[Publisher's Note: Destructoid doesn't cover pro gaming news as often as we should. Would you like us to? While we debate that in the comments here's a promoted community blog by PDP Candace. Want your blog on our home page? Read this! -Niero]
Two days of intense action played out in the Pacific Ballroom at Bally’s Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Those who came out to spectate were treated to the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection in classic style arcade machines featuring the new Klassic Fight Sticks by PDP. Ed Boon & the guys from Nether Realm dropped in to check out the tournament.
Once the tournament came down to the top 16 qualifiers the room turned intense. A lot of players came out of the gate strong with Sub Zero, Kabal, Nightwolf, but it was clear that the top characters were Ermac, Cyrax and Kung Lao. There were a number of Kung Lao mirror matches throughout the event and it all led up to an impressive final match between Floe and Justin Wong.
The whole event was streamed on G4tv.com by Team Spooky, if you missed it you can check out the whole tournament on Team Spooky’s Justin.TV channel. The winners received a prize pool of $21,000 and took home Ed Boon signed Mortal Kombat Fight Sticks. Congrats to “EG Justin Wong” for being our first MK9 National Champion. Huge thanks to G4TV, Team Spooky, Insert Coin(s), Jason Wilson, Sebastian Jennings, Ed Boon, Warner Brothers, GameStop, NetherRealm, Microsoft and the gaming community for making this event possible! (Pic by G4TV)
The National Mortal Kombat 9 Tournament was a huge success. I want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who was involved, everyone who came out to the event and everyone who watched on the live stream.
Top 8 Winners:
1st: $10,000 - EG Justin Wong
2nd: $4,500 - Floe
3rd: $2,500 - LI Joe
4th: $1,500 - UFO Fubarduck
5th: $750 - Perfect Legend
6th: $750 - Trophy Club
7th: $500 - Michelangelo
8th: $500 - Ike S
Top 16 Qualifiers:
Pool 1 W - Eb3n3zer L - Hugo101 Pool 2 W - EG Justin Wong L - JOP Pool 3 W - Michelangelo L - Sochettra Math Pool 4 W - LI Joe L - Big Marcus Pool 5 W - Trophy Club L - BE Rivers Pool 6 W - Perfect Legend L - Floe Pool 7 W - UFO Fubarduck L - Noobe Pool 8 W - Ike S L - MarkMan
@William
Well, no. But $10k for two days work isn't bad going.
@Nireo
I for one could live with a little more pro gaming news. Though not every little event needs covering in explicit, excruciating detail, that's what pro-gaming sites are for. Perhaps just stories letting folks know when events are going down, and follow-up stories on who won, anything particularly noteworthy/interesting to come out of it, etc.
From what I've been told it seems they for whatever reason didn't use the patch that came out on day 1 that eliminated a few infinite combos. I recall seeing Ermac's a few times though it was never spamed.
I personally wouldn't want to see pro gaming events on here. What I like about Destructoid is how laid back it is about gaming news. When you start introducing serious pro gaming into anything I lose interest. I'm just one out of thousands though and it's not like I'd stop reading if you did start reporting on tournies.
IMO if you want to cover Pro-Gaming events, you have to have someone who knows what they're talking about, otherwise the pro crowd that you inevitably will draw in will rip you apart.
Case and point: Adam Sesslar (who has no idea what they're talking about) covered a few fights in EVO, and said things like "wow check out that mega-move! Wow! That looked cool!" - he lost a lot of credibility in the pro arena, especially at Shoryuken. As an avid fan of pro sports, I have to say the coverage I like the most is from people who know what they're talking about - otherwise you feel like you're wasting your time, and should go elsewhere. The reason is, because it's at a pro level, fans will often take it seriously, and expect serious coverage.
If you cover these events, make sure you get at least a semi-pro, and not someone with a video production degree who knows nothing about video games. So for example, I wholeheartedly trust Jonathan Ross to cover Starcraft II tournies. Long story short, while the D-toid fans (myself included) would love their hometown hero covering a fighting game with charm, but little experience, a site like Shoryuken.com who's picking the story up and running it might find it ludicrous.
I kinda feel bad for the actual MK players that got stomped by 2 guys that have been playing for a few weeks.
More news like this would be cool, mostly because the community here is a little more sensible than other sites that report pro gaming news. It's always %50 angry people that bitch about everything, %40 trolls, and %10 that can actually discuss what's going on.
@Magnalon
Jesse would probably be good. They also had some people from IPlayWinner on the stream a while ago so maybe someone could get in contact with them and figure something out...
Being a big follower of Starcraft E-sports (And some warcraft/wow) I was always wondered why it was never covered here, especially after the huge surge in popularity in North America the North American Star League is a huge testament to that.
i dont see anything great about pro gaming events, since 100% of the time, you never hear of them until they are over, and i could imagine that there is a ton more competition out there that will never play since they dont have the means too.... just never impressed by these competition
@areess
Every MK3 tourney is Kabal vs Kabal taking turns to hit each other with the same 11hit combo.
Pro gaming is fun and all, but it reduces everything to a homogeneous soup where everyone uses the same characters and tactics because they have the advantage over the others.
Shame you edited out someone yelling "That's cool I guess" in response to the free sticks.
Was a very relaxed event, but that's what made it great (along with Wongs commentary). Floes Ermac was insane, can only guess how hard those two trained together.
Sure I think it would be worth it for tournaments and stuff, but I think daily nitty gritty stuff might be kind of boring. Competitive gaming is a niche within a niche within a niche so daily stuff be overkill.
I agree with Magnalon. I remember this discussion back during the King of Kong episode of Podtoid. I'm generally indifferent towards pro gaming, but I'm absolutely on board with anything that get Sterling talking about Nicole Wiebe again.
I think it's interesting news. FYI I live in DC and MLG comes here often, so let me know if you need me to stop by to cover anything (I was press last year). :]
I know it isn't fair to Mr. Wong, but it seems I will never see or hear his name without instantly thinking about that incredible video of Daigo putting together a fifteen-parry reply to a super move and destroying Wong in that Street Fighter tournament back in the day.
Still the most awesome game-related moment I've seen on the Interwebs.
Yeah, the best part about this is that Floe and JWong aren't even avid MK players.
MK has really always been the laughing stock of the fighting community (along side Dead or Alive, though MK is even more shallow), and I love watching peeps from other games take a couple of weeks at best and learn to exploit an unevenly made game in front of everyone who thinks it's so great.
Oh, and choosing this game for EVO sight unseen was a stupid-ass move by any standard. It's gotten pretty good ratings, but there's no way it's going to be a big draw (like something like MvC2 will be) for competition.
@DinnertimeNinja
According to you, exactly how is it unbalanced? And why wouldn't it draw a big crowd? To me it seems more interesting to watch or if nothing else, something different than your standard street fighter stuff.
Congrats man! 10Gs for winning a Mortal Kombat tourney is pretty damn cool.
What Lichtonatus said as far as more of this. I'm not very familiar with the tournament scene, but I did watch a lot of Starcade and Nick Arcade when I was younger. Does that count? :)
@Wolfy-Boey:
There were a ton of scorpion players, they just didn't make it to the top. Scorpion is easy to learn and a fairly good character, but Kung Lao, Cyrax, Reptile, and Smoke are considered the cream of the crop and thus popular among the top players.
@DinnertimeNinja:
People are liking the new MK. It is actually rather fun and is getting a bit of a following. There are a lot of high quality players from a SF background playing it somewhat seriously. Especially after people seem to be disappointed with how MvC3 turned out.
I like reading about the professional fighting scene. It would be cool if you guys posted at least the final fights from major tournaments for each game. I would have liked to see that entire fight Wong had to win.
The problem I have with Justin Wong is he basically protects his almighty image by not playing any of the Scandinavian players and very few (i.e. not the top) Japanese and Korean players. So he comes off as seeming like the most unbeatble fighting game player ever when in reality there's a solid thirty-odd people in the world who would utterly wipe the floor with him. There's a reason why he doesn't get in to any of the invite-only leagues. He's king of the scrubs.
Plus he is mind-numbingly shite at 3D fighters. Dude hasn't got a clue how to deal with side stepping and while his left hand is good his right is average at best so he's fucked for action inputs.
As for Dtoid covering more pro gaming news, if this was ten or even five years ago then I would have said yes. As it is now pro gaming is more or less dead with the same few tired faces being trucked out. The fact that Street Fighter II and Counter-Strike 1.6 are still two of the most popular games played for money says all you need to know about the state of pro gaming. Pro gaming got stuck up its own arse around 2003 and since then has quickly stagnated, the last drop of real interest drying up around 2005. The elitist attitude and the unwillingness to adopt new titles, plus the American pro scene's unwillingness to acknowledge anyone outside of North American & Canada exists, has meant that competitive gaming has pretty much killed itself. I used to be big on pro gaming, saw it starting to sour and got out of that crowd back in 2002 and I'm glad I did. It's just sad circle-jerking these days.
If we're talking about public-access tournies in the US, then fuck no. That's just Justin Wong and one other person (out of a handful) that are always the winners. Boring as shit.
I agree with Ace - if you want to cover something, get the REAL pro gaming circuits covered, not this mediocre bullshit.
@Ace Flibble: I don't think you could possibly sound more hipster. Seriously.
As for pro gaming, Evo broke the fucking internet last year, had like 50k viewers during the ssf4 finals at the peak, thats not including sites piggy backing and actual attendees.
You... holy fuck you really have no clue what the hell you are talking about. Lets break down the points:
1) lol scandinavian players (this is like me saying "clearly he doesn't acknowledge any russian players because hurp durp im a dope")
2) Jwong is a dickbag, but he's the best in the U.S. He was beaten by GamerBee last year, and consistently by daigo. He would have been at EVO japan this year but WHOOPS. I bet he caused the earthquakes.
3) "invite-only" leagues. He plays fighting games... its open tourney... again, what the hell are you talking about
4) so, because he enjoys 2D fighters more, you blast him for it? A lot of people prefer 2D to 3D. This isnt a point... you just come off sounding extremely butthurt.
5) Just so we are clear, JWong is a dick, I don't like him as a player, or his attitude, but i still respect that he crushes people in certain fighting games.
6)"as for dtoid covering blah blah" HIPSTER
7)Adopting new titles? Evo "adopts new titles every year. They drop and replace titles as they see fit, usually due to whatever is newest and or still popular. Do they still play kof'98 or 2002? no, but they still play super turbo.
8)Again, open tourneys. Anyone with $50 can enter these multi tourneys, so to "acknowledge other countries is moot at best.
I only follow the fightan scene, so im not sure whats up with starcraft, but, honestly, if the "scene" focuses on one game, what is the point of adding new games. With the release of Street Fighter 4, the tourney scene, which as all but dead, rose from the grave, and has been revitalized. No longer is it a few dudes in another dudes house, its literally 1000's of people watching world wide, filling up venues at Caesars palace. Its no long a single tournament, but entire seasons. There is a reason why some of the most popular gaming streams on justin.tv or livestream are fighting game related, its because now more than ever, its going mainstream, with sponsors that would have never even touched these things before.
I think you need to revisit the scene, instead of hating on something that you thought you knew about 6 years ago. Its a totally different game.
also, it was Eb3n3zer's first tourney, and he finished in the top 16. It was his first time playing against human opponents as well. Clearly, someone with skill, who will only get better. There are new people in the tourneys all the time. the reason its always the same top ten is because no one can knock them out of those spots yet.
Awesome for him! I just participated in a local tourney at a ma n pa game store. Pretty proud of myself (not a tourney guy) cause I got 5th place. Did it with Scorp/Cyber SZ. Tag tourney. But yeah I was beat by guy using Kung/Cyrax. Finished me with a lucky X-ray. You bastard.
I wouldn't mind tourney coverage. I for one have a lot of fun watching Wednesday Night Fights, EVO, or anything that IFC Yipes decides to do commentary for, so that'd be pretty fun to watch on Dtoid. Though I'd say the same thing as Magnalon, make sure whoever covers it knows what they're talking about. As was also mentioned, Jesse would be a great pick since I know he loves his fighting games (And I hear he's pretty godlike in MvC 3).
As to Niero's question: It'd be cool if you guys did but don't break your backs doing it because its fine that you don't.
That said, if you guys were to cover more events like this, I'd be find watching/reading about it as long as the players ego's are left out. I've seen how some of these "professionals" present themselves and theres a big cross section that makes gamers look like asses.
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Contest:
3:30 AM on 05.19.2011 | 
10k is rich? lol
Well, no. But $10k for two days work isn't bad going.
@Nireo
I for one could live with a little more pro gaming news. Though not every little event needs covering in explicit, excruciating detail, that's what pro-gaming sites are for. Perhaps just stories letting folks know when events are going down, and follow-up stories on who won, anything particularly noteworthy/interesting to come out of it, etc.
Also, how come no one played as scorpion?
Case and point: Adam Sesslar (who has no idea what they're talking about) covered a few fights in EVO, and said things like "wow check out that mega-move! Wow! That looked cool!" - he lost a lot of credibility in the pro arena, especially at Shoryuken. As an avid fan of pro sports, I have to say the coverage I like the most is from people who know what they're talking about - otherwise you feel like you're wasting your time, and should go elsewhere. The reason is, because it's at a pro level, fans will often take it seriously, and expect serious coverage.
If you cover these events, make sure you get at least a semi-pro, and not someone with a video production degree who knows nothing about video games. So for example, I wholeheartedly trust Jonathan Ross to cover Starcraft II tournies. Long story short, while the D-toid fans (myself included) would love their hometown hero covering a fighting game with charm, but little experience, a site like Shoryuken.com who's picking the story up and running it might find it ludicrous.
More news like this would be cool, mostly because the community here is a little more sensible than other sites that report pro gaming news. It's always %50 angry people that bitch about everything, %40 trolls, and %10 that can actually discuss what's going on.
Jesse would probably be good. They also had some people from IPlayWinner on the stream a while ago so maybe someone could get in contact with them and figure something out...
"Destructoid doesn't cover pro gaming news as often as we should. Would you like us to?" Honestly? No.
Seriously, leave it to the pros. <3
Every MK3 tourney is Kabal vs Kabal taking turns to hit each other with the same 11hit combo.
Pro gaming is fun and all, but it reduces everything to a homogeneous soup where everyone uses the same characters and tactics because they have the advantage over the others.
CAN I BE THE HYPEMAN THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO PUNCH?
Was a very relaxed event, but that's what made it great (along with Wongs commentary). Floes Ermac was insane, can only guess how hard those two trained together.
This tells you everything you need to know.
This tells you everything you need to know.
If you want to post about it, do it. I'm not one to bitch about having to scroll a bit more before clicking!
Still the most awesome game-related moment I've seen on the Interwebs.
MK has really always been the laughing stock of the fighting community (along side Dead or Alive, though MK is even more shallow), and I love watching peeps from other games take a couple of weeks at best and learn to exploit an unevenly made game in front of everyone who thinks it's so great.
Oh, and choosing this game for EVO sight unseen was a stupid-ass move by any standard. It's gotten pretty good ratings, but there's no way it's going to be a big draw (like something like MvC2 will be) for competition.
According to you, exactly how is it unbalanced? And why wouldn't it draw a big crowd? To me it seems more interesting to watch or if nothing else, something different than your standard street fighter stuff.
What Lichtonatus said as far as more of this. I'm not very familiar with the tournament scene, but I did watch a lot of Starcade and Nick Arcade when I was younger. Does that count? :)
There were a ton of scorpion players, they just didn't make it to the top. Scorpion is easy to learn and a fairly good character, but Kung Lao, Cyrax, Reptile, and Smoke are considered the cream of the crop and thus popular among the top players.
@DinnertimeNinja:
People are liking the new MK. It is actually rather fun and is getting a bit of a following. There are a lot of high quality players from a SF background playing it somewhat seriously. Especially after people seem to be disappointed with how MvC3 turned out.
@DinnertimeNinja:Yeah, the best part about this is that Floe and JWong aren't even avid MK players.
Floe was playing MK before he got into SF4. Stfu.
Plus he is mind-numbingly shite at 3D fighters. Dude hasn't got a clue how to deal with side stepping and while his left hand is good his right is average at best so he's fucked for action inputs.
As for Dtoid covering more pro gaming news, if this was ten or even five years ago then I would have said yes. As it is now pro gaming is more or less dead with the same few tired faces being trucked out. The fact that Street Fighter II and Counter-Strike 1.6 are still two of the most popular games played for money says all you need to know about the state of pro gaming. Pro gaming got stuck up its own arse around 2003 and since then has quickly stagnated, the last drop of real interest drying up around 2005. The elitist attitude and the unwillingness to adopt new titles, plus the American pro scene's unwillingness to acknowledge anyone outside of North American & Canada exists, has meant that competitive gaming has pretty much killed itself. I used to be big on pro gaming, saw it starting to sour and got out of that crowd back in 2002 and I'm glad I did. It's just sad circle-jerking these days.
I agree with Ace - if you want to cover something, get the REAL pro gaming circuits covered, not this mediocre bullshit.
As for pro gaming, Evo broke the fucking internet last year, had like 50k viewers during the ssf4 finals at the peak, thats not including sites piggy backing and actual attendees.
You... holy fuck you really have no clue what the hell you are talking about. Lets break down the points:
1) lol scandinavian players (this is like me saying "clearly he doesn't acknowledge any russian players because hurp durp im a dope")
2) Jwong is a dickbag, but he's the best in the U.S. He was beaten by GamerBee last year, and consistently by daigo. He would have been at EVO japan this year but WHOOPS. I bet he caused the earthquakes.
3) "invite-only" leagues. He plays fighting games... its open tourney... again, what the hell are you talking about
4) so, because he enjoys 2D fighters more, you blast him for it? A lot of people prefer 2D to 3D. This isnt a point... you just come off sounding extremely butthurt.
5) Just so we are clear, JWong is a dick, I don't like him as a player, or his attitude, but i still respect that he crushes people in certain fighting games.
6)"as for dtoid covering blah blah" HIPSTER
7)Adopting new titles? Evo "adopts new titles every year. They drop and replace titles as they see fit, usually due to whatever is newest and or still popular. Do they still play kof'98 or 2002? no, but they still play super turbo.
8)Again, open tourneys. Anyone with $50 can enter these multi tourneys, so to "acknowledge other countries is moot at best.
I only follow the fightan scene, so im not sure whats up with starcraft, but, honestly, if the "scene" focuses on one game, what is the point of adding new games. With the release of Street Fighter 4, the tourney scene, which as all but dead, rose from the grave, and has been revitalized. No longer is it a few dudes in another dudes house, its literally 1000's of people watching world wide, filling up venues at Caesars palace. Its no long a single tournament, but entire seasons. There is a reason why some of the most popular gaming streams on justin.tv or livestream are fighting game related, its because now more than ever, its going mainstream, with sponsors that would have never even touched these things before.
I think you need to revisit the scene, instead of hating on something that you thought you knew about 6 years ago. Its a totally different game.
Fuck your balance. What happened to the ''Oh we can balance characters without using patches!'' Enough with the crap man.
And that Ermac had no idea how to play.
Stay Free dude, STAY FREE...
That said, if you guys were to cover more events like this, I'd be find watching/reading about it as long as the players ego's are left out. I've seen how some of these "professionals" present themselves and theres a big cross section that makes gamers look like asses.