MLG-Orlando
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The Art of War(craft): How WoW as an eSport can actually work
If you're even moderately interested in Arenas, I hope you caught the live stream of MLG Orlando yesterday, hosted by GotFrag TV. The stream quality was much better than the one from the Worldwide Invitational, and it was truly entertaining, um... television. A lot of video entertainment is available through the web these days, and GotFrag TV has been providing topnotch coverage of the Major League Gaming World of Warcraft Arena tournament series. As a student of Arenas, I've found the coverage to be extremely fun and educational. This is competition at its highest level, where players actually get paid, or win money, for playing. And just like any sport, there are a few special elements that make it interesting to watch. The starsEvery sport has its stars. You have athletes like Tiger Woods being the face of golf, or Kobe Bryant being the guy you either love or hate in basketball (for the record, I've been a Kobe fan since he got drafted by the Hornets in 1996), or even Maria Sharapova for tennis, who doesn't even necessarily have to win in order to be fun to watch (I mean, look at Anna Kournikova). Tournaments, when they're in a televised LAN format -- as opposed to online, such as the Blizzard-sponsored 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament -- means that audiences will actually get a glimpse of the players behind the characters. Just like sports stars, these players need to have some special quality that holds the interest of fans. Let's go through a few examples.
MLG Orlando coverage continues with an epic showdown
If you haven't been following GotFrag's coverage of the MLG 3v3 Tourney going down in Orlando this weekend, you really are missing out. Coverage kicks in again this morning at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific. After the warmups, I believe the opening matchup will be Evil Geniuses (formerly Frag Dominant) up against Orz, formerly sponsored by MoB Gaming.Let me give you a little background on this matchup. Evil Geniuses came into the last tournament as Frag Dominant. While they were never a complete unknown, most of them had never experienced the LAN tournament setting before. They managed to wow us and their competition by proving themselves capable of running multiple compositions between the three of them, and running them very well. In the end, they came out as the victors after a long series against Nihilum.Orz was formerly sponsored by MoB Gaming, and one of their members is the fan favorite Hafu. Last month, they were slammed with a pretty major upset. They didn't do very well at all, and it actually led to their team losing sponsorship. MoB Gaming replaced them for this month's tourney. Now in Orlando, Orz has made a fantastic comeback, beating out both the SK Gaming team and the team MoB replaced them with. I bet MoB isn't feeling so hot right now.First thing this morning, these two will be going head to head (I think). Even if you're not a PvP fan, you have to admit that's a pretty cool showdown, no?
MLG Orlando coverage begins on GotFrag TV
GotFrag's coverage of the MLG 3v3 Arena Tournament in Orlando begins at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific today. If you didn't tune in at all last month, I definitely recommend doing so this time around. Generally, I'm not a PvP fan, but this was very fun to watch last time. WoW's impact as an eSport isn't really something you can witness in-game (which is a shame) but for me, tournaments like this give it a whole new dynamic. The emphasis is placed more on the players and the choices they make, and a little less on rock-paper-scissors and endless countercomping. It's an all weekend event, so if you're only interested in watching the finals, that'll be tomorrow.Like Amanda Dean and GotFrag themselves detailed the other day, there are a lot of teams to keep an eye on this time around. Frag Dominant took the win last month, and there are plenty of other teams you may recognize. SK-Gaming, MoB, Got Game East/West, Pandemic, Fnatic, plenty more. If you don't keep an eye on the PvP scene on a regular basis you might not recognize those names, but they put on a good show last time.To view the live stream, you will probably be prompted to install a codec if you don't have it yet. All of us WoW players are a little paranoid these days (with good reason), so don't be afraid to run a background check on anything you're asked to download. I'm pretty positive there's nothing to worry about in this case, but better safe than sorry, eh?
Blood Sport: Do and don't, pro-style
PvP in its purest form is a beautiful thing. Amanda Dean, always obsessed with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat brings you news you can use in the Arena. Hailing from Korea, Council of Mages was victorious in this year's World Wide Invitational 3v3 tournament. Second place went to Improved Clicks of Spain. The winners took home a check worth $36,000 for their victory and made an excellent showing throughout the tournament. Improved Clicks cashed in at $18,000, and third place finishers SK-US was awarded $9,000. The final standings for were: 1. Council of Mages 2. Improved Clicks3. SK Gaming 4. Millenium Dream 5-6. Kill EA 5-6. Made in Taiwan 7-8. SK Gaming 7-8. Pandemic Blue 9-12. aAa nawaK 9-12. Elite 9-12. MoB Gaming 9-12. Pandemic Black 13-16. Sapped Cows cant say moo 13-16. Team EG 13-16. fnatic 13-16. Nihilum.Mousesports
