Drewbie is streaming

Stop by and say Congratulations!

In case you haven't heard the news yet, from Leahbjackson twitter (Drewbie's girlfriend):

◦◕‿◕◦ @coldrewbie asked me to marry him today up on a mountain and I said YES! We're engaged! So happy!!!!

Congratulations to you both!

TT1 Streaming, 2 Base Mothership so far, what next?

http://www.twitch.tv/tt1

Don't know if he was just having fun or if it was a serious build, just saw the end of it, 2 Base Stalkers with Mothership ^_^

For people that are new to my Blog, you can click on the Mothership label at bottom of this post to see other mentions of Mothership use/builds.

A Minecraft Intermission from Yogcast!

The Starcraft 2 world is a little slow this week, so I decided to share some Minecraft shenanigans from the guys at Yogscast, Minecraft: "Deep Space Turtle Chase Part 7," their youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueXephos.

Link to Part 8 isn't working yet, because they haven't completed it or uploaded I think.

They are playing a custom map from http://thevoxelbox.com/minecraft/maps/,
made by Captainsparklez and The Voxel Box crew.

Thundertoss Streaming some games tonight

http://www.twitch.tv/thundertoss

Not full King of the Hill tonight, but Thundertoss is streaming some games.  Ascend is not streaming tonight, just Thundertoss.

Nerd News: "GoDaddy wins, and loses, Move Your Domain Day over SOPA"

This story on ars provides some interesting data, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-wins-and-loses-move-your-domain-day-over-sopa.ars, note the updated information, and like I have said before, often times the comments on ars are better than the main article.

This comment by Nisuo I thought was very valid and insightful:

"These numbers forget a few things.

1)Boycotts started early. Not sure why yesterday was made "the day" to transfer. Transfers have been happening for over a week now. Over 37,000 were deleted in the first 2 days of the "transfer out" last week.

2)Do you really think that this will last? I'm no tinfoil hat kind of person, but if I were Godaddy... I'd register new domains on "protest day" to make it look like supporters of SOPA were equal or stronger."

The really cool thing about ars, is that they listen/read the comments, and generally make corrections when warranted.  They also provide clear links to more information at the end of articles, which is very useful if your trying to learn more about something.

I do think with this story, and many others, you get a much fuller picture from reading the comments, a lot strong critical thinkers, that read ars, point out many of the points that were missed, or only lightly touched on in the main article.

WhiteRa vs Kas Showmatch!!

http://www.twitch.tv/totalbiscuit

Go WhiteRa!

Nerd News: Stephen Hawking is hiring.

[Edited to Add:  Link for more information on his electronic/computer system http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.php/disability/thecomputer ]

Full  information at http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.php/component/content/article/96

Short version, he is looking for someone that can handle maintenance on his electronics, in addition to Travel arrangements and more.

Something like a personal assistant, plus assistance in areas that he needs help because of his disabilities, and technical skill for maintaining his electronic voice system in the field.

" The salary is expected to be in the region of £25k; the exact value will be confirmed in the near future."

Being able to spend time with Stephen Hawking is something many people, including myself, would pay for, not to mention you never know when he will do another cameo in a Sci Fi or other TV show or movie.

If I had the skills for this position I would be applying!

Nerd News: Blizzard Job Opening

"Blizzard Entertainment’s audio department is looking for an administrative assistant that is thorough, self-organized, and has a strong eye and ear for detail. The administrative assistant will work closely with the production staff, and department leadership to support both the logistical needs, and wellness of the team."

 Full information at http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=11000CP

The Rundown, with Rance Costa moving to Thursdays!

Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/cybersportsnetwork

Skype:  rundownrance


Caster:  Rance Costa
Brackets:  http://cyber-sports.net/brackets/16817
Full information:  http://cyber-sports.net/event/rundown-4

The Rundown is moving to Thursdays as not to compete with Lo3. We believe this move will allow more of you the opportunity to tune in and check out the show. CSN has sent an invite out to DJWheat to make a guest appearance on the show this week!
Stay tuned for full details and the player list as it becomes available.

Rundown #4 is now sending out Invites to 7 players looking to dethrone the current 3 time Champion, viOLet.
The show will start with a pregame show and interviews at 7:00 PM EST. Matches will start at 7:30 PM EST and a post game show will continue after a Champion has been determined.

Nerd News: compLexity 2011 Year in Review

If your a compLexity fan like myself you will want to checkout their review of 2011 http://www.complexitygaming.com/news/3325/

Nerd History: Hacking over 100 years old, and still going!

"A century ago, one of the world’s first hackers used Morse code insults to disrupt a public demo of Marconi's wireless telegraph"

Source and full story at New Scientist.

Ham Radio & Computer Nerds should find this story very interesting, if they don't know if by heart already.

Stephano's Streaming!

http://www.twitch.tv/mstephano

Gogogogogo

QXC streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/colqxc

gogogo

Interesting PvT: Hwangsin vs Select

I started watching HwangSin's stream a couple of weeks ago, he has some interesting concepts, I have mentioned HwangSin's 3 Gate build for PvP vs 4 Gate.

This game shows an interesting approach to PvT,my comments below the VOD.



I haven't seen anyone mass that many Archons before, though I have thought about switching to Archon support, instead of normal Stalker/Zealot, for Colossus in lategame PvZ, I think that might work well vs Broodlord/Corrupter from Zerg.

I am going to need to spend more time and thought on the game above between HwangSin and Select, I like the Archon massing, because that forces Ghost, which are not real good vs the Colossus.

But I am not sure yet what HwangSin was planning to do for remax if he traded the Archon Colossus army.  Ghost do bonus damage vs Zealots (ie vs Light Units), and Terran is likely to go Ghost Marauder Viking (maybe with Hellion added??) in response I would think.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please post them in the comments.  I don't see a clear followup unit composition to use if Select had been further ahead.

Starcraft 2 Skills: Micro Tip of the Day

Thanks to Minigun <3 for streaming coaching lessons, just got a great Micro tip today!

To focus down SCV that is building bunker with ranged units, just move within range and Hold Position!  They focus units in range that way!!

I have always been zooming and clicking, this way is a lot faster and more reliable!

Minigun streaming Coaching

Watch & learn from Minigun, as he streams Coaching.

http://www.twitch.tv/colminigun

Here is your winner! - A Very Drewbie Christmas SC2 Parody

See full story at http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=294996
including more VOD's from contestants.



Winner http://www.youtube.com/user/junails

Stephano is streaming!

http://www.justin.tv/mstephano#/w/2318787808


gogogogogo

Starcraft 2 Skills: The Neuroscience of Winning!

Perseverance separates the winners from the losers in both sports and life. Are you someone who perseveres despite difficulties and setbacks, or do you tend to throw in the towel and call it quits when faced with a challenge or adversity? What makes some people able to keep pushing and complete a task while others habitually fizzle and don't follow through?
Dopamine is the fuel that keeps people motivated to persevere and achieve a goal. You have the power to increase your production of dopamine by changing your attitude and behavior.  Scientists have identified higher levels of dopamine -- also known as the "reward molecule" -- as being linked to forming lifelong habits, such as perseverance.

 From http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201112/the-neuroscience-perseverance, I suggest reading entire article.

When I was in college a spent a lot of time doing research in the Library, Sports Physiology Journals contain a lot of useful information on improving if you spend the time to understand what they are talking about.

I also learned a lot about Psychology, much of what is discussed in above article matches what I have learned, sometimes the easy way (ie study), and sometimes the hardway (School of Hard Knocks).

When you can learn the smart way, by study, or from expert instructor it is a lot faster.  Because once we do something the wrong way, or right way, we tend to repeat that.

More lols: Best Buy AudioQuest High-Speed HDMI Cable $1,095.99

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AudioQuest+-+Diamond+3.3%27+High-Speed+HDMI+Cable+-+Dark+Gray/Black/2383276.p;jsessionid=310CCC6FDFA4F4B48027114FF363F3FC.bbolsp-app04-32?id=1218324437192&skuId=2383276#BVRRWidgetID

Would make more sense on April 1, but people are writing creative reviews to match the price ^_^

CSN's New School Mondays OPEN

http://cyber-sports.net/event/new-school-mondays-open-starcraft-2-cup

This is a cup for the Cyber Sports Network with the focus on the up-and-coming as well as established pro players of StarCraft II. In this special event, a significantly larger prize than the Amateur Cup series is up for grabs. CSN would like to offer this up as a monthly tournament that will no doubt deliver exciting and competitive battles between some of the best players in the word

1 v 1 - StarCraft 2 Tournament


Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/cybersportsnetwork (link fixed)


Caster:  Barbarossa and his crew

Sponser:  Check out iheartesports

When:  Mon 12/26/11 7:00pm EST 

Registration
Wed 12/21/11 6:00am EST - Mon 12/26/11 6:05pm EST
Check in
Mon 12/26/11 6:06pm EST -
Matches
Mon 12/26/11 7:00pm EST

To Funny not to Blog: "Engineers unleash car-seat identifier that reads your rear end"

I don't think this is Esport related, but heck, it is funny IMO.

Full Story at http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-unleash-car-seat-rear.html

Basically like you can get fingerprint lock for laptops, they are looking at using a "rear end" print to prevent car theft.

I LMAO over this one, though it sounds like good use of biometrics for security.

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Reality of Fighting: Maneuver vs Attrition

This snippet is from a really good Blog about game development, that sadly doesn't seem to be updated any more, bold is my emphasis to the original http://www.design.wrong.net/?p=21:

"In reality, fighting is mostly about jockeying for position and trying to create an opening.  Most “attacks” aren’t really intended to hit the target - they’re intended to force the opponent to react, get him off balance, and create an opening for you to take advantage of.  In many ways, actually hitting the opponent is almost anticlimactic - the real action occurred just before."

I find this to be true in Starcraft 2, as well as Martial Arts & Chess, at which I have much more experience, I will note as more powerful weapons are added to the mix, the more important positioning becomes.  Some attacks are so powerful you need to either stop them from launching, like a Nuke, or not be where it lands.

Also as skill increases, more time is spent attempting to gain a position of advantage before you spend resources on an attack.  And the less time is spent actually attacking, that is why often high level fights can be very boring to watch for typical audience, they can not even perceive the slight shifting of balance that is going on.

Lower skilled people tend to lack the ability or the patience to wait for, or create, an opportunity to exploit.  So they waste resources attacking their enemy's strengths, often in frontal attacks, instead of seeking a position of advantage.

In chess or martial arts when they talk of imbalance, they are talking about trade offs, or opportunity costs, in Chess for example you might open with a gambit.  Your sacrificing material (ie you have a smaller army), for a positional (similar to DT/Cloaked Banshee opening) or timing advantage which is similar to a 6 Pool or Proxy opening or a rush in Starcraft 2.

You start out equal, but you spend Material to get something else, so the armies are no longer equal, their army will be bigger, but the other has an advantage that, you hope, will be useful.  That is the Imbalance.

You can also spend Position or Time for material, or Position for Time.  That creates an Imbalance, just like skipping upgrades will let you produce more units or vice versa.

There is a degree of risk in gambits, but that doesn't mean they are unsound play, for further information look at the Queen's Gambit.

While in Martial Arts, in a general sense, if your attacking your not defending, if you punch with your left arm, it isn't available to defend for a moment of time.  Though the reality is more complex than that, since you can defend a punch with another punch. 

Similar to a Backstab or Counter Attack in Starcraft 2, your using offensive action as a defense, this is much more efficient than relying on defense.  Which is one of the main reasons why skilled players will prefer this technique, another significant reasons is that you can afford to make more of a mistake on the offense than you can the defense.

Since defense is fought near or in your bases, if you mess up you have no time to try another again.  But attacks are done near the enemy's base, so even if you lose your whole army, you have at least a little time to prepare a defense.

I will blog more about of Maneuver vs Attrition in future posts, just realize that Attrition is by far the easier to do.  Most real wars are decided by Attrition, in part because of the difficulty of Maneuver, but also because the advantages of Maneuver are usually momentary.

Since the advantages of Maneuver usually only last for a brief period of time, you generally use that edge to gain a Material and/or Economic advantage.  That is the principle Artosis is talking about when he says "get more ahead".

Creating an Imbalance is something an Enemy can't really prevent you from doing, short of beating you before you create it, so in many ways it is the strongest possible way to play.  Since it allows you to direct the flow of the game, though there is nothing that prevents your opponent from "counter attacking" by creating another (additional) imbalance or using the imbalance you created against you.

GL HF

~Cliff

Nerd News: "Cupcake Deemed 'Security Threat,' Confiscated By TSA"?!?

From http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/30062442/detail.html

"Rebecca Hains says she was going through security at the airport in Las Vegas when a TSA agent pulled her aside and said the cupcake frosting was “gel-like” enough to constitute a security risk."

Somedays I can't tell real news from The Onion (News Parody site, Warning: some offensive material there).

We need a T Shirt that says "Bad Airline Passenger, No Cupcake!"

I mean seriously did the TSA person think it was a security issue or were they hungry?  How will we ever know?

Esports is an International sport, I don't understand issues like Seizure of some Team Sp00ky Stream gear by the department of homeland security, or  Totalbiscuit problems with Homeland Security/Customs, but I do know that these issues do have a negative impact.

Totalbiscuit can't come to the USA to see his wife and son, or to cast!  Team SpOOky lost some expensive gear & data.

Some Korean players have had Visa issues, just delays I think most of the time, and so were unable to compete in events here as well.

I am sure there are more events I have not heard about since I don't go looking for these stories, because they upset me.

I wonder if Soccer or Golf players and teams have these problems as well when they come here, or if it is more of a problem for Esports?

Some Alternatives to Godaddy

I have no opinion or suggestions on these, just some I have found mentioned.

[updated 12/27/2011] A friend @thegeekpirate, if you want hosting http://dreamhost.com 


http://www.namecheap.com/
http://www.10dollar.ca/
http://www.name.com/
http://www.networksolutions.com/
http://www.domaindiscover.com/

Guide to Transfer Domains out of Godaddy

This is something outside my expertise, but I saw some people were wanting to switch but were unsure how to do so, found this guide, http://blog.jeffepstein.me/post/14629857835/a-step-by-step-guide-to-transfer-domains-out-of-godaddy

Nerd News: Resource for Contacting US Senators & Representatices for SOPA or Other Issues

I cover these issues that I feel they are relevant to Esports, and I hope to encourage people in the entire Esports Community to make their voice heard, in a respectful & mannered fashion, to the Politicians that make & enforce the laws that affect us.




I live in the USA, so I am more familiar with our government systems, I do hope to get links to politicians for my readers from other countries in the near future, if anyone has that information, please post it in reply or tweet me.

If you want to find your US Senator click here, for your US Representative (Congressman/Congresswoman) click here.

Nerd News: SOPA some links to information

SOPA is tabled until Congress meets in the New Year, after the Holiday break, Congressman Lamar Smith is the main author of SOPA, so this link on his webpage is a good place to start learning about SOPA.

That page on his site links to the official page, a primary source, http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issues_RogueWebsites.html that has details on the Bill, including the actual text (PDF)  http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf

I suggest looking at this pdf, An Open Letter to Washington, http://dq99alanzv66m.cloudfront.net/sopa/img/12-14-letter.pdf & this letter https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa

The pdf mentions this site http://engineadvocacy.com/voice/ that makes it easy for people in USA to contact their politicians on the issue.

This link has short VOD, that covers the highlights, you may have to allow/whitelist it to show, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/dec/23/sopa-stop-online-piracy-act

I also strongly suggest reading and researching this from http://judiciary.house.gov/news/12142011%20SOPA.html:

Smith: Critics Continue to Spread Lies about SOPA
Washington, D.C. – Chairman Smith responded today to a letter that appeared in several newspapers from founders of Internet companies like Google, Twitter, and eBay regarding criticisms of the Stop Online Piracy Act. Many of the claims in the letter are erroneous and simply restate concerns that were actually addressed by the manager’s amendment released on Monday.
Chairman Smith: “It’s disappointing that some critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act do not understand what the bill actually does.  The manager’s amendment introduced earlier this week narrows the scope of the bill to ensure that it only applies to foreign rogue websites.  The bill defines rogue sites as foreign websites primarily dedicated to the sale and distribution of illegal or infringing material or foreign websites that market themselves as websites primarily dedicated to illegal or infringing activity.  Lawful companies and websites like Google, Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook have nothing to worry about under this bill. 

Please remember that while I encourage people to make their thoughts and concerns known to politicians, I believe it should be done in a Mannered, Respectful, & Polite fashion.

I have many ethical & moral reasons for that, but a pragmatic one as well, almost no one will actually listen to you, or consider your position if your Bad Mannering (BM) them!

Thundertoss' Top 200 KOTH streaming for hours tonight!

http://www.twitch.tv/ascendtv

Gogogo

and the new drinking game http://ascendtv.com/drink

ZingerXPn streaming, my fav not yet Pro Zerg, recruit him somebody!

Check out ZingerXPn, my fav not yet Pro Zerg, recruit him somebody, so he stream more SC2!

He is high masters, I feel sure he will hit GM with the reset if real life doesn't get in the way!

http://www.twitch.tv/dpbrucelee

Another Shoutout to SC2trans "Translating the tweets of some of your favourite Korean SC2 pro-gamers"

https://twitter.com/#!/SC2trans

<333

Not enough SC2 Nerds follow them yet!!

If your into Starcraft 2 you should follow SC2trans, unless you speak Korean!  ^_^

I appreciate all the work they do!

~Cliff

Nerd News: Xmas support for Nerds

From ars:

One thing a lot of us who write for and read Ars Technica have in common is that our technical experience often puts us in the position of having to provide tech support for our unenlightened family members. Whether it's Grandpa wondering why his PC is running so slow or your sister trying to set up her new printer so all the computers in the house can print to it, chances are we'll all be asked to play happy helpdesk worker during our trips home for the holidays.
Today, we're collecting the best preventative tips for family tech support. The most inspired ideas from the comments below will be promoted up into this story. We'll start things off with three suggestions of our own

You might want to book mark their article, or maybe even print it off, be sure to check the comments section!

If your not familiar with ars the comment section can often have more or deeper insight that the main article. Like what happens on TL threads sometimes. The reason is there are so many Nerds & Geeks that read ars you might actually get feedback from some of the top people in the field in the comments section.

They also review Games & other things of interest to Nerds in general.

Cool Game Goody vs MaNa

Another cool game cast by ForceSC2,  ForceSC2 also provides a replay link.


I think Goody should have gotten a Raven early in the game for PDD and to snipe the Obs.

Minigun is streaming Coaching lessons

http://www.twitch.tv/colminigun

Go watch Minigun Coaching, and learn more about Protoss from a Pro Toss ^_^

Starcraft2vids.com best place for Starcraft 2 VOD's!

This is reposting of an earlier post, google doesn't seem to want to bring up Starcraft2vids yet, so I am reposting to help them get on Google.

I really like their site, you can see my detailed thoughts about them below, but the short version is I think Starcraft2vids does a lot of hard work for the SC2 community, I appreciate what they do, and encourage everyone one into SC2 to take a look at them.

Simply the best place for Starcraft 2 VODS http://www.starcraft2vids.com/ ! ! !

Created & maintained by two Jeremy's, a pair of friends with the same name, they both have the passion for Esports that we do!

In their own words:

"We are building an archive of player and caster interviews and we want to keep the focus on those hard working people that bring is so much entertainment. We are adding all contact information that we can find for players and casters including their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Streaming information. We want to help eSports in general grow and the best way to do that is to support all of these people that are directly involved."

They have built an impressive archive, featuring a Vertical Search Engine for Starcraft 2 VOD's, making it easy to find what your looking for, whether your looking for all the VOD's with Kiwikaki.  Or your looking for all the VOD's that Apollo has cast.  Or there is a build you want to learn.

There are seven buttons at the top of every page, letting you quickly select what you want to see:  Recent, Players, Casters, Events, Strategy, Interviews, or Music.  Letting you quickly find VOD's, without a lot of googling or hunting through forum threads.

I really appreciate that efficiency, I spend over 10 hours a day watching streams, replays, & VOD's, sometimes I miss the beginning of a game, or hear something about one that I didn't see.  I can spend hours looking for a VOD with google or in forums, but still not find it because those tools are not optimized for that type of searching. 

I share skills with Google Hackers and Research Librarians, and I have a growing network of Casters & Players that help me as well, so if I struggle to find that kind of information I suspect many people never find those types of VOD's except by chance.

Stracraft2vids solves that problem neatly, in addition to all the work they do, they also encourage people to submit VOD's.  That is a elegant touch, it works like a Moderated Wiki, so your not relying on any single person or group to collect the data.

They didn't stop there, the right side of their site contains additional features; live streams, listed shows, and more.

Though they didn't stop there I did, I haven't had the time to fully explore those elements of Starcraft2vids yet, I just found the site a couple of days ago.  I decided to write about their site now, rather than wait another week to do a more complete review.  

Good Job Starcraft2vids, I am impressed with the work of Jeremy & Jeremy!



Links & Resources:

http://www.starcraft2vids.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/Starcraft2Vids or @Starcraft2Vids
Google Hacking VOD
Google Hacking mp3 audio only of VOD above
Research Librarian resource

WhiteRa (P) vs TLO (Z)

Some games WhiteRa vs TLO, from WhiteRa's http://www.youtube.com/user/WhiteRasc

Nerd News: "Bell Canada drops traffic shaping in favor of an "economic" approach"

Traffic shaping along Bell Canada and Bell Aliant's ISP lines came in with a bang three years ago, infuriating consumers and advocates. "Unacceptable," critics called it—a "symptom of Bell's arrogance" and "blatant censorship." But Canada's telecommunications regulators gave the practice a provisional go-ahead, so the companies throttled away, the focus being on P2P use between 4:30pm and 2am.


Now the practice is going out with a whimper, as per a letter posted on Monday to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission. The telcos will "withdraw the shaping of P2P traffic" on their networks, both wholesale and retail traffic, as of March 1. But why?

Source and rest of the story:  http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/bell-canada-drops-traffic-shaping-in-favor-of-an-economic-approach.ars

I wonder if this will influence Net pricing here in USA?

Catz vs QXC Bo31 update

QXC just Tweeted:

BO31 qxc vs. catz still going strong. Current score 10-3 in qxc's favor. Thread http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295830

You can watch either or both players FP view:

• QXC http://www.twitch.tv/colqxc
• Catz  http://www.twitch.tv/colcatz

"Is overclocking over?" from Extreme Tech

I am not a computer geek, your not going to find me building a gaming machine, but I found this article at http://www.extremetech.com/computing/109821-is-overclocking-over interesting.

Manner in Esports: x6Terran vs Violet

This happened during http://cyber-sports.net/event/the-rundown-cup-3

umm.. x6.Terran (major) rage quits after a great first map.

To quote viOLet after the dust cleared, "It was a great first map, very close but major just messed up"

Very poor sportsmanship by Terran, but a great job by team x6 for sending another player in his place to play a show match and accept the loss.

Should we invite Terran back? That's a tough one for sure. There are plenty of other top skilled players that interested.. but viOLet thinks Terran is a solid player. hmmmm 

Posted by CSN John Clark at http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=291013&currentpage=5#83

First x6 did a very good job of doing what they could to make up for Major/Terran's BM.  I applaud them for that.

Second, Major/Terran was very disrespectful to Violet, and to CSN (the organizer of the event), not to mention the fans.

My stance on this is he should not be invited back, I am all about giving people second chances, or the benefit of the doubt.

But I don't see any room for doubt here, BMing Violet is like BMing WhiteRa IMO.  They are very manner and respectful players, how can you do that?

Specially in Game 1 of a Best of 5!

It seems to me that Major/Terran needs to learn how to behave professionally, before he is allowed in a professional event again.

~Cliff

The Rundown tonight

Players: binski, viOLet, Ryze, minigun, x6.Terran, x6.Mystik, GoSuNamhciR, QXC, ostojiy


When:  Wed 12/21/11 7:30pm EST [See World Clocks at top of blog]
Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/cybersportsnetwork
Bracket:  http://cyber-sports.net/brackets/16362

Skype:  rundownrance

Full info:  http://cyber-sports.net/event/the-rundown-cup-3

Starcraft 2 Skills: Why did I lose, or analyzing replays

I plan to do several posts on this topic.  The more I think about it, the more complex it seems to be, at least to communicate the concepts clearly with words.

I will attempt to start at basic skill level and work up from there, in each individual post, but also sequentially from post to post, but there will be some overlap and non linear elements, since I can't think of a way to avoid that without adding confusion.

So enough with the QQ.

I will start with the very first paired elements every SC2 player needs to master.  Making workers (drones/Probes/SCV's) & supply (Overlords/Pylons/Depot).

Look at your replay, and see if worker production was stopped before saturation (short version 3 workers per mineral patch or Gas, so on typical base that means 24 workers on minerals & 6 total on Gas) of every base that had minerals left.  If you stopped making workers, note the game time & why (write in down either on paper or on computer), did you stop making workers so you could build a Tank, or did you just forget to make them for a while, or where you in a big fight.

Also check if you became supply blocked, if you do note the game time & what was going on.  Like were you in the middle of a big fight, or was there a Cloaked Banshee attacking your mineral line, or nothing at all. 

Ideally you should have several games to go over, because we want to find patterns.  If you look at only three games of replays, you could have had completely different core reasons for those mistakes in each game.

But if you watch 20 replays, you will probably start noticing some patterns.  Some common ones would be when you move out to attack or when your attack, especially by surprise.

The other thing to do is to look at your resources.  Those include Minerals, Gas, Food (or supply if your prefer), and perhaps most importantly Time!

I don't think anyone will have a problem figuring out while watching a replay, if they had a bank of Minerals or Gas or Food that they were not using.  If you have a thousand Minerals you should build something, because when they sit in the bank they do you no good.

Time though is a bit harder to measure when you are new to the idea of thinking of it as a resource.  But you already know how to do this, you just might not realize it.

Say your favorite player is playing in the finals of MLG on a Sunday, but you have a paper due for a class the first hour of school Monday, your going to calculate in your head how many minutes or hours you need to do that paper, vs how many hours you are going to spend watching MLG, vs how many hours you sleep (or don't sleep T_T).

So when you watch the replay, you want to watch it the first time through with the camera on your point of view, so you can see what you spent your time looking at.  Did you spend 2 minutes with your eyes on the Nexus, when you had a Probe in the enemy base scouting?

Oh yeah, you will need to look at the minimap for this part as well, this type of focus on the replay will also help you learn to use the minimap.

Or have you advanced to the stage where you use hotkey on Nexus so you can tap the hotkey for it and hit the hotkey to make a Probe, without looking at the Nexus?

It doesn't matter at this stage what your spending your time on in game, so much as it matters that you really know what you spent your time on in game, by watching the replay.  So you can figure out what things you need to change, and what direction to change them (more? or less?).

Time is a really important resource in SC2, but it is something that is so important, so essential a part, that often High Skill Players/Coaches forget to explain it to you.

They may not even think about it consciously.

In many martial arts, or Chess, time elements are often or even normally referred to as Tempo, which come from music.

Just like Music, you often learn the beat, or rhythm, or Tempo by just repeating (practicing) it so many times your body remembers it without thinking.

I am getting to that level with many elements in SC2, I make a Assimilator, and I jump back just as it finishes to send Probes to mine gas without having to think about it, and I know when the Cyber is done warping in so I can click on it to start Warpgate research.

Then once you have that data, you can decide what you want to change, maybe making Pylons sooner, or making 2-3 at a time.

Once you decide what things you want to change, rank them.  From most important to least important, if your not sure which is most important, and you don't have a skilled person to ask, flip a coin.  If it isn't obvious it probably doesn't matter much for your current skill level, and as you improve you will learn and understand more.

Then once you have that list, you have the information you need to start targeted practice, on the critical elements that are limiting your play!

I will stop there for now, just realize that while this may sound simple, or even simplistic, they are the critical foundation for everything else you can do in SC2.

I will close with a quote that is used in many fields:  Amateurs practice till they get it right, Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.

GL HF,

Cliff

Starcraft 2 Skills: Mothership Elevator!

Some WhiteRa Special Tactics: White-Ra [P] vs Sjow [T] Game Analysis - December 4 2011 - Special tactics PvT

My comments below the VOD like usual.





WhiteRa is such a strong strategic thinker, in addition to all his other skills, forcing the Terran Army to move out of the main, all the way around (ie long travel path by ramp for ground units) to get in range of the Toss Army, with his positioning, and then Elevatoring with Recall is brilliant!

Normally everyone uses Recall to cover large distance quickly, WhiteRa uses it here to maneuver over obstacle (ie the cliff), at very close range.  He used it more like Blink than Recall, very elegant technique.

Note: WhiteRa emphasizes, at the end of the VOD, the importance of the base 2 Armor of the Mother ship, and how Sentry's Guardian shield can add another 2 armor to that.

That lowers the Marines base damage from 6 to 2, after they get through the shields, and the Marines are the only anti Air Terran has at that stage of the game, how many Marine shots will it take to kill a 350 HP/ 350 Shield Mothership ?!? 

It will take 88 Marine shots, with Guardian shield, to get through the shields, and another 175 to get through the hp!  That is 263 shots, long time for Toss ground Army to do work, and you could always focus down the Marines first with ground army.

I wonder if someone could work Immortals into this concept, their DPS vs Buildings and Marauders is so much higher than Stalkers!  Even two Immortals would kill building so much faster.

Don't know if that would be practical though.

Test post cliffs_esports_corner

Just doing some testing, nothing else going on in this post, that is just Halo.

cliffs_esports_corner

Catz Streaming

Catz getting warmed up for his upcominig epic Show match vs QXC of 31 games ^_^



http://www.twitch.tv/colcatz


Go Catz


cliffs_esports_corner

watching ddoro streaming

http://www.twitch.tv/ddoro

Though brace yourself before clicking the link, he has bright pink background on his TwitchTV channel, think Stephano would be Jelly ^_^

Stronger Team Color mod information

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=216725

I like the look personally.

My eyes are not the best, would make PvP lot easier for me, I may try it myself, specially if Blizzard clearly says it is okay.

Drewbie(T) vs Zerker(Z) Metalopolis TvZ Epicness

<333 to Drewbie for sharing this replay, big Shout Out to my friend NanMan for casting it.  You can see more of Drewbie's awesomeness at http://www.twitch.tv/coldrewbie/ or more of Zerker's awesomeness at twitch.tv/sc2zerker (Zerker doesn't Tweet, but has contact info on every stream)

Replay link, also on right side of Blog in Replay section.

MaxFrag Showmatch Grubby vs. GoSu.ViBE Bo5

Team GoSu's ViBe vs Grubby

Bo5 Showmatch

When:  Monday, December 19th 2011


Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/itsgosu_sc2

Casters:  Ayesee & Redmagejr

Full info:  http://www.itsgosu.com/game/sc2/events/maxfrag-showmatch-grubby-vs-gosu-vibe_217

The MaxFrag.net sponsored showmatch will go live on the It's Gosu eSports stream at 7:00PM EST (4:00PM PST, 1:00AM CEST), and will be a best of five series beginning on MLG Metalopolis. The rest of the map pool will be composed of the announced MLG Orlando map pool.

Nerd News: S. Korea sends alert on cyber attacks after Kim's death

South Korea's telecommunications regulator said Monday that it has sent a warning against possible cyber attacks after the reported death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

 Source and full story at Yonhap News

Kings of Tin, 4v4 with Mr. Bitter & Rotterdam!

Kings of Tin does it's LAST SHOW OF THE YEAR with a first ever 4v4 version of Kings of Tin featuring our guests Mr. Bitter and Rotterdam!

You won't want to miss this as Rotterdam swears that he will storm djWHEAT's Mineral Line even though they are on the same team!

Stream:  http://www.twitch.tv/onemoregametv
When:  Mon Dec 19, 2011 at 19:00 EST/Mon 16:00 PST

This should be spectacular ^_^

English Language Korean News Sources

So far this is best English News source I have found, other than BBC, for information on the current uncertain situation http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/0400000001.html

This BBC story has some useful analysis in the inset http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16240371

Nerd News: N Korean leader Kim Jong-il dies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16239693

This could lead to internal and/or external problems in North Korea.

I really hope it doesn't.

I know the South Korean government is concerned:  National Assembly convenes emergency sessions over Kim's death

Bo31 Catz vs QXC! Yes Best of Thirty One! Thur Dec 22

Catz vs QXC in a Best of 31, games will be live on both players Streams!!

When: 2:00 pm EST/ 8:00pm CET Thursday December 22, 2011

Streams:  QXC http://www.twitch.tv/colqxc or Catz http://www.twitch.tv/colcatz

Catz's post on TL about event http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295830

Watching HomeStory Cup: Korea Qualifier

Watching http://www.twitch.tv/esltv_taketv this morning, this is early for me 9:30 am my time (CST), I live gamer hours most of the time ^_^ usually I only see these guys if I am up late, today I get to watch over breakfast.

Casters for the event will be TaKe, MrBitter and Rotterdam in the classic HomeStory-setup, with just 3 casters, a sofa and a PC.

Top-2 will get invites to the HomeStory Cup/4 in January, first place recieves both invite and a paid trip to the event. This qualifier features a beastly line up, in form of TheStC Lucky, Jinro, Loner, InCa and many others.

Everyone can sign up, expect some great games!

Site: http://www.taketv.net

Thread: HomeStoryCup 4 QualifierCups

eP's Show Matches

Who:  Starting off with eP Open 6th & 7th Finalists will be invited to a separate show matches of a best of 7

When:  First show match will take place on the week of January 8th.


Stream:  http://www.justin.tv/therealnanman

Description & Details:

Clan Eternal Plague is hosting a series of show matches within the clan eP Open finalists of the 6th and 7th tournament and will continue on to face another player of their choice. The show matches will be hosted by Team LxG's NanMan (link in it's belonging section). The show matches will be hosted by ToLiveOrDie who has also hosted 6 Clan eP opens so far. We will invite the eP Open finalists to the next show match starting with eP open 6th & 7th finalists where we will invite them to a separate show match best of 7 the day after the eP open, if a finalist fails to attend the show match the opportunity will be awarded to the next player in line. If that can't happen a member of the clan Eternal Plague will be able to play in it, such as players as Boyo, Styx, Jager, PhiliBiRD, Pit, JakeBake, Catechin and so on.

Clan eP

Team LxG

Nerd News: MVPsC pneumothorax relapse, in other lung

Source and full story at http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295548

After his last relapse, MVPsC was recently discharged from hospital 4 days ago. Now he has relapsed again except this time on his left lung.

His Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/MVPsC

You can use http://translate.google.com/ for translations.

Also https://twitter.com/#!/SC2trans is following his tweets, they provide translations of Tweets automatically.

Learning SC2: White-Ra [P] vs SunWoo [P] Game Analysis by WhiteRa

WhiteRa provides high level Game Analysis on his stream http://www.twitch.tv/whitera and his VOD's http://www.youtube.com/user/WhiteRasc

Catz (Z) vs Real (P)

Lots of games from Real on this VOD http://www.justin.tv/sunwoo/b/302760098?
but if you go to about 10:40 you can see him play vs Catz.


Catz does Proxy Hatch, Standard!
For more games from Catz check out his new youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/WeAreCatZ

IPL Fight Club 5 GanZi vs. Kas

This week's IGN Pro League Fight Club is a $500 bo9 series being played between the incredibly powerful Code S player, SlayerS`GanZi, and the person that many people consider to be the best Terran in Europe, Empire.Kas! Tune in to see if Kas, our challenger, can dislodge GanZi from his champion's throne, and you could win prizes! Vote, comment, and discuss in the associated thread.


Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/ignproleague

When: Sat 20:00 EST/17:00 PST

Site: http://www.ign.com/ipl

Thread: [IPL] Fight Club 5: GanZi vs. Kas

WhiteRa Streaming, vs Hero atm now more ladder games

Was just ladder game, T_T was hoping that it was a showmatch or something.

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

Go WhiteRa! Go Hero!

Elfi vs Goody

This game is from a few months ago, but I have been looking for games from Elfi vs Terrans, if anyone knows about more recent Efli games let me know please, either through Twitter @CliffsEsport or in comments section.

Cast by Crota from http://www.youtube.com/user/MachinimaRealm

Scan Invitational II Introduction & Nerchio vs merz Game1

Cast by Totalbiscuit & Apollo from Apollo's youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/dignitasApollo

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Rethinking SC2 knowledge

Here is a link to a part of the Liquidpedia I look at frequently, http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Mining_Minerals, even though I have a note card/index card made out with the highlights.

I find it useful to approach problems, and perhaps more importantly data, from many different angles.  A new approach often leads to new insights.

Looks like HwangSin has found a new insight to PvP play, based on my observations of the practice ladder games he was streaming last night, I certainly learned a few things from his Gosu game play.

The most impressive to me was HwanSin's very strong 3 Gate build for PvP that totally demolishes 4 gate play!

I didn't realize he was doing something different at first, so I didn't notice the exact timings, and perhaps this is more widely known than I realize, but he was making only stalkers with 3 Gates and 2 gas, but he only had 4 Probes mining gas!  Three Probes in one gas and one Probe in the 2nd gas, I plan to test and see if 2 Probes in each gas might mine a little faster, this seems to allow him to outproduce a 4 Gate build for Stalker production.

So all he has to do, in his own words as best I remember, is just move the Stalkers, not even Micro (by his Standards) them.  It seemed to me similar to Marines kiting Zealots, more or less a stutter step.  This keeps the Zealots from the enemies 4 Gate from being a significant factor, since they will never do more than shield damage to HwangSin's Stalkers.

I have never before seen either Protoss or Terran, do something like this with Gas, that I can remember, Zerg have some builds that use this concept or way of thinking.  Like 3 drones on gas to get speed then pulling them all or leaving just one Drone mining gas.

I will have to do some deep thinking on this, but it seems to me that Terrans that do Marine focused builds should really look into this general idea or concept of not just saturating the gas at every base.  They tend to get a large Bank of gas that they don't use, if they tweaked how much gas they mined, they would have more SCV's mining minerals, which would give them more Marines to fight and trade (ie Attrition Warfare or Attrit for short) armies.

So remember, just because something is Standard doesn't mean there isn't another way.  Hope that helps some Gamers think of new builds and concepts for Starcraft 2.

For those interested, I plan to do a future post on Attrition fighting vs Maneuver.

<33 HwangSin for streaming his Gosu play, I think any Protoss player can learn a lot from his stream!

GL HF,

~Cliff

SoCal eSports LAN Circuit 2011 Fullerton

See Thread: SoCal eSports LAN Circuit 2011 - Fullerton 12/17

The SoCal eSports events are the biggest "little" Starcraft 2 event I know of, lot of Pros hang there, I think of them as the Tournament Yang, to Totalbiscuit's Invitationals Yin.  Okay trying to be cute, but TB's Invitationals are better than many big events IMHO, & I feel the same way about the SoCal events. 

Many of the games are between top level, frequently pro , players, but you also see non Pros play, often makes for more exciting games.  I would be there if I lived closer, but it is a long, long drive from here T_T

Since it is a local LAN, don't expect as much polish between games if your watching the Stream, they don't have the budget & personal for that, though if you can make it there in person, there are plenty of Nerds hanging out.  I really can't do justice to everything they do, since I live to far away to be there in person.

To give you a small taste, here are the Casters:  megumixbear, Crota, Longshot, Frodan, Gwin.

So check out the thread above, here it is again so you don't have to scroll up, SoCal eSports LAN Circuit 2011 - Fullerton 12/17!



Southern California's Tournament Scene is Thriving.

This month's Circuit stop will be held in Fullerton, CA, with a a 64-man bracket, Double Elim. Notable Players: ThisisJimmy, x6mystik, GosuRhythm, GosuSTX, GosuRum, Russano, Cuhz


When:  Saturday Dec 17, 2011 at 05:00 EST/02:00 PST

Casters: megumixbear, Crota, Longshot, Frodan, Gwin

Stream: www.twitch.tv/socalesports

Site: http://www.socalesports.com

Thundertoss' Top 200 King of the Hill

Thundertoss' weekly Top 200 King of the Hill continues, come see top players battle each other to be the King of the Hill!

It is good to be King!

When: Fri 21:30 EST/18:30 PST


Streams: http://ascendtv.com/ or alt stream http://www.twitch.tv/thundertoss [Ascend's Stream is the main one, higher resolution, but if there are problems Thundertoss' stream is there Thundertoss has webcam now, and he can't run webcam and stream, so just Ascend's stream tonight, with Thundertoss' webcam on Ascend's stream between games]



Top 200 Players (Grandmaster priority, top Masters permitted)
$20 for each 5 wins.
$10 for dethroning a 5+ win player.
$10 for "Match of the Night"

To play, join the chat channel "top200koth" on the NA server, and send a message to Thundertoss.



Thread: Top 200 KOTH (with prize $$!)

SC2 New Maps

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=295145

Good pictures of the new maps and discussion.

HwangSin streaming!

http://www.twitch.tv/hwangsin

I like his PvP 3 Gate, very strong!

desRow vs Violet

Cast from first person view by desRow

IMBAlonian Star Cup #1

When:	Thu Dec 15, 5:30pm PST / 8:30pm EST / Fri 02:30 CET (3m 43s ago)

Info http://www.z33k.com/starcraft2/tournaments/4681-na-imbalonian-star-cup-1

Brackets:  http://www.z33k.com/starcraft2/tournaments/4681-na-imbalonian-star-cup-1/brackets

Stream http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/imbalanced.tv

GOM is on TwitchTV now!!!

Edited 12/17/2011 evidently more to the story than I realized at first see this http://www.gomtv.net/forum/view.gom?topicid=211308&cid=0&kind=1 & this thread at TL http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=293875


http://www.twitch.tv/gomtv

I am really excited about this!
Less Excited after reading through those threads at top, but hopeful. I would prefer VOD to live myself because of the timezone difference.

Shoutout to TheGunrun!

All you Esports Nerds should follow https://twitter.com/#!/thegunrun
he is the man when it comes to streaming Esports!

Most of the time we never know we are seeing his awesomeness in action, today I saw him help Goswser get his stream running smooth in a couple of minutes.

So take a minute and let him know you appreciate the work he does.

More info at http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TheGunrun

Goswser streaming! One of compLexity's awesome Zergs!!

Another update, Thegunrun has shown up to help!  Sweet!  <3 Gunrun

Edited again, he is back up, but having some problems, I am still watching, but not sure if non Hard Core Goswser fans would want to try and watch atm, because of stream issues, he is a Gosu Player all the time though IMO

Edited to add update, Looks like stream crashed because of hardware issues :(

http://www.twitch.tv/colgoswser

Go Goswser!

Catz on Totalbiscuit's Showcraft friday!

This should be totally sick, burnsick even!


@Totalbiscuit tweeted:

Will be doing Showcraft with @coL_CatZ on Friday - Our Ultralisk drop harass will block out the sun

Nerd News: LAN Party Optimized House!

Check it out!  http://kentonsprojects.blogspot.com/2011/12/lan-party-optimized-house.html

Kenton is an engineer for Google.

Here is snippet, but go to his blog to see Gamers watching SC2 on 59" screen (scroll down for that pic, scroll farther down for tech specs and $ details), I am following his blog now, very impressive Kenton:

The house has twelve of these fold-out computer stations, six in each of two rooms (ideal for team vs. team games). The actual computers are not next to the monitors, but are all in a rack in a back room. The stations were built by a cabinet maker based on specs I created. The rest of the house was designed by my dad, Richard Varda, who happens to be an architect.
I also have two big TVs, one 59-inch and one 55-inch, each of which has a selection of game consoles attached. In practice we usually end up streaming pro starcraft matches to these instead of playing games on them.

Starcraft 2 Skills: Winning Won Games

Not recognizing a winning advantage when it happens in the game, can cost you a game.  Sometimes that happens just because your so focused on Macro or Micro or whatever that you don't see it in the small timing window that you have to exploit it.

Other times it seems to me that many players just don't understand certain types of advantages.  I think they are not aware these elements even exist, I think the only way to learn those elements is through watching a lot of games (replays/VOD's).  Here is a game from before IPL 3, between Stephano & Mana, cast by Kaelaris.  My comments and thoughts are below the VOD.



I am going to skip the early game for the most part, I'll just point out that Stephano had already won the economic war before the first big fight, because Mana has weak play in this game.

Mana prefers a slow Macro game, which is fine. But to be able to win, vs a skilled opponent, with slow Macro game you really need to either keep pressure on the enemy or be aggressive with your expansions.

Ideally a blend of both.  Mana did neither.

So when he lost the fight that started about 14:52, he really had lost the game.  At the end of that fight, Stephano is attacking Mana's 4th with a ling at 15:41, Stephano could have easily killed the 4th, and that would have been game.


Stephano didn't seem to realize this in game.

Stephano would have been on 6 bases vs 3 bases, not to mention a maxed Army, and total dominance of the Map.

He morphed 6 Broodlords, that is 12 food or 24 lings worth of food, he made 20 lings and sent them to Mana's 4th, they killed the Probes but were cleaned up by the Zealots & Cannon.

He could have remaxed with 44 Lings, instead of making the Broods, sent them with 1 or 2 Infestors for support to destroy that base, the Corrupter/Roach main Army could have danced easily with Mana's main Army or let them slip by defend his 4th and backstabbed the 3rd or Natural.

That would have been GG, I think.

PSA: Community Captions: A Closed-Captioning Initiative

Thanks to @ZiggyD_LSC2 for the heads up!

Source and Snippet (Sign up information at link as well) below from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=284198:

What is Community Captions?
Community Captions is an initiative sparked by necessity. The deaf members of the Starcraft 2 deserve to be able to take in the full experiences of the tournaments we watch every day, the dailies and weeklies and all of the other entertaining facets of the Starcraft 2 community.

What is the Mission of Community Captions?
The mission of Community Captions is to transcribe events like the GSL, NASL, MLG, Day[9] Daily, State of the Game, and others for the deaf members of our community. The goal is to have every event fully transcribed within 2 days and available for the entire community.

How can I help?
There are two ways you can help: by signing up to help transcribe a certain event every day, using the sign up form below, or by freelancing and transcribing whenever you can. Since there is so much going on every day, from the dozens of tournaments to the innumerable shows and podcasts, it would be impossible for a small group - let alone a single person - to do all of the work. If we want to have the transcriptions available in a timely manner, it'll take a lot of generous and dedicated members of the community. But that, at the very least, I know we have in the Starcraft 2 community and especially the one here on TeamLiquid.net.

So if you would like to help out, or just want to support the initiative, let us know. Being able to better incorporate the deaf community into our Starcraft 2 community can only be a good thing in the long run.

How does this work?
My idea (and a rough one at that) would be to compile transcriptions as .rtf or .doc files, and use site like Google Docs to host the transcriptions. An organized list of the transcriptions would then be available here for people to open up and view alongside the video. I'm currently working on a transcription of game 1 of GSL Code S Group C for an example of how I would use this.

Starcraft 2 Skills: Translate Korean to English

Here is one way to translate Korean to English, link.  Helps me a lot, I am horrible at learning languages.

Link may not work if your not using Firefox browser.

Ahh, this one might be better has free download http://translation.babylon.com/korean/to-english/

Please post others that you know of in the comments section.

GL HF

~Cliff

WhiteRa is Streaming!

http://www.twitch.tv/whitera

GOGOGOGO

<3 WhiteRa

z33k 2v2 Masters Weekly

[Edited 12/14/2011  @ 1610 PST, I don't know if this got postponed or not, but they are not on Teamliquid calender atm, I'll update if I learn more]

 Yay more 2v2 awesomeness!


When: Wed, Dec 14 at 1700 PST/2000 EST
Stream: It's GoSu

z33k.com is proud to present the 2v2 Masters Weekly series! In partnership with Complexity Gaming and Origin PC we will be bringing you a $50 prize pool for Masters level 2v2 teams every week! With the new ladder maps in play prepare for some epic 2v2 games.

The tournament will be a single elimination bracket. Only the RO8 and beyond will be streamed.

First place wins $50 every week.

Tune in for some high level 2v2 action!
Thread: z33k 2v2 Masters $50 Weekly

Kiwikaki vs Vibe

Looks like Kiwikaki is starting to figure out how he wants to play against Zerg in the current state of the game, with Warp Prism + Gravitic Drive for a very mobile Colossus!

Thanks to HDstarcraft for casting the game!

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Option Play, Elfi vs Ret

Thanks to Totalbiscuit for casting this game!  

Elfi is an interesting player, he has some very strong ideas for PvZ, see this Elfi vs Idra game.  I think his concepts could be applied against Terran, but I have not seen many games with Elfi facing a Terran player, so I am not sure on how his style of play works vs Terran.


My comments (Spoiler Alert) below the VOD.





This game was carefully planned by Elfi, the first poke he does at ~7:09 looks to me like complete feint, I think he is doing it to cover his Natural that is warping in, only timings I see, are the Nexus about half done, and Hallucination was timed to be half done when Elfi's units reached the edge of creep or Choke leading towards Ret's Natural!

I think besides covering the Natural going up, it was a complex scouting maneuver to force a reaction from Ret.  Doesn't look to me like he planned for the Pylon to finish, unless there were no units at all for defense perhaps.

By Poking out, and dropping a forward Pylon, Elfi forces Ret to make a decision on how he is going to defend with the push if Elfi follows through, committing to a tech path, in this case Roaches.  Perfectly timed with Hallucination being finished, as the units return to Elfi's Natural, and he immediately creates a Hallucinated Phoenix to see what tech path Ret has chosen.  Letting Elfi pick precise Offensive plan he wants to use against that Zerg army.  Brilliant!

I suspect if there was nothing more than a couple of lings for defense, Ret likes to Macro hard, Elfi might have canceled Hallucination, and let the forward pylon finish.  Following through with Zealot/Sentry attack on Hatch at Natural while force fielding the ramp.


I am certain though, that he had two or more specific plans already in mind, and picked one based on the tech path/army composition Ret committed to. This is called, in NFL Football, an Option Play, were you have more than one offensive plan ready (and prepared for with supporting elements), but decide which one to use based on what enemy does or seems to be doing.


At ~11:57 he moves out, with a very carefully planned push, he had scouted and faked a push earlier, now he pushes out, and carefully puts a forward Pylon just inside the Xel Naga Tower's vision, so later in the game if Ret trys a backstab or counter attack now, Elfi will be able to see it.

This push is really what gives Elfi the winning edge in the game, and I believe it was carefully planned out, for the reasons described above.  But also note how thoroughly the creep was cleared out, in addition to all the damage that was done to Ret's Gold Base & units!

Elfi uses the Warp Prism to build on, or exploit, the advantage he achieved with his Option play in the early game.  For a small mineral investement he is able to keep pressuring the workers at Ret's 4th, which Clears the Defense, for attacks on Ret's Tech at his main, as well as another attack on Ret's Gold base.

Very elegant strategy IMO.

GL HF

~Cliff

Thanks to Nemesys!

@Nemesys022 does a lot of work for TeamLXG, he toils away for endless hours in the dungeon, constantly improving their Net presence.


Today he added a redirect to my blog from TeamLXG http://cliff.teamlxg.com, thanks Bro!

He still has a lot of work ahead of him, just wanted to give him a Shoutout & a Thank You!

He is one of the many people that works hard behind the scenes of Starcraft 2 Streams and Events, so the rest of us get a great experience.


GJ WP!

~Cliff

Check out Teamliquid's "This Week in Replays"

If your looking to continually improve your play, then one source of information to keep an eye on is Teamliquid's "This Week in Replays".

Current edition http://www.teamliquidpro.com/news/2011/12/07/this-week-in-replays-15-tyler

If you want to see previous articles click this link http://www.teamliquidpro.com/news & then select "replays" from the leftmost drop down menu.

desRow going to Korea

Gratz! Good Luck desRow!

Snippet and full story from http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=293998:

Team Legion [LgN] is thrilled to announce that our very own Canadian protoss player Marc-Olivier "desRow" Proulx will be going to Seoul, South Korea for an indefinite amount of time in order to train and improve as a player.
desRow will be paying for all his expenses and maxfrag, the personal sponsor of desRow will be helping him with the plane ticket fees.

Catz & drewbie both streaming their 2v2 games

Though they are cross racing for some reason

http://www.twitch.tv/colcatz

http://www.twitch.tv/coldrewbie

GOGOGOGOGOGO!

CecilTV casting NA Playhem Daily, Goswser vs shades atm!

http://www.twitch.tv/CecilTV

I am a fan of Cecil and a big fan of Goswser!

Free Battlefield 3 Tournament (worldwide)

I don't know FPS at all really, but some Twitter Friends post about Esports events other than Starcraft 2, so I am Blogging some of their Tweets that I see.

Link and full information at http://bf3tournament.clannow.com/home

Stephano Blizzard Cup interview

Interview of Stephano from http://www.youtube.com/user/UpCloseGamers

Note Stephano is already GM on Korean server, Gratz!

Stephano Streaming!

http://www.twitch.tv/mstephan

gogogogogogogoogo

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Proactive Zerg! LiquidHaypro vs RGNinori

As my regular followers and friends know well, I am a big Catz fan, even though I play Protoss.  I offrace as Zerg.  I also Coach all three races, but still weakest at Terran,

This game demonstrates very clearly that Zerg doesn't have to play Passive or Reactive if they don't want to.

Couple of my thoughts below VOD.






This isn't any different than a Protoss using a Pylon to black Natural of Zerg, or a Pylon wall, or a Pylon + Canon to delay taking Natural.  Catz will often do Proxy Hatches as Standard response to Pylon block, Cannon Rush, or similar attacks.

A Hatch is only 300 Minerals, so only 50 minerals more than 1 Pylon + 1 Cannon, but a lot more Hit Points, and it spreads a little Creep.

I really like the Queen and Creep Tumor play by Haypro, that little bit of play added a lot of benifit for the 150 minerals of a Queen (hmm same cost as a Cannon).

I really think Zerg should use Proxy Hatches or Nydus + Queen + Creep Tumor more, you won't always be able to deny Natural like happened in this game, but how many players Scout their 3rd or 4th early?  If you get even one creep Tumor down and spaced out the spawned Creeped Tumors well, it can be very strong even against a Terran.

Specially if you add a Spine or Evo to the Creep (to block Building site & get Broodlings) if you do the Nydus + Queen, a Nydus Worm is the same cost as a single Muta.

The other big concept behind this, if your doing it to Enemy's 3rd or 4th base, is that if you have a Hatch down, or a Nydus + Creep Tummor + 1 or 2 Spines, you are creating several counterattack and backstab opportunities.  With a Nydus and couple of Spines with Creep Tumor Present, you could unload Lings, Banes, or Hyrdras, or maybe even add some Burrowed Banelings.

It also gives you the chance to use the military techniques of Belisarius, of creating a strong fortified postilion were the enemy has to attack, or feels they have to attack.  Terran Bunker Rushes are a form of this tactic.  Since you can use Spines which are cheap and cost no food, with a few spores for Air defense, you have to send drones through Nydus since Spines can't use Nydus, or make Drones at the Proxy Hatch if using Hatch.

CSN's "The Rundown" cast by Rance Costa

In my opinion, Cyber Sports Network (CSN) does a lot to support Esports, they started following me on Twitter right away, before any other professional Esport person or organization did, I was know by some serious SC2 people before that, but they weren't people that did Esports for a living.

That little recognition by CSN really helped me get recognized faster than I otherwise would have.  I know they have helped others in Esports, in part that is what this Event seems to be about, Rance is a veteran Caster, he worked with djWheat for years in the past.

I don't know the details, but I suspect that like djWheat has had to do in the past, Rance had to make some hard choices about devoting his time to Esports, or working a "real job" [I hate that term!] to make a living.  Now he has an opportunity to Cast again, but like someone who switched from C&C or BW to SC2, it might take a little time for him to adjust to a new game.

So go watch The Rundown:



When:  Wed 12/14/11 8:00pm EST 
Stream:  http://cyber-sports.net/live  or  http://www.twitch.tv/cybersportsnetwork
Caster:  Rance Costa
Full Information: http://cyber-sports.net/event/the-rundown-cup-2 or highlights below

The Cyber Sports Network announces the return of Rance Costa to esports. Rance has been involved in esports for almost 8 years and was DJWheats partner in crime back in the day while at the Global Gaming League. Wheat and Rance were the production and personalities behind the highly successful, Epileptic Gaming Series on GGL TV.


To welcome Rance and his crazy antics back to esports, CSN has created an 8 player invite tournament. Over twenty (20) invites have been sent out and the first 8 players that confirm a spot in the tournament will receive one. The tournament is not about money, as the prize to the winner is a measly $100.. this tournament is about supporting those that wish to make a difference in the SC2/esports scene and highlighting players and caster that may not have a 'big name' .... YET!


Each week's winner, along with the runner up will receive an automatic invite back to the next cup.


Last week's winner was viOLet with a 3-1 win over Attero.


More details on confirmed players will be announced shortly.

Nerd News: Online Beta launch of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Check out http://sf-encyclopedia.com/ they cover Comics, Games, Movies, Radio, and a lot more!

Please note this is a BETA, they are still adding material, also it is intended as a scholarly resource, which means it is backed up with citations and such, should not be mere opinion.

Good resource for Collectors, Fans, and people doing research (reporters, writers, etc.).

In their own words from the http://sf-encyclopedia.com/about-us section:

Welcome to the third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive, scholarly, and critical guide to science fiction in all its forms.
For more about the Encyclopedia, please follow these links:

• Introduction
• Statistics
• Notes on Content
• Editorial Practices
• Editorial Practices: Game Entries
• Checklist of Abbreviations
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments

Kings of Tin postponed, djWheat very sick

Here is update from @djWHEAT

Wow. Doctor putting me on 4 meds and a shot. Said, "hit it with the kitchen sink or you can't fly home in Thursday"

Get better Wheat!  Take care of yourself! 

Wishing the whole Wheat family Happy & Safe Holoidays!

Nerd News: Red Cross Responds to Stories about Violence in Video Games

Short Version, the Red Cross is NOT doing anything against Esports or Gamers!  

Here are links to my first & second blog posts about this topic.  See also @Totalbiscuit's Tweet.

Some recent stories made it seem that the Red Cross was either considering, or planning, to apply International Laws about Warfare to gaming, that is what my first post was covering, in my first post I noted that it seemed strange, since there are laws that define war & warfare, and Gaming doesn't meet those requirements to the best of my knowledge.  Though I did not word it that well in the first post.

Today I received a Tweet from @Bijan77  that said:

@CliffsEsport Thx 4 helping to correct misinformation spread on gamers and war crimes! Here is what we really said: icrc.org/eng/resources/…

@Bijan77  profile states:

I am a spokesperson at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. My tweets are my own personal musings. Retweets do not mean endorsement.

The full version of the shortened URL he tweeted is http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/faq/ihl-video-games-faq-2011-12-08.htm text below is direct cut & paste from that URL:

Is there a place for the laws of armed conflict in video games?

08-12-2011 FAQ

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement recently discussed the implications of video games that simulate real-war situations and the opportunities the games may present for spreading knowledge of the laws of armed conflict. Some questions and answers on this subject are provided below.

Why is the ICRC interested in video games that simulate real warfare?

The ICRC is interested in issues relating to video games of this type, i.e. games simulating warfare where players face choices just like on a real battlefield.
In real life, armed forces are subject to the laws of armed conflict. Video games simulating the experience of armed forces therefore have the potential to raise awareness of the rules that those forces must comply with whenever they engage in armed conflict – this is one of the things that interests the ICRC. As a matter of fact, certain video games already take into account how real-life military personnel are trained to behave in conflict situations.
Part of the ICRC's mandate, conferred on it by States, is to promote respect for international humanitarian law – also known as the law of armed conflict – and universal humanitarian principles. Given this mandate and the ICRC's long history and expertise in matters relating to armed conflict, the development of these games is clearly of interest to the organization.

A few media reported that certain virtual acts performed by characters in video games could amount to serious violations of the law of armed conflict. Is this correct?

No. Serious violations of the laws of war can only be committed in real-life situations, not in video games.

Does the ICRC work with video-game developers to make sure the law of armed conflict features in certain games?

The ICRC has expressed its readiness to engage in a dialogue with the video gaming industry in order to explore the place of humanitarian rules in games. The ICRC welcomes the fact that certain video games on war-related themes already take the law of armed conflict into account.

Shouldn't the ICRC be primarily concerned with real-life warfare?

Absolutely, and real-life armed conflict and its humanitarian consequences are in fact its primary concern.
With its roughly 12,000 staff, the ICRC carries out humanitarian activities in situations of armed violence all over the world. It is often the first organization to arrive on the scene when conflict erupts and to attend to the needs of people detained, displaced or otherwise affected. It also strives to bring about improved compliance with the law of armed conflict and thereby contribute to creating an environment conducive to respect for the dignity of persons affected.

Why does the ICRC show interest in video games but not, for example, in books, comics, TV series or films?

The ICRC is occasionally approached by filmmakers or authors who want to portray its activities in past or present armed conflicts. It has thus had contacts with various segments of the entertainment world beyond the developers of video games. The ICRC is not interested in all video games – only in those simulating armed conflict. Some of these games are being designed and produced by the same companies developing simulated battlefields for the training of armed forces.

What was said on this subject at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent?

The 31st International Conference met in November 2011 in Geneva with the overall objective of strengthening international humanitarian law and humanitarian action. In a side event, participants also explored the role that the law of armed conflict plays, or does not play, in simulations of war. They considered various ways in which the rules applicable in armed conflict could feature in simulations. The side event was an informal discussion; no resolution or plan of action was adopted.

CSN VOD: Violet Showcasing Nydus Play

Violet from http://www.youtube.com/user/CyberSportsNetwork, more Nydus! 

CoL.Minigun vs SlayersDragon

Here is a VOD from http://www.youtube.com/user/coLMinigun/ sit back & enjoy!

Nerd News: Gambling & Statistics

Note this is a real Statistics/Math Nerd Article, I know some Statistics, but this is over my head currently, maybe Day9 or someone else with Math or Stats background will read it and translate it for us.

Or in a year or two my Stats and Calculus should be strong enough I can, I hope ^_^


How to Gamble If You're In a Hurry

Authors: Shalosh B. Ekhad, Evangelos Georgiadis, Doron Zeilberger

PDF to Actual Article http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1112/1112.1645v1.pdf

Maple package:  http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/tokhniot/HIMURIM 
Main page link: http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1645 or  arXiv:1112.1645v1