GGL Wire

Jun

Paladyn takes over Digital Games Warcraft III Europe ladder

Filed under: 2008 Digital Games, Activision Blizzard, blizzard, Digital Games, iesbly4eg, navigraf, Przemek PGS.Paladyn Wado?, real time strategy, RTS, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

The battle of the RTS gamers continues in the 2008 Digital Games, with Przemek “Paladyn” Wadoń taking over first place in the European Warcraft III ladder.

Paladyn sports a 22-2 record, with a 10 game winning streak and 3200 points. Second place NaviGraF is mobbing around with a 15-14 record, 2930 points, and a 1W streak. Third place iesbly4eg is zooming up behind with a 16-3 record , 7W streak and 2720 points.

The RTS ladders promise to be among the most active in the DG program, so stay tuned for more updates about them as we get further into the competition. For now, congrats to Paladyn for leading the ladder!

Digital Games, News, E-Sports

Apr

SCForAll announces open tournament and giveaways

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, blizzard, real time strategy, RTS, scforall, starcraft, Tournament, worldwide

scforall logo SCForAll.com has announced a StarCraft tournament open to the public with 128 slots available. the 300th, 500th, and 1000th user will receive a free mousepad autographed by a Korean pro gamer.

Prizes will be awarded to players who place from 1st to 16th place. Shoutcasting will be provided for the best matches. All players are eligible, regardless of nationality.

The tournament format is single-elimination, best of three. Semi-finals are best of five, and finals are best of seven. All the details can be found at the post at SCForAll.com.

1 Comment

Apr

The ends of MMOs as we know them, Part 2

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, Auran, blizzard, Dan Gray, Fury, Guild Wars, Hellgate: London, massively multiplayer online rpg, MMORPG, NCsoft, player vs environment, player vs player, PVE, PVP, Sony Online Entertainment, the ends of MMOs, Vanguard, World of Warcraft

Continued from Part 1.

Vanguard sticks out as one of the biggest failures in MMORPG history. The game was praised as the hardcore player’s wet dream; promising as it was, the publisher made a crucial mistake by releasing the game before it was finished. The coding was largely incomplete, and the game required extensive polishing.

Without proper coding or optimization, the players who played Vanguard felt they had been sold an unfinished product. This lead many players to cancel their subscriptions and move on to another game. Furthermore,the developers were forced to spend their time fixing coding issues after the game was released.

Players left the game in droves, and Vanguard would become just another failed MMO. Vanguard 595

Hellgate: London had many of the same problems. Many players had the feeling that the game was unfinished when released and the developers should have been given more time. Even now, Hellgate: London players feel that the developers are still working to finish their game. Continued…

2 Comments

Opinion, News

William Singleton

Mar

Teamliquid.net Announces $10,000 StarCraft tournament

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, blizzard, e sports, Korea, real time strategy, RTS, starcraft, Teamliquid, Tournament

Team Liquid StarLeague

After six years as one of the most prominent sources of StarCraft news, TeamLiquid.net is hosting its own tournament for the international community: the TeamLiquid StarLeague. Broadcast live with experienced English commentators, the TSL will attempt to look and feel just like a professional Korean tournament.

On the eve of StarCraft’s 10th Anniversary, with thousands of viewers watching and a prize pool of over $10,000 at stake, you could be the champion in StarCraft’s most prestigious online international tournament ever.

There are no invites. Anyone can make it. The ambitious will enter, the determined will qualify, but only the best will be victorious.

Prizes will be awarded to the top 16 players. View the breakdown: Continued…

Dave Kuniski

Mar

E-Stars Seoul: Where east meets west

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, blizzard, Continental Cup Committee, E Stars Seoul, human, Night Elf, Orc, real time strategy, RTS, The Frozen Throne, undead, Warcraft III, Yoan ToD Merlo

E-Stars Seoul is set to take place July 24-27, 2008. Stars from the western European side of the world will be competing against the east Asian countries for both glory and prizes.

Candidates will be selected “50% from on-line poll result, 20% from achievements in 2007, 30% from the evaluation of the Continental Cup Committee,” according to E-Stars.

Voting will be open at http://www.estarsseoul.org.

Note: Yoan “ToD” Merlo, Warcraft III Human player, was not invited due to last year’s last minute drop involving a conflict with tournament organizers.

News

Mar

StarCraft movie - THE LAST HYDRALISK EXCLUSIVE TRAILER!!!

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, Battle.net, blizzard, larry the hydralisk, movie trailer, multiplayer, Online, real time strategy, RTS, SC2, SCII, StarCraft II

Not much to say here. Had no idea Blizzard was working on this!

2 Comments

News

Mar

StarCraft II’s Zerg re-emerge from the void

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, Battle.net, blizzard, multiplayer, Online, real time strategy, RTS, SC2, SCII, StarCraft II

Say hello to The Swarm. We’ve missed you! P.S- we’ve evolved.

Mar

Blizzard assists with Guitar Hero III expansion, builds for China, Korea

Filed under: Activision, Activision Blizzard, blizzard, China, Guitar Hero III, Korea, massively multiplayer online role playing game, mmo, PC bang, rhythm game, RPG, starcraft

Yes, that’s the correct headline.

As a result of the Activision/Vivendi merger, Blizzard (soon to be Activision-Blizzard) will be working on the Guitar Hero III expansion pack, helping bring the game to internet cafes in Korea and China.

The PC bang culture that birthed the professional StarCraft scene is going to get a dose of rhythm game action.

CEO Bobby Kotick also opened the door for a Guitar Hero MMO, something that could go over very well in Asian markets. Typically, Asian MMOs are free, but items, outfits, and other gear is bought on a microtransaction level–exactly the kind of thing you’d see a virtual rockstar doing.

Source: Shacknews

Catch up on the VoDs, player bios, and schedule at the GSI website!

Feb

GomTV Star Invitational: Finals preview & predictions

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, blizzard, Flash, GomTV, grand final, GSI, Korea, real time strategy, RTS, starcraft, Stork

The GSI comes to a close soon, with only two players remaining. Their paths to this match were long and hard-fought against other invitees. Proxy builds, cheese plays, and guerilla drops all played their role in bringing us to this final moment.

Flash’s path:

Flash > Savior, AnyTime, Mind in group play
Jaedong, AnyTime in elimination stage

Flash is on fire now, playing with unparalleled poise. He rose out of his group 3-0, then pushed out two favorites for event. His play against AnyTime in the semi-finals match on Blue Storm was incredible in both games. He managed to spot proxy gateways and adapted to AnyTime’s strategies each game. Though he took a loss on Katrina, a quick game on Baekmagoji tallied one more point in his favor. At a critical juncture in the match, Flash subtly moved a barracks and landed it to trap AnyTime’s units, changing their pathing into Flash’s favor. Unable to quickly finish the game on the second Blue Storm game, AnyTime bowed out after an all-in attack. Continued…

Read the full Q&A over at Battle.net.

Feb

Starcraft II: Q&A Batch 31!

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, Battle.net, blizzard, Karune, real time strategy, RTS, SC2, starcraft, StarCraft II

Another gameplay response from Karune arrives today, this time regarding some of the smaller details of the game. He mentions in his blog new Jackal units, supposedly replacing the all-time Terran favored vulture. These Jackals, built from the factory, have a “railgun” attack, similar in nature to Brood War’s Lurker. A snippet below:

2. Can a player order a Ghost in a Bunker to call Nukes and Drop Pods? baboonsy (Battle.net)

Yes, Terran infantry currently have all abilities except the SCV repair ability available for use while inside a bunker, including the use of Nukes and Drop Pods.

Abuse? Of course not, who would abuse something like that…*cough* BOXER *cough*!

Feb

NGL-One Finals wrap-up

Filed under: Activision Blizzard, blizzard, Fly100%, Lost Temple, Lucifer, multiplayer, MYM, NGL One, Online, PC Gaming, pro, real time strategy, RTS, StarCraft II, ToD, Warcraft III

The Warcraft III NGL-One finals took a long time to reach, with the last games of the season completed over a month ago. The pros stood strong against one another in NGL-One’s king of the hill format, leaving each other little room to breathe. Some rose to the occassion, some had their GG’s ready before sitting down. After all was said and done, MYM went home with another title under their belt, ready for another season.

Most valuable Player: MYM.Lucifer

No one can deny it. Lucifer began with knocking over mouz by himself, and clinching the final point for MYM to take away the win. His skill with the Undead race really came out this time; very in-sync in every game. Check his replays if you get the chance.

Most disappointing Player: Fly100%

Fly never made it to the finals because of logistics issues. His presence would’ve boosted mouz’s chances to win. Mouz’s lineup was simply not strong enough without him. Let’s hope he comes around next time.

Watch or Die: MYM.Lucifer v mouz.ToD (Lost Temple)

I couldn’t possibly write up a match report to do this game justice. Both players going Tri-Hero, ToD as mouz’s last resort, Lucifer hungry for the full-kill; if there’s one game you have to see, it’s this one.

Spectators’ nightmare: The maps

Seriously, while the Starcraft world has more maps for the pro leagues alone, Warcraft has suffered from the same old map pool for ages and ages. Blizzard, please, patch up Warcraft before Starcraft II comes out.