Latest Blog Posts - Starfeeder

NO LAN - What about 3rd World Tournaments

no.spam@gameriot.com (TheOnslaught) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:30:19 -0400

I live in México and i've won a couple WCG torunaments for WC3 here, there are ALLWAYS, hardwares issues & software issues, and now we'll have to deal with the internet?

What about 3rd world countrys that may, or may not have internet access for the tournaments?, its easier for the people organizing WCG to just exclude SC2 from their game list, than to try to adrees and fix this issue, which is what they do most of the time...

Heck, we've even had to play Wc3 and SC tournaments in a frikking trailer FFS, how are they gonna put internet there other than satellital?

I Understand you guys want to fix piracy, but in the end the quality of Battle Net 2 will fix piracy, SC2 seems like will demand a good computer and having a good computer means you have 50 bucks to buy the game anyways.

GArena and Iccup were leagues made to adress lag issues, which are TERRIBLE on battle.net. If battle.net 2 is good then no one will be playing with other programs?, why waste your time when bnet2 is so awesome?

You're just excluding 3rd world country tournaments, yeah i know its sad but its the truth... This year's WCG Mexico (which i did not attend, but im going and will attend to sc2 tournaments) only had 2 computers for both SC and WC3 Tournaments, and this was in Mexico City, yeah we have the technology, but the people doing the tournaments dont care and in the end we're gonna be the ones that end up getting owned

Starcraft 2 Cinematic WoW Parody

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:09:40 -0400

Uploaded by Myndflame to Gameriot.com

The great people over at the Myndflame Gameriot portal have created a pretty badass Starcraft 2 / WoW parody video, check it out above!

Starcraft Weekly with Artosis - Episode 17

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:46:38 -0400

July 3rd, 2009

The Starcraft Weekly show is back and on time this week, even a couple hours earlier than usual, that’s due to Artosis leaving on a trip somewhere, which you’ll find out about in today’s episode.

Artosis goes into detail and covers things like the recent ESI League winner, recent SC2GG Star League winner, the Valor tournament and some recent drama in that, Tip of the Week, Starcraft 2 and all those updates, Pro League, as well as what we’ll be showing next week.

You can view Episode 17 by clicking here.

Chris Sigaty talks more Starcraft 2

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:11:56 -0400

Our friends at Starcraft2.net.pl have yet another great interview, this time with lead producer for Starcraft 2, Chris Sigaty.

Chris talks about what he expects will happen early on during the Beta, working on the single player campaign and much more. Check it out, click here or the image above to watch the video.

If you missed Dustin Browder's interview you can find it here.

Tasteless and Artosis open Gamer T-shirt store - TheHandSomeNerd.com

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:15:56 -0400

The Panda Bear Guy T-shirt!

Little bit about the Panda Bear Guy

Artosis & Tasteless recently launched (about a week or so ago) a T-shirt store catered to Gamers, with an emphasis on Starcraft. Check out their shirts here: The Handsome Nerd

More T-shirt examples:

I'm getting this one.

http://thehandsomenerd.com

Starcraft lessons from authentic Korean - Craigslist ad

no.spam@gameriot.com (Mr.Pibbs) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:31:47 -0400

Aparently some Korean dude is taking advantage of all the recent Starcraft 2 buzz and is offering his services to make you a l33t SC gamer for $25 or $35 per hour ($35 for Advanced training).

LOL, if you have to resort to craigslist to get good at Starcraft, then I'm sorry my friend you won't even make C rank on ICCUP, cause you won't even know what ICCUP is!

From the ad:

Hi, my name is ByunTae from South Korea. I have been playing Starcraft since 1998 and I was born and raised in Korea. I'm 100% full blooded Korean, meaning I have been gifted with unparallel talent to master any video game, particularly, Starcraft: Brood War.

I'm also experienced in Counter-Strike, I am able to perform bunny hops, my best score on a public 32 player game was 171-2 with 170 kill streak.

I'm offering my expertise in Starcraft to be taught to non-Koreans that wishes to have the skill of a Korean player. I have advised and coached many professional gamers such as Im Jae Dong, Park Myung Soo, Ma Jae Yoon, and more. Boxer and I were great friends until he started using my dropships to gain his fame. I started training other players to be on par with Boxer and eventually surpassing Boxer. He is no longer the best player thanks to my contribution to rest of the players. I did not compete in pro gaming because they KTF did not agree with my seven figure contract demand.

source (ad on craigslist): http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/lss/1246071348.html

Who are the top Korean Pro Starcraft players?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Mr.Pibbs) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:30:58 -0400

Gosugamers has updated the list of the current top 30 professional Starcraft players in Korea, according to KeSPA. Lots of Terrans on this list.

Jaedong: Number 1

source: Full KeSPA rankings

ToT)ret( vs. KT.MGW)Grape from eSTRO this Saturday!

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:52:19 -0400

The long waiting battle between ToT)ret( and KT.MGW)Grape is finally going to take place!

This Saturday, the foreign Zerg master battles an up and coming Protoss player from Korea. The first map will be destination, the second map is Neo Medusa, and the third will be Colosseum 2.

How to watch?

You can use This Thread as a source to watch the matches, or also head on over to the main Justin.tv channel and you’ll be able to login and chat with other people.

Event Information

Korean Date (foreign date/time below) - Saturday, July 4th at 3pm KST
European Date - Saturday, July 4th at 8am CET
New York - Saturday, July 4th at 2am EST
California - Friday, July 3rd at 11:00pm PST

Starcraft Legacy - First Contact Cinematic

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:11:17 -0400

StarCraft Legacy with the help of TractorMedia have created an amazing Starcraft cinematic intro video. TractorMedia created the 3D models seen in the video, check it out below!

Check out more information about the video, lore, and an interview with TractorMedia plus more 3D renders: SCLegacy | Starcraft: First Contact

Tasteless on the Strelok issue in Valor tournament

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:45:55 -0400

Just the other day, there was a lot of talk in the foreign Starcraft scene, it revolved around Strelok and Fenix in the Valor tournament, ran by Tasteless, Daniel Lee, and Lipton from StarFeeder.

There were complaints from both sides and a final decision was made. This video talks about the whole event and what actually happened.

View the video here.

Dustin Browder talks more Starcraft 2

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:56:41 -0400

Polish Starcraft 2 fansite starcraft2.net.pl got a great video interview with Starcraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder. I highly recommend watching this interview as Dustin talks Starcraft 2's direction towards the next generation of eSports; about current play testing and the future beta, about cool things in the single-player campaign like an Infested Terran vampire mission, mineral bases in lava etc etc...

My thoughts on the NO-LAN in Starcraft II controversy

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:45:31 -0400

Starcraft gamers everywhere are up in arms about the statement from Blizzard that there will not be LAN support in Starcraft II. Karune makes a statement about the issue in a reply to a Bnet forumer:

Development time for StarCraft II have far exceeded the original StarCraft in both the standard of quality and duration, to ensure the highest in quality RTS experience we can possibly create.
Not only is it free to play online, Battle.net 2.0 is designed with the new generation of online community and eSports in mind.
As long as there are people playing our games, we will continue to support them, and we have continued with this tradition with our legacy titles like the original StarCraft.
StarCraft II was created with eSports as a cornerstone in design philosophy. StarCraft evolved into an eSport.
Map Editor will be better than any we have ever released.
?? - will have to wait and see

For me personally- I loved LAN parties, but the direction in which Battle.net is headed, I would always choose to play on Battle.net > 99% of the time and even if for whatever reason I did decide to lug my computer to a friend's house in this day of age (<1%), I would still be playing with them on Battle.net against others at their place.

- Karune

Personally I'm looking at this whole situation from a stand point that Blizzard knows what it is doing and is purposely removing LAN from SC2 for reasons that we don't fully understand or know yet... However I believe this has some to do with Blizzard's new take on eSports.

Blizzard I feel wants to own Starcraft 2 eSports, what I mean by that is they may want to be a governing body of some sort; controlling the flow of media, broadcasting and the running of legitimate approved leagues and tournaments. This is somewhat evident with their recent partnership with GOMTV.net

Having everything take place online is one of the best ways to control that, so Battle.net 2.0 (which I'm sure will blow us all away) has to be an integeral part to the equation.

With the original Starcraft we all played on 56k modems (at least the oldest of us) LAN was needed for lag free fun with friends. However these days with high-speed broadband everywhere, T1-T3 lines, FiOS etc etc, there isn't any excuse not to play online.

I do see an issue with college campuses not being able to host the best in house tournaments or just normal LAN parties, however Blizzard is taking eSports serious now. Starcraft becoming the best RTS ever as well as first true eSport was all by accident. There are now hundreds of leagues, thousands of tournaments run by all kinds of people and organizations, out of that chaos we have Korean professional Starcraft.

With Starcraft 2, I believe Blizz wants to cast a much larger and grander net so to speak. This is exactly what the future of eSports needs imho, there are so many stigmas and sterotypes with gaming, dis-organization, badly run organizations (cough CPL cough) here...
One governing body ie: Blizzard leading the way for global eSports(Starcraft II) is the preferred situation imho.

From the very start I hoped that Blizzard would treat Starcraft II as an eSport first, game 2nd, this is what the competitive gaming comunity needs and wants, and will quickly get over missing LAN support. I'd like to add in closing that I doubt even 1% of the people crying about missing LAN support will not end up buying the game on day 1.

What are you personal thoughts on this subject?

Valor special match White-Ra vs Korean Pro Baby this Friday

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:00:14 -0400

First I'd like to take this chance to thank everyone for watching the Valor tournament games thus far. SuperDanielMan & Tasteless have put in their own time, money and effort to launch this tournament to put foreign Starcraft players in the limelight and showcase their talent.

Valor Tournament Round of 8 batch 2:

During this tournament foreign players will get a chance to get a show match vs Korean Pro Gamers. The first Special match involved Strelok vs the best female Starcraft player TossGirl. This Friday we will have White-Ra vs the new up and coming and exciting Terran ProGamer Baby!

If you guys don't know who Baby is, he basically has a Boxerish style to his play, and hes very young (15) so has plenty of years ahead to wow us with his fun to watch play style.

Check out some of Baby's more recent games during the GOMTV.net Intel classic Season 3:

Modesty vs Baby - Game 1 [Ro.32 Group 8]
http://www.gomtv.net/classics3/vod/731

BaBy vs Jangbi - Game 1 [Ro.64 2R Group 8]
http://www.gomtv.net/classics3/vod/659

btw this is a friendly reminder about a special SuperDanielMan interview coming up. Ask him any question you would like here and I will sort through questions, choose some and add in my own to send to him this week. He will reply back in a video post.

EXCLUSIVE: NaDa video interview - June 30th, 2009 - Its only a job...

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:51:00 -0400

As mentioned last week in the Starcraft Weekly show, hosted by Artosis, we would be going to the WeMade FOX house where we would then do a video tour of the building, get an interview with NaDa, Pure, and Moon from Warcraft 3. We did all of this, and here is the first part of the adventure!

NaDa opens up and tells us some things that aren't usually heard in normal interviews, one has to think that it might be due to his age and him being around for a long time, when compared to younger gamers who seem more shy and give similar answers to one another.

View the NaDa interview and read the information by clicking here.

Dustin Browder interviewed by G4TV

no.spam@gameriot.com (Mr.Pibbs) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:12:25 -0400

Summaries by sc2armory
Source: G4TV

Starcraft 2 news and article round up

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:33:56 -0400

You've seen the new HD Starcraft 2 video, new Screenshots, new building models and new Tech-Trees... now check out our friends/fellow Starcraft 2 fansites that had reporters at the Blizzard press event last Monday.

Photo taken by Teamliquid.net

TeamLiquid

A Thorough Examination

SC2GG

New Obs Features

StarCraft 2 Armory

My day at Blizzard and the NDA

StarCraft Legacy

General Game Review
My Day at Blizzard 2

StarCraft Source

Dustin Browder Q&A Part 1

Check out SC2POD's Starcraft II Community Tracker to keep tabs on the entire SC2 community!

Follow Starfeeder on Twitter

Starcraft 2 HD footage - and OverSky's commentary

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:41:22 -0400

The last post today reflecting the Blizzard news press event last Monday, a new video for all Starcraft fans to feast upon SCLegacy was the first to upload their video copy, which you can view here or on their youtube page. Below I've chosen to embed OverSky's commentary over the HD video footage because I feel it's more helpful for fans... enjoy!

OverSky's Youtube Channel

Related Starcraft 2 June 29th updates:

The latest Starcraft 2 Tech-Trees
Newest Starcraft 2 Screenshots
Updated Starcraft 2 Zerg building renders

Follow us on twitter! @Starfeeder

Starcraft 2 Unit and Building Models - June 29th 2009

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:01:18 -0400

Also check out the latest:
Starcraft II Tech-Trees
Starcraft II Screenshots

The Newest Starcraft 2 Unit Model Renders
Click for larger view

Baneling Nest and Battlecrusier with Defensive Matrix Upgrade

Battlecrusiers with the Missile Pod and Yamato cannon upgrades

BC with Defensive Matrix active & Zerg Evolution Chamber

Zerg Extractor & Greater Spire

Zerg Hatchery | Zerg Lair

Zerg Hive | Hydralisk Den

Infestor Pit | Lurker Den

Nydus Network | Roach Warren

Spawning Pool | Spine Crawler

Spore Crawler | Spire

The Zerg Ultralisk Cavern in Starcraft 2

Starcraft II screenshots June 29th 2009

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:30:46 -0400

Last week Starcraft 2 fansites were invited to Blizzard headquarters for a press event and official Starcraft 2 media releases. The latest SC2 tech-trees and unit & building models have also been posted, and this post is to highlight the new screenshots.

New Starcraft 2 screenshots

Click for larger view

PSI-storm in action

Protoss vs Terran, Warp-Rays in action against a Terran base

Terran fleet attacking a Protoss base over water

Protoss Phoenix in action using their new anti-gravity ability

Terrans and Protoss mount an offensive against the Zerg in Starcraft 2

The Protoss hit the Zerg front-lines on Mars Sara with Colossi in Starcraft 2

Terrans vs Protoss on Sharkuras

Terran vs Zerg on Mars Sara, hint the Terrans don't look like they stand a chance!

Zerg Queen and Banelings

Zerg vs Terran in Starcraft II

New Released Tech-Trees, Starcraft 2 screenshots and unit models

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:46:31 -0400

Check out the latest Starcraft 2 tech-trees, screenshots and unit models... all images uploaded to our flickr account.

New Starcraft 2 Tech-Trees
Click for larger view

See the rest of the newest Starcraft II screenshots and unit models here

Stop Massive Attack - team micro map

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:38:13 -0400

I know a lot of you have been waiting for it, so here it is. The latest addition to the micro map list is "Stop Massive Attack".

Stop Massive Attack is a team based micro map, that you needs at least two people in the game for it to work. The game is simple to start, you just move your civilian to a beacon and then move the zergling up to trigger the computer. From there just micro your butt off and have fun.

You can find the Micro Map list here.

Week 1 - Mutalisk Micro
Week 2 - Marine vs. Lurker
Week 3 - Stop Massive Attack

Week 1: Having a Plan

no.spam@gameriot.com (hero.dE) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:44:54 -0400

-Introduction-
Hey guys, I just wanted to provide a quick update along with an important lesson I discovered in Starcraft this week. I didn't have much time available to play, but I was able to play enough to develop a bit of insight on a few things. Mainly, I learned why the idea of free styling isn't as appealing as it would seem.

-Free Style Problems-
When I started out this week, I was under the impression that free styling was a good way to go. To me, it seemed flexible, viable, and a good way for a newer player to learn the ropes of all the different units. After playing several people though, I realized that I was under a false impression of the pros of free styling builds. Plain and simple, build orders exist for a reason. When you free style, you're completely dependent on what you can and cannot scout. You're also dependent on how fast you can think on your feet, which is something a new Starcraft player will probably have trouble with. Because of this, free styling is a play-type that experienced Starcraft veterans might enjoy, instead of the newcomers. Playing without a build order requires a lot of thought process because you're constantly trying to weigh your options and figure out what to do next. As many people know, you usually don't have a lot of time to sit around and think about what to do next. If you're not constantly macro'ing you're going to fall behind.

-Why Build Orders Exist-

Reaver Drops kekeke!

My free styling problems made me realize why build orders exist. While they are a bit rigid, build orders allow you a general outline on what to do. You'll still be constantly thinking what to do next, but if you're completely in the dark you'll at least have a plan to follow. This plan is meant to get your economy up and running in the most efficient manner possible, and it would be dumb to stray from it until you've completely scouted your opponent and know if any changes are needed. In fact, it should be obvious that build orders are the best way to go. Each map has several build orders for each race that have been specifically tailored to that map for one reason or another. The amount of variation for each build due to map selection is simply amazing. Progamers have not only have every map memorized, but nearly every variation of the build orders they run as well. In short, if every one just free styled their builds, you would see a much lower level of play than you see today.

-The Importance of Having a Plan-
Since using build orders is the most efficient and effective way of playing Starcraft, it's very important to have a plan. Developing a plan can be a bit more in-depth than running a build order. Planning starts well before the match, and involves practicing specifically for your future opponent. if you're not prepared against your opponent, or if you're unsure what to do, you're already at disadvantage. Practicing and having a plan against who you play can help to give you a leg up, and possibly the extra advantage you need to bring home a win.

If you're just playing on B.net or ICCup or anywhere else, where you don't know your opponent beforehand, it's still important to have a plan. This may not involve specifically practicing or speccing against him, but it's important to know what to do once in the game. Even if you fail at build orders, you should know a general plan of what you want to do. For example, you may not know the best build orders on a specific map, but make sure you plan your opening moves before the game starts. For exampe, if you want to try and Fast Expand on a map, make sure you run through it in your mind beforehand. Think about the order you'll have to build in and what you think would be the most efficient way to get up that first expansion as fast as possible. While you won't be following a perfected build order, having a rough outline of what you want to do is still better than going balls to the wall free style.

-Personal Experiences-
Replay vs. [gwg]Avarre

Replay vs. Akuma

Here are two of my replays from this week which I think generally reflect my view points of build orders. When I played against Avarre, I decided to free style. I didn't bother to think of any build orders to do, and just built whatever I felt I needed at the time. This constantly left me one step behind and I was ultimately unprepared to deal with his pressure. Playing against Akuma was different. I still had no build order, but I had a general plan of what I wanted to do. After some extreme failure while scouting, I saw that he had yet to expand and decided I should go for a contain. By sticking to this plan I was able to pull out a solid win against him.

-Read-
Everything stated above is purely my views and opinions. Since I'm fairly new to the scene I'm only writing about what I've come to believe. If you have a conflicting opinion feel free to leave a comment as I'm sure I'm wrong about something or other in this blog post.

I'd like to update this blog every week or so with my ideas and experiences in Starcraft. This blog is my first week, and hopefully I can provide some relatively interesting information or stories in the ones to follow.

Thanks for reading - comments appreciated.

Epic 10 years of Starcraft (a video by Moon)

no.spam@gameriot.com (keikun17) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:42:47 -0400

Saw this video on reddit today. It's a montage of select epic moments in StarCraft by Moon (posted by Jon747). At first I was content with just linking this vid to Starfeeder's video section here and called it a day (*looks at at the time, it's 4:36am). 10 mins After seeing this vid and posting it in SF's video section, I couldn't shake sleep the urge off posting it here as well because the vid deserves to be posted on SF's front page.

P.S. Watch it in high quality

Real Life Starcraft

no.spam@gameriot.com (tprovido) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:42:57 -0400

Starcraft for REAL.

Ask SuperDanielMan anything

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:07:49 -0400

I will be sending SuperDanielMan some questions for a unique interview, also I would like to get more questions from the community, anything you want to ask him. Please leave it in the comments or PM me!

SDM will respond to the questions in a video.

Starcraft Weekly with Artosis - Episode 16

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:52:09 -0400

June 26th, 2009

Boy what an exciting week it was in Starcraft, not only did we see a new foreign Starcraft professional team formed, but we also saw it disbanded a day later.

This weeks show focuses on SK-Gaming and some recent issues, ESL Major Series, WCG Germany, ToT clans newest member, Titan League, ESI League, Tip of the Week, Starcraft 2 drama, former pro gamer Kingdom found a new job, Pro League updates, Tasteless response video to what’s happening at SK-Gaming, another micro map released, ToT)ret( vs. KT.MGW)Grape show match, and what we’ll be doing next week.

You can view Episode 16 by clicking here.

SuperDanielMan and Tasteless MumboJumbo

no.spam@gameriot.com (Lipton) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:56:21 -0400

If you have been watching the Valor tournament these past few weeks, you should have noticed a new type of video content along with the casted matches. "Mumbo Jumbo" basically after each round batch SuperDanielMan and Tasteless sit around a bit and chat about the games, Starcraft, SC2, gaming/esports in general and pretty much anything else (Pandabears and Monkey Milk?).

Mumbo Jumbo now has it's own place on GOMTV, where SDM and Tasteless will be bringing you guys much more content.

http://www.gomtv.net/mumbojumbo/news/157

SuperDanielMan now also has his own column on GOMTV, where he will continue to blog and write himself. SDM still currently blogs for Starfeeder as well...

In other news, now GOMTV has their official notice about the Valor games being content for Premium subscribers listed on their site:

Valor web streaming VODs and video download service are extra services provided for Classic Season 3 Premium Service users only.

We have prepared these services to show our gratitude to our Premium Service users.

So we are sorry to inform you that the users who have not purchased a ticket for the Classic Season 3 cannot use this Channel.

It seems like there have been misunderstandings and miscommunications caused by our commentators but

we will strive to bring you a better service.

Thank you.

- GOMTV.net

Lack luster Esports

no.spam@gameriot.com (famsyy) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:23:04 -0400

I was sort of struggling to find a topic to blog about today as I have a list, and some of them revolved around projects I would like to sort of..work on? Or at least be put in a position to pass on to someone.

Anyway, after reading Super Daniel Man’s latest blog which you can view HERE

It sort of hit me; at first I thought of all of the points he made about international pro teams, to having Blizzard regulate SCII as an E-Sport. I instantly thought of my own article, and what I personally thought would be good ways to fill these questions with answers. Yet I had none…

I couldn’t think of any sort of governing body that exists currently that would be able to take E-Sports GLOBAL interests to heart. Every sort of union or organization I can think of has the most incredible bias’ surrounding them.

KeSPa would be my first choice, however the question that everyone brings up is, “can they do it internationally”. My response would be yes, if people gave them a shot, and didn’t expect instant results as these sorts of things take time.

But leading away from that was a lingering thought that I have not been able to get out of my head for weeks, and that is that so many people in E-Sports just don’t try. A lot of people (including myself up until a few months ago) either talk a lot, then do nothing to act on it. Or simply hide behind screen names and boast that they have all the answers, then flame people, and then once again, do nothing.

It’s a sad pattern really. The only reason E-Sports has survived so long is because of a handful of people holding it together.

Countless teams and organizations form and fold at the drop of a hat, mostly because people either don’t care, or they are afraid to try at risk of facing ridicule for actually trying.

It is like being one of this kids at your local high school who does nothing, skips class ALL the time, drinks and smokes, does drugs, and pretends to be ‘kool’ actually became ‘kool’. Failure and pessimism become the new status quo. Which in my opinion is pathetic.

So instead of whining and pining on how E-Sports is so hard done by and that its doomed, and that you are too kool to try something at risk of failing, do yourself and us a favor and do one of two things.

1. Get that stupid chip off your shoulder and take a chance and try something.

Or 2. SHUT UP.

You can view my regular blog and full features at [urlhttp://www.fnatic.com/frontpage/]fnatic[/url

What must be done with Starcraft 2 Part 1.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Super Daniel Man) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:33:22 -0400

Check out my new column on GOMTV.net here.

The most highly anticipated pc game in the history of e-sports is about to unveil, time has come for SC2!

Which brings up the ultimate question of: What influence will it have on e-sports?

As someone who has been working in the field for the past 10 years, this is the one and only concern I have.

Korea managed to build the greatest e-sports infrastructure in the world, and because of it we have the best leagues, players, and teams which means we have the best e-sports content, and having the best content translates to money. I am sure this is one of the reasons why Blizzard is publishing SC2, they realize e-sports content could be a great content for the new media, and I am assuming of course, but perhaps Korean-esports phenomenon had something to do with them publishing SC2.

I was always mystified by Blizzard's lack of presence in the past with broodwar, (I can safely make an educated guess but I don't want to delve into that) they did not help to nurture e-sports, but rather let nature take it's course and then the big gigantic news hit, which of course was IEG attaining the broadcasting rights, from this point on e-sports wasn't taken very lightly, it revolutionized the industry, people realized that e-sports can create many, and big revenue models and it can actually be like a real sport. What is just plain weird about this whole transaction is that blizzard was out of the picture, they made the game? right?! I am sure blizzard was thinking the same thing, after all it is their game. Anyone can make a logical guess on what blizzard's reaction might have been on Kespa ignoring blizzard's position in the matter, so I won't elaborate on it.

All the club teams that were individually owned are now owned by the corporations, the original managers have all sold their teams to companies, including me. Once teams became corporate, everything changed. Everything became very tense and business like, everyone got into the spirit of competition a bit too much, and now we have these macrobots that only appeals to a certain demographic.

A good example is 'Flash', I am a former head coach/manager so if anyone can appreciate his talent it's me, but having these teenagers dominating the tournament circuit causes more detriment to the industry in the long run than anything else. You see what happens is, to put it simply 'it becomes a kid thing', once it gets stigmatized as such it becomes exactly that. It becomes less accessible to the mass. I wonder how popular MLB, or NBA would be if the stadiums and the courts are filled with only teenagers. Of course this would never happen with mainstream sports because, you don't reach your prime until way beyond your teenage years. Well it would not have become a mainstream entertainment to begin with if the players were only teenagers. Full grown men and women will not follow kiddie leagues.

It is important that any sports industry cater to fully grown men and women's need because they are the ones with money. Having the likes of 'Flash' of course changed the whole metagame and they do things that seems merely unimaginable to all of us, and they turned the whole game into science and as a passionate, avid user of starcraft I am thankful, but for me personally I am against the idea of having players so young. We all have noticed how every year players are getting younger and younger, and now the 'old gamers' are old enough to be uncles to majority of the active players. I was a part of the system too, I would recruit and scout the youngest players possible at the rookie drafts, and always kept vigil for new young players to scout, it usually takes 1 to 2 years to cultivate them before they become good enough to go on tv to showcase their skills to the viewers.

Having age limits to become a progamer was brought to the table in one of those committee meetings at kespa with managers, and head coaches but didn't get anywhere with it. It's just too argumentative. Both sides of the tables had valid points, those who oppose and those who don't. In Korea it is mandatory to join the service for 2 years it's another reason why we like to recruit younger players. One of the big reasons why 'Slayers Boxer' is a household name is because of his appeal to the mass. No gamer has yet challenged his superstar status.

Nada came very close however, Yellow Nalra, iloveoov, and oops reach were superstars in their own right but didn't come anywhere close to 'slayersboxer' in terms of popularity. They were all very active when 'boxer' was active which ultimately helped them to gain popularity for obvious reasons. Did you know that the Airforce team was created for the sole purpose of keeping 'Boxer' active in the leagues? so that we wouldn't lose him? Kespa played a big role in making that happen, they realized that losing him would put a big dent in the e-sports popularity, look at boxing when Tyson went to Jail. That is how big 'slayersBoxer' was. He could still regain his superstar status and respect once again if he could hang, but that is highly unlikely now. Korean e-sports reached our peak in the year 2006, and from that point on, slowly but gradually popularity has gone down.

Pretty much every and any starcraft related sites, domestic or foreign revolves around Korean starcraft, since we do have the best leagues. When the game SC2 gets published will we be able to maintain the status quo? It remains to be seen... This is the part that worries me heavily.

For everyone's sake I hope Blizzard and Kespa can work things out, but if they don't Kespa won't enjoy the same freedom as before in organizing the leagues, which means they would have to proceed with their contingency plan, whatever that is, if I had to make an educated guess, maybe every team will get together and chant "long live brood war, and the proleague!!" This makes no sense to me because who is going to watch? Some will watch in the beginning, but SC1 will be left with no choice, but recoil to underground. Even if SC2 doesn't meet the expectations, SC1 can't go on. If it does on a very smaller scale. The proleague is sponsored for roughly 2.5 million dollars for 3 years by the ShinHanBank.

Who will sponsor SC1 when there is SC2? SC1 is the 'red ocean' and SC2 is the 'blue ocean' no one is going to dive into the 'red ocean'. Also when rest of the world is playing SC2 we can't be the only ones not playing it, I am talking about the proteams of course. I can tell you this much, if and so the proteams become active in the game SC2 rest of the world won't be able to compete with them, maybe they might be able to keep up in the beginning but as it moves forward it's highly unlikely that 'gamers' can compete with 'progamers' I say this because of the corporate proteam's structure, they invest over millions of dollars into teams, progamers gets paid, monetary rewards can be the best incentive sometimes, not only that they get properly fed, having coaching staffs, and most importantly progamers have discipline, well most of them do. etc.. and if you think that you can beat progamers because you practice a lot by yourself or with your friends on battlenet ,whatever think again, you are a dreamer not a pragmatist.

The international tournament can get pretty boring if this happens, so for the betterment of e-sports it is better for Korean proteams to disband? No! Well there is the option of Professional teams forming overseas, this would be the ideal scenario for me, and I think is the best way. Blizzard should use their influence and network of corporate teams to persuade other mega corporations outside the country to form teams, it is in their best interest in the long run because the ultimate gamers are the ones who will produce great content, it is imperative to have full time gamers that dedicates themselves to games only if you want to produce great games, and stars great game is what brings in the audience.

It is important also for SC2 to constantly evolve. This can't all be accomplished by actions taken from the top only, more importantly the top people making restrictions. You gotta have soldiers in the field, running around in the field to make things happen, soldiers gotta have some leeways to find theire ways in the jungle, you can't instruct a soldier to eat vegetables when he is in the jungle you have to let him eat what he wants, and if he is able to kill a tiger for a meal let him eat that. My point is this, for e-sports to become possible, first and foremost gamers can't go hungry, they have to become financially viable only by playing games. I am not talking about users, but gamers that aspire to achieve greatness in games, gamers with passion! where the veracity of their heart is so solid that no one can contest or question their integrity. To what extent will they be looked after when SC2 hits the scene? it remains to be seen...

After all what's a million dollars to a mega-corporation? it's a pocket change. Although we do have to consider the calamities in the financial world, emm well like I said it's pocket change so I don't think it is too unwieldy. That's the beauty of it, it's relatively cheap to form a professional team, if you compare the amount of promotion, and exposure you get from it, it is very very cheap. I remember in one of my reports I made to my team's sponsor AMD long ago where I converted all the air time, and exposure my team gave them to money and it was well over one million dollars. Much Much more than the actual money they gave to us.

So these days where there are more leagues and platforms for gamers to stand on, I am certain investing one or two million dollars on a team is not big waste but a huge gain. The question is will the game SC2 have the proper platform? Will the league scale be big enough to merit the effort of mega corporations to form teams? and perhaps even a governing body? Well I guess blizzard should be the governing body. I am not talking about AMD or INTEL, it's obvious they will play a forever conspicious role in the gaming world , but I am talking about companies like Toyota and GE. I can remember the time when CocaCola sponsored the ongamenet starleague a long time ago and how it impressed everyone. If You can get companies that has merely nothing to do with games or computers to invest money that is true e-sports in the making, because that means they are acknowledging the user, fan base the gaming community has, so it might be a good idea for them to utilize the gaming community, leagues, gamers as a marketing tool. For example if you look at the fans that comes to our league games 60%~70% of them are middle, highschool girls. Makeup companies, or even tampon companies should sponsor leagues, or teams. Or at the very least do a small event during the leagues offline. I mean the whole future market is right there! If I was still a manager I would most definitely pursue them. I'd be very impressed if they did sponsor a league.

In Korea SKT1's CEO becoming the Kespa's president played a role in other corporations investing money into teams. One of the things stated by SKT1's CEO when he came into office was, all the remaining teams will become corporate and he will do everything within his power to help club teams to become corporate, this was back when all the teams were not corporate, so Kespa did play a strong role in that regard.

So if Kespa isn't allowed to run leagues most likely everyone but the proteams will be playing starcraft, I know I will. Worst case being teams ceasing to exist, if I am a progamer I‘d want a crack at the new game, and if I am not doing so well, or getting little money in SC1, I'd make the transition onto SC2 and join a clan maybe. Many clans would once again resurface, just like it did with SC1 and everything will be set to zero and the foreigners will have a fair shot at the game, unlike SC1. I dunno maybe some are wishing that perhaps SC2 will be just like Warcraft3, it failed to become a media event, spectator event here. It does have the look and a feel of warcraft3, and some probably don't want SC1 to become obsolete so, who knows only time will tell. I can only say that for the betterment of e-sports I hope SC2 will become the ultimate game that fits the profile of e-sports game, so that e-sports can flourish on a global scale.

Something else Kespa can do is, it does have mega corporations as members, and also the ministry of culture funds Kespa as well, so maybe play dirty politics with their backing?

Or of course another option is yield to Blizzard's will. I don't think Blizzard appreciates Kespa running starcraft leagues without Blizzard's consent, and for Kespa I don't think they appreciate Blizzard's demands. I will continue with part two in my next blog thx for reading...

oh btw please follow me on Twitter @superdanielman

Tasteless followup on the SK-Gaming issue, BlizzCon, and Starcraft 2

no.spam@gameriot.com (PuertoRican) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:42:06 -0400

Earlier this week, SK-Gaming had recruited a Starcraft team that was dead within one day later. Artosis managed to touch on this subject in a video that you can find here.

Tasteless focuses on multiple things in this video, some of them are the SK-Gaming issue, Blizzard and GomTV’s new partnership, BlizzCon, Starcraft 2, gaming t-shirts, ESL, e-Stars Seoul, and more.

You can find the video response by clicking here.