Tag: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Major League Gaming Anaheim 2011 – Wrap Up Coverage

Championship Sunday has ended and MLG Anaheim has come to a close. Now it’s time to sort through the mess and find the best videos, photos, articles, and posts floating around the webs. Check back here for updates! Note: this is primarily Starcraft 2 information. If you’re here for Halo: Reach or Call of Duty: Black Ops, well you’re in the wrong place.

If you’re looking for tournament brackets and results, then you’ll want to check out Team Liquid’s coverage page. If you’re looking for replay packs, MLG announced that they will NOT be providing them! Instead they will be distributed to casters who will broadcast them on their channels. People were extremely happy about this as you would imagine…

Videos

I think the first and most obvious link I should provide is to MLG’s official video sources: MLG.TV and YouTube.

Anaheim’s introduction was extra special with day9 and djwheat exchanging an intimate moment.

The Anaheim relay race (DeMusliM got a wee bit injured).

I thought this was funny: Idra turns his back after JP asks him and Cruncher to shake hands.

In case you missed it: Jinro’s nuke against Choya (HD).

And of course day9 and djwheat dancing.

For a mix of videos coming out of Anaheim, you’ll want to check out pro team channels and organizations publishing on YouTube: compLexityINSIDER, myEGnet, Hyper Crew TV, ESFI World

Of course teams and big fancy eSports organizations aren’t the only ones pumping out videos from the event. Individual gamers, fans, and rando’s are putting up stuff on YouTube as well: AskJoshy, rakakase, itmeJP

NEW: Jason Lake interviewed about eSports by ESFI

Top Photos and Galleries

This is a sweet interactive 360 panorama of the venue floor. And another panoramic view.

Obviously the best photos will undoubtedly be from eSports teams and organizations since they have the budgets to afford nice cameras, so check these sources out first: Evil Geniuses, compLexity, HyperCrewTV, WellPlayed.org Twitpic / Flickr, ESFI, MLGSC2Scores, CheckSix, Sixjax

And just as with the videos, individual photographers are uploading as well: Joshtacular, SirScoots, Leah Jackson, Anna Prosser

The Astro Gaming booth always looks so awesome.

You might have heard of QXC and his sign.

miniwheat makes an appearance.

I think they ended up adding some more chairs for the SC2 crowd, but I’m sure it wasn’t remotely enough.

NEW: an epic picture of day9.

NEW: rofl, race change.

Best Articles and Posts

If you’re interested in reading some personal accounts of the MLG Anaheim experience, blogs are probably your best friend. Here are some I ran across: compLexity’s blogs

Can White-Ra do the impossible

Miscellaneous

I think overall the event went really well and, almost as expected, began breaking previous stream records. MLGLee and Sundance both tweeted something about it (and another from Sundance). The fans and viewers seemed pleased overall with a few complaints here and there about memberships not working. Of course you’ll have some people who do nothing but bitch (like this guy).

I was hoping I’d come across some funny and/or witty tweets as I watched the #MLG hashtag search on Twitter, but most people just reported things. Anyway, I think this ended up being my favorite tweet of the event.

The first comment on this photo is pretty straightforward.

Also be sure to keep an eye on sites like SC2 Ratings which can help you determine which games to watch if you missed some.

The longest match was between Boxer and Rain lasting an epic 1:12:56 (game time).

If there’s anything I missed let me know. And over the week following the event I’ll be keeping an eye on various sources and add anything interesting I come across. Other thanks for reading and see you online!

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

Major League Gaming Anaheim 2011 – Articles and Posts

Authors and fans will be clacking away all weekend publishing an array of articles ranging from total crap to delectably awesome. We’ll do our best to sort through them all and deliver what you need.

NOTE: This article will be updated all weekend, so refer back for changes.

(Source : Article : Author)

Articles

Cadred : MLG Anaheim Preview : mYNDIG

ESFI : The top 3 top 5s for MLG Anaheim 2011 : Derek Staley

ESFI : ThisIsJimmy battles MLG Anaheim Open Bracket : Ted Ottey

Posts

MLG : MLG Pro Circuit Replays

coL : compLexity Gaming blogs : various

FNATIC : FNATIC blogs : various

TL : No replays released from Anaheim : various

Tweets [sic]

For fun I thought I’d post my favorite tweets from this weekend (in order of when I found them).

“Just ate a lot of crab. Now time to go home, take my pants off and enjoy a night of StarCraft 2.” - mrgibb

“Lol so many fuckin bros here its gross” - diego_armijo

“Glad to see all of the 8 halo fans in California made it out today to spectate” - JeremysCoLd

“looking forward to watching #MLGtonight, and for the first time since i started following (2006) i will not be watching a console game” - sasmacdonald

“Boner atm because im at #mlg anaheim right before it kicks off!” - Spiritombreeder

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

Major League Gaming Anaheim 2011 – Photos and Video

As MLG Anaheim rages on, both eSports organizations and players snap, crackle, and pop out images left and right. We’ll do our best to find and aggregate these sources all in one spot.

NOTE: This article will be updated all weekend, so refer back for changes.

(where applicable – Source : Media : Author)

Photos taken by organizations

Evil Geniuses : photos on yfrog

compLexity : photos on yfrog

Hyper Crew : photos on yfrog

WellPlayed.org : photos on twitpic flickr

ESFI : photos on twitpic

MLGSc2Scores : photos on twitpic

check6 : photos on twitpic

Photos taken by individuals

MLGLee : photos on twitpic

MLGBen : photos on twitpic

MLG_SolidJake : photos on yfrog

SirScoots : photos on yfrog

Leah Jackson : photos on yfrog

Anna Prosser : photos on yfrog

Brent Ruiz : photos on twitpic

David Bentz : photos on twitpic

mlgcassO : photos on twitpic

Vincent Samaco : photos on twitpic

SrPablo : photos on twitpic

WolfEcho : photos on twitpic

Mark Julio : photos on twitpic

Adam Schodde : photos on yfrog

ArKiVe_ : panoramic view of the venue

Videos taken by organizations

coL : videos on youtube

G4TV : eSports Roundup With Major League Gaming: Talkabout : Leah Jackson

Hyper Crew: MLG Anaheim 2011 Entrance Line

Videos taken by individuals

MLGAnTiPRO : MLG Relay Race Anaheim 2011

IBesTMaN : Team Liquid Relay Race – MLG Anaheim Part 1 and Part 2 (longer 2 part version)

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

Major League Gaming: Columbus (2011) – My Live Experience

The weekend has wrapped up and MLG Columbus is officially over. I had the pleasure of attending in person and I wanted to enlighten my readers with my thoughts, insights, and suggestions.

First, if you have the money, DON’T drive. Myself and three others drove 11+ hours to get to MLG, in a small car on horribly bumpy roads (apparently Illinois doesn’t actually use the toll money to improve their highways). If you are going to drive: DON’T drive back hung over on the hottest day EVER with NO air conditioning! Monday’s 11 hour car ride back was disgustingly hot and sticky…

Second, upon arriving in the host city, make sure you actually check out the hotels connected to the convention center. When we arrived we chcked out the Drury, expecting it to be booked or extremely expensive. Instead they had rooms for a reasonable price that included free breakfast and dinner! It was a pretty sweet deal.

Now onto the actual convention. The lines to get in were pretty long. You’ll either want to get a VIP ticket like I did, arrive really early, or arrive after the doors have opened. Otherwise you’ll be standing for quite awhile. The upside to standing around is that you can meet other gamers and if you’re lucky the players.

Which brings me to my next point: meeting the pros, casters, and community “celebrities” for the first time was actually pretty weird. You kind of realize that these are real people and not just mystical figures you see on streams and casts. One thing to note here is that if you’re planning on meeting the casters, guess again. They are even more busy than the pros and constantly behind-the-scenes working. A few rare times you’ll catch them running around, half-awake, frantically trying to figure something out. My recommendation, say hi, but let them be so they can do their job. If you stick around long enough, they’ll more than likely have a moment to pop out, sign autographs or talk with you.

Speaking of casters, I heard the stream was pretty good this time. The only real upset I heard was when that epic storm hit and flooded part of the convention center. But otherwise it was good, right?

Now let’s talk about the matches. First be prepared, after attending a live event like this, to forever be disappointed with watching streams and replays alone. The roar of the crowd added such powerful emotions to each match, it was simply amazing. The first day when we got seats at the main stage I literally almost teared up to see how much passion and intensity was surging through the crowd. eSports at its finest. I would say the best moments were: the opening match between Idra and MC, TLO’s nuke against IncontroL, the Moon vs Slush baneling landmines, MMA destroying his own command center, the Losira Nydus worm network against MC (starts at 1:00:00), the speech Sundance gave us just before the final matches, and the final matches themselves. Obviously there were plenty more, but these ones really stick out in my head as ones where the crowd went absolutely nuts.

Personally the most disappointing thing about MLG was Idra. Here’s why. When you were growing up did you watch Indiana Jones (the 3 originals)? Well I did and I loved them. Harrison Ford is the man, and I had such a great time pretending I was an adventurer like him. Well when I heard they were making a new movie, I was obviously ecstatic. I eagerly awaited the release and when I finally saw it I was crushed. So much build up, so much anticipation, and then BAM! My world crumbled around me (thanks Spielberg, you asshole). Anyways, this is what Idra’s matches were like. I like watching him, I rooted for him all event, and I was so excited for his game against MC. But when it finally happened he early GG’d and just gave them away. I couldn’t believe it. All this hype just to be completely thrown away. That was by far the low part of the weekend for me.

Alright those are the few fleeting thoughts and opinions I wanted to throw down in an article. Now it’s time for what I normally do on Spawn Room and provide you with a long list of resources so you can find everything you need to review this epic event! As usual, if I miss anything that needs to be included, email, Tweet, or Facebook me a message. Thanks for reading!

Brackets and Results

The full championship braket and open bracket on MLG.

The leaderboards on MLG.

Comprehensive team results on Team Liquid.

Matches and Videos

Official MLG Columbus VOD’s on MLG.

MMA Hadoukens Idra (or Kamehameha, whatever).

YouTube channels with coverage: MLG, Team Liquid, WellPlayed, AskJoshy, Team Complexity, Cyber Sports Network, Edward Starcraft, Evil Geniuses, and ESFI World.

HuskyStarcraft also covered a few matches. MrGlobalHD uploaded a bunch (or all) of the matches on YouTube.

Photos and Image Galleries

Official MLG photo albums.

Team photo galleries: Team Dignitas, Team Complexity, Team FNATIC, vVv Gaming

The Calm Before the Storm by Team Sixjax.

WellPlayed on yfrog. AskJoshy on twitpic. StarCrackShow on yfrog.

Raelcun’s two photo threads on Team Liquid: one and two (warning: may take awhile to load).

Miscellaneous

All you need to get ready for MLG Columbus by MLG.

Sixjax Gaming has a few MLG blog posts that are interesting and full of pictures.

NEW: Milkis, the translator for the Koreans, wrote up a two part article/post on Team Liquid: Part 1 | Part 2

Note: I’ll be adding more to this article as I find useful or interesting things to add.

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

Major League Gaming Dallas 2011 – “The Aftermath” Coverage

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 BracketsStarcraft 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 NetworkCSN 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 NetworkCSN 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

Major League Gaming: Dallas (2011) is LIVE…well kind of!

I wasn’t going to write something while the event was happening because I wanted to have all my attention focused on the games, but what with the streams going down, the site going down, and the noisy commercials. I decided to step away, give them some time and write a little ditty. First off, if you’re like me and resized your windows so you could have multiple streams open, then you may have also spent more time than necessary looking for the brackets. I feel stupid now because they were right there in front of me, but what are you going to do? So to help you out and anyone else still looking for them, here are the links:

Championship/Pool Brackets

Starcraft 2 | Halo: Reach

Open Brackets

Starcraft 2 | Halo: Reach | Call of Duty: Black Ops

I think a big topic of discussion tonight, tomorrow, and post-MLG Dallas will be the streaming issues (obviously). Both the free stream and the HQ stream have been failing miserably. Up one minute down the other. This is disappointing because from what I’m told, MLG has a lot of money! I would think Sundance and the boys over there would have expected a potential mass of viewers trying to get all this eSports goodness. So that means they either didn’t plan appropriately or there’s just that many viewers that it was unpredictable. Even still, people like myself have a right to be pissed, we spend the money to support the organization and then can’t access any of the features. Hey Sundance, how about some free t-shirts or something?

But I won’t be too harsh. In fact I can totally understand what it must be like over there. Technology is unpredictable, you can only do so much before an event this large to test it and even then the numbers it brings back are only theoretical. And don’t forget, there’s not much else like this going on in the United States. It’s not like eSports has been around for nearly as long as other sports that got to test, retest, and perfect their mediums of distribution over time. MLG is more or less “shooting in the dark” and hoping that it will work. Give em’ time. I’m sure they’ll be up late tonight fixing these issues and getting the streams all stable for tomorrow and Sunday. At least they better be!

Oh and I try not to “shamelessly promote myself,” but if you have a minute and want to support an aspiring eSports…whatever I am, check out our Twitter and Facebook page and show us some love! Thanks a lot!

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

Preparing for Major League Gaming Dallas 2011

Tomorrow begins another action packed MLG weekend and I wanted to give you a nice pre-MLG warm-up package to begin with tonight and tomorrow before the fun begins. Especially for us poor nubs who are stuck behind and can’t attend the event live (a tear is trickling down my cheek as I write this). First off let’s cover all the event details to make sure we’re all on the same page.

What: MLG Dallas 2011, the first pro circuit of the 2011 season.

When: April 1-3, starting Friday at 5:15 PM CST

Where: Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas, United States.

Spectating: In-person with spectator pass or Live streams on MLG.

MLG Dallas will be kicking off this 2011 season with exciting matches in Starcraft 2, Halo: Reach, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. All three games are scheduled to be played everyday of the tournament, with the finals falling on Sunday the 3rd. Commentating the matches all weekend will be some bright and shining faces you’ll recognize from other eSport events. For Starcraft 2, there’ll be day9, djWheat, and JP McDaniel. Halo will have Chris Puckett, Gandhi and Shockwave. And Black ops will be commentated by Corey Dunn, Derek Drake, and Sean Bellafiore.

So you’re probably eager to find out who is showing up this weekend, well look no further, here are the player lists published by MLG:

Halo: Reach

Starcraft 2

Call of Duty: Black Ops

If you’re like me and in love with Twitter, Facebook, and the social networking craze, here are some key MLG accounts you can look into following:

Twitter

Major League Gaming (MLG) – Official MLG Twitter

Sundance DiGiovanni (MLG_Sundance) – CEO of Major League Gaming

Chris Puckett (MLGPuckett) – Producer and On Air Talent for MLG

Andreas Pierson (NexyMLG) – Video Director/Producer for MLG

Luis Carrillo (MLG_Scoreboard) – Not officially connected to MLG, but useful for following MLG

Spawn Room Twitter Lists – You can find all kinds of people, leagues, and organizations to follow by checking out our Twitter lists. Updated constantly!

Facebook

Major League Gaming – Official MLG Facebook

YouTube, uStream, and Justin.tv Features

MLG / Astro Gaming Dallas 2011 Promo

MLG Sundance’s Pre-Event Tour #1

MLG Sundance’s Pre-Event Tour #2

Hotel Room Tour by Complexity Gaming

Finally I wanted to mention something minor that will help the people at home keep up with everything going on this weekend. First off, Twitter is your friend. You can get all kinds of news and inside information the moment it’s happening by following the right people. Check out Spawn Room’s Twitter lists to find some great people and organizations to follow. You can also use applications like TweetDeck to keep constantly updated all day long, or if you don’t feel like installing anything, Google has a nifty feature called “Realtime Search“. Navigate over there and type in “MLG Dallas” to see what’s happening!

Finally I want to say: have an awesome weekend! It’s going to be a blast start to finish, don’t miss out!

And remember, as always, if I’m missing anything, simply reply @SpawnRoom on Twitter, post in the comments here, or shout out on Facebook and I’ll be sure to investigate! Thanks.

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

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