. But see, not all Shot Online users have been sailing as smoothly as you do, coz according to some users, they've been receiving broken clubs when they go into the club fitting process.

Yep, broken clubs. Now how the heck will you be able to play the one and only golf-based MMORPG (as of the moment, at least), or just..plain..golf, if you have broken clubs?! Fortunately, the SYNET dev team has fixed this bug and according to their announcement, it's now impossible to get a broken club when you go into the club fitting process. You wanna hear it straight from them? Alright then:

"We have removed the degradability aspect of the club fitting process. Now, when you use club fitting tickets, you will have no chance of receiving a broken club! With Club Fitting, please note that you have a chance to get an improved club; however you also have a chance to fail to improve your club. The chance to receive a degraded club is now gone."

There ya go, now you can go on having fun with all the balls and clubs and strokes...(wait, something about that didn't sound right) Anyway, before I start talking about something that my editor will surely censor, I'll just leave you guys to go and enjoy Shot Online sans the annoying broken clubs. Make sure you check back with us for more updates on your fave RPGs, alright?*winks*

Buy: [Shot Online]

To all beginner and amateur Shot-Online players who take to the greens, your chance to advance to the Semi-Pros is right around the corner. SyNET has announced the details for the latest Semi-Pro qualifying tests on the official Shot-Online forums. And as we love the sport of golf as much as you do - whether it's on the online greens or in a handheld or console - it would be the neighborly thing to pass the announcement on.

Why advance to the Semi-Pro's? Amateurs and beginners will be given 1.5x experience points when they play with Semi-Pros. They're also given various opportunities - including the opportunity to become the player of the year, participate in the tournaments, and other continuous benefits in the future.

Details at the full article!

George Carlin had a lot of stuff to say about golf on his track, "Golf Courses for the Homeless". Good thing all of us nice people choose to play golf online, on our computers, where we don't waste land that could have been used for public housing. That is, if all of us nice people even get to play golf online.

If any of you have been experiencing any difficulties playing SyNET Entertainment's golf MMO, Shot-Online in the past few days, well don't worry. It's not just you. It appears that their server's been scheduled for an upgrade, hence, the gameplay/surfing troubles you've all been experiencing. Don't you think it's nice that the game was just released and they're already making server upgrades?

Now, the people of Shot-Online have announced on their website that their servers are up and running again. So go get your virtual clubs and practice your golf swings and getting under par.

"Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course - the distance between your ears."

-Bobby Jones, Legend Golfer

Golf is a thinking gentleman's sport. Anyone can whack a golf ball; all it takes is a stick and some stamina. However, it takes a golfer to guide the ball to the right direction - and that takes more brain than muscle. It may be the reason why most people try golfing after work; to shift from the multitasking to the focus mode. It helps the mind relax more by just thinking of how to putt that golf ball. It sure beats thinking of how to juggle five projects at once.

Now you can experience golf in the safety of your own home: SyNET Entertainment just released, Shot-Online. The company boasts that it already has over 1 million players all over the world. It is the world's first full 3D PC online MMO Golf game with some RPG elements thrown into the mix. The in-game characters has the ability to level up like the usual RPG heroes. There will also be some guilds involved.

Regarding the sport side, the golf dynamics is supposed to be dead on with its real counterpart. The game includes 8 challenging, varied golf courses, and different camera angles to assist the gamers in swinging the ball. Buyers get an automatic $20 cybercash, an entry to exclusive tournaments, and a lottery ticket to win a set of $100 golf clubs. Virtual, of course. MSRP: $29.99, available now.