Just got back and boy have I been waiting for this weekend to happen for awhile now!
From the moment I saw that tickets were only going to be $25.00 I knew this weekend was going to be awesome! Seeing Starcraft 2 on the main stage and having amazing casters cast the games was great( and especially having your friends there as well) how do Huksy, Mr. Bitter, Day9 and djWHEAT do it so well!!??
Everything went smoothly on the production side from what I could tell some minor lag on the first day but that is something quickly forgotten and fixed. The players were easily approachable, even the koreans! Pictures could be easily taken and conversations with random people were common occurrences and games were not in short supply, EVER!
The people who we were around(the fans) were straight up baller nerds who proved why Starcraft 2 has an awesome community. I mean during every match you could feel the emotion during every single match. Something important gets killed ooooo's went out through the crowd a big battle goes in favor of a player cheers would go out.
Now the ONE thing I must say that could be fixed is the seating. Everyday at least 30-40% of the crowd did not have a seat and had to stand. It is not an end all be all but after standing for three days straight ALL day it can be kind of rough. But again, this is easily forgotten.
All the games were fantastic even though most went 2-0. The finals were a blast as well NO SPOILERS HERE! Hearing that the stream shattered records from Columbus in terms of people who were watching AND the number of people who clicked on hopefully can mean more sponsorship money for the future.
In conclusion a big thank you to all the guys at MLG, the players and the fellow nerds for making this weekend a great time.
And of course a never ending supply of Dr. Pepper made it all the more sweeter
yeah, the biggest problem was that there weren't enough seats... :/ My feet were dying day 2 and 3. I swear, it's hell standing through an hour long game, especially boxer vs mma.
Spent the whole weekend chilling with the FXO crew (SloG is fucking awesome, Sup son!) and team dignitas + kiwikaki. Was super chill, got to go to the IPL prolounge and had a great time overall.
I agree seating was rough but you never can have enough chairs at these events, it's inevitable, I just wish the security wasn't as mean to people who just wanted to sit behind stages 1 and 2 to watch. Or at least be consistent about it (they were letting people sit on stages 1 and 2 for halo to watch their final but wouldn't let us sit on sc2's stages 1 and 2 to watch our semis).
Oh and big shoutout to Dignitas Odee. he was fucking awesome the whole weekend! And Choya is a fucking awesomely hilarious person with the best Thor impression ever.
Thanks for the writeups! Has MLG released anything about those numbers? That's pretty awesome if there were that many viewers for SC2, maybe we can actually reach Sundance's goal ^_^
May I know if it was just the mic arrangement or was the crowd less lively than the Columbus one. From the stream, it seemed the reaction was quite lackluster considering BoxeR was there and the #1 plz moment and him throwing the t-shirt to the crowd should have made an explosion.
Okay, how enthusiastic was the crowd in person? Judging from the streams, it sounded like the crowd was weaker compared to the last MLG and NASL. The only time I heard cheering was when MMA or BoxeR was playing (didn't watch that many matches)...
I'm still in Nerdawe after getting home. I saw some many awesome people, Fans and Pros. Got to tell QXC he is a total baller. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!
EDIT:
On August 01 2011 15:14 zoLo wrote: Okay, how enthusiastic was the crowd? Judging from the streams, it sounded like the crowd was weaker compared to the last MLG and NASL. The only time I heard cheering was when MMA or BoxeR was playing (didn't watch that many matches)...
This (for me at least) was because there was other noises going on from Halo and COD, and announcements were going on at random. It was so awesome to hear the casters live, but it wasn't like having my head phones on with 100% attention in the game and listening. Then again I was standing in the back
Amazing weekend. I just got back into San Diego. I agree with the seating. We had to get there early every morning just to snag seats, and then it was almost like you were glued to them, because the moment you got up there were people on the prowl for seats. Other than the seating, which I already knew would be a problem, it was an amazing event, and I'm so happy I went. The crowd was insane all weekend, especially when Jinro dropped that nuke.
On August 01 2011 15:14 zoLo wrote: Okay, how enthusiastic was the crowd in person? Judging from the streams, it sounded like the crowd was weaker compared to the last MLG and NASL. The only time I heard cheering was when MMA or BoxeR was playing (didn't watch that many matches)...
The crowd did seem pretty unenthusiastic from the stream, and it was also disappointing how many people left right after final and before the awards ceremony.
I new to SC2 and it was my first esport event and I thought Anaheim was incredible. The crowd was massive and excited but did not really achieve its full potential in decibels. Despite there being so many people there the event felt intimate.
The lack of chairs was a little frustrating and I feel like the crowd would have had a lot more energy if enough chairs had been provided and a little more filler was given in between series.
Saturday night White-Ra on the mainstage was not particularly special gameplay-wise but the storyline and passion of the crowd was epic
The viewers were somewhere between 100k-150k, I think Day9 said he would unbutton one of his button on his shirts for every 50k viewers. Also I am pretty sure that the number 100k was thrown out on saturday but it could be higher for today's games.
If I am wrong please correct me
Edit:
I would like to add another note
The camera's/pictures don't do the crowd enough justice. During Boxer vs Rain the crowd went very VERY far back to the point you couldn't really capture it with the camera's they had on the crowd.
The crowd was amazingly loud, audible from OUTSIDE the venue when boxer was winning or making key plays (people I was with were taking smoke breaks).
I dunno what the stream did to dull it out, but I do know that if the stream noise comes specifically from only the MICS of the casters, than there's a reason it was so quiet, as day9 and wheat were in a completely separate area from the stage floor (as evident by day9 coming out of a side entrance when he said he'd come out for autographs)
On August 01 2011 15:14 zoLo wrote: Okay, how enthusiastic was the crowd in person? Judging from the streams, it sounded like the crowd was weaker compared to the last MLG and NASL. The only time I heard cheering was when MMA or BoxeR was playing (didn't watch that many matches)...
HELL NO, we were cheering for every little thing and we loved it. I talked to a few guys from Columbus and they said Anaheim was much louder and enthusiastic.
MLG had a lot of space to work with so I am pretty sure that they had the casters on another floor away from the crowd itself.
EPT
