November 1, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Replays: Day Two
All the replays from the second day of BlizzCon are now online. Please visit the BlizzCon Invitational web page to download the replay files and relive all the action.
October 31, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Wrap-up
The inaugural BlizzCon Invitational has completed with Yellow winning the StarCraft tournament, and Grubby
taking home the "W" in Warcraft III. The turnout and interest in the BlizzCon Invitational was fantastic and we
hope that all of the gamers who attended enjoyed watching these two phenomenal matches.
We'd like to congratulate both winners, as well as all of the other BlizzCon Invitational players, for putting the
full and utmost amount of effort into each game and for displaying a rare magnitude of raw talent and skill. For
more details on the Invitational, please visit [/blizzcon05/tournaments.html]. We hope you enjoyed the show!
Check out videos of the event at GGL here.
October 29, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Day 2 Begins
After an exciting series of first day matches, the second day of the BlizzCon Invitational is poised to begin. In the StarCraft Invitational bracket, Nada and Yellow will be squaring off in the Round 3 Winners Bracket, while Reach and Nal_Ra fight to stay alive in the Losers Bracket. In the Warcraft III Invitational bracket, Grubby and Zacard will go head to head in Round 3, while ToD and Short Round face off in the Loser Bracket. Check out all the Day 1 replays from the BlizzCon Invitational below:
October 25, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational: Tournament Format and Information
The BlizzCon Invitational tournaments for StarCraft: Brood War and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne will be in a double elimination, "best of three" format. Map selections will work similar to how it works on Battle.net in the sense that each player may veto a map. The maps that will be used are listed below:
Warcraft III:
- Turtle Rock
- Gnoll Wood (TFT)
- Lost Temple (ROC)
- Terenas Stand
- Twisted Meadows
StarCraft:
- Nightlight
- Roads to Antiga Prime
- Crusader
- King of the Abyss
- Signal
All replays will be uploaded and viewable here. Keep
checking back for updates on the tournament, standings, and replays!
October 20, 2005
Join a Tournament at BlizzCon!
The BlizzCon Invitational Pro-Gamer Tournament is not the only means of playing Warcraft III or StarCraft at the
event. BlizzCon will also be hosting a separate area with 32 computers and a full schedule of StarCraft and Warcraft
III tournaments all day. Feel free to sign up for your favorite game
here, and you could win a chance to play with
the pros. One of our prizes will be to play a 2v2 match against the BlizzCon Invitational pro gamers. There will
also be a DotA tournament held for those interested in this very popular custom map.
Each winner from the Warcraft III, StarCraft, and DotA tournaments will win a Creative Zen Micro 5GB! So, practice
now and dominate at BlizzCon to claim your place in the BlizzCon Fan Tournaments.
For those who do not wish to participate in the tournaments, there will be open gaming time set aside for these
computers as well. During this time, you can play Warcraft III, StarCraft, or Diablo II, or just hang out and
chat away on Battle.net.
October 19, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational: Warcraft III Players Announced, StarCraft Next
Today the last two players of the Warcraft III
BlizzCon Invitational tournament were unveiled to the public. The
number one seed was awarded to Grubby of the 4 Kings, who has been one of the most successful players of the past
year, in any game's competitive scene. Congratulations to all players; we look forward to hosting these exciting
Warcraft III matches at BlizzCon. We'd also like to thank several other players who were invited, but experienced
difficulties in obtaining the proper government permissions to attend the event.
Tomorrow, Thursday October 19th, we will begin announcing the StarCraft competitors. Be sure to check the
BlizzCon Players page for updates over the next few days!
October 14, 2005
Battlegrounds Tournaments at BlizzCon
BlizzCon, Blizzard's inaugural gaming convention, will feature a king-of-the-hill tournament on World of Warcraft's newest battleground: the Arathi Basin.
Players can join as part of a full pre-chosen team, as a small group, or as an individual in a pickup team. After each match, the players on the winning team will keep their seats while the losing team members give up their bank of computers to the next challengers.
In all, there will be three concurrent matches of Arathi Basin going on all day during both days of the convention. The team that retains its status as Kings of the Basin for the most consecutive wins will face the ultimate challenge on each day of the show: a battle against a team of World of Warcraft developers. In addition, there will be other prizes for teams that win multiple consecutive matches.
For full rules and information, click here.
October 13, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Pro-Gamers
Beginning tomorrow, October 14th, we'll be announcing the long-awaited list of pro-gamers participating in the BlizzCon Invitational Tournaments. Starting with the Warcraft III tournament list, two players will be announced each weekday on the BlizzCon Invitational Players page. Along with the pro-gamers and their bios, we'll also be announcing the seeding that each participant has received, which will determine whom the first-round opponents will be in these double-elimination tournaments.
October 3, 2005
BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational Maps: Final Release
We appreciate the community's feedback on the first versions of the winning maps from the Invitational Map Contest.
This feedback has been incorporated and the final versions of all five maps are ready. The ZIP file below includes both
melee and observer versions of each map. Please note that the former requires the game to be played in "melee setting,"
while the latter requires "use map settings." Thanks to Bill_307 and all the winning map authors for building and updating
these great maps!
September 9, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Map Update
The winning entries of the BlizzCon Invitational Map Design Contest were announced on September 7. Players interested in
seeing the winning map designs may check the original announcement here, but please note that we will be making
minor tweaks and be reissuing the five winning maps. If you would like to help test these maps, please report any
bugs or issues you encounter in this thread on the Battle.net forums.
Players participating in the StarCraft and Warcraft III matches will be able to "thumbs-down" or veto up to one map
being used at the invitational. If this veto process yields three maps approved by players in any one match, then the
non-vetoed maps will be played in a random order. If this process yields four maps (both players veto the same map),
three of the four remaining maps will be selected and played at random.
The maps for Warcraft III will be: Twisted Meadows, Turtle Rock, Lost Temple (RoC), Gnoll Wood (TFT), and Terenas Stand.
The maps for StarCraft will be: King of the Abyss, S ignal, Nightlight, Roads to Antiga Prime, and Crusader.
September 7, 2005
StarCraft Map Contest Winners Announced
The five winning StarCraft maps that will be used in the BlizzCon Invitational have been chosen! We received hundreds of great entries, and the process of judging the winners was certainly not easy. In October, the eyes of the entire StarCraft community will be on the talented players from across the globe who will be competing on these maps at BlizzCon.
The winning maps can be viewed and downloaded from here.
August 8, 2005
BlizzCon: Presenting the Announcers
Today we're happy to present the two announcers that will be on hand at BlizzCon to commentate the invitational tournaments for Warcraft III and StarCraft. Each will be explaining, analyzing, and calling all the action as the kings of the real-time strategy world take to the stage.
Commentating for the StarCraft tournament will be Chris "WaCKSteVeN" Iannitti and the crew from Inside The Game. Last October, Chris was in San Francisco casting the StarCraft tournament at the World Cyber Games grand finals. You can find the ITG team on irc.enterthegame.com at #radioITG or by visiting their website here.
On the Warcraft III side of the invitational, Kim "bunny" Vothang will be calling the action. She's been a staple of Warcraft III's online community while covering numerous online clan matches and tournaments, including the recent Battle.net Ladder Season Two tournament. Kim runs the popular Warcraft replay website, WCReplays, and can be found on irc.quakenet.org in #kim&kim.;
August 5, 2005
BlizzCon Invitational Prizes Announced
When the world's best Real-Time Strategy players descend on Anaheim this October, there will be more than just honor at stake.
We are proud to announce that the champions of the StarCraft and Warcraft III invitational tournaments will be able to look
forward to taking home a check for $10000 to accompany their winner's trophy. The runner-up in each tournament will be awarded a $3000 prize.
Be sure to check back soon for more information on the identities of the 16 participants that will be invited from all across the globe to
compete for these cash prizes.
July 25, 2005
BlizzCon: StarCraft Map Contest!
We're inviting the StarCraft map-making community to design and create the maps that will be used during the invitational tournament that will take place at BlizzCon. The contest details, rules, and submission process can be found here on the contest page.
About
Introducing the BlizzCon Invitational Tournament!
Sixteen of the world's best professional StarCraft and Warcraft III gamers will be flown to BlizzCon, where they will compete in invitational tournaments for large cash prizes. The StarCraft and Warcraft III tournaments will each feature the top eight players in the world, respectively, in a world-class competition of gaming skill open to public viewing for show attendees.
Under the collective belts of these top-tier players are numerous major championship titles from international events such as the WCG, ESWC, ACON, and the televised Korean professional leagues. Over the coming weeks, we will be inviting and introducing all sixteen players and revealing their tournament backgrounds.
The past five years have seen the rise of an exciting trend that has accompanied the overall growth of computer games as a form of popular entertainment: organized competitive gaming that parallels traditional sports in many ways. In fact, several governments, including China and South Korea, already recognize "e-sports" as legitimate sport. Each year, participation, media coverage, prizes, and awareness of this trend continue to grow. With Warcraft and StarCraft both occupying important places in the e-sports community, we're pleased to support and continue what has become an exciting aspect of computer gaming.
The matches will be commentated by experienced announcers who will both explain and highlight the action as the matches unfold. Southern California's largest ever e-sport event should not be missed!
