In the pro gaming scene, there is still a long way to go for any level of support from a broader audience at home. But this year should be remembered as a time when Australia made its first real mark on the international stage. Across the board, Australia showed they are fearless, determined, and would offer stiff competition to anyone they faced. We were represented with real Aussie flair, too, as teams whooped, cheered and jeered to pump themselves up, and the fans of the team back home watching online offered massive support through IRC channels and web forums as the events took place. As someone who was here in Germany to observe the team in action, it was great to see fans of other countries begin to gather around the Australians because of the buzz and the entertainment value they were offering at WCG.
But here’s a question for you all, as gamers. If you still don’t see how ‘eSports’ could be a quality spectator event, what would help you change your mind? Why are you not interested in watching such events? Is there a second ‘generational’ shift that needs to occur even within the gaming community for a pro scene to evolve here? It is already a very mature overseas with many players making six figures Australian money.
If you missed the coverage, here’s a wrap of everything we talked about: World Cyber Games 2008: Australia Is Here WCG 2008: Team Immunity Bootcamp with SK Gaming WCG 2008: Opening Ceremony Wishes WCG Was Olympics WCG 2008 Day 1: Australia’s Counter-Strike Nail Biter WCG 2008 Day 2: Glade Downs Tough Korean in Warcraft 3 WCG: Other Australian in Cologne for GH3, PGR4 WCG 2008 Day 3: Aussies Go Distance in Halo 3 Deathmatch WCG Day 3: Immunity Goes Down Fighting More »
Here’s a shout out to the rest of the Australian contingent who made it to Cologne for the world finals.
Guitar Hero 3 rep TwilightDawn, aka Joel Brooks (pictured enjoying some Rock Band on a side stage in Cologne), had a tough draw and failed to escape the group stage. Considering the two qualifiers from his group later met again in the Grand Final, this was one of many examples of a WCG system that needs a seeding system to ensure all players, particularly the best, get a fair chance to advance and face off at the appropriate stage in the tournament. In Project Gotham 4 we had cam_, aka James Davey, in the hot seat, but he failed to get into top gear in his qualifiers. Hopefully they made the most of their reward for winning the Australian titles — a trip to Europe! More »
Australia wasn’t expected to do very well at all in Halo 3 at the World Cyber Games final, so when the lads from Encore.BBR (pictured hanging with some of the NZ crew) made light work of their group to advance to the quarter finals a few heads were turned. This was followed by a tight quarter final where the Australians again punched well above weight to knock out the home side over three maps. Suddenly the down underdogs were in medal contention!
A semi-final against France’s SSK. turned into a very exciting affair, with the Australian’s taking the first of three maps. Trailing for most of the period on the second, a late comeback saw a Grand Final berth so close at hand, only to fall a single kill short, 101-102, pushing the tie into a third map.
From here the wind was at France’s back, Australia again trailing throughout and while they were never far off the pace they just couldn’t recover from the early deficit. France through to the final, Australia into the Bronze medal play-off.
Australia faced the USA in the play-off and never quite found their earlier form, losing in straight sets though never by any great margins. This was a superb outing for the Australian Halo 3 team. With little opportunity to play top flight teams from overseas (almost all big competition in Halo is tied up in the North American MLG series) this was a show of pure talent taking on more experienced opponents. Some more time facing up to mature competition and who knows what is in store for these guys next year? More »
After Team Immunity turned heads with their upset progression beyond the group phase of Counter-Strike 1.6, the heat was on to see if they could roll on and take down another big name. This time it was highly rated Gameplay, from Finland, who had some recent top results on the international stage that ranked them as a podium contender.
The Aussies proved once again that they know how to cause a stir, with a win on the pistols round launching the team into a rousing chorus of cheers that pumped them up while deflating the very surprised Finns. On their favourite map, Immunity showed the world they are not to be taken lightly, running out to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three match. Gameplay were visibly shocked, heads in hands followed by a quick exit to recover and regroup. On return, some nasty exchanges in the game chat channel occurred, with the Finns showing some bad sportsmanship toward the dominant frag factor on the Australian team, Ben O’Reilly (BenoR). More »
Warcraft 3 stepped up to the plate on Day 2, with the unstoppable force of Australia, Andrew ‘GLaDe’ Pender, wearing the proverbial green and gold (he’s a member of Team Immunity, so he’s there in the midnight blue hoodie).
After an early loss to a Danish competitor GLaDe should have had the best of, things turned around dramatically with massive wins over WhO from South Korea and nEphBone, who ultimately finished second in the group from the Czech Republic. WhO finished 4th behind our Aussie RTS master, who could have moved through to knock out phase if not for the cheap early loss. But with two notable wins from the tournament, Pender still goes home with some tidy notches to add to his War belt. More »
Well the Australian Counter-Strike 1.6 team could not have gotten away to a better start. Facing their major competition in Group B, the UK, in the very first match of the tournament, Immunity took out the very tight match with one round to spare, playing out for a 17-13 win. This was a massive moment for the Australians, and a lot of spectators started to stop by to watch them play having seen that result. The boys had made a mark on the international scene.
Things got even better from there, with comfortable wins against Greece (21-9) and Portugal (20-10) putting them in an excellent position to advance to the next round.
Norway were the second big threat in the group, and a win here would see Immunity a sure thing to top Group B, which would be a major shock to most tournament onlookers. After losing the toss and starting on the weaker side of the map, Immunity had a cracking start, but failed to capitalise and struggled to get back in the game before dropping the match (11-19). From here, a devastating three-way tie for first loomed, which could see our boys miss out based on a points countback… More »
I’m all for a pre-event party to get everyone in the mood for a big competition. But the WCG 2008 Opening Ceremony was a little lack lustre. There was a pre-show featuring German band H-Block who were actually pretty good, and some freestyle BMX guys that were showing their stuff. But calling that a ‘pre-show’ meant this event was like having Radiohead open for Vanessa Amorosi.
The opening ceremony itself featured a lot of WCG dignitaries being majestically marched into the arena, a flags ceremony (which was the best bit — 78 countries taking part this year), a speech by CEO of Samsung, then the Mayor of Köln (that’s Cologne) declaring the event officially open. I think there was more after that, so it may have been awesome after that. I was way too jetlagged to stick around to find out. Hope that doesn’t make me a hater. When I think about it, I’m not sure what would make for a fun, exciting opening ceremony that would cater to a gamer audience from 78 countries.
Anyway. The games are now officially open. Bring on the action! More »
I mentioned late yesterday that I’m here in Germany covering the progress of the Australian teams at World Cyber Games 2008. Thought I’d share a quick ‘behind the scenes’ moment of Team Immunity CS 1.6 team training with one of the best teams in the world, SK Gaming. Whatever else happens, the guys have had a great opportunity here to spend a lot of time playing a team most would consider in a different league. This should help the Aussies be a ‘surprise package’ in the tournament, but its also a good start in bridging the divide between the quality of play Australia’s best get to experience. Through their new friends at SK, the team has now met many other top teams in Europe this week. Later today we’ll find out how this experience has prepared them for the main event…
You see the posters on the wall? That’s a bunch of novelty-sized cheques SK has won. The next shot is the other end of the room, along with a crapload of trophies. I even spotted more giant cheques tucked behind furniture! Hit the jump for the trophy shot. More »
Wondering where I ran off to? I’m in Germany with Team Immunity, the Australian team representing our country at the World Cyber Games 2008 in Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft III. The CS team has been here for more than a week now, with an amazing bootcamp experience playing against SK Gaming, a team based here in Cologne but whose CS team is from Sweden. They are one of the top teams in the world and arguably the favourites for this tournament. After a week, the crew are picking up some wins against SK and are in good shape for the main event which starts overnight Australian time.
I’ll deliver more updates as the event kicks off. More »
