I am getting ready to depart Blizzcon tomorrow morning, and thought I would jot down what has happened and share some pictures. I have post other information in other threads, so this one will just be diary style.
Day One
I arrived two days before Blizzcon, flying from Western Canada into Los Angeles. Booking a hotel on the net is always a crapshoot, but this one was really nice and turned out well, 10 minutes from the venue. I arrived early in order to participate in the Blizzard Community Summit. This was a really cool event that showed me Blizzard is making good steps towards keeping their fans happy (who of course keep Blizzard's accountants happy). When I awoke on the day of the summit, I made my way to another hotel where everyone was congregating. It was kind of awkward at first, since some of the sites invited are not really on the radar screen. However there were a couple friendly faces including Joy, or Liquid`Meat as you know him. It was great to finally meet someone for the first time whom I have worked with for five years.
Like walking into the Forbidden City...
When everyone was ready Karune, the Blizzard Community rep got us all on the bus and we headed for Blizzard headquarters in Irvine. The headquarters actually consist of three buildings, of which we saw two. Sorry, no access behind the secret doors. The whole place had been cleansed for our tour. They first showed us the massive World of Warcraft offices and wow were the nice. Track lighting, plush cubicles stuffed with Blizzard goods, walls covered in concept art, and 5 year service swords laying all over the place. (After ten years you get a shield). Everyone was all smiles as we walked around, but there was nothing earth-shattering. They kept walking us by people playing SC2 later in the tour, which I thought was really cruel.
Where Blizzard keeps a lot of their schwag... like Korean StarCraft Doritos.
Something that was well deserved...
The best part of the tour was meeting Sam Wise, the lead artist for StarCraft 2. He came in and answered our questions for about 1/2 an hour. It was really interesting to learn how the artwork team works in tandem to the design team. They are constantly in the process of drawing and re-drawing the look of SC2. When we finished he gave us all some concept art which he signed. Very cool.
Might make a nice contest prize someday... not sure if the wife will let me hang it up.
With that we were off again, this time to eat lunch with the development crew. This was the meat and potatoes for those people who were looking for SC2 info as we ate with Dustin, the lead designer, and Pillars, the lead balance tester. They were both really friendly and answered our questions as much as they could. I spent most of my time talking to Pillars about balancing, and what exactly goes into balancing a game which is so complex.
On the left is Dustin, the lead designer, and on the right in the blue is Pillars. Both very cool guys.
After lunch, there was no more screwing around. We went straight to the venue, dumped our gear, and got on the SC2 ready machines for a three hour bloodbath. I loved SC2 for every minute. The controls are so smooth, the units respond quickly, and battles are fast and ferocious. After some warmup we were paired up for a 2v2 tournament, in which Meat and I took first place going a perfect 3-0. We then lost in 6 minutes to the developers.
Blizzcon getting their massive LAN set up.
Mazor giving his approval on the game.
Testie, Tasteless, and Pillars talking over the game.
The winners of the first ever SC2 2v2 tourny. Mani and Meat.
Following the gaming, we had a meeting regarding community building which I wrote about earlier. The rest of the group went to eat steak while I bailed to let DJEtterStyle into the hotel room. Unfortunately he is a dirty drunk and decided to come 5 hours late, thus costing me the steak dinner. Lousy Alaskan. I did however get to meet up with Hot_Bid, DKnight, Yubee, and Neo-Illusions. Within no time we set up a LAN, got our Blizzard passes, and were ready to go for the next day.
Ten people crammed into the room to watch Etter and CharlieMurphy go at it.
Day 2
After drinking a case of Bud to celebrate Americana, getting three hours of sleep, and destroying Yubee mercilessly at BroodWar, I was awaken by Hot_Bid jumping on my bed screaming "BLIZZCON BLIZZCON BLIZZCON". We made a quick breakfast stop where I dined well and then went to the convention center.
omgbnetsux, Etter, Hot_Bid, and Dknight.
I think I covered all the important food groups...
OMG.
5 thousand people were there, but they weren't normal people. These land monsters counted as two, three, sometimes four people all at once. Yes, SC2 was here, but WoW was the big attraction for Blizzcon. More people were there for that than anything else. It was the most grotesque demographic I have ever seen. However, standing in a small clutch bravely holding the fort were some normal looking BW players, and introductions were soon made. TL truly represented themselves well as there were dozens of people there.
Having the press pass was great for me, as it allowed me to use the press room (free food!) and get access to the player's areas. With Hot_Bid in tow as my "cameraman", we bluffed security repeatedly and ran over the whole place. Obviously the highlight was meeting the Korean gamers. They were really manner put up with us just barging in. The coach knew TL very well, and the Translator Lady remembered my name from 2004. She is as gracious as ever.
We came along way for this photo...
And this one...
And this one.
Cypressman from TL got access just by chatting them up in Korean. Like I said, the gamers were all really laid back.
The old and new zergs meeting with a coach.
Once we got our time with the gamers, I thought that my mission was accomplished. I was very pleased with what we managed to pull off. I spent the early afternoon running to the store to get more "Easy Buttons", cutting up the videos with help from yubee, and watching Iris and Yellow on the big screen. Wasn't Yellow's shoutout to TL really pimp? About the day being complete though, I was very wrong. During the Iris / Yellow massacre, the beautiful and talented mnm hooked me up with a shoutcasting spot with Tasteless for the Winner Bracket finals. I said yes really casually, but as the clocked ticked nearer I was getting much more nervous. It had been more than a year since I casted anything, and all of a sudden I was on the biggest stage.
Just... breathe...
PTC-Hurricane holding down the sign duties as TL folk simply took over the front floor space of the gaming stage.
Our view from that floor as Iris drags Yellow across it. Bunny and Tasteless doing the commentary.
However, I needn't have worried. Tasteless is a real professional and prepped me really well. Once I got over the initial nervousness (and repeated pranks by TL folk with signs etc) I was able to relax. Because the gamers were Korean, I felt I could give a lot of basic information to the crowd about what Korean gaming is like. I later found out the stream died and you guys couldn't see any of it, but I am hoping it will be uploaded later.
After the casting, that was it! Most people went to the TL dinner party, but I went back to my hotel room to get ready for my early flight out tomorrow. Instead of sleeping though I am here making videos and posting pictures. Work work work. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
I just want to give a really big shout out to everyone I met, everyone was very nice. The TL community truly owned Blizzcon, with the domination being complete with the chants before the games. In addition, Blizzard deserves a pile of credit. They put on a great show, I never ran into an employee who was rude or unhelpful, and they really went all out for us to get the best out of things. If you ever get the chance to go to one of these events, I strongly recommend it.
Good read, when you get a chance I hope you'll elaborate on that lunch you got to have with Duston and Pillars. I'm hungry for any sc2 information I can feast my eyes on o.O
where was yellows shoutout to TL?!? haha :\ thanks for this write up mani and doing all that shit with the progamers haha its great i cant believe it TL OWNSSssss
my camera died T_T early on so i couldnt take pics i had to use everyone elses camera.
Can you guys do me a big favor and email me pics (use yousendit if you need to) at calbearmnm @ gmail dot com and I will upload everything to my starcraft gallery?
I give you guys props for staying calm when meeting all the progamers. The moment I saw savior I would have easily resorted into my fangirl ways and squeeled. That much have been such an amazing experience for all of you. Congrats!
Sooo cool. I can't wait to dl all the blizzcon games and here you and tasteless casting.
It's good to know that all the hype and excitement surrounding blizz, SC2, and blizzcon, is well deserved. You've sold me on it, now I'll have to make it to the next one.
Thanks for putting so much effort into sharing your experiences mani. It's the next best thing to actually being there.
On August 04 2007 04:05 mnm wrote: hey guys can we collect all pics from blizzcon?
my camera died T_T early on so i couldnt take pics i had to use everyone elses camera.
Can you guys do me a big favor and email me pics (use yousendit if you need to) at calbearmnm @ gmail dot com and I will upload everything to my starcraft gallery?
Thanks so much. I will buy a new camera soon =/.
I have a few pics and videos on my phone but the battery died yesterday half way through the day.
I will try and upload them on youtube or something tomorrow
"Yes, SC2 was here, but WoW was the big attraction for Blizzcon. More people were there for that than anything else. It was the most grotesque demographic I have ever seen. However, standing in a small clutch bravely holding the fort were some normal looking BW players, and introductions were soon made."
that is so true, dam wow makes blizzcon a wowfest! still its soooooo nice to see Blizzard now more active with the StarCraft fan community!
Instead of sleeping though I am here making videos and posting pictures. Work work work. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
thanks and great job Mani; do or die, the front page needs the news!~
Wow, that sounds like a blast! Thanks for the awesome write-up, I am much looking forward to seeing media from this (more pics, shoutcasts, etc.). You guys rock!
Haha, I wish I could. See the TL squad was right up front, so I'd literally have to wade into the front of the stage to take shots of their signs, or be ready when it went up on the screen, which was hard to predict.
For the semi and final matches it was so packed, it was hard to move, let alone run about snapping shots. I do have some more pics I'll try to upload later tonight.
EPT
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