(Bilbao, Spain) - The 2008 GameGune event takes place this week, July 24th-26th. 32 Counter-Strike 1.6 teams from across the globe will gather in Spain to battle it out for 22.500€ in cash. The tournament begins with a group stage format progressing to double elimination finals.

GotFrag.com will be in Bilbao to give you all the details about this tournament so stay tuned for HLTV coverage, demos, galleries, GameSense statistics and more.

1st Prize: 12.000€
2nd Prize: 6.000€
3rd Prize: 3.000€
4th Prize: 1.500€


mousesports
Defining Stars
iNNERFiRE
wNs.eSports

The German team and current EPS defending champion won't have an easy task in the opening stage. Despite being given the number one seed and touted as one of the favorites to lift the GameGune trophy, mousesports will still have to show some of its best game to break down the likes of Defs and iNNERFiRE.

Defining Stars won the Portuguese ESWC qualifier and will want to prove its worth ahead of the trip to the United States in late August. Defs has already demonstrated how good it can play on Spanish soil, so this will be the perfect venue for it to prove its critics wrong.

Bulgaria has been away from Europe's top competitions for some months now, but iNNERFiRE will want an excellent opportunity to show its country's quality. The former Man1a Gaming squad has in its ranks very experienced players that will be eager to put their flag on the podium.

WNs is a rather unknown team outside Spain and should pose little threat to its opponents of the group.

Mousesports is expected to win every game of the group and cruise to the Round of 16, while Defs and iNNERFiRE should put up a close fight for the second spot of Group A.


HellGaming
wooSai
Frag eXecutors
Skilldamn!

The late dropout of Finnish giant roccat turned this into a much easier group for the remaining teams.

HellGaming comes to Spain as a mix team but this is the organization's final roster that will play the Romanian WCG qualifier later this summer. The team underwent roster changes some days ago so this event will be a very good test for it.

Many have left wooSai out of their predictions for GameGune but the Danish team will be one to look out for. This will be the first big test for the new wooSai line-up and it will surely not want to miss out on this opportunity to prove it can compete against some of the world's top teams.

Frag eXecutors has been living in the shadows of Meet Your Makers but with the ESWC champion in Asia to play e-STARS, it is now up to Frag eXecutors to defend the Polish flag.

The Portuguese team Skilldamn! recently attended the local ESWC qualifier but did not manage to make its mark at the event, which is why it should finish bottom of its group.

Group B will feature an exciting battle between three teams that are equally capable of going far in the competition. However, considering experience and training, one would say that wooSai is in pole position to qualify for the bracket stage, followed by Frag eXecutors.


Made in Brazil
Dignitas
plan-B
*To be confirmed

*Note: At the time of publication, there was still no confirmation of the last team.

Made in Brazil endured an indifferent ESWC Masters campaign, crashing out of the tournament in the group stage with no glory and managing just one victory in four games.

GameGune 2008 comes as the best tournament Made in Brazil could ask for to return to winning ways and make its way back to the top flight.

Dignitas did not perform well at KODE5, finishing its group in fourth place with just three points. The British team comes into this event with high hopes and ready to risk everything to go far in GameGune.

The plan-B line-up features some of the most experienced names in Austria, however it is just a mix team and thus travels to Spain without any major goals. Still, it will be quite interesting to see what this team can do against better-prepared squads.

Group C should not have any big surprises and mibr should have an easy route to the bracket stage. Dignitas is in need of wins and will thus have to be very careful when they take on plan-B.


n!faculty
dRu
Never.Die
*To be confirmed

N!faculty emerges as the big favorite to secure the top spot of Group D. The EPS runner-up has been in good form as of late and is definitely a team to look out for.

The other two teams, dRu and Never.die, do not have much international experience and should thus be out of the race for a place in the play-offs. The French team attended ESWC qualifier earlier this month but did not manage to pass the group stage, losing to both Extensia! and aAa.