ESR - Latest News

ZOTAC SC2 Beta Cup #5 is Over! (18 comments)

( Major News: SC2)

Posted by KekS @ 05:33 CDT, 28 March 2010 - iMsg

Scheduled: 07:00 CDT, 28 March 2010 to 13:00 CDT, 28 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

GameSports' next ZOTAC Starcraft 2 Beta Cup takes places next Sunday, 07:00 CDT, 28 March 2010. There's 100 € price money up for grabs and we're currently thinking about doubling the grid size from 512 to 1024 participants thanks to the amazing 662 sign-ups and the full check-in list (512 players!). So for now we're running the usual 1024 slots for sign-ups & 512 for check-ins.

Winners of the ZOTAC SC2 cups so far

Quick Facts

Important Note: Daylight Savings Time in

Europe (CEST): Sunday, March 28, 2010: 2:00 AM forward to 3:00 AM. This will probably affect all of our non-European participants, so double-check which time it's actually going to be on when signing up, it might be an hour earlier than you'd expect.

Update (03:00 CDT, 26 March 2010): This week I can proudly announce that the livestream with English commentary will be done by

SC2GG rise (check out some of his youtube commentaries).

Quarter Finals

Semi Finals

Finals

Streams:

Rise's stream,

gamesports,

[M]illenium.fr,

TheGunRun
Links: Brackets, Info, Playerlist, Replaypacks of all Zotac SC2 cups,

#zotac.sc2

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Team Liquid SC2 Invitational #1 is over! (100 comments)

( Major News: SC2)

Posted by KOPF @ 14:02 CDT, 27 March 2010 - iMsg

Scheduled: 10:00 CDT, 27 March 2010 to 14:35 CDT, 27 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

Team Liquid Invitationals were major tournaments for the foreign SC scene, so when TL announced its first SC2 invitational tournament, it was bound to be foreign StarCraft 2 at it's best.

Team Liquid has invited the 16 top European players including the BW top-players like of

Liquid`Nazgul,

White-Ra,

MorroW and

Jinro and WC3 top-players like

Insomnia and

Demuslim. The most notable participant however is

ret, who had been on a break since his return from Korea. All of them have a chance with the 500$ prizepool.

The tournament will be single elimination and lasts only a day. It will be also streamed by Sean "Day[9]" Plott, so tune in at 10:00 CDT, 27 March 2010.

Prizemoney

Invited players

Round of 16 (BO3)

Round of 8 (BO3)

Semifinals (BO3)

3rd Place Match (BO3)

Grand Finals (BO5)

Update: some VODs can be found over here.
Update #2: The replay pack is available!

Links: Announcement, Info, Replaypack and Interviews with TLO & White-Ra, ret's story,

#teamliquid
Stream: Day[9]

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SC2 Go4SC2 Cup #1 (18 comments)

( Major News: SC2)

Posted by xou @ 05:38 CDT, 27 March 2010 - iMsg

Event: Go4SC2

Scheduled: 13:00 CDT, 29 March 2010 to 14:00 CDT, 29 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

Update: The final match, dimaga vs Socke, will be played on Monday at 13:00 CDT! A stream will be available at ESL TV

The very first SC2 Go4SC2 organized by ESL will be played today and feature 100€ for its winner. It's also the occasion to earn some precious points for the rankings in order to get qualified for the first final which will take place on the 1st April.

The cup will start at 08:00 CDT after the check-in, so don't forget to sign up! The rules and cup format are available from the cup page.

Cup #1 - Prizes & Points

Links: Go4SC2 Cup #1 Brackets, March Rankings,

#esl.go4sc2
Streams: Leball, mavensc2,

Millenium

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G Data QL Cup #18 is over! (59 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by vash_ @ 03:42 CDT, 27 March 2010 - iMsg

Event: G Data QL

Scheduled: 08:00 CDT, 27 March 2010 to 13:00 CDT, 27 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

Once again the cup format will consist of SE brackets using bo1 matches until the quarter finals. Then the games will be played as bo3 with the grand final being played bo5. The prize is 100€ for the first place.

Quick Facts

Final standings:

1. strenx - 100€
2. k1llsen
3-4. dem0n, guard

Links: Tournament page, Brackets, Hall of Fame,

#gdata.qlive

Another rapha interview (44 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by Mav_ @ 11:39 CDT, 26 March 2010 - iMsg

Another interview with

Shane "rapha" Hendrixson was published yesterday at a Polish gaming Web TV station - Headshot TV. Since Shane was visiting Poland a few days ago, I couldn't miss the opportunity to sit down and have a talk with him.

There's some new interesting information about his opinion on Quake Live and his personal life. We discussed, among other topics, the current situation at SK-Gaming, the IEM Championship, and rapha's religious beliefs. You can also find out if he's afraid of losing his cell phone and his shoes while in Poland.

You can check out the interview at Headshot.pl.

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QL EPS Germany at IFNG Oberhausen (49 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by xou @ 10:14 CDT, 26 March 2010 - iMsg

Scheduled: 14:50 CDT, 26 March 2010 to 15:30 CDT, 26 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

Tonight the Intel Friday Night Game event of Oberhausen will feature 4 matches from the 16th season of the

EPS. The good news is that one of them will be the hottest Quakelive match of these EPS16 as

k1llsen will be facing

mTw|calipt. This match will probably be decisive for the 1st place in the rankings, excepted if

PURRI gets back to a better shape during the season.

The game, starting around 14:50 CDT, will be streamed on ESL TV and commentated by

Alexander "carni a" Holtz Shedden in German.

Schedule of the evening

If you don't know what to do until the Quakelive match start, you can have a look at the ESL TV VOD from the EMS6 QL TDM Qualifier #1!

Links: ESL TV, German EPS 16 QL, Intel Friday Night Game Oberhausen
Stream: ESL TV - Free / Premium / Alternative host / linux: -url:ESL.oph350

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Starcraft 2 beta patch 6 released (40 comments)

( Major News: SC2)

Posted by Paladia @ 07:46 CDT, 26 March 2010 - iMsg

A new patch for StarCraft 2 beta was just released along with a reset of all current StarCraft 2 ladders and users.

Plenty of changes, most notably the reduction of SCV health to 45 (from 60), to help prevent the notorious SCV-rush in Terran vs Protoss.

Patch notes

General

* You can now report misconduct or block communication with a player after completion of a game by right-clicking on the offending player's name in the score screen and choosing Report Abuse or Block Communication.
* You can now view any player's profile after completion of a game by right-clicking on their name in the score screen and choosing View Profile.
* Updated unit and ability tooltips to be accurate in all regions.
* Improved the visibility of units on zerg creep.
* Improved the visibility of team colors for protoss units using warp-in to help distinguish between multiple protoss players.
* Improved the system that handles promotion and relegation between Leagues.
* Improved the Favored functionality to more accurately portray Even matches and display properly in the score screen.
* Improved 2v2 arranged team matchmaking so games are found more quickly.
* Improved replay functionality so missing maps will be downloaded from Battle.net when you view a replay.
* Korea: Improved the logic for the age gate functionality.

Balance Changes

* GENERAL

o Pathing has been improved so units can now properly block ramps and choke points

o Made a change to how zerg creep affects doodads, such as trees, to prevent players from seeing the starting location of zerg players through the fog of war.

* TERRAN

o Viking
+ Cost changed from 125 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas.

o Ghost
+ Cost changed from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas.
+ EMP Round radius decreased from 3 to 2.

o Factory
+ Cost decreased from 200 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.

o Tech Lab
+ Cost decreased from 50 Minerals and 50 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 25 Vespene Gas.

o Reactor
+ Build time increased from 25 seconds to 50 seconds.

o SCV
+ Life decreased from 60 to 45.

o Bunker
+ Build time decreased from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.

o Marine
+ Build time increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds.

* PROTOSS

o Colossus
+ Thermal Lances damage decreased from 23 to 20.

o Observer
+ Cost increased from 25 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.
+ Build time increased from 33 seconds to 40 seconds.

o Stalker
+ Particle Disruptors damage increased from 8 (+6 Armored) to 10 (+4 Armored).
+ Weapon upgrade damage decreased from +1 (+1 Armored) to +1 (+0 Armored).

o Dark Templar
+ Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.

o High Templar
+ Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.

o Dark Shrine
+ Build time increased from 80 seconds to 100 seconds.
+ Cost increased from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 100 Minerals and 250 Vespene Gas.

* ZERG

o Baneling
+ Volatile Burst damage increased from 15 (+20 Light) to 20 (+15 Light).

o Roach
+ Burrowed regeneration rate decreased from 10 to 5.
+ Upgraded burrowed regeneration bonus decreased from +20 to +10.

Bug Fixes

* Fixed an issue affecting the incorrect assignment of arranged teams to certain Leagues.
* Fixed an issue affecting random teams that caused no points being awarded on wins and too many points being removed on losses in certain situations.
* Fixed an issue involving the Bonus Pool display on the Quick Match and Leagues & Ladders pages.
* Korean client: Fixed an issue affecting the ability for Korean players to properly view profiles. They can now see their League ranking on their profile page.
* Fixed an intermittent UI crash on game shutdown.
* Polish client: Fixed a crash which would happen any time a "Player is no longer being revealed!" message was displayed.

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rapha 1on1 2/3: "a crazy experience" (82 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by Thorin @ 17:13 CDT, 25 March 2010 - iMsg

SK Gaming has released the second part of their 1on1 interview with

Shane "rapha" Hendrixson. The IEM IV World Champion talks about the experience of playing in front of "all those people standing and sitting".

Find out how throwing up a fourth time allowed rapha to decide to attend the IEM IV American Finals. The man with five tournament wins under his belt also talks about that period of time, after losing at the American Finals and in the Silent Gamers Cup to domestic rival

Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty, in which some were suggesting he was no longer the #1 Quake Live player.

rapha also references the infamous "five steps ahead" comment, referenced often on ESR, when it comes to which quality he defines in the world of Quake.

The interview can be watched at SK Gaming.

Part one for those looking to catch up.

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ESL Go4SC2 Cup Series with 900€ Monthly (33 comments)

( Major News: SC2)

Posted by Rondrian @ 09:54 CDT, 25 March 2010 - iMsg

Event: Go4SC2

The ESL revived an old Warcraft 3 brand with the Go4 cup series. It was one of the most established cup series in the early days of Warcraft 3 and now it is back for StarCraft II with weekly cups and a monthly final.

Every Saturday will be a cup with 100€ prize money and at the end of the month will be a monthly final with win 500€. The monthly final will be always on Thursday after the last Saturday Cup of a month, so on the last or first Thursday of a month. It will feature the top16 players from the monthly rankings and it will be streamed on ESL TV. There also will be cups on Wednesdays, where you can win points for the monthly ranking, but no prize money.

The first monthly final will be streamed at 13:00 CDT, 1 April 2010 on ESL TV. And the first Go4SC2 cup will start at 08:00 CDT, 27 March 2010, check in will start at 07:40 CDT, 27 March 2010 (Sign up & try to get the 100€).

Prizes & Points system

March schedule

April schedule

Links: Official Announcement, ESL SC2 Section, ESL Go4SC2 Cup #1,

#esl.go4sc2 - signed up players

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EMS6 QL TDM Qualifier #1 finished (19 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by xou @ 03:16 CDT, 24 March 2010 - iMsg

Event: EMS6

Scheduled: 14:00 CDT, 24 March 2010 to 16:40 CDT, 24 March 2010
Schedule: Passed

The qualification cup #1 for the EMS6 Quakelive TDM will take place tonight around 14:00 CDT after its check-ins which will start at 13:30 CDT (read more about the check-in system).

A maximum of 16 teams will be able to participate and the cup will use a single brackets and bo1 matches. The rules and map pool remain the same as the last season. The top3 teams will see themselves qualified for the EMS6.

Details

Qualification cups schedule

Qualified teams

Update: ESL TV will stream two matches tonight: one semifinal and the 3rd final. It should start around 22 CET!

Qualifier #1 standings

Next Qualifier will be Cup #2 on Sunday, 28th March 14:00 CDT (Sign up)!

Links: Sign up, Sign-ups list, Brackets,

#esl.quakelive
Stream: http://tv.holysh1t.net, ESL TV

8%

Draven: Secret Taekwondo Champion (134 comments)

( Major News: Gaming)

Posted by Liefje @ 17:01 CDT, 23 March 2010 - iMsg

With the lull in LAN tournaments I decided to interview someone in Quake who we don't really hear a lot from but is amongst the top players,

Jeffrey "draven" Debipersad. The interview covers a little bit about his life before high-level gaming, how he discovered Quake and some words of encouragement for any Quake players in Benelux.

Obligatory excerpt:

Read the interview (with this fascinating individual) over at Hello Liefje.

21%

QL 1v1 ESL Pro Series on ESL TV & infos (37 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by xou @ 10:51 CDT, 23 March 2010 - iMsg

Update: ESL TV will stream the EMS6 Qualif Cup1 instead of EPS Germany tonight.

Tomorrow, the

German EPS 16 will see one match of its Playday 5 game streamed on ESL TV with

2GD and

Joe. Starting around 16:15 CDT, PURRI will face majo and try to get his 5th victory (match details).

Meanwhile in the

Benelux section of ESL, the games for the new EPS 4 season were announced and, sadly, Trackmania Nations was picked over Quakelive. But the admins still decided to get a "supported" EPS for QL with hardware prizes and possible LAN finals. More informations about that in draven's news.

In the

Greek EPS 6, the players are now entering the Playday 3 and oNs already lost a game to the admin! In the

UK EPS 3, they're also getting into the 3rd Playday and already 7 matches are late.

Last but not least, the final of the

Spanish EPS 6 will be played at the Reus LAN Party 2010 this coming Saturday between AllteR and Sl1p around 12:00 CDT (match details).

Source: ESL

7%

Clanbase NC Semifinals (15 comments)

( Major News: QL)

Posted by PerpetualWar @ 02:55 CDT, 23 March 2010 - iMsg

Event: CB NC13

The first round in the playoff of the CB NC QL CTF is finished and the semi-finalists are already known. In the TDM NC, two quarter-finals will be played this week, while the other two semi-finalists will be waiting for their next opponents. Here is the schedule for the coming week:

TDM
16:30 CDT, 25 March 2010 | Hungary - United Kingdom
Streamed by Holysh1t, lvl^ and pingaql

Previous results

Links: Cup pages (CTF, TDM), Brackets (CTF, TDM),

Twitter

1%

Ready Up Radio Episode 13 (15 comments)

( Major News: Q3 QL SC2)

Posted by nineX @ 17:47 CDT, 22 March 2010 - iMsg

I know last time we tried to do a show live on Ustream and things just couldn't get pulled together in time, and an entire episode was lost. But we got everything together and we're back with friend of the show,

Rod "Slasher" Breslau, to discuss QuakeLive IEM World Championships, the upcoming QuakeCon event. We'll also talk about the StarCraft 2 beta, the upcoming PAX East convention, and other random bits of news going on in the community. The show will start at 22:00 CDT, 22 March 2010.

Head on over to the Ready Up Radio Ustream to catch us LIVE this week.

Link: Episode 13 VOD

Site summary for week ending 19 Mar (1 comment)

( Major News: ESR)

Posted by ESReality @ 18:00 CDT, 21 March 2010 - iMsg

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