|
On February 22 2011 16:29 kmkg wrote: Saw this questioned asked but not answered: Who is the main sponsor? Who's behind everything? Is it GosuCoaching?
The owner of Coaching, Russ, he is the mastermind. This is his baby. He partnered with a USC law school graduate named Duncan who's kind of an eSports newbie, he saw a nice business venture and he's excited and learning more about eSports and they backed it and created it. Like I said, this is laying down the infrastructure and the tracks for eSports growing in the West. So even with this and the tight lips we've been kind of doing...I can't say we've been completely quiet about it as we've been teasing everybody, but there's been a lot of interest generated from business individuals that want to get inside on this because a lot of people have been waiting to do it and try to step forward and work it out so right now it's solely their enterprise but it's definitely growing as we speak.
Why did they decide to fund you guys?
Well they didn't fund us, they did it themselves, and then they brought me on board to be the figurehead basically. And they brought in a few other people because they have good eSports minds. They couldn't do it without us and I couldn't do it without them.
Edit- This question is probably going be ask again and again but this is all we have at the moment. In all reality things are only going be clear after MLG Dallas and NASL gets going. I'm sure they're looking for additional sponsors all the time but the website makes it pretty clear it's blizzard.
|
This is such amazing news.
The advantage Korea has is that they the SC community there is in a condensed area. Therefore, they are able to hold events on-site with everybody there in person, with an audience to watch. However, such a situation is not feasible in North America, because the community is spread out over such a large area.
This is pretty much the best it gets for us. This is a full-on season, not just a couple-day tournament every month or two, which is great. Then there's a live 16 player tournament for those that reach the "playoffs". I really like the season format over the single tournament format; it's a better showcase of skill then just who gets lucky over a few games in 1-2 days
This isn't just a few guys sitting in their room saying "hay guyz, lets start a SC2 league!". This is a financially-backed, professionally-run league that I think is going to have a huge impact on the SC2 esports scene.
Just curious, what's their rule on extended series? ;p
|
On February 22 2011 16:52 thepotatoman wrote: Wait is this is an online tournament? Screw that. I was very seriously thinking about dropping my monthly fees for GSL to pay for NASL, but this whole online thing with lan finals just doesn't sit right with me. The most obvious reason is fairness, but a bigger problem is you just lose so much of what makes tournaments great. I think incontrol himself said there's just an atmosphere around lans that makes lans more difficult and it is that atmosphere that makes tournaments so awesome.
When I watch GSL or MLG I get to see those players live preparing right before that match and right behind them a crowd waiting and watching to see what he can do. That right there is a bigger story then any caster can make up about a player. When I watch online tournaments I just picture two people playing a game in their dark bedrooms in their pajamas and there's just nothing epic about that. I don't think any amount of crappy webcam interviews could fix that.
The sad thing is I know there is no way around it right now. You can't ask people to move somewhere for 9 whole weeks and the weekend tournament that MLG does sucks because they can't cast all the games and your favorite player might get kicked out in the first round due any number of reason leaving you hard to get invested.
Actually before I wrote this post I fully believed in the E-Sports is going to become big in NA in the future, but now I made myself sad because I no longer think that will be the case any time soon. Of course if they could get this tournament running off lan I'll be right there, for now I guess I'll keep with GSL.
(obviously when i say lan i mean same room, not actually lan thanks to blizzard) Yea this online tournament does not have nearly as much appeal as watching a live lan event like the gsl. there is no way id pay 20 or 25 bucks to watch a online event where there is no crowd, no players in booths no ceremonies no reactions of the player winning or losing. Its very dissapointing, i mean its a step in the right direction from e sports but if they want to have the highest quality like geoff says, it should be a live tournament for the whole thing, and their should be qualifiers wich decide all the players that make it to the 50 player tournament , not just 1 1000 man qualifier for 1 player, i want to see the BEST players not the best teams just based off a few peoples oppinion and the best players from those teams. The fact that their are no qualifiers for this tournament is going to lower the quality dramatically at least during the 50 player offline portion
|
On February 22 2011 16:36 betaV1.25 wrote: With this much money on the line, i dont see how they are gonna stop people from cheating while playing. Isnt it 2 easy to watch the stream and play at the same time?
I'd be concerned about this as well if I were running the tournament.
|
It probably won't be as good as the GSL but i'll buy the tickets to support esport in the west...
for the people that complain and want it to be better... support this league first... it has to start somewhere...
can't really expect people to come to Los Angeles and play in a LAN like the GSL... it's pretty expensive here... there ain't no 1 dollar soju... I bought a bottle at 99 ranch market the other day, it cost $6.99
|
On February 22 2011 17:02 cheesemaster wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2011 16:52 thepotatoman wrote: Wait is this is an online tournament? Screw that. I was very seriously thinking about dropping my monthly fees for GSL to pay for NASL, but this whole online thing with lan finals just doesn't sit right with me. The most obvious reason is fairness, but a bigger problem is you just lose so much of what makes tournaments great. I think incontrol himself said there's just an atmosphere around lans that makes lans more difficult and it is that atmosphere that makes tournaments so awesome.
When I watch GSL or MLG I get to see those players live preparing right before that match and right behind them a crowd waiting and watching to see what he can do. That right there is a bigger story then any caster can make up about a player. When I watch online tournaments I just picture two people playing a game in their dark bedrooms in their pajamas and there's just nothing epic about that. I don't think any amount of crappy webcam interviews could fix that.
The sad thing is I know there is no way around it right now. You can't ask people to move somewhere for 9 whole weeks and the weekend tournament that MLG does sucks because they can't cast all the games and your favorite player might get kicked out in the first round due any number of reason leaving you hard to get invested.
Actually before I wrote this post I fully believed in the E-Sports is going to become big in NA in the future, but now I made myself sad because I no longer think that will be the case any time soon. Of course if they could get this tournament running off lan I'll be right there, for now I guess I'll keep with GSL.
(obviously when i say lan i mean same room, not actually lan thanks to blizzard) Yea this online tournament does not have nearly as much appeal as watching a live lan event like the gsl. there is no way id pay 20 or 25 bucks to watch a online event where there is no crowd, no players in booths no ceremonies no reactions of the player winning or losing. Its very dissapointing, i mean its a step in the right direction from e sports but if they want to have the highest quality like geoff says, it should be a live tournament for the whole thing, and their should be qualifiers wich decide all the players that make it to the 50 player tournament , not just 1 1000 man qualifier for 1 player, i want to see the BEST players not the best teams just based off a few peoples oppinion and the best players from those teams. The fact that their are no qualifiers for this tournament is going to lower the quality dramatically at least during the 50 player offline portion
Having a live tournament in Los Angeles that takes place over 3 months instantly cuts down the field of players that would be willing to attend, they would pretty much need to be extremely established and have quite a bit more money at hand in order for that to work.
|
On February 22 2011 16:55 Hyst3ria wrote: Now I have something to watch while I'm not studying/masterbating.
But more on the serious side. This is great for Esports and Starcraft as a whole. Incontrol in all honesty just ignore (which I'm sure you are) the negative feedback coming from the part of the community that can't even surpass the inflated 3k diamond mark. This is the biggest consistent large prize pool I have ever seen (and I have been following many games for a very long time) and for people to reign on it because of the title "World Champion" and the qualifying phase being online is just stupid. I look forward to this and I thank you Geoff and everyone else behind this that worked their ass off to give SC2 the biggest video game tournaments in history. so he should just ignore 90% of the community thats a great idea! He can enjoy the added benifit of having 90% less viewership >< Honestly though they said they were going to listen to the community the community is just voicing their concerns about it, i think its great that a north american star league is starting i just think there are alot of things that need to be worked, out i mean it would be great if they could have a studio to house players LIVE from the get go but its not feasible in a year if it does well im sure that will be a possiblity, but the nasl should listen to the community as that is where they will get the money to continue the NASL
|
On February 22 2011 17:08 BraveGhost wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2011 17:02 cheesemaster wrote:On February 22 2011 16:52 thepotatoman wrote: Wait is this is an online tournament? Screw that. I was very seriously thinking about dropping my monthly fees for GSL to pay for NASL, but this whole online thing with lan finals just doesn't sit right with me. The most obvious reason is fairness, but a bigger problem is you just lose so much of what makes tournaments great. I think incontrol himself said there's just an atmosphere around lans that makes lans more difficult and it is that atmosphere that makes tournaments so awesome.
When I watch GSL or MLG I get to see those players live preparing right before that match and right behind them a crowd waiting and watching to see what he can do. That right there is a bigger story then any caster can make up about a player. When I watch online tournaments I just picture two people playing a game in their dark bedrooms in their pajamas and there's just nothing epic about that. I don't think any amount of crappy webcam interviews could fix that.
The sad thing is I know there is no way around it right now. You can't ask people to move somewhere for 9 whole weeks and the weekend tournament that MLG does sucks because they can't cast all the games and your favorite player might get kicked out in the first round due any number of reason leaving you hard to get invested.
Actually before I wrote this post I fully believed in the E-Sports is going to become big in NA in the future, but now I made myself sad because I no longer think that will be the case any time soon. Of course if they could get this tournament running off lan I'll be right there, for now I guess I'll keep with GSL.
(obviously when i say lan i mean same room, not actually lan thanks to blizzard) Yea this online tournament does not have nearly as much appeal as watching a live lan event like the gsl. there is no way id pay 20 or 25 bucks to watch a online event where there is no crowd, no players in booths no ceremonies no reactions of the player winning or losing. Its very dissapointing, i mean its a step in the right direction from e sports but if they want to have the highest quality like geoff says, it should be a live tournament for the whole thing, and their should be qualifiers wich decide all the players that make it to the 50 player tournament , not just 1 1000 man qualifier for 1 player, i want to see the BEST players not the best teams just based off a few peoples oppinion and the best players from those teams. The fact that their are no qualifiers for this tournament is going to lower the quality dramatically at least during the 50 player offline portion Having a live tournament in Los Angeles that takes place over 3 months instantly cuts down the field of players that would be willing to attend, they would pretty much need to be extremely established and have quite a bit more money at hand in order for that to work. totally agree read my post below yours, i think its totally dooable with more money and it would bring in the most dedicated players. but for now i guess it will have to do, with it in this format it just doesnt sit on the same level as the gsl thats all im saying, so the price of 20 dollars wich is double that of the gsl doesnt appeal to me
|
The equally exciting news for me is this -
If the lan finals is going to be offline, that means there is potential within SC2 that permits LAN play, and with Blizzard backing this tournament, that means either the functionality already exists and they're going to enable it just for the tournament, or the plan is to open up LAN play in a patch by the time April rolls around.
|
On February 22 2011 17:08 BraveGhost wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2011 17:02 cheesemaster wrote:On February 22 2011 16:52 thepotatoman wrote: Wait is this is an online tournament? Screw that. I was very seriously thinking about dropping my monthly fees for GSL to pay for NASL, but this whole online thing with lan finals just doesn't sit right with me. The most obvious reason is fairness, but a bigger problem is you just lose so much of what makes tournaments great. I think incontrol himself said there's just an atmosphere around lans that makes lans more difficult and it is that atmosphere that makes tournaments so awesome.
When I watch GSL or MLG I get to see those players live preparing right before that match and right behind them a crowd waiting and watching to see what he can do. That right there is a bigger story then any caster can make up about a player. When I watch online tournaments I just picture two people playing a game in their dark bedrooms in their pajamas and there's just nothing epic about that. I don't think any amount of crappy webcam interviews could fix that.
The sad thing is I know there is no way around it right now. You can't ask people to move somewhere for 9 whole weeks and the weekend tournament that MLG does sucks because they can't cast all the games and your favorite player might get kicked out in the first round due any number of reason leaving you hard to get invested.
Actually before I wrote this post I fully believed in the E-Sports is going to become big in NA in the future, but now I made myself sad because I no longer think that will be the case any time soon. Of course if they could get this tournament running off lan I'll be right there, for now I guess I'll keep with GSL.
(obviously when i say lan i mean same room, not actually lan thanks to blizzard) Yea this online tournament does not have nearly as much appeal as watching a live lan event like the gsl. there is no way id pay 20 or 25 bucks to watch a online event where there is no crowd, no players in booths no ceremonies no reactions of the player winning or losing. Its very dissapointing, i mean its a step in the right direction from e sports but if they want to have the highest quality like geoff says, it should be a live tournament for the whole thing, and their should be qualifiers wich decide all the players that make it to the 50 player tournament , not just 1 1000 man qualifier for 1 player, i want to see the BEST players not the best teams just based off a few peoples oppinion and the best players from those teams. The fact that their are no qualifiers for this tournament is going to lower the quality dramatically at least during the 50 player offline portion Having a live tournament in Los Angeles that takes place over 3 months instantly cuts down the field of players that would be willing to attend, they would pretty much need to be extremely established and have quite a bit more money at hand in order for that to work.
I dont think the quote was directed at me but I share your view. In order to open up this event for as many people as possible the online part is the way to go. I just think they should be casting replays instead of a live online event in order to mittigate the cheating that will occur in the current format.
|
On February 22 2011 17:03 tarath wrote:Show nested quote +On February 22 2011 16:36 betaV1.25 wrote: With this much money on the line, i dont see how they are gonna stop people from cheating while playing. Isnt it 2 easy to watch the stream and play at the same time?
I'd be concerned about this as well if I were running the tournament. 3 minute delay on the stream would almost completly negate this, even 5 minutes.... wich im sure is what they will do
|
Here's my two cents on this thread:
5 player limit: I don't see very much wrong with this, because it will give all teams a fairly equal chance to field their players, and much like GSL, it would not be that interesting in my opinion to see teammates kill each other.
The Korean limit: It is called the North American StarLeague; this gives more foreigners the opportunity to play, and the group sizes are only a specific size to start off with anyways. You won't want to flood NASL with Koreans. There's also the issue of latency from KR to NA, so I think this decision makes complete sense.
Koreans are better than foreigners in every way: This definitely isn't the way things are now in SC2, because foreigners have proven that they are just as good, maybe even better than some of the top South Korean players out there. Foreign tournaments are much more interesting overall because it's not just aggressive 10 minute games. The styles of the regions are just different, Koreans don't have the "I have the thing that can beat everyone" strategy. With all of the foreigner tournaments out there, I feel as if the game is much more entertaining outside of Korea, with all of the fan support and just how the games are played out. I think that $25 is a great price for a couple of months of foreign SC2. Foreigners really don't get the credit they deserve in SC2, because of the opinion that people think foreigners are worse at SC transferred from BW.
Production values: I will say, there have been better productions than the showmatch before. I hope that can get figured out throughout the casts. For example, the forced switch to the commentators due to the audio and the game being out of sync. If this becomes an issue in the future, maybe have a set up to switch to something else (not sure what though D. If only Blizzard could have multiplayer replay viewing... About the commentators, I really hope since Diggity will be casting, there's a possibility of a comeback of Diggity + Moletrap dual commentaries? OR, If Nestea decided to come over, Cholera and Rise could come out of retirement, and have some fun with Zergbong.
Format: The group stages seem like a really cool idea, but after a few seasons, hopefully it will settle into having a bigger amount of slots for qualifiers. It's nice to have invites at the beginning to get a solid player-base, but later on, it would be nice to have new faces in the league. Also, with the 10 people per group thing, what would happen if there were more than 10 teams in the future?
Overall, I think this is going to be amazing, I'm looking forward to watching all of these games!!!
|
I find it funny how they have this $250 refundable 'BM' fee, yet after watching InControl's stream the other morning during the GSL Code A Matches, him, and Idra were HORRIBLE to Kelly, mocking her accent, making fun of her analysis, and just flat out BM towards the whole thing.
I don't know if I really want to be apart of something that InControl supports because all I see from his channel is a bad attitude towards others. He's like the 'high school jock' that makes fun of everybody because he's "better than everyone else".
I don't like that. I don't want to watch that.
|
^^^ Were we watching the same stream? Incontrol's humour lies in satire, he, IdrA and JP thought Kelly was doing a great job after the initial awkwardness of being in front of a huge internet audience.
On February 22 2011 17:13 Dhalphir wrote: The equally exciting news for me is this -
If the lan finals is going to be offline, that means there is potential within SC2 that permits LAN play, and with Blizzard backing this tournament, that means either the functionality already exists and they're going to enable it just for the tournament, or the plan is to open up LAN play in a patch by the time April rolls around.
All the players will still be connected to the internet. There is no LAN in SC2 at this time. All "offline" means in this case is "You can see your opponent in person."
|
On February 22 2011 17:17 SleepTech wrote: I find it funny how they have this $250 refundable 'BM' fee, yet after watching InControl's stream the other morning during the GSL Code A Matches, him, and Idra were HORRIBLE to Kelly, mocking her accent, making fun of her analysis, and just flat out BM towards the whole thing.
I don't know if I really want to be apart of something that InControl supports because all I see from his channel is a bad attitude towards others. He's like the 'high school jock' that makes fun of everybody because he's "better than everyone else".
I don't like that. I don't want to watch that. I completely agree with you that was so uncalled for, your starting your own league that has had 0 success so far and you go around bashing an established league, its just childish
|
So I guess the only question left is if Sixpoolgaming.com is real or was a Red Herring?
|
Eh, I don't know too much about the "foreign" scene, but how deep is the NA talent?
What I mean is, if there's a limit on korean players, is there also going to be a limit on EU players etc.?
Because if there is a limit like I'm worried there's going to be Idra, HuK, Select...?
|
I am not sure if this has been posted yet, but i am very excited about this!
|
16 is a power of 2. 64 is also a power of 2. 50 is not a power of 2.
|
On February 22 2011 17:25 composition wrote: 16 is a power of 2. 64 is also a power of 2. 50 is not a power of 2. Correct me if I'm wrong, But I think it's separated into 5 divisions of 10 players. Eventually maybe the top three in each division qualify, and add in the open tourney qualifier, and that's 16 people.
|
|
|
|