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DreamHack: Stockholm Invitational 2011 – Coverage

April 13, 2011 /

The Dreamhack Stockholm Invitational is complete and as usual I wanted to bring you a comprehensive resource for getting all the updates, videos, and pictures you need. This seems like it’s getting old now, but as always, I will update with the bolded “NEW:” text as I come across other cool resources. Oh and I wanted to mention that the State of the Game crew spoke very highly of these matches and the production values of Dreamhack, so don’t miss this!

Results and Brackets

Videos and Streams

Pictures and Image Galleries

Other Interesting Links and Articles

A heart warming story about Jinro returning to Sweden for the Invitational and receiving a supportive welcome home. Here’s the Team Liquid English summary.

Other Tags: DH, SotG, StarCraft II, SC2

The Weekly eSports Forecast: April 11-17, 2011

April 11, 2011 /

Here is the weekly eSports Forecast for the week of April 11th, 2011. Updates will be added as I find them.

North American Star League (SC2) – It’s finally here! This Tuesday begins the exciting new North American Star League! Remember to check out the season pass which gives you access to 1080p coverage, 24/7 VODs, and zero-commercial interruption. Let the games begin!

Dreamhack Stockholm Invitational (SC2) – This Tuesday, the 12th of April, the team at Dreamhack will have the 8 invited Starcraft 2 players beat it out for a 100k SEK prize pool and wildcards for the Dreamhack event this summer. Additional information here and some sweet photos here.

The Gadget Show Live (SC2) – This year the “ultimate” consumer electronics event in the UK is hosting a Starcraft 2 tournament. Doors open on Wednesday, but the tournament itself seems to have already begun with the finals being aired live in front of an audience on Saturday and Sunday! Tournament information here.

QQ ninja Reddit HoN Open – A week long tournament for HoN players under 1850 MMR and PSR on ALL of their accounts, will take place from April 11th-17th. Don’t forget to check out the results later this week.

Nation Voice ET Challenge – Tonight, the 11th, we’ll see an exciting Enemy Territory tournament hosted by Nation Voice and Team Decerto.

NEW: Crossfire 3-on-3 Nations Cup Grand Final – Tonight, April 12th, two teams battle it out for the Nations Cup Grand Final in Enemy Territory.

NEW: Official Launch of the RGC Asian DotA League – This Friday, the 15th, a new asian DotA league is set to launch. Note, the official site doesn’t specify a date, but GosuGamer’s apparently has the inside scoop.

NEW: ClanBase Spring 2011 Cup Season contiues – The Spring Season continues on with the first matches of the EuroCup.

NEW: Meo XLPARTY Festival – Starting Friday and running through the weekend, Portugal will be the host of a large technology conference featuring a ton of different tournaments. Looks like the games covered will be Counter-Strike 1.6, Call of Duty 4, Starcraft 2, Halo: Reach, Forza, Trackmania, Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty: Black Ops, League of Legends, PES 2011, Guitar Hero 5, Tekken 6, and Bomberman. What a mouthful, should be an interesting weekend. Additional information here. Twitter here.

NEW: CEVO Counter-Strike: Source Season 12 Professional Placement Tournament – This week begins the Counter-Strike: Source professional placement tournament.

Other Tags: DH, ET, HoN, NASL, StarCraft II, SC2

TCO SC2 LAN

LAN World Gaming: Twin Cities Open Starcraft 2 Tournament

April 10, 2011 /

Last week I saw a listing on Team Liquid for a Starcraft 2 LAN tournament in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Fueled by my interest in eSports and the lingering excitement from MLG Dallas, I took this as an opportunity to network with some local and regional gamers. The event was hosted at a collectible card and LAN gaming venue called “LAN World Gaming“, which funny enough has the exact same WordPress theme as me. What are the chances?! :P

Upon arriving, I began touring the tables and watching each player as they competed. The tournament was broken up into two divisions, one for bronze through platinum players (12 participants), and one for diamond and masters (26 participants). There seemed to be a pretty wide range of skill in attendance which made for some interesting games, with a few key players that really stuck out. The final few matches of the diamond-masters division is where we really saw some skill at work. Notably the champion SilentScope aka Redground from Mobility-Gaming who brought his Terran A-game. We also saw the runner-up PsychonautQQ repeatedly stomp the competition to take his second place victory. Third went to a protoss player with incredible Brood War-esque micro under the name of Ssok. There were so many other players that were also showcasing amazing talent, but I don’t have time to list them all off. If you’re interested in seeing more, check out the brackets linked above and below.

TCO SC2 LAN

The upper division finals ended just before midnight which coincided with the event schedule. I was impressed and very pleased with this because by about that time I hadn’t eaten in roughly 11 hours, I was running on nothing but Amp, and had a 2 hour drive in front of me. So getting to see the finals before I passed out later that night was a great treat! Unfortunately I think I missed the lower bracket finals. I hope everything worked out there.

Having had some time to digest Saturday’s event, I have two suggestions for the event coordinators. The first is to provide a means for spectators to quickly see the updated brackets. I attempted to check them on my phone a few times, but the page didn’t render correctly so I had to rely exclusively on the players. The other suggestion I have is to create a seating chart as people arrive at the venue. There were a few times when I overheard players wondering who was who and where they were sitting. I think a seating chart would be a simple and effective solution. But besides these two minor points, I think everything else went well and I had an excellent time.

Before wrapping this article up, I wanted to give a shout out to Hollywood, the youngest competitor at the event. This 14 year old Starcraft 2 player is ranked Masters and is taking his first steps into the world of competitive gaming. I had the pleasure of talking to his father who was excited to tell me about his sons skills and the history of their lives as gamers. I was extremely happy to see such support because I feel a lot of parents still look down on the gaming habits of their children. It’s a shame because it’s important and Starcraft 2 is redefining how we look at eSports and the opportunities it provides. So a big shout out to Hollywood’s Dad as well!

Hollywood and Me

Finally, I wanted to say thanks to everyone at the event for being so friendly and making me and my cause here at Spawn Room feel welcomed! I had a great time meeting everyone and I hope to see you all in the future! If you want to get in contact with me at any time, you can do so by replying @SpawnRoom on Twitter, posting on Facebook, commenting here on the site, or emailing me directly. Thanks for reading!

Resources

Brackets

Diamond/Masters Brackets

Bronze-Platinum Brackets

Mentions (shout-outs)

routinetrafficstop

SirazTV

Other Resources

TCO Replay Pack Download

LAN World Gaming’s Facebook Page (updated with photos from the event)

TCO’s stream on Own3d.tv

TCO’s thread on Team Liquid

Other Tags: TCO, LAN, Saint Paul, St. Paul

Shout Out: A Beast In Sheep’s Clothing

April 8, 2011 /

I’m always excited to read about Team Fortress 2, having played so many hours of it, so this Friday I’m bringing you, not only a video, but an article to accompany it. It’s an interview with sheep from Team Immunity. I chose this for Friday because it’s a nice long read and the article has two enjoyable videos. I’ll admit that the content and production values aren’t necessarily amazing, but they’re still fun to watch and have good soundtracks. And in the first video, it’s almost worth it just for the scene where the soldier absolutely fails at killing the scout. I laughed heartily. Anyways, this article is courtesy of Cadred.org, an excellent eSports website you should definitely check out!

Check out the article here!

If you’re here just for the videos, then here you go:

Other Tags: TF2

Raptr, Xfire, GamerDNA, and more

April 7, 2011 /

The other day I was sitting around thinking about Xfire and how I used to use it, and how it compared with my test drive of Raptr awhile back. Deciding to give them each another chance I spent a few hours going through what they had to offer and how it was encouraging a more social gaming community. Long story short, I wasn’t impressed with either, and it led me to checking out my GamerDNA again. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t all that impressed here either, especially after reading this. So I decided to give an updated impression of each, here on Spawn Room, to save you the trouble of getting involved in the wrong community, if one even deems worthy of your time.

Xfire

Xfire was the original. It offered something new and innovative to the growing gaming community interested in seeing where they spent their time and connecting them with useful features to other gamers.

Raptr

If you don’t know, Raptr is a competing project, created by the former something of Xfire. I actually was pretty excited for this because I thought we might see a better Xfire with some more innovative ideas.

GamerDNA

GamerDNA didn’t really bring anything new to the table and kind of just appeared out of nowhere.

Conclusion

It’s hard to say whether any of these communities really deserve your time and resources, but I can see a certain angle on each. For the performance gamers, looking for simplicity Xfire is your friend.

Top 10 best places to live for eSports (USA edition)

April 7, 2011 /

If you’re serious about eSports and have been making strides by getting recognized, you may consider moving to a community that appreciates eSports and has a large following. That way you can network with all sorts of interesting people and share in the fun of a common interest.

New York City

  • Major League Gaming HQ

Dallas, Texas

  • Major League Gaming Pro Circuit stop

Raleigh, North Carolina

  • Major League Gaming Pro Circuit stop

Anaheim, California

  • Major League Gaming Pro Circuit stop
  • BlizzCon

Providence, Rhode Island

  • Major League Gaming Pro Circuit stop

Columbus, Ohio

  • Major League Gaming Pro Circuit stop

Los Angeles, California

  • LCS Championship Finals
  • Riot Games HQ
  • Blizzard Entertainment HQ
  • SoCal Regionals (SCR)

Seattle, Washington

  • Valve HQ

Las Vegas, Nevada

  • EVO
  • IPL was here

Orlando, Florida

  • Community Effort Orlando (CEO)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Northeast Championships (NEC)

San Francisco

  • New Blizzard eSports offices
  • NorCal Regionals (NCR)

Chicago, Illinois

  • Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament (UFGT)

Phoenix, Arizona

  • Evil Geniuses “Lair” team house

Shout Out: QQninja & WellPlayed

April 7, 2011 /

Well, technically it’s not Wednesday anymore, but what with real life being all busy, me napping for awhile and getting in a couple Starcraft 2 games, I just didn’t have the time to write this up until now. Oh well I’ll make it up to you by posting not one, but two websites I want you to check out this week! Yes, I said it, two whole websites.

Oh and both of these sites are extremely new. They’ve literally been up and running for less than a week (as far as I’m aware anyways). Exciting :)

QQninja | Twitter

The first is QQninja, a site designed to help Starcraft 2 and Heroes of Newerth players find practice partners, get advice, and “learn the ways of the QQ ninja,” whatever that means. Basically it’s a simple forum based website that allows people to register and post requests for partners, advice, etc. This is interesting because you’re probably thinking, how is this any different than all the other websites out there with large, preexisting forum communities? Well really it’s not any different, except that the content is targeted to serve a specific purpose. I think as long as they keep things clean and “not-forumy” looking, this could be a successful resource for players. Simple, meaningful results. It could work.

WellPlayed Logo

WellPlayed | Twitter

Next is WellPlayed.org, a site I keep screwing up the name of. I’m so used to typing the word “player” I keep putting that every time I try to get to their site. Derp. Anyways, WellPlayed is an exciting venture that hopes to accomplish a lot of admiral goals. Things like promoting eSports, bridging new players with the existing communities, offering meaningful, relevant content, and much more. The site looks pretty, and I think it has some major potential. I also think it basically cannot fail because it’s partnered with NASL and IGN Pro League. So ladies and gentlemen, WellPlayed will undoubtedly be here to stay. At least until Starcraft 2 dies. Oops, I shouldn’t even say that.

Other Tags: HoN, StarCraft II, SC2

Ultimate Gaming Championship 2011 – Coverage Recap

April 4, 2011 /

The Ultimate Gaming Championship came to a close Sunday and I wanted to give it some sort of “comprehensive” write up. Unfortunately my efforts were focused almost entirely on MLG so I probably missed quite a bit of unique content I could have hit up in the Twitter streams. Oh well, it was worth it. The format for this article will be similar to MLG’s and we’ll start it off with Brackets & Results! Updates will be added as I find them!

Brackets & Results

Official UGC Brackets: Quake Live | Starcraft 2 | Call of Duty 4 | PES 2011 | Super Street Fighter IV

SK-Gaming’s Tournament Coverage page.

SK-Gaming sums up the Quake Live coverage.

Match Coverage

Tek-9 has some great coverage pages of the event.

Images & Galleries

The UGC Facebook has uploaded a bunch of pictures!

SK-Gaming: Image Gallery

Videos & Channels

own3D.tv: Stermy’s uploads from UGC

Stermy: Stermy’s YouTube Channel

QuadV: QuadVtv’s YouTube Channel

popsQ2: PopS YouTube Channel

Furiousvlog: Furiousvlog’s YouTube Channel

If there’s anything juicy I missed, contact me on Twitter (@SpawnRoom), in the comments, or on Facebook!

Other Tags: COD4, COD 4, PES2011, PES 2011, QuadV, QL, StarCraft II, SC2, SSF4, SSFIV, Stermy, UGC

Major League Gaming Dallas 2011 – “The Aftermath” Coverage

April 3, 2011 /

The first pro circuit of the Major League Gaming 2011 season has concluded in Dallas, Texas and a lot has transpired. I wanted to go over some of the random articles, websites, pictures, and videos floating out of this event so you can find them all in one spot! Update will be continually added this week as I discover more and more content.

Stream Issues

The first thing I think we should address and something I’m sure a lot of people are sensitive about is the streams. Both Friday and Saturday were plagued with problematic streaming issues and lag at the venue. Our promised online eSports extravaganza took a turn for the worse as MLG was unprepared to handle all the traffic pouring into their website. Too bad really, I think a lot of people were extremely excited for this weekend and ended up somewhat disappointed. So what can we do? Well here are the important links so you can follow up on what MLG is doing to rectify the situation:

MLG News: MLG Addresses Site Stability Issues | Update #1 from MLG | Update #2 from MLG

MLG Forums: MLG Addresses Site Stability Issues

SK-Gaming News: MLG Dallas has chronic issues, MLG responds

I also want to make note that on Sunday, MLG’s Sundance DiGiovanni, the current CEO, made a live apology to the MLG audience, fans, players, and everyone else. It was heartwarming and I believe that the vast majority of MLG supporters are still behind him. The rational minds know that sometimes, shit happens, and I believe MLG and their staff did everything possible to fix the situation. So thanks for the effort, it was still a great weekend and I look forward to future MLG events!

I also want to throw in my appreciation for djWheat, day9, JP McDaniel and the rest of the commentators. You guys are amazing! Good job all weekend.

Brackets & Results

For those of you wanting to follow up on brackets and results, here is a list of resources for you to check out:

MLG: Championship/Pool Brackets – Starcraft 2 | Halo: Reach

MLG: Open Brackets – Starcraft 2 | Halo: Reach | Call of Duty: Black Ops

Team Liquid: Event Coverage

Match Coverage

Here are some match coverage links and resources so you can find all the games you missed, or want to rewatch:

MLG should be uploading VOD’s of the matches to their MLG TV section.

From what I was able to watch this weekend I thought these SC2 games were of notable importance:

Ret vs seleCT (SC2)

INcontroL vs TLO (SC2): Game 1 | Game 2 | GIANT QUESADILLA

NEW: EGidrA vs HuK – idrA’s infamous BM after HuK hallucination win, then the rematch later:

idrA vs HuK

I think this video starring Hitler sums it up well.

NEW: Here’s another awesome idrA interview where he calls HuK “retarded”.

The finals between Naniwa and Kiwikaki we’re awesome! Had a lot of funny rooting for Kiwi to get to the 3-3 game and make Nani nervous, but awesome job anyways.

Obviously there are tons of great games that happened this weekend and unfortunately I will not be going over each and every one, because that’s not what I do on this website. But I will be providing as many helpful links and resources as possible so you can find and watch the best matches.

GosuGamers has uploaded some replays from the event in case you can’t find them elsewhere or the VODs aren’t available.

NEW: An interview with Naniwa.

Images & Galleries

Next let’s cover some of the great pictures coming out of the event:

Evil Geniuses: EG on yfrog

compLexity Gaming: Image Gallery

Team FNATIC: Image Gallery

Team Dignitas: Image Gallery

Sixjax Gaming: Article

Astro Gaming: Astro on Twitpic

WellPlayed.org: WellPlayed on yfrog

Root Gaming: A few uploads from Root Gaming on Zannel

Cyber-Sports Network – CSN on Twitgoo

ESFI World: Image Gallery

Nani's Interview

NEW: HuK getting frisky.

NEW: A victorious INcontroL.

NEW: AskJoshy’s Twitpic account.

NEW: JGrindal’s flickr

NEW: Joshtacular’s MLG Dallas collection

NEW: vVv’s Image Gallery

NEW: Viral Design’s flickr

Videos & Channels

The last section I want to cover is the videos and channels coming out of MLG. There’s undoubtedly going to be millions of them, so this list will just contain the ones I keep seeing on Twitter (which are probably the best ones anyway). As always, I’ll throw up that fancy bolded “NEW:” text as I find more over this week.

Team compLexity: compLexityINSIDER on YouTube

AskJoshy: AskJoshy’s MLG Coverage on YouTube

SK-Gaming: SK-Gaming’s MLG Dallas Channel

EdwardStarcraft: EdwardStarcraft’s Channel on YouTube

Cyber-Sports Network – CSN on Youtube

Houie Louy – You won’t find these by searching on YouTube, or these: Root Gaming Forums

If there’s anything I missed, as always contact me on Twitter (@SpawnRoom), in the comments, or on Facebook. Also, if you have some favorite matches from this weekend, let me know which ones and I’ll add them to the post! Thanks.

day9 is surprised

day9 is surprised by JP McDaniel’s news.

Other Tags: COD BLOPS, MLG, Pro Circuit, StarCraft II, SC2

Weekly eSports Forecast April 4 – 10

April 3, 2011 /

Here is the weekly eSports Forecast for the week of April 4th, 2011. Updates will be added as I find them.

North American Star League (SC2) – The NASL was supposed to unveil their new massive Starcraft league this week, but decided to change their schedule to help players get back and situated from MLG Dallas. Instead the NASL will begin next week, April 12th. Tune in then!

IGN Pro League (SC2) – The biggest announcement of the week will be from IGN, telling the world about their newly formed Pro League! Rumor has it it’s for this little game you may have heard called Starcraft 2. ;)

The Creative Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Online Pro-am Gaming Tournament (SC2) – Yeah it’s quite a mouthful. This week registration opens for this $10k Starcraft 2 tournament supported by compLexity Gaming! Additional information here and here.

TheKGL Pro-League (CS:S) – The KGL has announced their season 1 pro-league for Counter-Strike: Source which will begin this week, with the first matches beginning Wednesday, April 6th.

FNATIC Play with the Pros (CS 1.6) – This Wednesday the 6th of April, Team FNATIC will be hosting a “Play with the Pros” event for Counter-Strike 1.6 players! Not only will you get to play but there’s an opportunity to win some great prizes as well. Check it out.

ESL Major Series Season VIII – More ESL Major Series games are going on this week. Check out the link to find replays of the games.

World Cyber Games Call of Duty: Black Ops Tournament (CoD) – This April 9th and 10th in New York City, there will be an Xbox 360 Black Ops tournament hosted by the WCG! Fun fun. And be sure to follow the WCG USA Twitter account for more information.

CSN GET PRO QuakeLive Series (QL) – The GET PRO Series hosted by the Cyber Sports Network begins tonight and will continue on until an undisclosed time.

QQninja Officially Launches – Technically QQ launched this weekend, but it’s so new I thought I’d mention it here. As quoted on their website, QQninja will help players “find practice partners, get strategy advice & learn the ways of the QQ ninja.” As of now this appears to apply only to Starcraft 2 and Heroes of Newerth, but I’m sure with your help, they’ll expand into a brighter and broader future! Show them your support and check out their Twitter and Facebook. GL you guys!

NEW: Team Dignitas Alienware Cup #3 (TF2) – This Sunday, the 10th of April, Team Dignitas and Alienware are hosting a 64 man, 6-on-6 Team Fortress 2 tournament! Find all the match info and how to sign up at the link.

NEW: Intel LANFest Sacramento Spring 2011 – This weekend Intel is hosting the “biggest LAN in the Sacramento” area.

NEW: Bionic-Gaming presents Bionic-LAN – This weekend Bionic-Gaming is hosting a lan in Fitchburg, Wisconsin (Madison-area).

NEW: Twin Cites Open Starcraft 2 1v1 Tournament – This Saturday in White Bear Lake, Minnesota (Minneapolis-area), there will be a Starcraft II tournament.

As always, if I’m missing anything let me know by replying @SpawnRoom on Twitter, on the Spawn Room Facebook, or on the site here! Muchas Gracias!

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