http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/After_Hours_Gaming_League
Imagine, if you will, a bunch of people with full time jobs, many with real children, wives, and careers. Now imagine that they were given the opportunity to play in booths, with a live audience in Santa Monica, California, with some of the best casters in the world watching their every move, along with 15,000 members of the internet.
Welcome to AHGL.
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/After_Hours_Gaming_League_2#Playoffs
First, read the interviews between the two featured players
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UKSC from Epic (Epic won over Twitter, Amazon, and Adobe to get to the finals):
http://afterhoursgaming.tv/starcraft-2-season-2/teams/epic/dan-sprenger/
What do you do for a living?
I troubleshoot technical issues with Epic’s pharmaceutical application. I also dabble in light development for Willow (said application).
Thudbang from IBM (IBM won over Zynaga, QualComm, and Nvidia to get to the finals):
http://afterhoursgaming.tv/starcraft-2-season-2/teams/ibm/brian-green/
What do you do for a living?
I work on software that helps people manage their computers.
What do you love about your job?
I love writing software. I love seeing an abstract idea become reality via code.
Who is the best player on your team? Why?
Probably Zai. He's famous on the internet!
The Interviews should tell you everything that you need to know as to why this tournment was, at the very least, not going to be the same old boring story.
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The interviews are actually the most entertaining things to read. Check out IBM, for example (website....may be down)
you can see all the teams here: http://afterhoursgaming.tv/starcraft-2-season-2/teams/
Photoset:
Click here to see larger photographs
Huge congrats to Epic, taking down IBM and donating 5000 USD to Doctors Without Borders (check out Epic's shirts). Huge thanks to Red Bull and Day[9] for hosting it and inviting us, and all of the other sponsors and supporters of this league. It's great to live in Southern California and see local Esports grow ^_^ Day[9] and AHGL put on a great production, and Red Bull has a great location in the heart of LA.
If you want to know more, you may want to check out itsjustatank's pictures here as well:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=331442
And of course, everything is on liquipedia in addition to the AHGL site ^_^
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And a huge personal thanks to redbull, as I left some very expensive object at their HQ, and their security team was great enough to pick it up for me. You may see this post edited with more pictures when I'm able to pick it back up.