After five seasons using the same format the Intel Extreme Masters have decided to change it up a bit. The move will see both the European Finals and the Asian Finals abolished, with just the World finals at the end of the season to separate the teams and players.

Just last month the sixth season of the prestigious tournament was announced, with CS, SC2 and LoL as the three main titles. Other than that information details were sketchy, and the ESL have been holding their hand close to their chest for the past month with regards to the season six format. However today they have published all of the information needed for teams and players. This season will have a total of five Global Challenges, with the first set to take place at Gamescom in Cologne - however it will not feature 1.6.

They will be creating three 'continents', the Americas, Europe/Africa and Asia/Oceania, Each Global Challenge will have qualifiers in the three continents and a ranking will be put in place where teams and players from each 'continent' can earn ranking points which will eventually see them qualify for the World Finals. More details can be found below:

Information:

The qualification to the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will be conducted in three steps:

Step 1
One highest ranked team or player from each of the three Intel Extreme Masters regions (the Americas, Europe and Africa, Asia and Oceania) will be invited to the World Championship.

Step 2
The top 2 teams or players from every Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge will be invited to the World Championship.

Step 3
The remaining World Championship slots will go to the highest ranked teams or players in the season (those that haven't been invited in steps 1 and 2).

Global Challenges
The Counter-Strike 1.6 and League of Legends tournaments in every Global Challenge will each feature 8 teams, while every StarCraft II Global Challenge will have 16 participants.

To earn the right to play in a Global Challenge a team or player will need to go through an online tournament on his home continent.

World Championship
The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will feature 12 Counter-Strike 1.6 teams, 12 League of Legends teams and 16 StarCraft II players.

The 2011-2012 Intel Extreme Masters season will feature five Global Challenges. Throughout the entire season the best professional gamers compete for a share of 635,000 US Dollar. Season 6 will take off with its first Global Challenge at gamescom 2011 in Cologne (August 17 - 21).

More information on the Intel Extreme Masters 2011-12 season and the Global Challenges will be published soon. Stay tuned for more updates to come!

Stay tuned to Cadred for coverage of each of the Global Challenges, as well as the world finals when they come to town.