250 FPS Quake Live League Season 6 Division 1 begins on Sunday, 25 October, with fire_bot replacing baksteen in the 12-player field.

fire_bot finished runner-up in the second and fourth qualifiers. The final lineup is cYpheR, AGENT, ash, pavel, k1llsen, cherepoff, Spart1e, H3LLDOWN, ARSENY, Fog, Nitrino and fire_bot.

The organisers are also assembling Division 2, which will have a $300 prize pool and additional prizes supplied by Redragon.

Source: Plus Forward, citing the Quake250FPS announcement.

League artwork: 250 FPS, via Plus Forward.

Frontier Gaming has interviewed proZaC and baksteen ahead of its first Quake Live One Map Cup, with both discussing the format and the difficulty of bringing new players into arena FPS.

proZaC sees the short preparation window as a test of creativity and adaptation, but doubts that a new format can revive Quake Live given its demanding learning curve. His advice to newcomers is to find someone of similar ability, improve together and watch demos.

baksteen sees the cup as a chance to test maps for use in other leagues. He expects preparation time and the ability to learn quickly to decide the winners. On Quake's future, he argues that classic gameplay can still work with modern presentation, proper tutorials and matchmaking.

Both interviews were published on 21 October. Frontier One Map Cup #1 takes place on 24 October, with all matches played on Tortured - Frontier Edition.

Read the interviews: proZaC, baksteen.

Event artwork: Frontier Gaming, via Plus Forward.

phaze won EGB QC Cup #12 in Quake Champions on 18 October, beating Keltz 3-0 in the grand final. The $75 prize pool paid $60 to phaze and $15 to Keltz.

phaze defeated k1llsen 2-1 and Yup 2-1 on the way to the winners final, where he beat Keltz 2-1. Keltz returned through the lower final with a 2-0 win over k1llsen, but could not take a map in the title rematch.

k1llsen finished third and Yup fourth in the 19-player online tournament.

Sources: results and bracket, Plus Forward report.

Tournament graphic: EGB, via Plus Forward.

k1llsen won EGB Cup #72 in Quake Live on 17 October, returning from the lower bracket to beat ash 3-1 in the grand final.

ash had won their winners-final meeting 2-0. k1llsen then beat AGENT 2-1 in the lower final before taking the rematch against ash. AGENT finished third, with pavel fourth.

It is k1llsen's first victory in the regular EGB Quake Live duel series since Cup #51 on 2 May.

Source: Plus Forward report and bracket.

Tournament graphic: EGB, via Plus Forward.

Croteam and Devolver Digital have announced Serious Sam: The Third Encounter for PC, continuing directly from the events of The Second Encounter.

The new game sends Sam into Mental's forces across alien worlds, with returning weapons, new additions to the arsenal and large enemy hordes. Players can tackle it alone or in co-op; the Steam listing includes online co-op and shared/split-screen support.

The project is in early development. No release date has been announced, and wishlisting is available on Steam.

Sources: official Steam page, announcement coverage and teaser.

Artwork: Croteam / Devolver Digital.

FURIA won the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 in Counter-Strike 2, defeating BetBoom 3-2 in the grand final on 18 October.

The eight-team event ran from 14 to 18 October at the BLAST Studio in Malta, with a $1 million combined player and club prize pool.

FURIA reached the final with a 2-0 semifinal win over Aurora. BetBoom beat Falcons 2-1 in the other semifinal, while Aurora took third place by defeating Falcons 2-1.

Source: BLAST tournament results.

File photo: FURIA celebrating the 2025 Thunderpick title. Photo: Joao Ferreira; via Pichau Arena.

Valve's 16 October Team Fortress 2 update changes Holyhell and six Zombie Infection maps. The patch installs automatically when the game is restarted.

Holyhell's round timer is reduced to five minutes, with shorter respawn waves. The team that loses the middle point gains respawning spells on its side, while gargoyles now spawn near middle. The map also receives visual fixes and optimisation work.

Zombie Pyro's melee damage rises from 45 to 65. Sticky Spew applies a 20% movement slow, with another 20% while standing in its enlarged puddles. Pyro's death explosion now deals 50 damage and causes afterburn.

Zombie Sniper's Spit cooldown falls from nine seconds to six. Other fixes address invisible player models in DirectX 8, Zombie Engineer beacon placement, excessive Zombie Spy damage and slow movement after using abilities.

Source: Valve patch notes.

ESIC announced on 16 October that Palkovics "2xplayN" Tamas is banned for life from covered ESIC and member competitions in any capacity, replacing the three-year suspension imposed in the NOMERCY match-manipulation case.

The revised sanction follows public posts showing apparent cash alongside comments about the findings, betting payouts and a return to competition. ESIC found that his conduct during suspension constituted further integrity breaches. The lifetime ban removes his previously scheduled April 2029 return, with no cooperation-based reduction applied to the new sanction.

ESIC explicitly stated that the photographs alone do not establish that the money shown came from match-fixing. The commission also said it would refer the sanctioned conduct to Valve, government agencies and law enforcement.

Source: ESIC.

Bloodrun's 16 October build adds Slash as a playable gladiator, bringing Crouch Slide and Plasma Trail from her Quake Champions counterpart.

Holding crouch on landing starts a slide that preserves movement speed. Her active ability lays a damaging plasma trail, with three seconds to place it and another three seconds to trigger its explosion. Bots can also use both abilities.

The update refreshes four arenas and adds a HUD arc near the crosshair to show ability information, including Slash's slide charge and Angel's countdown to invisibility. A new Setup > Gladiators section provides ability effect settings.

Existing players can install the build through the Bloodrun launcher.

Sources: Bloodrun changelog, Plus Forward.

Valve has introduced achievement sets in the Steam client beta, allowing developers to group achievements for a game's base campaign, DLC, seasons or other content separately.

Each set tracks its own completion progress. In games that adopt the feature, additional DLC or seasonal achievements can sit outside the base-game set, so players can retain that set's 100% completion without earning every later addition.

The redesigned achievements page brings progress information together and allows direct comparisons with up to three friends at once. Support depends on developers organising their games' achievements into sets; the change does not automatically separate every game's existing list.

The feature is currently available through the Steam client beta.

Sources: Valve announcements, PC Gamer.

Strongsage won Estoty Duel Tournament #222 in Quake Champions on 16 October, beating k1llsen 3-1 in the grand final. It is his 14th title in the series and his first since #219.

Strongsage beat baSe 2-0 in the upper semifinals, then defeated k1llsen 2-0 in the winners final. k1llsen returned to the final with a 2-0 win over baSe, who finished third, but lost the rematch against Strongsage.

Strongsage remains fourth on the series' all-time winners list, behind baSe with 70 titles, RAISY with 47 and Keltz with 33.

Source: Plus Forward.

The US Doom and Quake Community will host a one-day QuakeWorld 2v2 tournament on Saturday, 24 October.

The format is double elimination, with best-of-one matches and a best-of-three grand final to keep the cup within one evening. Maps are assigned by round. The pool is Ultrav, ZTNDM3, Aerowalk, Bravado and DM2.

Signups are through the community's Discord; see the organiser's announcement for the signup link.

Source: US Doom and Quake Community announcement.

Church of Quake will run an online Quake Champions 4v4 Sacrifice Tournament Edition cup on Saturday, 24 October. Players sign up individually, then captains select teams through a snake draft. The advertised prize pool is $150.

The first 32 signups are guaranteed places, making eight teams. Further signups go on reserve unless the field reaches 64, allowing sixteen teams.

The bracket is double elimination. Upper-bracket matches and the lower final are best of three, other lower-bracket matches best of one, and the grand final best of five.

Players must join the Church of Quake Discord. Coverage is planned on the community's Twitch channel, and other casters are welcome to contact the organisers.

Links: Sign up, Twitch.

Source: Church of Quake, including Discord and current signup links.

k1llsen won EGB QC Cup #11 on 11 October, beating dramiS 3-2 in the grand final. Sixteen players took part in the online Quake Champions tournament. The $75 pool paid $60 to k1llsen and $15 to dramiS.

k1llsen did not lose a series. He beat creeep_06487 2-0, NRAV 2-0 and St0n3 2-1 before taking the winners final against dramiS 2-0. dramiS returned through the lower final with a 2-1 win over cYpheR, then lost the rematch. cYpheR finished third and Yup fourth.

It is k1llsen's fifth title in the EGB Quake Champions duel series. Keltz and Strongsage have three each.

Source: Plus Forward results, report.