One of our new moderators was awesome enough to get the inside scoop over at the WCG Age3 Competition this year. He even got to do the moderation in the final games. If you see him on ESO say hi!
-SOLUS
The World Cyber Games Grand Final 2007 in Seattle started on Wednesday October 3rd with press conferences and such. The games themselves started on Thursday. Play for AoE3 was split into two groups, one of six players and one of seven. You can see the results of each group here: http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/2007/tournament/tm_match_full.asp?sort=G070309106. Group A played on Thursday, and Group B played on Friday.
I got in to Seattle on Seattle on Friday night; I got a trip to the Grand Final because I had qualified at the US Final in Samsung’s Mobile challenge, playing a mobile cell phone game similar to MarioKart. I got to the venue, the Qwest Field even center, around 10 on Saturday morning. The venue it self was massive.
There were many large promotional stations, from companies such as Razer and DustOff. There were also stations to play PC and Xbox games, and they had a few PC stations set up to play The Asian Dynasties. There was also a main stage, pictured left at the end of the closing ceremony, with room for hundreds of people to sit and watch. Some matches were played on the main stage, but the majority of the competitions were held upstairs, only accessible to those with credentials.
Fortunately, the cell phone game afforded me a pass, so on Saturday morning I headed up to the AoE3 tournament area. I met many of the AoE3 contestants, including Sk1pper from Brazil and GM_Here from Mexico. Also, the referees for AoE3 (complete with black and white striped shirts and black pants) are two people you might recognize. Mokon, who has been very active over the years on the HeavenGames forums, and Hippo, who is active on ESO and works for Big Huge Games, recently helping to develop The Asian Dynasties.
That morning the semi-final matches were being played: NaturePhoenix vs. Parfait and iamgrunt vs. kivenkantaja (ESO name: Asgard). I mainly watched NaturePhoenix vs. Parfait. These were very intense games, both Dutch mirrors, played first on Patagonia and then Great Plains. Results for these matches are here: http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/2007/tournament/tm_match_single_R4.asp?sort=G070309106 . As you can see, Parfait beat NaturePhoenix 2-0, considered by many to be a major upset. Follow the link at the bottom of the page to watch the recorded games of these, and all WCG matches. iamgrunt beat Asgard 2-0 as well, although at least one of the matches was very closely contested.
After the semi-final round, the final match was set, but wasn’t to be played until the next day. The match for third place, however, started right away. The first game, on Yukon, Asgard’s Ottoman beat NaturePhoenix’s Dutch in an intense and action packed game (I would recommend you download it). NaturePhoenix then came back to beat Asgard’s Portuguese with Dutch on Saguenay, and then in the final match in a Dutch mirror on Great Plains. NaturePhoenix won $3,000 for his efforts.
The next day many of the final matches were taking place on the main stage and in “cyber space.” Some of you may have watched the matches live. Basically, players who had their games broadcasted in “cyber space” were playing upstairs, in the tournament section, while the games were shown on massive screens downstairs, pictured left, and then commentated on, both in person, where people could watch, and over the internet, in a live steam. In this case, I got to do the commentary! I’m pictured in between two large monitors on the main stage. You can find links to my commentary of the first game here: http://aoe3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=1,34545,0,10 . That first game was an incredibly close, long, Dutch mirror on Great Plains. The advantage kept switching from player to player, and the action was intense and exciting. The second game wasn’t nearly as close, as iamgrunt won swiftly. As a result, the Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs, was crowned: iamgrunt!
The closing ceremonies were held, and the winners were awarded their medals. Here are the recorded games: http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/replay/replay.asp
From left to right:
Parfait – 2nd (USA),
iamgrunt – 1st (S. Korea)
NaturePhoenix -3rd (Germany)
If you’re interested in having AoE3 in WCG next year, vote for it here: http://www.worldcybergames.com/poll/selection2008.asp