Pre-alpha Unreal Tournament joins ESL

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Unreal Tournament hasn't even reach alpha yet, but the chaps at ESL have decided that battles must be fought and champions must be made. Champions from Europe and North America at any rate. The ladders, leagues and cups will be supported by six admins and Epic itself, with details of the first competitions to follow in a few weeks.

UT has been playable in one form or another since August of last year, and while it's been inching its way steadily from untextured cubist doodle to high-res arena shooter, there's a long way to go before it's in anything resembling a finished state. This feels more like a passion project than a serious display of faith in an unfinished game on the part of ESL, but given that Unreal Tournament is free and has a consierable legacy to draw on, there's nothing to stop it building up a head of compeitive stream during the development process.