So today, no pictures.
So the least I can do is to provide a selfmade paint plan of the area so you can visualize it in 8 bit. Retro!
Click the spoiler + Show Spoiler +
First of all let me say, even though day 1 is a press only day - Gamescom was quite filled already. There was something going on basicly everywhere. Still, I only focused on 2 things only: The Blizzard booth and the one of IEM. Whichever got 'scouted' wins first. IEM won.
When I was arriving, SeleCT was about to take the series vs SangHo 2:1. Beside from the Intel Friday Night Games in Berlin, where (beside from Cloud and Xlord) not internationally well known players participated, I was quite impressed to see all that players like SeleCT, Kas, mOOnGLaDe, MC and even Beastyqt (I am talking to him online nearly every day for more than 8 months, but still I had no idea how he actually looked lol) .
When the cast was over and the post game interview was about to begin suddenly Kelly appeared on stage. I did not know about her doing the interviews, so I was happy even more.
It was time to sit down and enjoy the scenery. The games one after another on both stages, all of the players, the atmosphere and ... well .. the noise ... (bad words) + Show Spoiler +
SO FUCKING LOUD
The Games:
The average quality of the games was good and better than expected, because as a caster I have made the experience with a tournament that big, that the amount of games is obviously quite high, so most of them are actually medicore. It's something like 1-2 base/ all ins etc. A good exception is especially the Socke vs SeleCT series. Also the Dignitas.Killer vs MC was very good as I heard. This was just day 1. Lets see what the next day is going to bring. With so many more great players to come.
The Players:
Like I said earlier, it was so impressive to see all those "SC2 Celebs" on one spot. Well I guess it is for everyone at the first time you are at a Starcraft/eSports related live event. So today, I basicly lost my SC2 fanboi virginity. After about 30 minutes on + Show Spoiler +
FUCK YEAH SC2 LIVE
MC - he has quite a funny walk (he really does)
Kas - so nervous but still so happy
Beastyqt - concentrated but still enjoying his first live event
KiLLeR - seemed very nervous
DieStar - looked optimistic, not sure if it was fake
Killer - seemed stressed, still a good experience for him
Socke - as always, the most calm programer there is
SeleCT - business as usual, you can cearly see that this by far is not his first live event
Because of the fact that I didn't have a cam with me, I was not able to do any interviews. But I will do so tommorow. Still I was talking to Beasty and Kas a little.
Beastyqt When I first talked to him, he just lost his match (so dropping out of IEM) vs MC and since he is a very emotional player my thought was "It was prolly not a good idea to ask him something like "Hey man, how you doing now?" Surprisingly he was in a good mood. He still got the XMG Cup to play on Thursday and he is just enjoying the whole event.
Kas When I first talked to him, the event was over for the day. Even though he advanced to the next round, he told me that he was not happy with the way he played. After I took on my secret Identity as the superhero Catpain Obvious (me and Captain Hindsight are bascily BFFs - don't tell anyone pls) and told him that it still was enough to go 2:1 and advance, he just started with his so heartwarming smile. Then he told me that he likes the location so so much. The players area, the huge size of the location, that you can get some fresh air very easy without taking a long walk, he REALLY enjoys it. And the best thing is, it you can see it.
The Casters:
RotterdaM and MrBitter are supposed to do the main casting, I also was very glad, that also Tarson, ClouD and HasuObs were doing some casting too. Unfortunately the sound level of the whole Hall is so high that it was quite hard to understand them all time. I am a little afraid that tomorrow is going to be even worse since today was a press only day and it was only 20% occupied. Anyhow, as soon as some action was happening I was more busy screaming and applauding. So it's not that big of a deal. Poor Rotterdam was also doing some casts on the 2nd stage. I have no idea how many people tuned in to the 2nd stream online, but when I was checking it out live on site - I got sad. There was only one person watching the games. Me. At least I got a nice picture of him with Cloud. Keep up the good work guys!
The Rest: Will be happening tomorrow. I got up at 5 AM this morning after sleeping 3 hours and now it's 1:48 AM already.
Have a good one everybody,
P.S. Btw I dont know if this is more Blog or SC2 general. Feel free to move it.