MLG has announced today, via their website, the addition of numerous stream and spectator improvements, including a partnership with Streamworks that will allow the MLG broadcast to be transmitted in full 720p HD via the use of multiple independent satellites and datacenter content delivery systems. MLG has also announced the addition of sound-proof booths for the Starcraft II competition that will prevent players from hearing the play-by-play broadcasts on the main stage.

The official “changelog” is below:

The Streamworks Partnership

To make certain that you can watch the streams at home, uninterrupted and in superb quality, we have partnered with world-class live streaming company Streamworks. Our partnership with Streamworks will begin at MLG Columbus and continue throughout the 2011 Pro Circuit Season. Working together, we have pulled out all the stops.

• The new stream system will affect all games: StarCraft 2, Halo: Reach, and Call of Duty: Black Ops
• In Columbus, we will have two redundant satellite trucks, blasting video signal to two independent satellites.
• The signals will be pulled into multiple data centers and the video feed will be distributed to you through multiple Content Delivery Networks to ensure stability.
• The HQ stream will be available in up to 720p.
• There is no download required; you can watch both the standard and HQ streams directly from the video player on majorleaguegaming.com.

Rebroadcast Availability

The changes we’ve made ensure that everyone will be able to watch live, and in high quality. But what if you miss a match?

• If you purchase an HQ pass, you will have almost immediate access to rebroadcasts of commentated matches for all three games. We will be making rebroadcasts available to you all weekend right on the site, just a few hours after each match finishes.
• Even if you haven’t purchased an HQ pass, you will be able to see full rebroadcasts on MLG.tv on Monday, the day after the Competition finishes.

Free HQ Friday

• To give you the chance to see our all-new streams for yourself, all of the streams on Friday will be shown in HQ, for free.
• HQ rebroadcasts from Friday’s matches will also be made available to everyone right on the site as the matches are played.
• Starting on Saturday, HQ passes will be available for $10. You can purchase them directly through the on-site player. The pass will give you full HQ access to the entire rest of the Competition, as well as faster access to rebroadcasts.

Better Score Reporting

• Floor staff in the venue will be sending real-time updates to the liveblogs for all games on the site, and to our Twitter feed.
• Brackets will be quickly updated, and will be available on the site all weekend so you can follow exactly what’s happening
• Most StarCraft 2 replays will be available several hours after the match is played.

What’s New for StarCraft 2

To vastly improve the experience of both players and spectators, MLG will have sound-dampening booths for StarCraft 2 players at MLG Columbus and all the rest of 2011’s Pro Circuit Competitions.

• The booths, in combination with noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds, will ensure that the players can’t hear anything happening in the venue.
• Spectators in the venue will be able to hear every word of the commentary for all Main Stage matches.

The MLG and Streamworks partnership press release can be found below.

Major League Gaming (MLG), the world’s largest competitive video game league, and Streamworks have partnered to deliver LIVE and on demand coverage of MLG’s 2011 and 2012 Pro Circuit beginning with the competition in Columbus, Ohio, on 3^rd – 5^th June 2011.

Now in the 8^th and largest season to date, the MLG Pro Circuit brings together thousands of the world’s best players to compete LIVE for their share of more than $1 million in prizes and stipends. Under this partnership, Streamworks will deploy its unique LIVE solution, capturing, creating and broadcasting uninterrupted coverage of each weekend event, taking video streaming experience to new heights. Those that can’t make it in person can watch in real-time each weekend in standard or high-definition at www.majorleaguegaming.com. The competition will feature four live streams: one dedicated stream for Call of Duty®: Black Ops, one for Halo: Reach, and two streams for Blizzard Entertainment’s blockbuster real-time strategy game, StarCraft^® II: Wings of Liberty^™.

“We are fully committed to providing a seamless, stable and reliable viewing experience for all of our Pro Circuit competitions and have partnered with Streamworks to ensure that we deliver on our promise,” said Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO, MLG. “Beginning with Columbus, we will use Streamworks’ revolutionary patented technology to provide a new level of picture quality.” 

Jason Fletcher, Streamworks’ Marketing Director, said: ‘‘We’re very pleased to announce our new long term working relationship with MLG, we intend to bring the very best quality streams to their US and International fans. Our technical teams have been working hard to provide a solution that doesn’t just deliver but pushes the envelope. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to set a new benchmark for online streaming, the limits of what we intend to achieve are truly remarkable in terms of functionality, picture quality and interactivity. The solution we have at our disposal is unique, and integrating this with MLGs vast portfolio of events has been challenging, but more so we’re confident it will be equally rewarding for their fans who are going to enjoy watching and participating like never before.’’

 

Streaming will be available for the remainder of the 2010 MLG Pro Circuit as follows:

June 3-5:                      Columbus, OH – Columbus Convention Center

July 29-31:                   Anaheim, CA  – Anaheim Convention Center

August 26-28:              Raleigh, NC – Raleigh Convention Center

October 14-16:            Orlando, FL – Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center

November 18-20:        Providence, RI – National Championship, Rhode Island Convention Center

 

About Streamworks

Founded in 2010, Streamworks owns and operates a managed global service, a next generation delivery network – built to deliver better, faster, and more cost effective LIVE video streaming. Using a unique technology solution, Streamworks delivers seamless cross platform video with on average 30% file size saving, with dramatically increased picture and audio quality for Live and On Demand. For more information – www.streamworksint.com

For more information about the stream and spectator changes, click here.

Remember the eSport TV Thailand’s Starcraft II Open Season 1 tournament? Over this past weekend Sascha Modersitzki, Managing Director of eSports TV Thailand, talked a little about what his league will be bringing to the table with ESFI World.

First off, the tournament is no longer known as the Starcraft II Open Season 1. Blizzard Entertainment requested that eSport TV Thailand change the name on the grounds that it is too “generic” sounding. It will now be known as the Thailand Starcraft League (THSL).

The other news is that, apparently, eSports TV Thailand has been receiving some mixed reactions about this tournament. “To choose Thailand/Bangkok as the location is by design already a ‘red flag’ for a lot of people, and in addition to being a unknown company [sic]. Also, to suddenly come out from nowhere looks ‘strange’ to many players. We did assume that we would have a 60% positive, 20% cautious and 20% negative response.” He continued, “Yes, we worry. People will sadly always try to cheat or get easy money. That is the reason why we will carefully select the players and companies we work with.”

In hopes of renforcing the legitimacy of his organization (there is a $100,000 prize purse after all), Modersitzki revealed that big name teams like Korea’s Incredible Miracle (IM) will be participating.

If that doesn’t satisfy suspicion, eSports TV Thailand holds a competition license from Blizzard, meaning Blizzard has approved the legitimacy of this tournament. “One thing, every single Blizzard Entertainment customer need to be aware of is that Blizzard Entertainment, as company, is very protective of their communities and would have shut us down or posted warnings on their own forums if we are not legit. We already hold a Tournament License, but due to the size, we have to extend the contract condition with Blizzard and are awaiting the new contract soon.” Modersitzki continued, “Blizzard Entertainment ensures that we will pay and not take the money and run away. The Blizzard Entertainment contracts are complex and ensure that the community is protected.”

Modersitzki stated that eSports TV Thailand has been in talks with several companies to help sponsor the event, but if they should back out “[eSports TV] are prepared to carry the prize on our own.”

When it comes to competition like GOMtv’s GSL and the North American Star League, Modersitzki is confident. “We compare GSL, NASL and others to the likes of MySpace while we will be the new Facebook in eSports.”

Be sure to keep an eye out for the Thailand Starcraft League this summer. The tournament will run from August 8th to the 19th.

With Major League Gaming and the GSL have teaming up, it should come as no surprise that GOMtv is hard at work changing the format of the GSL. Today, GOMtv revealed some of the major changes that will be happening over the next few seasons.

The biggest change that will be coming is that the Team League (GSTL) will be expanded. Currently a short four day side event, the new GSTL will now feature ten teams, split into two groups of five. These ten teams will play in a format similar to the group stages in Code S, with the top three spots of each group advancing to the playoffs.

GOMtv is also making some changes to the Code A/Code S formats as well. These changes include:

Code S Group League Match Format Change

• Pre-existing GOMTV League Format -> Dual Tournament Format
• Group stage games will always have 5 sets and the last game will be the deciding game for 2nd and 3rd Place.
• From each group, 3rd Place will stay in Code S and 4th Place will go through Up and Down Match.
• 1st and 2nd Place from each Group will advance to Ro16

Code A Morning Time Broadcast

• For the 5 days of the first week, Code A games will be broadcasted at 1:10 PM.
• Starting from the second week, Code A game will only be broadcasted at 7:10 PM.

Up & Down Match Format Change

• Code A Winner will automatically advance to Code S without going through Up & Down Match
• MLG Winner will receive a GSL Code S seed for the following month. (Even if the winner is a Korean player, the seed will be provided). If the winner turns down the Code S seed or is already a Code S player then the runner-up will be given the seed.
• Code S 4th Place Players (8) + Code A Top 7 = 15 players
• Players will be divided into 3 groups of 5.
• One group per day will be broadcasted. Each group’s 1st and 2nd Place will advance to Code S.

GSTL 2 Group Full League

• Every Thursday and Friday, GSTL 2 Group Full League will be held.
• The current 10 SC2 pro teams will be divided into 2 groups of 5.
• Each team will go through a full league and top 3 teams from each group will advance to the playoff (20 matches / twice a week = will be broadcasted for 10 weeks).
• Playoff will be played with the following format: Group A 1st Place vs. (Group B 2nd Place vs. Group A 3rd Place) / Group B 1st Place vs. (Group B 3rd Place vs. Group A 2nd Place)

On top of all these changes, GOMtv has also completely shifted the schedule of their weekly broadcast. Mondays will now be Code A, Tuesday and Wednesday will be Code S, and Thursday and Friday will now feature the GSTL.

Source

MLG has officially announced the top 20 players and their pools for MLG Columbus 2011, in Columbus, Ohio from June 3rd to June 5th. The top 20 players list includes 4 Korean additions as a result of the partnership between the GSL and MLG.

Top 20 Players

In addition to the 20 competitors, 4 undefeated players from the Open Bracket will join them in their group play stage, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Player Pools

CompLexity will be on hand during MLG to bring you the latest in video, pictures and accounts of the event. Stay tuned!

Images courtesy of MLG

The Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) organizing committee has announced, via their website, the official RTS games for ESWC 2011. Making the list are Blizzard’s WC3:FT and Starcraft II.

Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne has been on the ESWC circuit since 2004, while Starcraft II made its initial appearence in July of last year.

The official press release can be found below:

The official ESWC 2011 RTS games are the following:

• Warcraft® III: The Frozen Throne® – 1v1 – (Blizzard Entertainment)
• StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™ – 1v1 – (Blizzard Entertainment)

Warcraft® III: The Frozen Throne® is the award-winning expansion to Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos®, a landmark real-time strategy game that has been officially played at ESWC since the competition was founded in 2003. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne first appeared in the ESWC 2004 tournament and has since been one of the event’s most popular games.

StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty™, the fastest-selling strategy game in history, is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the greatest games of all time. Following its July 2010 launch, StarCraft II has naturally found its place within the ESWC tournament circuit.

By announcing the selection of these popular RTS games, ESWC’s organizing committee is happy to satisfy the expectations of the enthusiastic player community and to assure the progressive transition from its historic RTS competition towards a new standard in strategy gaming.

Blizzard Entertainment and ESWC’s organizing committee are proud of the agreements put in place to entrench the Irvine-based company’s games within the Electronic Sports World Cup. The Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty tournaments will be officially represented and organized during the Grand Final and during the international preliminaries, in partnership with Blizzard Entertainment.

The ESWC 2011 Grand Finals will take place from the 21st to the 25th of October, 2011 in the Porte de Versailles, Paris. Currently, the event has $220,000 up for grabs between seven games.

Apparently top tier Korean progamers aren’t the only side affect of GOMtv and MLG’s League Exchange Program. Today Major League Gaming announced that popuilar casting dou, Tastosis (Nick “Tasteless” Plott and Dan “Artosis Stemkoski), best known for commentating GOMtv’s GSL, will be live in Columbus providing commentary for the event.

It is important to note that Tasotis won’t be working alone. The duo will be joined by Day[9] (Tasteless’ brother), DJ Wheat, and JP McDaniel.

For the official announcement, click here.

On top of the NASL and The V, this past weekend also included the finals of the TeamLiquid Starleague 3. Featuring ThorZaIN vs. NaNiwa, eSports fans were treated to one of the most memorable series in SC2 history. But enough about that, here’s your Weekend Update.

NASL

Starting off with Saturday’s episode of the NASL, the first match saw Brat_OK going up against HasuObs. In a pretty one-sided match, HasuObs took down Brat_OK 2-0. Match two was between the meching Terran Goodie and Evil Geniuses’ Machine. Despite his best efforts Machine got taken down 2-1. Game three was a PvT between two-time GSL Code S champion oGsMC and compLexity’s own Stalife. Unfortunately for Stalife, things just weren’t going his way and ultimately MC won 2-1. Game four saw StarTale’s Ace take on ROOT Gaming’s Catz. Ace’s killer Protoss style was just too much for Catz, allowing him to win 2-1. The last match of Saturday saw SeleCT get taken out by Ret with a final score of 2-1.

Sunday’s episode started off with Socke crushing Drewbie 2-0. Game two was a TvP between PainUser and Tyler. Unfortunately for PainUser, Tyler beat him 2-0, making his record in the NASL 0:5. Game three saw the Korean Zerg Zenio crush the Terran Cloud 2-0. Game four saw everyones favorite player “The Emperor” SlayerS_BoxeR vs. the Protoss MaNa. “The Emperor” looked like his old self and easily dealt with MaNa with a final score of 2-1. The last match of the weekend was a ZvZ between Sen and IdrA. Sen beat IdrA with a final score of 2-1.

TSL3

As I mentioned above, this weekend saw the final match of the TSL3. This epic TvP series between ThorZaIN and NaNiwa is easily some of the best StarCraft II the world has ever seen. NaNiwa had no trouble winning the first three games, putting ThorZaIN firmly up against the ropes. Somehow ThorZaIN managed to keep his head in the game and win the next four games making him champion of the TSL3.

To watch all the VoDs (and I highly recommend you do), click here.

The V

The 16th edition of The V featured current champion Sixjax.Terran going toe-to-toe with the fearsom Protoss player FXoptikzero. In an extremely close match which went all the way to seven games, FXoptikzero managed to claw his way to a win making him champion of The V.

To check out the VoDs, click here.

Former GSL Code A commentator Kelly Milkies is no stranger to controversy. She had eSports fans up in arms due to her thick accent, to the point where she was actually receiving death threats. Thankfully the whole situation defused without any real casualties besides hurt feelings.

Last night word got out that Kelly is back in the lime light, this time on the pages of FHM Singapore. Dressed in black stockings and a corset, Kelly will have a total of three pictures published along with an interview where she discusses being a female gamer in a male dominated field.

Baneling BBQ: Party Time!

by Emil Erlandsson

Visit Baneling BBQ for more cartoons from Emil Erlandsson

Today the FireGamers organization announced that the former compLexity players Renato “nak” Nakano, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Matheus “urb” Oliveira have rejoined the team, which currently includes former coL.br member, Bruno Ono.

Originally members of FireGamers, the ex-coL trio (as nak, FalleN and urb are now known as) left the team back in September to further their careers with the compLexity brand. Unfortunately for all parties involved, lack of stability in the team caused compLexity and the squad to part ways.

So far the current FireGamers line up includes:

Bruno “bruno” Ono
Renato “nak” Nakano
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo
Matheus “urb” Oliveira

We’d like to wish the best of luck to the Firegamers players!