EPT
Because I was busy making some bank, the long and short of it is that I didn’t have the luxury of watching all the games carefully, nor was able to spend as much time with the gamers as I wanted. But I did want to write something up for you all to get a sense of what BWWI is like, so here goes.
As soon as I arrived at the COEX Atlantic Hall auditorium, I was immediately struck by how grand the scale of the event is: the setup is really quite amazing and there was already a long line forming to get in. As soon as you walk into the hall, you see a huge dragon statue with two models in front. I’ll add pics to this newspost once I learn how -_-;;
And may I briefly comment that the models and floor girls here are so hot that it causes physical pain? God bless your mothers and fathers Blizzard for not holding back on your purse strings for this event.
Sigh.
In any case, after setting up, I immediately ran into Eri and Fisheye and chatted with them for a bit. Suffice to say Eri is even cooler in rl than he is online. And Fish is just one cool cat—professional, super nice. I also ran into Tasteless setting up for the shoutcast, and he’s really an awesome guy, knowledgeable, friendly, energetic. It was really sweet to feel a sense of camaraderie among the foreign contingent here.
The opening ceremony was pretty par for the course, with the MC’s trotting out each of the players for interviews and bringing out the singers. What was impressive, however, is how PACKED the entire place was—throngs and throngs of people packed in, taking pictures, playing games, etc.—which gives the entire auditorium a festive atmosphere, much like being at an amusement park and Superbowl rolled into one.
While the Eri vs. NaDa games were going on, I had to translate interviews with some of the other gamers (Yellow, Reach, Sen, and Pj), as well as the P&C head coach, as well as one of the assistant coaches from KTF nS. In addition, I very much enjoyed speaking with bejjang, formerly of POS, and now currently an assistant coach for SKT. He has a very open attitude and interest toward foreign gaming which was refreshing to see. And he also admitted to dropping by to tln on occasion so if you’re reading this, coach Seo, say hi!
As for the interviews, they were, in general, unspectacular (probably because the questions posed were overly broad, i.e. “who is the opponent you fear most,” etc.), but a few interesting things: Korean gamers are very aware and involved in PGT and again this reaffirms the fact that PGT is one of the rare pathways by which Korean and non-Korean gamers can meet. Thanks to Pat and the PGT folks for making this channel for interaction a possibility! Also the Korean gamers again reaffirmed their awareness of the gap between foreign and Korean gaming, and they repeatedly pointed out that it’s mainly because of the amount of time and effort they can pour into gaming versus amateurs. Also what stood out is that they still tend to be somewhat unaware of the foreign “scene”—Reach, for example, pointed out that he had no idea what kind of playstyle Sen had and while this was a point for concern for him going into the match, I could tell Reach pretty much felt he would win. I did get a sense that because of WCG Singapore where the Korean representatives came very close to getting shut out, that the Korean representatives came a bit more determined to play more carefully. I would venture to guess that this added determination was partly reflected in the match results. But this is purely my own speculation :-P
As the matches were played and the foreigners started falling one by one to the evil genius otter and the cold blooded bastards from KTF, it became increasingly evident that the Koreans weren’t messing around, and in the end we were reduced to hoping that Pj would take Yellow out to prevent a full-on shutout of foreigners. But alas, it was not to be T.T
As for other points of interest, TL’s own Rekrul joined the festivities once the matches started (hi rek ^o^) and I also spoke a bit with Lee Hyun-joo, the female commentator who has commented both SC and Warcraft III (and will be commentating the Warcraft III matches starting tomorrow). Perhaps an interview for the site can be arranged. I was also able to spend some time with uber-shoutcaster “bunny,” who is possibly the coolest female involved in the gaming world, although she does work for the dark side (aka “Warcraft III”). This woman knows gaming, and spreads enthusiasm for competitive gaming more than any other. I briefly tried to argue about the superiority of SC to WC to her but I must admit that in the end I slightly wanted to crank up my dusty Frozen Throne CD for old time’s sake :-P
So in sum, while the gaming results were not what I had hoped for, day 1 of BWWI was all about meeting really cool people and enjoying the spectacle of celebrating e-sports in not only the present day but also the promise it holds for the future.
Sorry about the brevity of this report, but that’s it for now. I’m tired and sleepy and I’ll try to whip up day 2 reports tomorrow and add pictures when I can.
Cheers TL,
uhjoo
edit: oh, one more thing-- please post suggestions here for possible interview questions for the Korean pros -- perhaps they may show up in the GamePlayHD coverage if it makes for good TV, and at the least I may be able to post the interview on tl if there are some interesting answers.
[ zerg, anyone? 
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