HP-Blackbird
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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.
Help a WoW machinimator win an HP Blackbird!
Ian Beckman, a popular WoW machinimator otherwise known as UncleTom, is very close to winning himself a brand new computer. GameRiot issued a call for filmmakers to insert the industrial-strength gaming PC, the HP Blackbird, into their favorite game. The winning entry will receive a machine that's supposedly worth $8,000 USD! His entry, Serious Business, was highlighted on WoW Moviewatch last week.Ian is known for the European Machinima Fest nominated, Azerothian Super Villains - Episode 3, among other things. He is currently in the lead position, but to ensure our love, he has provided us with an Ask a Ninja spoof, Ask an Assassin. Voting ends on December 27th, at 10pm EST, so vote for Serious Business while you can!
