Round-Up: BF's $250,000, CoH Hacked, CoD2 Punkbusted

Today's round-up includes news on a big-money Battlefield 2 competition, an apparent hack attack for superhero MMO City Of Heroes, and good news for Call Of Duty PC fans fed up with cheaters, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - GameSpy Arena is partnering with Electronic Arts to host a Battlefield 2: Modern Combat tournament for the game’s release on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The “Best of the Battlefield” competition carries a $250,000 cash prize for the winning team, as well as $50,000 for first prize winners, and $10,000 for both of the second-place teams. Both consoles will be used in the tournament, with the final round platform being decided by the team with the most points. “With $250,000 up for grabs, we couldn't be more excited to watch this competition unfold,” said EA VP of marketing Jillian Goldberg. “This is a great opportunity for fans of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat to come together for some world class competition, and prove once and for all who's the best of the Battlefield.” - Cryptic's superhero PC MMO City of Heroes went through some turbulence on December 20th when a hacker gained access to administration tools and used them to shut down several of the game servers, after broadcasting ads to his website and disconnecting users at will. Official comments regarding the issue on the game’s forums were nothing more than simple “It’s fixed” messages, so details of how the hacker was able to gain access to the admin tools are unclear. However, Cryptic Studios did make it clear that none of the game’s account information had been compromised in any way, putting fears of stolen credit card data to rest. - After widespread demand amongst Call of Duty 2 fans, Activision and developer Infinity Ward will include support for anti-cheating client PunkBuster in the PC title’s next update. In addition to the anti-cheating measures, the update will also include new multiplayer maps, and is scheduled for release in early 2006. “Our team at Infinity Ward is committed to supporting Call of Duty fans,” said Infinity Ward president Grant Collier. “We’ve worked hard to deliver the most epic and immersive experience ever with Call of Duty 2 and look forward to delivering new content such as multiplayer maps, tools and anti-cheat software that will further enhance the gameplay experience.” - Over at Gamasutra's recently launched sister game weblog GameSetWatch, new posts include a special Xmas version of the Grow Flash game, a new look at the 2006 IGF finalists, and a look at Ambrosia's new sketch-based Mac game, among others. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Amaze Entertainment, Blue Fang Games, Factor 5, Guerrilla, Kush Games, Mythic Entertainment, and Paradigm Entertainment.