MLG is the big fish in North America, and Starcraft 2 is the newest addition to its Pro Circuit. Starcraft 2 will debut at MLG Raleigh on August 27th-29th. It will be the largest ever Pro Circuit Competition and the 50th of its kind. Fans from around North America will be watching the event, and this may be their first introduction to Starcraft 2, allowing an unprecedented chance for Starcraft 2 progaming to gain a foothold on this chunk of land between the Pacific and Atlantic. There's a lot to like about MLG taking on Starcraft 2, and not only because of exposure, prize money, and high level competition.
Why, exactly? Well, in addition to TLAF-Liquid'Tyler competing in the event, TeamLiquid's very own Hot_Bid and intrigue will help administer the event, and Day[9] will be commentating along with many other great casters. From the very beginning, TeamLiquid and its users have been involved in helping MLG promote Starcraft 2 competitively through forum feedback. MLG Raleigh will be a tremendous chance for Starcraft 2 to gain fans and reach wider audiences in North America.
The Hosts
Founded in 2002, MLG is one of the oldest professional gaming organizations in North America and the world. Raleigh will be MLG's 50th Pro Circuit event, bringing a combination of professionalism and experience that Starcraft 2 will greatly benefit from.
MLG is the most recognizable professional gaming brand in North America, and has hosted professional competitions for such titles as Super Smash Brothers Melee, Halo 3, and Tekken 6. They will host five Pro Circuit Stops culminating in a national championship, offering over $700,000 in prizes across its games and events, all of which we can expect to see great games and high level insight in.
The Spectacle
The tournament will be a 64-man open bracket. The format is double elimination, best of 3 per match, with the winners of the brackets taking each other on for champion of the event. The top 8 will receive cash prizes for a total of 7000 USD with the following breakdown:
The seeding for future events will be based on a point system determined by MLG by means of their Pro Circuit Starcraft 2 Rank Points, but for this event the seeding will be random. Many familiar faces will be making the trek out to Raleigh and filling the brackets, including TLAF-Liquid'Tyler, qxc, HuK, Gretorp, Sheth, LzGamer, KiwiKaki, CauthonLuck, and PainUser, as well as many others.
There is more at stake than simply prizes, as placing high at MLG Raleigh and MLG D.C. (Oct. 15-17) help players earn points to qualify for MLG's National Championships in Dallas (Nov. 5-7). At Dallas, the prizes are traditionally 4-5 times higher than at their regular Pro Circuit events, and thus the total prize pool for all three MLG SC2 events this year could exceed $50,000. That's more than enough to entice the best players out to play.
Undoubtedly the greatest part of this event will be the live stage and live crowd, something that MLG brings more naturally and easily than any other gaming organization in North America. We'll get to see Liquid take the stage for the first time in Raleigh, with TLAF-Liquid'Tyler holding down the North American front while fellow Liquid members make preparations for invading Korean shores.
How to Watch
Here, TeamLiquid.netizens, are the magic words: A stream. For free. MLG promised that, as usual, they will provide a stream on their website free of charge, with high level commentary spearheaded by the magical, charismatic Sean Plott. Some shows and features will pepper the lay time between matches, adding some intriguing production value and a better look at what MLG adds to Starcraft 2.
How can you watch? All you have to do is go to their homepage (http://www.mlgpro.com/) and follow the link to the free stream. Alternatively, you can pay $10 for MLG HD and watch the entire event in 480p. So, tune in this Friday and Saturday and support this big step forward for Starcraft 2 and progaming in North America. We'll see great games, high quality production and video, and stellar organization surrounded by an enthusiastic live audience, with the winners taking away considerable cash. TeamLiquid is proud to add MLG to the number of events it covers, and we look forward to all their future events.
For more insight into MLG's plans for StarCraft 2, the Pro Circuit Raleigh event, and Major League Gaming in general, check out our in-depth interview with MLG representative Lee Chen here.
On August 24 2010 09:56 Kraz.Del wrote: It seemed like you avoided saying the names of the other two casters, Husky and HDstarcraft.
There's three other casters, including JP. Please keep your conspiracy theories out of here. That paragraph was intending to show that TL users were involved with MLG, and Day[9] is obviously the closest tied to us. Our staff has a very good relationship with HD and Husky -- just ask them .
You have Day headlining a great casting team, along with JP, HD, and Husky. TL certainly approves of your choices. What made you pick these casters and do you plan on working with the same casters in the future? We’ve actually been talking with Sean, JP, Alex and Mike for quite a while now. Day9 and JP have both worked with Marc Turner (MLG’s PC stream director and producer) on the MLG King of the Beta Hill streams and tournament, and I’ve been a long-time fan of Sean’s. He’s hysterical. JP was an obvious choice to me for the stream. Marc and JP worked together closely around the WoW show and JP and I have worked together back during GotFrag. HD and Husky are both outstanding talents who are a great team. I’m just getting to know them, but I’ve contributed a significant share of their Youtube view counts :D. The team we have right now is the one we’re looking forward to working with for a long time to come. Every one of our casters has a great blend of personality, in depth game knowledge and the ability to translate that into commentary that’s exciting and interesting to the diehard fans and the new comers to the SC2 scene.
On August 24 2010 10:10 s2pid_loser wrote: if its $10 for 1280x720 High Definition whats the streaming quality for free?
Probably something close to 480p or 320p, is my guess. Standard YouTube quality, if that helps. Maybe a little blurry? I dunno, I haven't watched much MLG, maybe a couple of WoW tournaments and they looked good enough for free streams.
On August 24 2010 10:10 s2pid_loser wrote: if its $10 for 1280x720 High Definition whats the streaming quality for free?
Probably something close to 480p or 320p, is my guess. Standard YouTube quality, if that helps. Maybe a little blurry? I dunno, I haven't watched much MLG, maybe a couple of WoW tournaments and they looked good enough for free streams.
Correction, the $10 HD stream is 480p and the free stream is 450Kbit @ 360.
I hope this isn't the start of the end for SC2. MLG has seemed like a disaster in the past...
Also, the pic under the words "the spectacle" looks like it was placed under those words as a joke.
I know that every MLG promise so far ought to have been taken with a grain of salt, but the content they provided when they decided to has been excellent. I'm sure the production value will be excellent and I know I'll be one of the mindless horde tuning in.
I'm sure it will be a treat for these MLG guys to see a REAL game played for once! Seriously, though, it's always encouraging to hear about SC spreading to new players. Hopefully this first showing at MLG will be a hit!
Sounds amazing, if I wasn't off to a running camp this weekend I would definitely be tuning in. Hopefully they throw some VOD's up so I don't miss a chance to her Sean commentate on some stellar play!
480p is nowhere near HD, you can barely tell the difference from 360p. The free stream is going to have such shit quality. I just don't understand why all these major tournaments elect to have such bad streams.
Oh well, at least we don't have to use Octoshape. And otherwise it sounds good.
premium stream = support for e-sports. As much as you love or dislike MLG, they're putting out a show for all of us to enjoy and this inaugural tournament for SC2 will have a huge impact on the e-sports scene in North America. Looking forward to it
On August 24 2010 11:04 Ichabod wrote: Guess I won't leave my room this coming weekend, sounds great! (and hopefully won't mess with US SC watchers sleep schedules as much as IEM )
Oh yeah... Forgot about the time thing. In that case I might watch the VODs if I hear good things.
On August 24 2010 09:48 Nithix wrote: The premium stream is only $10? Nice, I might actually throw down some money to watch it in 720p. =) Good luck to everyone playing!
On August 24 2010 10:22 thopol wrote: I hope this isn't the start of the end for SC2. MLG has seemed like a disaster in the past...
Also, the pic under the words "the spectacle" looks like it was placed under those words as a joke.
I know that every MLG promise so far ought to have been taken with a grain of salt, but the content they provided when they decided to has been excellent. I'm sure the production value will be excellent and I know I'll be one of the mindless horde tuning in.
...Good lord, I'm such a hater...
FYI the 'spectacle' picture, was in the hallway prior to our event doors opening....
I'm curious as to how the casting duties will be split. I'm assuming we're not going to have 4 casters for a single match, so will it be Day/JP alternating games with Husky/HD, or will we mix it up a bit more? It'd be interesting to see a Day/HD or Husky/JP combo.
I've paid for the MLG stream in the past and it's quite good, much better than the premium IEM stream for example. It makes sense that they wanna put the bitrate on a level where almost everyone can handle it, a lot of people are still stuck at 2Mbit and the like.
I seem to recall that the stream had a pause/rewind function in the past, that was really nice.
hmmm.... I think more work should be done wrt the streams... ESL.tv was criticized for their poor premium stream which is shadowed by the free glhf stream... their free stream was close to unwatchable due to lag (on the 1st day) and rather "unreasonable quality" (gives me a feeling that they show an extra ugly stream on purpose so people who cannot tolerate it would buy premium...)
I also hope the tournament would be better organized than IEM's... watching an hour for quake to finish, then watching 15 minutes of commercial... followed by 20 minutes of free t-shirt giveaways feels like a great waste of time (enough for me to do all the chores in house!)...
On August 24 2010 10:55 Streltsy wrote: 480p is nowhere near HD, you can barely tell the difference from 360p. The free stream is going to have such shit quality. I just don't understand why all these major tournaments elect to have such bad streams.
Oh well, at least we don't have to use Octoshape. And otherwise it sounds good.
The IEM stream's quality was so bad, they can probably use livestream or ustream and get much better quality. I wasn't sure if there was a "paid" higher quality version though... if there was it would explain a lot.
On August 24 2010 10:22 thopol wrote: I hope this isn't the start of the end for SC2. MLG has seemed like a disaster in the past...
Also, the pic under the words "the spectacle" looks like it was placed under those words as a joke.
I know that every MLG promise so far ought to have been taken with a grain of salt, but the content they provided when they decided to has been excellent. I'm sure the production value will be excellent and I know I'll be one of the mindless horde tuning in.
...Good lord, I'm such a hater...
FYI the 'spectacle' picture, was in the hallway prior to our event doors opening....
EDIT: deleted.. that was just dick. I'm just going to wander out of this thread....
On August 24 2010 09:48 Nithix wrote: The premium stream is only $10? Nice, I might actually throw down some money to watch it in 720p. =) Good luck to everyone playing!
Admin note: MLG $10 HD stream is 480p, not 720p.
Wow, $10 for 480p? Is that a joke?
The bitrate is relevant too. You'll see yourself when you watch the regular stream because they give little previews of the high quality stream. It's a nice bump up in quality. The free stream is still good enough quality (should be comparable to the best livestream.com streams)
the mlg free wow stream (and ssbm before it) has been horrible in the past, but the halo free stream has been pretty good. I'm hoping the sc2 stream will be allocated a decent amount of bandwidth and admin attention so it is more similar to the halo experience than the wow or ssbm experiences
On August 24 2010 11:58 Antoine wrote: the mlg free wow stream (and ssbm before it) has been horrible in the past, but the halo free stream has been pretty good. I'm hoping the sc2 stream will be allocated a decent amount of bandwidth and admin attention so it is more similar to the halo experience than the wow or ssbm experiences
The Tekken stream has been fine, especially at Columbus.
Gotta say, though, I'm happy to pay $10 if it'll help out MLG SC2.
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
If you commit to getting a 720p stream up in the future you have my money. I just hope you use someone's CDN so the stream is as lag free as possible worldwide.
On August 24 2010 10:55 Streltsy wrote: 480p is nowhere near HD, you can barely tell the difference from 360p. The free stream is going to have such shit quality. I just don't understand why all these major tournaments elect to have such bad streams.
Oh well, at least we don't have to use Octoshape. And otherwise it sounds good.
Not everyone has the connection to support 720p. Did you ever think about that?
Cant wait for this to start, never really heard of MLG before this, but even though I dont quite get the console pro gaming, Im very happy for the us (and sc2 in general) scene that they take in SC2. They seem like a nice organisation, not afraid of taking and using feedback from the gaming community.
Im still nervous about this whole "everyones chance" thing. The open registration is one thing, but no seeding could really hurt the tournament. Im fearing a big bracket where 90% of the known players end up in the same bracket tree and alot of nobodies goes deep because of it. Even double elemination cant really take away that threat.
Oh well, lets see how it works out, and anyway, with the seeding system, it should only be a issue at this first event, of hopefully many to come. Still excited!
On August 24 2010 11:58 Antoine wrote: the mlg free wow stream (and ssbm before it) has been horrible in the past, but the halo free stream has been pretty good. I'm hoping the sc2 stream will be allocated a decent amount of bandwidth and admin attention so it is more similar to the halo experience than the wow or ssbm experiences
The Tekken stream has been fine, especially at Columbus.
Gotta say, though, I'm happy to pay $10 if it'll help out MLG SC2.
This! I would be reeeeeally sad if SC2 scene was not developing. I am so glad it is! Thank you MLG (too) ^^
I always bought the 480 for past events and it is much more noticeable, especially during the finals when more tune in, the free one goes down in quality fast. MLG has never been a disaster for me as a spectator.
I've followed MLG for years starting with Gears of War and then moving on to Gears of War 2. Sadly if a game doesn't attract a large crowd then MLG takes it off the circuit in a heartbeat. This has happened recently to Gears 2 and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2.
If you don't know a lot about Starcraft then it can be quite boring to watch, so I doubt it will attract anyone from the big Halo venue.
If Starcraft does manage to attract a lot more Americans to the game and it can actually compete with the popularity of MLG's flagship game Halo then it can mean great things for Major League Gaming and Blizzard.
The pro Gears of War 2 player Immortal Spawn is supposedly signed up to play Starcraft 2.
Edit: MLG always keeps the VOD's forever. You can still watch the original Gears and Halo 2 on the website. Not to mention they're very well organized. MLG has never disappointed me with stream quality but, like Gears, you'll probably have to watch a crowd stare at the camera for a while between matches.
On August 24 2010 10:55 Streltsy wrote: 480p is nowhere near HD, you can barely tell the difference from 360p. The free stream is going to have such shit quality. I just don't understand why all these major tournaments elect to have such bad streams.
Oh well, at least we don't have to use Octoshape. And otherwise it sounds good.
Not everyone has the connection to support 720p. Did you ever think about that?
No, and I didn't mean to sound so negative. I'm just fed up after IEM VoDs.
I'm sure it'll be a great event, I just want to be able to watch it easily and clearly.
Wow, Day9 got major headline status in the article. I feel like JP, Husky, and HD need some love as well.
In any case, I'm excited for some top quality Starcraft in North America. Here's to hoping it only gets bigger from here.
Also, does anyone know why they picked Raleigh for the location? Nothing against the city or anything, I'm just surprised it wasn't San Fran, or LA or New York, or something like that.
I know there's been a couple of posts about how there's only one TLO... But how is our community Deity Day9 going to continue to fly all over the planet to commentate..
Ah, that sucks that its not 720p. Oh well, I'll still buy it probably. I like when I can see the units and stuff. ;D 10 bucks is nothing anyway, lets be honest. I just won't each lunch Friday, whatevers. <3
On August 24 2010 13:05 Displace77 wrote: If you don't know a lot about Starcraft then it can be quite boring to watch, so I doubt it will attract anyone from the big Halo venue.
Judging by the overall response to the announcement of SC2 addition and on the growing amount of strategy articles we've put together for MLGpro.com, more than a few gamers who traditionally have favored console FPS titles have started getting into testing the waters of ladder 1v1. I think everyone (myself included) will end up being surprised at the amount of on-site spectators at Raleigh.
On top of that, there seems to be quite a few TL readers that are either local or planning on road-tripping it down to North Carolina. If anyone is planning on making the trip or interested in arranging a place to crash, there's a TL meet-up thread.
This weekend is gonna be a blast, if you have the means you should definitely come hang out!
Thank you for the nice write-up! Honestly, it had slipped my mind that MLG Raleigh was coming up so soon, so this was a nice reminder. Sadly, I won't be able to attend or watch it live most likely, but I'll certainly be awaiting the VODs to hear some great commentary from Day[9], JP, HD, and Husky.
I'm really excited about the solid line-up of invitees and the large prize pool - it makes me pretty certain that MLG and their dedicated, community-loving staff believes that StarCraft 2 will be popular and will catch on with their fantastic operation, which bodes very well for furthering both StarCraft 2 and e-sports in general in North America! To all attending: travel safely, and GL HF!
Shrew you've been the liason for stream issues for wow streams in the past and so I imagine you know about the complaints about the free streams there, will the free sc2 stream be about that quality or more of the halo (or apparently tekken) quality?
On August 24 2010 14:18 Antoine wrote: Shrew you've been the liason for stream issues for wow streams in the past and so I imagine you know about the complaints about the free streams there, will the free sc2 stream be about that quality or more of the halo (or apparently Tekken) quality?
I have absolutely no idea what the Halo/Tekken guys are doing with their setup so I can't really say how it will compare bitrate wise.
As far as being the liason for stream questions or issues, MLG now has a dedicated team of about 10 guys on-site whose sole purpose on earth for that weekend is to field any and all inquires that viewers have about the HD stream and to provide solutions swiftly. Failure on their part is rumored to result in seppoku style death as per their contract, at which point your inquiry will be assigned to another support staff.
I can't really put into words how much this weekend will mean to me after being with MLG for as long as I have. The players, the community, the casters, and the staff all combine into an immeasurable level of hype to me and I really have had a hard time sleeping with my mind racing.
If you plan on attending the event in person, please feel free to stop me, Day9, HD, Husky, or any MLG staff if you see us passing by just to say hey. We may be insanely busy but I promise you it will mean a ton to us.
since MLG guys are actually responding in this thread, i'm having a hard time wrapping my head around 4 commentators. i've been watching MLG since 06-07 and a lot of the things that have been happening with this first event, i can relate to other games being started up so things like 32 spontaneously becoming 64 and it being an open tourney don't surprise me... but 4 commentators is new to me. do they rotate in and out or what?
On August 24 2010 14:57 Herculix wrote: since MLG guys are actually responding in this thread, i'm having a hard time wrapping my head around 4 commentators. i've been watching MLG since 06-07 and a lot of the things that have been happening with this first event, i can relate to other games being started up so things like 32 spontaneously becoming 64 and it being an open tourney don't surprise me... but 4 commentators is new to me. do they rotate in and out or what?
We will be rotating out during each series and possibly switching up casting partners as well.
$10 is nothing. I encourage everyone to pay the 10 bucks even if they think they can tolerate the lower quality free stream. Nobody is forcing anyone to pay, but if you are into making SC2 huge then donating 10 measly dollars is the least anyone could do. Sometimes its better to just help others out rather than whining about stream quality and 480p vs whatever etc. Ive given bums on the street 10 bucks for no reason. Tossing a couple bucks to a company that is putting their shit on the line to make SC2 bigger is worth it, regardless of whether 480p is true HD or not.
I have been watching the events for years (halo 3) and mlg does a great job with its live stream, the free quality is perfectly adequate. And unlike recent events *cough* IEM the vods are actually watchable!
On August 24 2010 15:37 Mellotron wrote: $10 is nothing. I encourage everyone to pay the 10 bucks even if they think they can tolerate the lower quality free stream. Nobody is forcing anyone to pay, but if you are into making SC2 huge then donating 10 measly dollars is the least anyone could do. Sometimes its better to just help others out rather than whining about stream quality and 480p vs whatever etc. Ive given bums on the street 10 bucks for no reason. Tossing a couple bucks to a company that is putting their shit on the line to make SC2 bigger is worth it, regardless of whether 480p is true HD or not.
Consider it a donation.
Well its not exactly a donation, we're definitely working our tails off to deliver a fun, exciting expierience for everyone that watches regardless of if they use the free or HD stream.
It is very much an investment though. Sales of the HD Weekend Pass are the driving force behind the amount of resources we have for all future SC2 events. More sales equals the potential for higher prize pools, better tech toys for the stream, larger fields of competitions with more PCs, Advil for the ubiquitous stress headaches we get on competition weekend. All kinds of stuff!
We're not asking for a hand-out, we're asking for your belief in our ability to bring you the most bad-ass Starcraft tournaments in North America. If you show your faith in us, we'll return the favor by exponentially improving ourselves to better serve you and competitive Starcraft's future.
On August 24 2010 15:17 itmeJP wrote: We will be rotating out during each series and possibly switching up casting partners as well.
WOAH! Now that will be interesting! I was already pumped on watching but now I almost want to watch just to see how the different casting duos perform.
Ahhh! There's too many awesome SC tournaments happening, guess I'll need to get my dose of Vitamin D during the week because I won't be going outside during the weekends.
On August 24 2010 15:37 Mellotron wrote: $10 is nothing. I encourage everyone to pay the 10 bucks even if they think they can tolerate the lower quality free stream. Nobody is forcing anyone to pay, but if you are into making SC2 huge then donating 10 measly dollars is the least anyone could do. Sometimes its better to just help others out rather than whining about stream quality and 480p vs whatever etc. Ive given bums on the street 10 bucks for no reason. Tossing a couple bucks to a company that is putting their shit on the line to make SC2 bigger is worth it, regardless of whether 480p is true HD or not.
Consider it a donation.
Well its not exactly a donation, we're definitely working our tails off to deliver a fun, exciting expierience for everyone that watches regardless of if they use the free or HD stream.
It is very much an investment though. Sales of the HD Weekend Pass are the driving force behind the amount of resources we have for all future SC2 events. More sales equals the potential for higher prize pools, better tech toys for the stream, larger fields of competitions with more PCs, Advil for the ubiquitous stress headaches we get on competition weekend. All kinds of stuff!
We're not asking for a hand-out, we're asking for your belief in our ability to bring you the most bad-ass Starcraft tournaments in North America. If you show your faith in us, we'll return the favor by exponentially improving ourselves to better serve you and competitive Starcraft's future.
I don't think you should paint it as any HD pass bought equates to more money going into SC2, you are an event company and I seriously doubt you can exclusively put money into one area. Also WoW still has a bigger prize pool even though its absolute crap competetively and Halo has a freaking HUGE prize pool. Seems like its just a bit foolish stating something like 10 dollars = more SC when that surely depends on other factors.
Do anyone know, will there only be a live stream? Or will the videos also be uploaded after they are played? I wont be able to watch that weekend, but if you can just watch them afterwards, i will happily pay the 10$ to get it in better quality.
On August 24 2010 17:49 DasHawk wrote: Do anyone know, will there only be a live stream? Or will the videos also be uploaded after they are played? I wont be able to watch that weekend, but if you can just watch them afterwards, i will happily pay the 10$ to get it in better quality.
Please make sure to say hi to me if you see me at the event. As JP already said, we actually have a completely packed schedule the entire event, but I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible!
Plus, you can make fun of me in person if you think I'm the worst caster ever!
On August 24 2010 17:46 bmml wrote: I don't think you should paint it as any HD pass bought equates to more money going into SC2, you are an event company and I seriously doubt you can exclusively put money into one area. Also WoW still has a bigger prize pool even though its absolute crap competetively and Halo has a freaking HUGE prize pool. Seems like its just a bit foolish stating something like 10 dollars = more SC when that surely depends on other factors.
WoW has a big prize pool because it has had a lot of viewers and sold a lot of HD passes in the past. Halo has a freaking huge prize pool because it has a freaking huge amount of viewers and great sponsorships. This is the first time SC2 is on MLG, it's still unproven, but if there are a lot of viewers on the SC2 stream and it sells a lot of HD passes then you can bet it's coming back with bigger prize pools.
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
Ugh, it was a pain watching IEM in 4:3 on my widescreen TV. Hopefully you guys will be set up in widescreen for the next SC2 tournament.
I don't get how this pro-gaming organizations think people are watching this on their computer monitors (and come to think of it, my new computer monitor is widescreen anyway!!).
On August 24 2010 11:32 Hikari wrote: hmmm.... I think more work should be done wrt the streams... ESL.tv was criticized for their poor premium stream which is shadowed by the free glhf stream... their free stream was close to unwatchable due to lag (on the 1st day) and rather "unreasonable quality" (gives me a feeling that they show an extra ugly stream on purpose so people who cannot tolerate it would buy premium...)
I also hope the tournament would be better organized than IEM's... watching an hour for quake to finish, then watching 15 minutes of commercial... followed by 20 minutes of free t-shirt giveaways feels like a great waste of time (enough for me to do all the chores in house!)...
If you had just checked the schedule on esl.eu you'd have seen when the games start in advance and not wasted time watching those things. And MLG loves their ads.
I've watched lots of MLG WoW streams and the HD version is actually very good quality if it's the same as they have used previously. Sure it might only be 480p which is not HD but the bitrate is good and it's one of the best streams I've ever watched quality wise.
10$ is worth it if you plan to catch the majority of the games imo.
On August 24 2010 11:32 Hikari wrote: hmmm.... I think more work should be done wrt the streams... ESL.tv was criticized for their poor premium stream which is shadowed by the free glhf stream... their free stream was close to unwatchable due to lag (on the 1st day) and rather "unreasonable quality" (gives me a feeling that they show an extra ugly stream on purpose so people who cannot tolerate it would buy premium...)
I also hope the tournament would be better organized than IEM's... watching an hour for quake to finish, then watching 15 minutes of commercial... followed by 20 minutes of free t-shirt giveaways feels like a great waste of time (enough for me to do all the chores in house!)...
If you had just checked the schedule on esl.eu you'd have seen when the games start in advance and not wasted time watching those things. And MLG loves their ads.
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
Ugh, it was a pain watching IEM in 4:3 on my widescreen TV. Hopefully you guys will be set up in widescreen for the next SC2 tournament.
I don't get how this pro-gaming organizations think people are watching this on their computer monitors (and come to think of it, my new computer monitor is widescreen anyway!!).
It's 16: 9.
For those of you with questions about the stream, here's the breakdown:
Freestream: 640x360 resolution 16: 9 aspect ratio 450Kbit
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
Ugh, it was a pain watching IEM in 4:3 on my widescreen TV. Hopefully you guys will be set up in widescreen for the next SC2 tournament.
I don't get how this pro-gaming organizations think people are watching this on their computer monitors (and come to think of it, my new computer monitor is widescreen anyway!!).
It's 16: 9.
For those of you with questions about the stream, here's the breakdown:
Freestream: 640x360 resolution 16: 9 aspect ratio 450Kbit
HD Stream: 16: 9 aspect ratio 480p 1.6Mbit
edit: had to get rid of wierd smilies.
Nice! Thanks for the clarification, MLG_Lee.
This sounds way better than the IEM Premium, for a much lower price. I'll probably pick this up.
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
Ugh, it was a pain watching IEM in 4:3 on my widescreen TV. Hopefully you guys will be set up in widescreen for the next SC2 tournament.
I don't get how this pro-gaming organizations think people are watching this on their computer monitors (and come to think of it, my new computer monitor is widescreen anyway!!).
ESL has always been heavily focused on PC fps titles like QL and CS. These games are always played on CRT monitors with high refresh rates so it makes sense that their streaming setup is 4:3. Even WC3 does not support widescreen afaik. Hopefully they will update their streaming capabilities soon.
Looking forward to this... Ive watched MLG a few times before and the free stream was easily watchable. Better than the recent ESL stream from memory but i might pick up the HD stream anyway. Especially as ill props watch a bit of Halo aswell.
On August 24 2010 10:19 MLG_Lee wrote: Thanks for the correction Hot_Bid. 720p is coming, but that's a pretty hefty bandwidth pipe that you'll need on the download side.
Ugh, it was a pain watching IEM in 4:3 on my widescreen TV. Hopefully you guys will be set up in widescreen for the next SC2 tournament.
I don't get how this pro-gaming organizations think people are watching this on their computer monitors (and come to think of it, my new computer monitor is widescreen anyway!!).
It's 16: 9.
For those of you with questions about the stream, here's the breakdown:
Freestream: 640x360 resolution 16: 9 aspect ratio 450Kbit
HD Stream: 16: 9 aspect ratio 480p 1.6Mbit
edit: had to get rid of wierd smilies.
Nice! Thanks for the clarification, MLG_Lee.
This sounds way better than the IEM Premium, for a much lower price. I'll probably pick this up.
MLGs pass covers 1 weekend, the ESL Premium covers a period of months depending on what you bought. It's not cheaper.
Anyone know a way to try to get into the casting game? I used to do some freelance messing around casting in CSS back when I played it and people always told me I had a great casting voice and that I should try to do it more seriously... How is it handled in starcraft 2? (obviously not for MLG has you have to be very reputable to do something like that) Just a question, not sure if this is a good venue for it but who knows.
Also, I might attend the DC event seeing as I live in Maryland. I don't think I'll be good enough to compete by then. lol This should be awesome!
I absolutely cannot wait to see Day, Husky, and HD there commentating matches. This is going to be an amazing event, and I will be liveblogging the entire thing!
On August 24 2010 20:28 Draino wrote: picking out female attendees in those photos is like playing a pro version of where's waldo
It's kind of funny actually. I've been to a ton of LAN events in North America and out of all of them, the female-to-nerd ratio is quite high at MLG -- almost even with all the booth babes handing out razors, Dr.Pepper, and Hot Pockets.
Okay so I really want to tune in. I know its this friday and saturday. But I can't find anywhere what time I need to get on to catch the SC2 matches. Does anyone know or can anyone direct me to a link that has this information?
On August 24 2010 15:13 vx70GTOJudgexv wrote: Here's the schedule of rounds for people who are wondering like me so they know when to tune in:
Wow, I am so jacked up right now. I was never into viewing SC:BW despite playing Starcraft since the day it came out. But ever since SC2 hit the scenes, I just can't get enough. I want to go to this so bad!
Lets make SC2 the new Monday night Football and get John Madden to cast.
(No disrespect to Day9, JP, HD, or Husky. They are the best!!!! West coast represent!)
On August 24 2010 10:55 Streltsy wrote: 480p is nowhere near HD, you can barely tell the difference from 360p. The free stream is going to have such shit quality. I just don't understand why all these major tournaments elect to have such bad streams.
Oh well, at least we don't have to use Octoshape. And otherwise it sounds good.
Not everyone has the connection to support 720p. Did you ever think about that?
I have used this video streaming site called Youtube. It lets you choose the quality your pipe can handle instead of limiting it to 480p for everyone because some people can't handle a higher bitrate.
sweet. no tournaments yet here in greece. but it will catch on, just like combat boots. or disco.
day9 + JP + HD + Husky is such a great line up. I would like to see JoshSuth as well though, he is quite talented.
as I might assume adding SC2 in MLG is a big deal so cheerios for that. and for all the good players that will participate. time difference lag here I come.
I'll definitely be purchasing the 10$ to watch it in 480p. If I buy this, can I watch it over at my friend's house? We're both HUGE starcraft 2 fans, and we could easily make a night out of it with some cheap beer and pizza. I'd encourage people to drop a little money to watch the stream in higher quality. We need to show the sponsors and whatnot that there is a large and passionate community out there willing to dish out a little coin for high quality gaming entertainment.
On August 25 2010 05:36 Jeuh wrote: I'll definitely be purchasing the 10$ to watch it in 480p. If I buy this, can I watch it over at my friend's house? We're both HUGE starcraft 2 fans, and we could easily make a night out of it with some cheap beer and pizza. I'd encourage people to drop a little money to watch the stream in higher quality. We need to show the sponsors and whatnot that there is a large and passionate community out there willing to dish out a little coin for high quality gaming entertainment.
You can login to any computer that has internet. As long as you remember your login/pass.
Looking forward to hearing the results of this event. Was hoping to go, but hey... I have better plans. Hopefully you guys get a wiki up with the replays etc. I'd love to see replays of the quarter finals and up.
To anyone wondering why ESL streams are in 4:3, afaik they still have an old hardware setup, not suprising it was 4:3 considering ESLTV was on regular cable TV in Germany a few years ago. Can't comment on IEM stream since I was at the event but I always felt like the HQ stream was decent enough for quake, also it's only 3.50€ per month for HQ streams and VODs.
Never seen any MLG event, will probably buy an HD ticket next time around if I like it.
can't wait for the event, hopefully all goes well, a 64 man double elimination is no easy feat to pull off lol. Anyways gonna be fun to see all these games, too bad IdrA isn't playing, would have really helped the event for the biggest American name in sc2 to be at the first MLG event.
On August 24 2010 20:28 Draino wrote: picking out female attendees in those photos is like playing a pro version of where's waldo
It's kind of funny actually. I've been to a ton of LAN events in North America and out of all of them, the female-to-nerd ratio is quite high at MLG -- almost even with all the booth babes handing out razors, Dr.Pepper, and Hot Pockets.
Great news I'll probably make it out to D.C. I quit Halo during H3 after 08 season played online MW2 through gamebattles which MLG owns and represented the US vs UK in the gamestop mw2 tourny. SC2 has sucked me back into gaming though and I love it. For those saying that MLG players will finally get to see a real game my highest placing in H2 was 3rd at Orlando 07 I also represented the US at the WCG for WH40k: DoW in 04 and 05 before wc3 replaced it and H3 in 08. All games take an incredible amount of skill and dedication to remain at the top and to say SC is harder or "more skilled" than other competitive games is kind of silly. I love SC though trying to get better 6th in my plat div atm trying to maintain 100, oh the things I could do with 200+, apm although maybe I made a mistake in switching my main from terran to zerg. -.-
On August 24 2010 20:28 Draino wrote: picking out female attendees in those photos is like playing a pro version of where's waldo
It's kind of funny actually. I've been to a ton of LAN events in North America and out of all of them, the female-to-nerd ratio is quite high at MLG -- almost even with all the booth babes handing out razors, Dr.Pepper, and Hot Pockets.
This is incredibly sexist.
No, it's a little bit sexist at best.
You do realize you're on the internet, and not in the white house, right?
On August 24 2010 20:28 Draino wrote: picking out female attendees in those photos is like playing a pro version of where's waldo
It's kind of funny actually. I've been to a ton of LAN events in North America and out of all of them, the female-to-nerd ratio is quite high at MLG -- almost even with all the booth babes handing out razors, Dr.Pepper, and Hot Pockets.
This is incredibly sexist.
Maybe I'm incredibly jaded and have lost my soul or something over the years, but how is this remotely sexist? He's just stating that he sees more women at MLG events than other LAN events.
Saturday 9:30am – 10am Saturday Pre-Game Show 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Losers Round 4 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Winners Round 4 / Losers Round 5 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Losers Round 6 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Winners Round 5 / Losers Round 7 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Losers Round 8 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Winners Finals / Losers Round 9 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Losers Finals 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Finals " Raleigh is GTM -5 according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh,_North_Carolina so that means it should have started 40 min ago even the team liquid tournament page says its live now http://www.teamliquid.net/tournaments/
so if anyone knows where the stream is and and whats happening ide really like to know
the only thing that makes sense now is they are only streaming Saturdays games so geus ill come back in 16 and a half hours
majorly looking forward to watching this event...and would have considered paying the $10 if it was actually an HD stream (480p is considered ED [enhanced definition]...) ...isn't that false advertising??
okay I'm at mlg raleigh for wow and I have an extra competitor pass to get into the players area if someone from tl that's like staff or w/e needs it find me I am the tall skinny guy in a grey hoodie
lol yeah my time maths was totally wrong i just went into auto pilot -5 and +10 don't equal +5 in time its +15 lmao
new calculations say the pregame show starts at 8:30am gtm+10 and saturdays pregame show stars at 12:30 am - 10am lol (aka all night lol.... so not sure how ill be able to watch tomorrow)
hope this helps any other Australian players im on Sydney/Brisbane time
On August 24 2010 14:18 Antoine wrote: Shrew you've been the liason for stream issues for wow streams in the past and so I imagine you know about the complaints about the free streams there, will the free sc2 stream be about that quality or more of the halo (or apparently Tekken) quality?
I have absolutely no idea what the Halo/Tekken guys are doing with their setup so I can't really say how it will compare bitrate wise.
As far as being the liason for stream questions or issues, MLG now has a dedicated team of about 10 guys on-site whose sole purpose on earth for that weekend is to field any and all inquires that viewers have about the HD stream and to provide solutions swiftly. Failure on their part is rumored to result in seppoku style death as per their contract, at which point your inquiry will be assigned to another support staff.
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/banner/10mlg_banner.jpg)
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smilies.
