gen-con-2009
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Upper Deck awards TCG and minis North American Continental Champions
I spent my Saturday out at Gen Con in Indianapolis, and while I did hunt down some of the World of Warcraft action there, there was just too much going on to pay attention to the 2009 North American Continental Championships for the WoW minis and TCGs, which took place right there in the TCG hall. Fortunately, the official site covered it all, so if you're a fan of the trading card game and want to know who the best current players in North America are, there you go. On the TCG side, Corey Burkhart took the top spot by playing a Troll Shaman deck for the win. In the minis competition, Michael Allen picked up the big prize. The official site has lots more information, including rundowns of each match, standings for each round, and even a Facebook album full of photos.The winners picked up thousands of dollars in prizes (including a 17" MacBook Pro and a 30" Apple monitor for Corey), and all of these guys will all compete in the World Championships, to be held in Austin, Texas this October (that prize goes up to a whopping $100,000 overall, so the stakes can get big). Congratulations to all the winners -- sounds like it was a rousing event there in Indy, and Upper Deck is probably on their way as we speak off to meet with us later this week at BlizzCon.
Gen Con 2009: MMOs in the E-gaming area
Massively was at Gen Con 2009 yesterday in Indianapolis, Indiana, and while most of the (gigantic) convention was involved with more traditional types of gaming, from dice and board games to collectible card games and RPGs, MMOs made their own splash in the "e-gaming" area. Sony Online Entertainment probably had the biggest presence -- in among huge posters of Free Realms and Star Wars Galaxies, they had demos running of all of their current games (though we didn't see any previews of DCUO or The Agency running). A costumed model posed for pictures in front of a large Legends of Norrath poster, while over in the CCG area, SOE held tournaments of the game for players.%Gallery-70176%
Upper Deck finalizes Gen Con plans
Anybody else going to Gen Con this coming weekend? I'll be there on Saturday (and we might even be having a mini-meetup on Saturday night -- Twitter is probably the best place to listen for that), and I'll be sure to take pictures and/or movies of anything WoW that I see on display. Upper Deck has finalized their plans for the event, and it appears they'll be out in force. In addition to what's been announced previously, there'll be a North American Continental Championship for the WoW TCG, with the winner walking away with $10,000 in prizes, including a brand new MacBook Pro, $1000 in Amazon gift cards, and a 30" monitor. But if, like me, you're far from a pro player, you'll still be able to get in on the fun: they'll be demoing the game all weekend, and giving away special promo cards with every demo. WoW Minis will also be there, and they'll be selling a special limited edition Fleet Master Seahorn figure for $9.99, which introduces the questing mechanic to the minis game (we'll expect to see those at BlizzCon as well, I'm sure).Plus, who knows what else we'll see there -- in the past, we've seen some great displays from Blizzard partners, and even a real-life server protest a few years back. Gen Con is one of the biggest gatherings of gamers in the country, and wherever there are gamers, odds are we'll find World of Warcraft. It'll be my first time seeing the convention this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it.
WoW and its partners at Gen Con 2009
Gen Con Indy 2009 is just around the corner (it's the weekend before BlizzCon), and if you're headed out for the "best four days in gaming," keep an eye out there for some of this Warcraft stuff. Blizzard won't actually be there, as far as we know (it's more of a convention for board games and roleplaying than video games), but lots of their partners will. Upper Deck will probably have the biggest presence -- both the WoW TCG and the WoW Minis games will have setups where you can sit down and play either one, and they'll be running the Continental Championships as well, where they'll crown some of the best players in the country. And there'll be other tournaments and gameplay for both games going on as well -- the guys from wowtcgscrub.com are organizing a tournament of their own, and Upper Deck will have other ways for you to compete at all levels all weekend long.Fantasy Flight Games, the makers of both World of Warcraft: The Board Game and World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game, will also be in attendance. They haven't announced anything special for the Warcraft games, but they'll likely have them out and playing in at least one demo space. And Warcraft will be there in attendance through the fans as well for sure.In fact, I'll be there for the first time this year -- my friend and I are going to be checking out the show on Saturday. I have no idea what to expect, but i've heard from a few readers that are going already, so if there's interest, we might try to schedule a WoW.com meetup that evening. So if you're headed for Gen Con this year, keep an eye out for the World of Warcraft there.
