eSports Report for April 23, 2012

COOL STUFF THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK:

After Hours Gaming League -

Sometimes a man gets tired of seeing players who are super awesome be really great all the time. Sean “Day[9]” Plott saw fit to remedy that glaring hole in StarCraft II events with the After Hours Gaming League, which allows working stiffs a chance to experience the pro treatment for a day. Prominent companies like Google, Zynga, and Amazon put together teams and battled it out all season, leading up to the finals at the Red Bull HQ in Santa Monica, CA between Epic Systems and IBM.

I actually drove on over and saw everything go down personally, so I’ll have a separate post with pictures and an interview with Day[9] up a little later. Needless to say it was an awesome event.

NorCal Knockouts -

Fighting games! To be honest I had a busy ass weekend so I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the brackets from NorCal Knockouts but I’m catching up on it right now. This isn’t a Road to EVO tourney, but iPlayWinner always puts on awesome events and I’m surprised and happy to see King of Fighters XIII show up at almost every major tourney.

2v2s at Spring Arena -

No embeds for these matches because it’s currently behind a PPV gate, but rest assured that the pro 2v2 matches are just as awesome as you might imagine. Pairing Huk and MarineKingPrime is the smartest idea the community has ever had, as evidenced by the above GIF. You can find the VODs through MLG’s browser, provided you coughed up the dough for a pass. If not, wait a week or two and the programming will go free.

Dreamhack Happened and it Was a Big Deal I Guess

EGS Tribes: Ascend Invitational

I’m really excited to see Tribes: Ascend pop up in pro-gaming capacities. I think the game has fantastic potential to be an exciting competitive sport, and it looks like they’ve added a ton of spectating features to make it more watchable than it was back in beta.

COMING UP THIS WEEK:

Midwest Texas Hipster Tea Time at Arcade UFO in Austin - April 28

This is a smaller-scale tourney, which from the sounds of it is being hosted by Arcade UFO to shake off the ring rust. Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter IV AE, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are all on tap, which should make Capcom feel nice and fuzzy. Cash pool will be built from a $5 fee per game and a 70 / 20 / 10 split for the top three finishers. There will also be a $2 fee per player that goes to Arcade UFO for coordinating the biz.

Iron Lady Leetgion Tournament - April 28

Hooray for equality! The Iron Lady tournament is a female-only tournament with a $350 prize pool that will hopefully help some notable female players establish themselves. The pro StarCraft scene is a huge sausage fest and it’s high time we changed that. Matches will be streamed via ESL TV starting this Saturday, April 28 at 1:00 PM EST.