The Adventures of the Prince_of_Macedon: the World Cyber Gaming tournament
So, I was a bit surprised to hear that the World Cyber Gaming US Nationals was being held nearby. In case you're wondering what World Cyber Gaming is, it's basically the World Cup of videogaming (where winners from each game will come home with thousands of US dollars). Aside from money, the winner of the US Nationals would determine which American players would represent the USA at the World Cyber Gaming Grand Final. This is a 3-day event, but I'll probably be too busy to come back for tomorrow or Sunday. In case you're wondering what I'm doing: I'll probably be playing R:TW.
I wanted to meet some pro-gamers, and see what they were like in person (and of course, see how they play). Since I hold my own R:TW tourneys, I also wanted to see how a professional tourney was ran. Maybe it would inspire me to run a more efficient tourney in the future. After a 30-40 minute drive, I arrived. Here's what the entrance to the tournament looked like:
The tournament was actually held inside a soundstage. This particular soundstage is Universal's all-purpose soundstage utilized for many, many special events. The little signs for the tourney look like this:
I've got to say: the location was very sweet. Right outside of the WCG tournament area was the Revenge of the Mummy rollercoaster. Ever ride a rollercoaster packed with special effects?
Unfortunately, R:TW was not a WCG game. But what truly mattered was seeing how good gamers act, play, and of course, how a professional tourney was ran. I actually got there quite early so I took the time to look around the area. There were many electronic's tables set up, and representatives ready to answer questions about their products. There were also many, many gaming stations for guests to play around with.
I honestly didn't like Project Gotham Racing 4 too much, but the graphics were certainly amazing. Then again, any game on the XBox360 is bound to look amazing. Windows also had a few PC games for people to play with:
(some of the games available at the Windows station were Ratatouille, Tomb Raider, Shadow Run?, Civilization, Bioshock, and a few other games I can't really recall)
Anyways, after I sampled the public games, I decided to check out the little tables setup for the actual tourney games. In case you're wondering, the WCG games were: Starcraft Brood War, Dead or Alive, Counter-Strike, Age of Empires III, Warcraft, Project Gotham Racing, Fifa 2007, Tony Hawk's Skate-boarding, Command & Conquer 2, Gears of War, and I'm pretty sure I missed 1 or 2 titles. Right here's the Starcraft table:
(the guy in black is NaW-LzGaMeR. The guy in the red shirt is Nesh)
I was lucky enough to recognize the names of some of the Starcraft players:
The above picture is impossible to read, but it's basically a public display for the players/spectators to see what time each player was playing their game (and who they were fighting against). Here are the Starcraft pro-gamers that were there:
- ToT)iNcontroL(
- Skew[Media]
- eVaDe[Clean]
- NaW-LzGaMeR
- Idra
- HnR)Artosis
- FroZ
- NonY
- Nesh
- Nyoken
I didn't find out who the players were until they started playing their games. Well, NonY was easy to pick out mainly because people referred to him by his screenname. Plus, the back of his shirt said "NonY."
I just want to say a few things about some of the players I saw there:
1) HnR)Artosis is actually a clanmember of a clan that used to hang out in a SC forum that I was once active in. I've seen HnR)Artosis several times online, but never played him. I have, however, played several other members from the HnR clan, and they were all completely unbeatable. It was a very elite SC clan. Anyways, tt was weird seeing this guy in person, because I've heard so many things about him from his clanmates.
2) Skew[Media] looked incredibly ordinary as an individual. To be more specific, he looked almost like someone you'd see outside drinking beer. He seemed pretty cocky, but I couldn't tell if he was just being funny or not. Something of interest: I looked at his keyboard. Apparently he had the Windows' keys plucked out. I'm guessing he did this so that he wouldn't accidentally minimize the game while he was playing. God knows how much I do that!
3) eVaDe[Clean] is an ultra-defensive player reknowned for his "turtling" (which is basically a term for a player who plays defensively). Everytime I saw him, he was carrying around a Starbucks drink. Also peculiar about him was that he sat on 2 chairs stacked up on one another for more height. I'm not sure why he did this: he wasn't short or anything.
4) NonY is very famous in Starcraft circles IMO. I believe he was the top American player from last year. His videos on YouTube are extremely educational in terms of Starcraft and online gaming in general.
5) ToT)iNcontroL( is a newcomer to the tournament scene. What striked me about him was his physical appearance. You know how most gamers are really skinny? Well, this guy was really, really large. He looks like he should be playing as a Center for (American) football.
All of the SC players I saw played like super-machines. They developed their bases, built troops, and had time to carefully micromanage each little battle. Could you imagine fighting a battle in R:TW but on top of the tactical-maneuvering, you also had to manage your base, resources and troop-building all within the same stroke? It's unbelievable how skilled these guys are.
Since Starcraft is the most demanding online game, I figured I would watch these guys and see how they were in person.
The first game I saw was NonY vs Skew[Media]. Skew[Media] won the first game and NonY won the second game. These guys were incredibly fast. That's actually an understatement: they were ungodly fast! I have to admit: seeing "NonY has entered" on Skew's screen really put me in awe. As I said, NonY is a badass in American Starcraft. It was a real pleasure seeing him in action.
While NonY and Skew started their third game, the WCG Tourney started its first "stage match" which was basically a featured game of the hour. This particular "stage match" happened to be a Starcraft game between newcomer, ToT)iNcontroL( and eVaDe[Clean]. Each "stage event" game was played in a separate section on a big movie-screen like projector (so that everyone could watch from their seats). This is where the chairs were setup for the audience to watch (like an actual sporting event). And the funniest part was: there was live commentary going on while the players were going at it LOLOLOL. Anyways, this is what the section looked like where the "main events" were played:
It appears as though each game was a best 2 out of 3. Before any game was played, there was a coin-toss to see who would pick the map. After the first game was done, the loser would get to pick the next map (from a tourney-approved list). Pretty interesting.
The first game featured eVaDe[Clean] playing completely defensively. It was pretty unexciting to watch to be honest. But it was hilarious whenever ToT)iNcontroL( attacked, because the commentators would start screaming in excitement. Anyways, iNcontroL won the first game.
While the second game got underway, the audience were scratching their heads when the game just timed out (or crashed or whatever). The players were like "WTF?!" Anyways, it was pretty fun watching in this area because we were sitting next to the SC players. And well, they weren't stuck-up at all. I asked NonY how his game went, and he told me that he lost his first round game, but wanted to redeem himself in the following rounds.
Anyways, while the second game between eVaDe and iNcontroL was being "repaired" by the technicians, there were prizes given away. I received a DVD prize, "Crank" (starring Jason Stathom). I also caught a Dead or Alive 4 wristband thrown out by the Dead or Alive World Champion, OffbeatNinja. They were also giving away several copies of a XBox360 game and some hats. But I don't have an XBox360 so I didn't bother with it. After like 10 minutes, me and my friend decided to get some lunch (while the technicians were still troubleshooting the network).
30 minutes later, we came back in time for the second game between eVaDe and iNcontroL. Once again, eVaDe played ultra-defensively, and got destroyed by iNcontroL.
At this point, we went back to the Starcraft table to see them play again. But then we were kicked out of that area. For some reason, we were forced to attend this press conference which was followed by a really boring WCG promotional videos and an even worse opening ceremony. There were more prizes given away, but they were the same items from the first prize giveaway.
Anyways, I don't want to make this too long, so here are some of the other things I saw:
- NaW_LzGaMeR vs Skew[Media]
- NaW-LzGaMeR vs ToT)iNcontroL(
- NonY vs eVaDe[Clean] (which NonY won both matches)
- during all of the SC games, I was able to listen to the pro-gamers talk strategy. Pro-gamers aren't stuck up at all, and don't mind talking to "noobs" like myself. I'm sure they're different online, but in person, they were very nice.
- Counter-strike Players were fun to watch. They were always screaming at their teammates. They also screamed really loud when they won.
- there were some "stage matches" games from Dead Or Alive, followed by Project Gotham Racing (in which the World Champion, Chomper, was pwning everyone).
My Thoughts on the First Day of the WCG
- I really wish they would add Rome: Total War next year. I think adding R:TW is very possible considering that Tony Hawk's Skateboarding was a new game added this year. And to put it bluntly: Tony Hawk's isn't exactly my cup of tea (even though I don't drink tea). R:TW games would certainly be exciting to watch, and very easy for the audience to follow.
- While I was watching those SC players, though, I wondered how those pro SC players would fare in R:TW. Without any worry of base/resource management, how well could they handle their troops in a pure-tactical situation? They certainly have the reflexes and awareness to see what was going on all over the battlefield without having to actually look.
- The schedules for each matchup weren't too accurate to be honest.
- I really wish they would announce when games were starting. Sometimes, I'd wonder off to play some of the public games, and then realize I was missing some of the Starcraft action.
- I really should've asked if R:TW had a chance at the next WCG during the press conference. The press conference was cut very short because there were only like 4 questions asked. Geez, I could've made a difference in this world!
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Never played it anyway, if I started now. Probably would encounter the wrong person and get kicked into another dimension.
![][Xyphos][ - Lee's Avatar](./customavatars/avatar28473_10.gif "][Xyphos][ - Lee's Avatar"){kind=avatar}
Originally Posted by Barbarian_Prince
. But we should try work something out. 
