The groups for the Intel Extreme Masters American Championship Finals have been drawn for the event which will take place on October 8-10 at the New York City ComicCon. This year, the event will feature 4 American teams as well as 4 teams from Canada, Brazil, Peru and Chile.

Due to the unpreventable issues that occured during coL vs Artyk, both teams were invited to the event and both will be rounding out Group A, while the Chilean Punto.cL, who are filling the role as the stand-in’s due to PoV’s disbandement, will be facing the American powerhouses in EG, Ex-Loaded and Backfire.

Group A

Artyk

compLexity

Area51

Team Ruins

Group B

Evil Geniuses

Loaded

Backfire

Punto.cL

More information about the event can be found by clicking here.

Loaded with Greed

Written by Nick “JetBlk” Shaw

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

In light of the recent news of EG buying out Loaded, Nick “JetBlk” Shaw discusses the current state of the top American scene and what it could mean for Americans looking to compete on the global stage.

Every morning after I get ready for the day, I do my rounds of visiting many different esports sites to keep up with the scene. I’ve been inactive from contributing since September 2009, but I still like keeping ties and am aware of what is going on every day.

This morning when I woke up and started my rounds, the first site I viewed was of course compLexity. When I saw the recent news about Loaded being acquired by EG, it was safe to say I was pretty shocked. When I saw this news, there were many different thoughts that came to me about the specific case and different thoughts about the American Counter-Strike 1.6 scene in general.

The first and foremost thing I’d like to ask was why Brandon Freytag decided to seemingly abandon most of his players and staff to join the “Evil empire”? The only team he took to EG with him was his HoN team. When you look at some of the teams Loaded supported, their WoW and CS 1.6 teams stick out to me more. The Loaded.WoW team was the former ButtonBashers trio that saw great success up until an early exit at the MLG Raleigh 2010 event. Why this team is now left homeless is really beyond me, as many believe that it is a very successful squad to support for any top organization.

The next team that got left behind in the acquisition is the Loaded American 1.6 team. Really I see a big problem here: we now have one less American organization to support a top tier 1.6 team. That is really something significant if you think about it! With financial support not easy to come by these days, it is a big stab to the American scene when an organization dissolves. Eventually I could see this causing a problem for our beloved American scene, as it would make things truly hard for large group of up-and-comers to get support from a professional organization. Without such support, the chance to represent America on an international stage will be left to the very few organizations still around that are able to shell out the big bucks to send players overseas. Could this be a sign that the top American 1.6 scene is in trouble? Quite possibly.

I remember the old days when there were many organizations in CAL-Invite that were able to compete at CPL with the rest of the world. This was truly one of the best times for the Americans competitively. There were more than just one or two teams able to really take it to the rest of the world. With another organization going under (or being acquired in this instance), that is one less team financially able to show their worth on the international stage. Now you may argue that such squad would have to beat the top teams domestically to qualify for certain events, but if the financial support isn’t there to travel, why try to qualify for something you aren’t able to attend? It poses a problem that could separate us from the rest of the world.

Over the past few years since the CGS went under, it has been quite obvious that the rest of the world is on a different level of competition than most American top teams. During this time, America got left behind and had to play catch-up with the rest of the world. Arguably, only two organizations were able to give some Europeans a run for their money: EG and coL. Now with compLexity sitting out in the running for American squads, there had to have been someone stepping it up to fill that gap. Many people saw Loaded’s 1.6 team as having the potential to give EG a run for their money. That to me is an important step at making it to the international stage. Even though many here in the coL community don’t like EG, they have proven that they can hang internationally. To be able to have many American teams that can compete against them consistently (read: truly compete and not get blown away in a match) would be a great step towards filling the international stage with American teams once again. Without the financial backing such team would only be grounded to competing in the USA, which wouldn’t leave too much room for skill growth in the team improvement department.

So what does this mean for the up and coming player? It sure as hell will be much harder to get the opportunity to travel with less organizations being able to send you all over the place that’s for sure. The more organizations able to get financial support from sponsors, the more competitive our scene can become, and I think that is the direction that we need to see our scene go in order to survive. Hopefully more organizations appear and put an honest effort in to invigorate our scene and make it more competitive instead of organizations being bought up and competition being spread thin. I guarantee lots of work was put into making Loaded the organization it was, which makes it a pity that Brandon Freytag would just fold it and let it be acquired by a competitor instead of going forward and still being a competitor. Kind of makes you wonder what his true goal in esports is.

In my opinion from what I have gathered from the acquisition is that neither Freytag or EG considered North American esports before their own short-term pockets. Greed is what will end up destroying the scene in the end and this is a perfect example of our demise if everyone did the same. In a scene where it takes the whole to contribute to the survival of North American esports, the individual was put first for their own personal gain so to speak. Really what this could be seen as is the start of a monopoly in gaming: large wealthy organizations buying up smaller organizations. It is pretty disgusting to think about in the end because how does it benefit competition? How does it help spectators of international events? How does it promote growth of North American esports? It doesn’t. It promotes self growth and self gain. That sort of greed to make the short-term buck will only end up blowing up in our faces when we get further down the road into the big scheme of things. The people Freytag left behind when he decided to jump ship have been hurt by personal greed and we are now one less in the array of organizations that support the scene. Esports doesn’t have room for people that do things for their own personal gain.

I know most of you probably won’t read the wall of text fully, but I decided to write this to spark the discussion and thoughts of how to give new life to American Counter-Strike as it has seemingly been on a downward spiral for some time now.

So in that light, are we in trouble? Time will tell.

In an announcement made only minutes ago by the Loaded organization, they have announced that they have sold all rights to the organization to EG. The acquisition includes all rights to the organization and will also include the Loaded HoN team. Brandon “freytag” Freytag will be joining the EG organization as a consultant.

With this announcement, 4 divisions of Loaded Gaming now find themselves without a home, including Loaded.cs. It is undetermined where each team will end up and what players will stick around.

Freytag had this to say:

EG has been at the forefront of gaming for over a decade and are considered the elite of pro gaming. Along with our HoN team and staff, we are excited to be a part of such a proven gaming organization as EG. Joining up with them will only serve to create an even bigger and more exciting brand.

Former Loaded.cs

Paul “pauLy” Guerboyan
Nazar “steno” Vynnytsky
Scott “evolution” Cavallero
Sean “sgares” Gares
Shaun “hostile” Catron

New EG HoN

Dodo
merc
YoDa
bkid
FujiApples

More information on the aquisition can be found by clicking here.

Earlier today, the ESEA announced their plans to move ahead with the offering of the ESEA service to Latin American based clients. In addition to already offering services to Europe, ESEA will be expanding to include Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela in Latin America.

Although the service will not feature South American based game servers, servers will be available in Southern California, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and New York.

Below is the official release from ESEA:

I’m very pleased to announce that after spending the last few weeks working with representatives from Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela that we’re ready to take the wraps off ESEA Latin America – www.esea.la. We understand the frustration and tension that can develop due to the language and latency barriers, and also realize it is entirely a two way street — they share the same frustrations as many of you from the US and Canada.

To kick things off, we’re going to be promoting the website and encouraging our Latin American users to post and interact in their native language and with fellow gamers from their own and neighboring countries. Due to the lack of gamer-friendly internet in many Latin American countries, we’re going to initially aim to have dedicated servers in Southern California, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and New York. When users from Latin America login to the Client they’ll see servers from their own region by default, and vice-versa for our North American customers.

I want to make clear that we’re not blocking or restricting anyone from playing anywhere, we’re simply creating better environments that users will naturally want to play in.

We understand the difficulties (like paying $17.00 USD a month on the black market for Premium) many users in Latin America have when attempting to purchase Premium and are currently working on local payment options. Until then, we’ve come up with a solution where monthly statistical prize leaders will receive multiple free ESEA Premium codes that they can use for themselves, give away, or resell to fellow gamers in their country. We’re also working to locate and cultivate relationships with local gaming product merchants which will allow us to provide product prizes in the future.

This is by no means a singular effort. It is the beginning of an ongoing mission to both grow ESEA internationally as well as improve the competitive gaming scene in Latin America. We will be meeting weekly with representatives from each country to ensure all concerns are addressed and your voices are heard.

For the Spanish version of this announcement click here.

The official announcement can be found by clicking here and the Spanish version can be found by clicking here.

Starcraft II Teams Preview – Part 4: TeamLiquid

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

by JP “Moogle” McDaniel

Teamliquid.net represents the cream of the crop in Starcraft talent. Tyler (aka NonY), TheLittleOne, Nazgul, Jinro, Haypro and most recently, Ret — possibly even a new member by the time you read this, but TL can have that announcement. The team is pretty stacked to say the least. Lets examine “the big three” of a little bit closer.

LiquidTyler

Tyler, also known as NonY in Brood War, was at one time the best foreigner for Starcraft: Brood War. While he hasn’t really “shined” yet in SC2, he’s had his moments. During the beta the Phoenix unit was never used until Tyler decided to show his stuff with them in an HDH Invitational match. Since then, people have been trying to copy it every day and according to Tyler, he’s actually been perfecting for use at MLG D.C. We’ll have to wait and see if he truly has at the event.

LiquidTLO

If you aren’t already one of TLO’s rabid fans then I question your SC2 fan-hood. He originally started as a Random user but decided to settle as Terran later on. Since his first tournament showing back in the early beta, he has stolen the eyes of every one regardless if he wins it. A former Supreme Commander player, TLO has some of the most innovative play in all of Starcraft 2 and the mechanics to back it up. If you haven’t seen a game with this German player, do yourself a favor and stop reading this right now and go watch VODs of him.

LiquidRet

Alongside Tyler, Ret is probably one of the most storied SC2 users. A Zerg user through and through, Ret hasn’t made a splash in SC2 at all but is hoping to in upcoming events. Everyone is waiting to see what this kid has and everyone expects him to be a force in the world of Starcraft 2. The key to his success is how much time he puts in for practice on a day-to-day basis. If he puts in a ton, then we might be looking at one of the best Zerg users in the world.

Today Nintendo celebrates its 121st Birthday! On September 23, 1889 Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company, which at the time was only making playing cards. It wasn’t until 1970 when they decided to settle on making video game consoles and software.

Do you think Nintendo can make it another 121 years!?

Paragon of Virtue have decided to call it quits. After returning from WCG USA, Jeff “hero” Mettetal decided it was time to quit counter-strike. Andrew “Irukandji” Timmerman has joined up with Packet Loss Pros, who are currently 4-2 in ESEA-Invite, with their two losses coming to EG and Loaded on de_nuke.

We originally planned on playing out these three events (WCG USA, WCG Finals and IEM America) but due to hero informing us he didn’t have the drive to play anymore and wanted to exercise other things in life, we were forced to disband. To us, Jeff isn’t someone we were willing to replace. Not to mention the talent pool of free agents in America who are able to attend these two events is rather shallow, we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to pursue other opportunities. – Derek “dboorN” Boorn.

DboorN also went on to add:

As for myself, I still plan on playing as the hunger is still there. I’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store over the next week or so and see where I end up.

It is still unknown what the remaining players of POV will do.

PLP Roster:

Armeen “a2z” Toussi
Pedro “YaYooo” Morim
Andrew “Irukandji” Timmerman
Alex “plexxico” Palmer
Andy “icy” Keefe
Jon “broodex” Gibbons

Remaining players from POV:

David “savior” Park
Kevin “azn” Wang
Derek “dboorN” Boorn

Source: EseaNews

After several months without a team, the Frag Dominant organization has finally announced their latest Counter-Strike 1.6 team. Grid05 has become the new Frag Dominant, with Tyler “willsoN” Willson leading the team as the captain. Sources tell the team that while the team is not currently registered for ESEA, they are working with ESEA administration to regain Frag Dominant’s old Invite position.

Orlando “hanzo” Garcia, the President and CEO of Frag Dominant had this to say to CompLexity Gaming about their new pickup:

I’m delighted with how smooth negotiations went with Tyler and the team; we couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of guys to have representing us in the final months of 2010 and the New Year to come. I’d also like to give a shout out to Jason Lake!

This makes the FD CS 1.6 roster:

Tyler “willsoN” Willson
Matt “PaTyoJoN” Iantosca
Ben “ben” Hui
Derrick “impulsive” Troung
Joe “perez” Perez

More information about the team can be found by clicking here.

Today, more news featuring the CPL was released as they have announced that WuLong Ventures, the new owner of the organization, has once agained partnered with NewWorld, the investment brand owned and managed by Angel Munoz, the former head of the CPL.

Exactly one month ago, we reported that WuLong and NewWorld had reached the final stages of the “buyout,” with NewWorld handing over all rights and interests in the company. However, with this announcement, it appears that NewWorld will not be a controlling interest in the company, but instead the licensed provider of content to WuLong Ventures and its partners.

Adrenaline Vault had this to say via its website:

We are excited to be able to offer the Adrenaline Vaultʼs content throughout our growing network of video game websites,” says WoLong Ventures’ Chairman of the Board, Frank Yong. “Furthermore, we will be sharing the content with several corporate partners, like StarHub Ltd. and Sgamer Technology Co. Ltd.

It is undetermined as to what role Angel Munoz himself will play in the new CPL, however we will provide you with news and updates on the situation when they become available.

Controversy has surrounded the new CPL for close to a year now after Tonya Welch, a well known e-Sports personality came forward in a blog about Scott Valencia and his roll in the organization, as well as his past roll in the CGS and WSVG.

More information on the partnership can be found by clicking here.

That is right everyone, StarCraft II patch 1.1.0 is now live! By far the biggest change is Terran tanks in Siege Mode will only do 35 damage instead of 50. Also, it now takes 5 seconds longer to make a zealot. Another key change to early game is the increased time it takes to make a reaper. The time is up to 45 seconds from 40.

Do you think this will have a major change on the game?

General:

•    The Standard (US) and Standard for Lefties (US) hotkey configurations are now available in all regions.

•    A new game clock has been added. Players can now instantly see how long they’ve been in their current mission or match. This feature can be turned on or off in the Gameplay Options menu.

•    A new Quick Save option is now available for the single-player campaign. Players can now quickly save their mission progress by pressing Ctrl + Q.

•    A new System Panel has been added. Players can now view their local time and FPS while in game by mousing over the Menu (F10) button in the upper-left hand corner of the game screen.  Laptop users can also view Wi-Fi signal strength and battery levels.

•    Sight granted by death reveal no longer lifts Fog of War. Units revealed in this manner are not targetable.

•    (Mac only) Moved StarCraft II data files and settings from the Documents folder into the Application Support folder.

•    Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision has been added.  To experience StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in 3D on your desktop or notebook, you will need 3D Vision.  For more information, visit www.nvidia.com/Starcraft3D

Balance Changes:

•    PROTOSS

Zealot

• Build time increased from 33 to 38.
• Warp Gate cooldown increased from 23 to 28.

•    TERRAN

Battlecruiser

• Ground damage decreased from 10 to 8.

Bunker

• Build time increased from 30 to 35.

Reaper

• Build time increased from 40 to 45.

Siege Tank

• Siege mode damage changed from 50 to 35 (+15 armored).
• Upgrade damage changed from +5 to +3 (+2 armored).

•    ZERG

Ultralisk

• Ram ability removed. Ultralisk will now use normal attack against buildings.
• Damage decreased from 15 (+25 armored) to 15 (+20 armored).

•    Maps

Desert Oasis

• Destructible Rocks have been added to make natural expansions easier to protect.
• Center Xel’Naga Tower area has been narrowed.

StarCraft II Editor Improvements:

• Added new requirement types: Odd, Divide, Mod, Multiply.
• Added a chance field to effect data.
• Added support for the Slider dialog control type.
• Added a trigger to deal damage from a unit.
• Added a trigger event response to provide the amount a player or unit property changes.
• Added a trigger event when an effect executes.

New Trigger Editor functions:

1. Save Data Conversation State Value (Action).
2. Load Data Conversation State Value (Action).
3. Players On Team (returns Player Group associated with teams in game lobby).
4. Unit Owner Changes (Event).
5. Old Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).
6. New Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).

 

• XP, Level, and Bounty unit properties can now be modified by triggers.
• Banks now save/restore XP, learned abilities, and items.
• Message Window now includes a time stamp for each message.
• An actor event is now dispatched when a missile cannot hit its target.
• When loading documents with Battle.net-only dependencies, you will now be prompted to log in and download the dependency data, rather than failing to load.
• Game variants now automatically use the default melee variants for new maps, without requiring manual generation. This will not take effect for maps created prior to this patch.
• The Custom game variant is no longer automatically included when other non-default variants are defined.
• Increased the maximum recharge vital rate for heal effects.

Bug Fixes:

Battle.net

• Chat windows no longer vanish when exiting a multiplayer map or campaign mission.
• Fixed an issue where players would still receive toasts when their status was set to busy.

Custom Games

• Default race in a game lobby is now properly set to Random.
• Players can now configure the lobby for 1v5 matches.
• The search functionality for map searches has been improved.
• Lobby hosts will now receive a toast when an invited player declines an invitation.
• Custom game lobbies will now remember the game mode chosen under a category.
• Fixed an issue where changing the category to “Custom” would default the teams to 5v3.
• Fixed an issue where custom maps could not be reported from the map preview screen.

•    Gameplay

General

• If a unit loads into a transport, missiles targeting it will no longer target similar units in the area.
• Structures damaged during construction will no longer count towards structures lost.
• Fixed an issue where builders waiting for an area to clear could block units trying to leave the area.
• Fixed an issue with inventory drop range checks.
• Fixed an issue that, in certain cases, allowed a command to be issued that did not appear on the command card.

•    Interface

• Queue tooltips now display information about what is in progress.
• Fixed an issue where the back button would not always return players to the score screen properly.

•    Terran

• Marines trained at multiple Barracks will now prefer a Barracks with a Reactor over one with a Tech Lab or no attachment.
• SCVs will now load into the closest Command Center if multiple are within range.

•    Zerg

• Creep now recedes properly when an AI-controlled Hatchery, Lair, or Hive is destroyed.

•    StarCraft II Editor

• The Player Leaves Game event now fires when a player leaves or they are defeated/victorious.
• Loading screen progress bar option now works when using Melee loading screen type.
• Test Document now works properly on maps with Battle.net-only dependencies.
• Publishing a new file using Major revision will now properly set the document version to 1.0.
• Publish dialog now properly remembers the Show Real Name setting from previous publish.
• File preview panel now displays author’s real name if that option was set during publishing.
• The Import module will now allow importing an override Assets.txt file.
• Undoing a terrain object modification will now also undo associated terrain changes.
• Editor will display document text from another locale if no text for the active locale exists.
• Copying points with custom models will display the model properly on the pasted point.
• It is no longer possible to have multiple default variants in the Game Variants dialog.
• Removed icon support for attribute and variant definitions, as Battle.net does not display these.
• Fixed issues with invalid map bounds when creating 32×32 maps.
• Fixed issues with poor performance in the Terrain Editor when scroll bars are visible.
• Fixed issues with drag-and-drop in Trigger Editor when tracking is not enabled.
• Fixed an issue that would cause a crash if multiple unit forms had too many abilities.
• Fixed an issue with temporary publish names in the Publish dialog still verifying the original name.
• Fixed an issue with the Unit Manipulates Item trigger.
• Fixed excessive delays on some systems when saving files using the Smaller Files option, and also when publishing Locked files.
• Fixed preview panel display in Terrain Editor palettes.
• Fixed performance issues in Terrain Editor when modifying terrain with many road tiles on the map.
• Fixed initial display of variables in the Trigger Debugging Window.
• Fixed generated script for built-in attribute values, which caused them to not be accessed properly.
• Fixed action list when modifying a Custom Script action without sub-views enabled.
• Fixed loading map dependency data.
• Fixed an issue where loading complex bank files would cause the client to disconnect from Battle.net.

•    Technical Issues

• Fixed an issue where unplugging headphones could cause the game to freeze.
• Fixed an issue where XP systems running with Unicode characters enabled could prevent a player from starting a multiplayer game.