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Growth of eSports

Growth. eSports. Two words we often hear together, but what does it really mean? How much have we grown over the last decade and a half - and how do we measure it? Starting with some anecdotes, I'll try to give a small look into the various aspects of the growth eSports - or lack thereof.  

Battlereports, anyone? I never used to know about eSports initially. Playing Brood War for about 5 years, on and off, (1998-2002) the main site I consumed data from was a little site called www.battlereports.com. What their writers would do, is to type up a whole replay in a text format so you can read it without having SC1 installed. They'd supply screenshots and write funny subnotes underneath to show what kind of game it was. I'd typically use the site if I were on a PC that didn't have StarCraft installed. Occasionally, I'd download replays of longer than 50 minutes (my favorite kind as you'd see a huge war of units) or under 12 minutes (my second favorite - smart rushes like slow-overlord Lurker drop into someone's main base). The players would have weird names which I didn't recognize. It was strange, because I'd download replays of SlayerS`BoxeR` but then in the game no one had the name BoxeR. I didn't know about "smurfing" (the act of hiding one's identity by using an alternative fictional nickname) yet so it was confusing, but I figured out who was who anyway.

My first tournament, and 'mine own ladder fear' My own personal first tournament that I experienced in a live fashion was consumed long-distance; as an observer. Clikarena in France hosted some of the world's best WC3 players. I knew of players like SK.Insomnia, mTw-Tak3r, DIDI8 and 4K.TillerMaN and I saw them in action here. It was at this point my appetite for tournaments got well and truly whetted. Another thing that made me feel ready to get involved was my ladder "results". I'd typically level up my account until it was in the top 20 of the EU (Northrend) ladder. It'd have stats like 150-12. With the scaling difficulty as you got higher on the ladder, I was afraid to ruin my win % and pretty stats and would usually start a new account as I roughly hit Top 20 or so. It also gave me an excuse to challenge myself to get as high xx-0 record as possible. The furthest I got, incidentally, was 98-0 :( almost triple digits, damn! (I did use to have a 135-2 account on the NA ladder, but anyway I digress). All in all, it was inconclusive evidence that I was legit good, but I had some of the prettiest stats on the ladder. Even as people were calling me an online hero or "can't perform on LAN", I felt even hungrier to try and make a mark on the LAN scene. My first international tournament was ESWC 2003. I heard about the ESWC and its Dutch qualifiers through the grapevine, and I decided I'll try my luck. I had previously won three small Dutch LAN's for first prizes like €100 and €200, so international was the next step. As it stands, I was the only player to show up at the qualifiers and got the qualification spot by virtue of being the only one present. The hot summer weather stopped people from coming, or perhaps my reputation had preceded me. Whatever the reason, this meant that I got to spend MY summer in Poitiers, France!

Frenchies Got Game So, July 2003, ESWC in France! I met my first three Korean progamers, one of which was ShowTime.WeRRa, my Night Elf idol (I played Night Elf at the time). He and the other Koreans were kind to me, and even knew me by name, which was unbelievably fantastic to me. I did fairly decent, finishing Top 16. It was one of the best experiences of my life back then, and I was hungry for more. ESWC had left a great impression on me. They had set it up in giant theatres with a very big walk-in traffic attendance, and the theatres provided headsets with trilingual shoutcasting (you could choose which language shoutcast you wanted on your headset). Even to this day, it's rare to see this, so we're not "only growing"! It really does seem that the Frenchies have always set up sick events, from ESWC 2003 through to Iron Squid 2 (2013).

ECG & WCG 2003 It wouldn't be until September 2003 that the next event took place for me. This time it was the European Cyber Games, a kind of awkward precursor to the WCG intended for players who had already qualified for the WCG. It wasn't particularly memorable to me, and also I didn't perform too well (lost in first round). WCG 2003 took place in October. It was the first tournament where I felt more ready and more hungry to really do some damage, but I fell to the eventual tournament winner SK.Insomnia by a score of 1-2. In the third and final map, I creeped better and I dare say micro'd better, but he outstrategized me, was more daring and generally more "winningy". He aggressively took an expand from a disadvantageous position (I was level 5/3/1, he was 4/2/1, all else was same) and I passively waited, scared to commit to anything. He pulled ahead and it was the end for me.

Woof woof In January 2004, following a 2 week Christmas school holiday, I had been "let off the leash" for the first time ever, as I had for the first time had 2 weeks straight of nothing-but-practice. It was my first tournament victory! It was also the first time I was defrauded (though definitely not the last), as the $10,000 first prize pay-out was pocketed by the event organizer and never paid out. In more ways than one, CXG for me was about making an acquaintance to eSports ugliness and beauty alike; the unprofessionalism and fraudulant activity on the one hand, but much more than that it was about the raison d'existence; overcoming challenge and that lusty victorious feeling one gets after achieving ultimate and sweet victory, and hearing the crowds' cheers (there was no crowd at CXG, though, nor at the WCG 2004 I won come to think of it).

A comparison Anyhow, if you look back at these 4 events, I can say that they reflected certain trends about eSports a decade ago: one or fewer events per month, and no streams or anything of the kind in between these events to tie storylines together or to keep people entertained. You'd be lucky if the prize money was paid out quickly, IF AT ALL. Sometimes players missed tournaments because they simply didn't know they were going on. Prize money on WCG was high ($25,000 for first) but most other events offered $2,500 - $12,500 for first place. My salary for the first year in 4Kings was $0, for the second year it was between $300 and $600, and we were one of the wealthier teams. Most teams got by on one or two major sponsorships per year. The first time I ever streamed (on XFire), I quickly reached the maximum viewer limit of 50. It was capped at 50! At the same time, I was so amazed that I was playing in front of 50 viewers, it was unbelievable. Lastly, besides the ESWC 2003, the vast majority of tournaments I went to in 2003 and 2004 and very few live visitors / fans. Looking at all these things, one can only marvel at the leaps and bounds we've made (one step backwards, two step forwards) in eSports, and marvel at the steps we've yet to make - and will surely make.

Conclusion eSports has its ups and downs, and unfortunately even some drama. We take one step backwards with every drama, unfortunate incident and growing pains, but we take two steps forwards every time we witness the passion that exists for all of eSports' games; yes, even if it's League of Legends! It's still dudes and dudettes checking out other dudes and dudettes playing games at a high level. That's eSports. IEM Poland with 9000/200 supply of spectators in the stadium? That's eSports!  Streaming to thousandssss of viewers simultaneously while practicing? That's beautiful - that's eSports. Player(s) being able to make it independently with several high profile sponsors. Yeah - a huge thanks to Sony Xperia*, BenQ* & TwitchTV*). That, too, is eSports.

Enjoy everything this year has to offer.

Yours truly,

Grubby

*On this note, I really want to stress how lucky I am to have been able to make these connections with said sponsors. Besides the crucial financial support that they offer me, from which I pay all my tournament expenses, you'll be surprised to know that help comes in other forms as well.

Sony Xperia actively supported me at all the MLG championship events in 2012, setting up signing sessions and fan interactions, which helped me connect to the audience, get me pumped up for my games and makes me feel like an eSports star. They also gave me their awesome phones, the Sony Xperia Ion and Sony Xperia TL. 

BenQ America set up Q&A Video's where fans asked me questions and I answered. They set up a GRUBBY$20 discount code for my fans on their gaming monitors. BenQ also provided me with the tournament training monitors RL2450HT and XL2420T so I get ideally prepared. 

TwitchTV has obviously helped the most by making streaming readily accessible to anyone and everyone, they also helped me with finetuning my stream quality and with general PC issues. They've also set up TwitchTV player lounges at dozens of events throughout the year, of which the relaxing effect should not be underestimated for the tournament. Much love and gratitude to them all.

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Tournament Season 2013 and Heart of the Swarm!

A big change is coming soon™ which will have a massive effect on everyone who watches or plays SC2. The Heart of the Swarm expansion set, should it live up to the expansion sets that preceded it in previous Blizzard titles, should be improving the overall gameplay and viewing experience immensely for SC2. 

The effect of the expansion sets on the original games StarCraft 1 was great, but it wasn't until Brood War that it became more balanced and as fun as it is even today. WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos was a fun game, but the gameplay was quite passive; you could creep until level 10 Heroes and the gains for creeping were immense. Imbalanced items like Staff of Mastery would allow a player to steal 3 units of their choice and those would permanently become yours; could be powerful neutral creeps or 3 of your opponent's units. Yay, I'm Orc and now I got 3 of your Tier 3 heavy hittin' Abominations! Haha. The gold gains for creeping were also like 500% bigger than what they were in The Frozen Throne expansion set. The incentives for creeping instead of harassing or attacking were very great.

So WC3: TFT encouraged more player interaction, strife, struggle, since hero levels through creeping was capped at level 5 - the rest of the experience would only come through bloody battle with the adversary. Brood War filled in some extreme gaps like Terran Bio healing (medics) and Protoss anti air (corsairs) as well as Zerg crowd control and zoning (lurkers).

My sincere hope and expectation is that HotS will do for WoL what those expansion packs did for the predecessors. Or, if anything, at least contribute 50% of what those did (since the SC2 Legacy of the Void expansion set is still on the horizon).

Tournaments making the switch As HotS is about to come out on March 12th, 2013, tournaments are getting ready to make the switch. March is going to be an extremely interesting month, as MLG announced a championship event on 15-17 March and people speculated if they knew the HotS release date was 12 March when they booked their venue. If they did know, MLG is definitely looking to capitalize on that by having probably the first major HotS retail event ever. While qualification or invitation rules have not been made public yet, you can rest assured that the event is going to be big news, especially with January and February being a bit of an unofficial off-season. .

Looking back on 2012 I feel like 2012 was a great success. To name just a few things; 1) my comeback run at WCS Europe ("kick in the balls"-moments), 2) #2 placement at premier event IEM Singapore, 3) having higher stream numbers than I dared think I'd ever have, 4) loving every moment of my crazy busy life, 5) playing against the Ultimate Weapon "Flash" at MLG, 6) Consistently qualifying for all the EU Qualifier events I participated in, and so much more. I know without a doubt I owe this all to my fans - thank you - and to my fantastic sponsors; Sony Xperia with the sickest mobile phones, BenQ with the industry leading and best gaming monitors and TwitchTV, THE live streaming platform. In the end, though, nothing of this would be sustainable without "enjoyment of the game" and "enjoyment to entertain." And that's where you guys come in - the magic ingredient - my fans. Thank you again :)

2013 For the rest, I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be "my year" where my personal goals and dreams for SC2 can be fulfilled. If I had to compare WoL and HotS, I'd say that HotS is more "my game". I'm so glad to see how Protoss is changing and am looking forward to playing as much HotS as possible! :)

Check out Sony's Xperia TL (or, the Bond Phone): http://www.sonymobile.com/us/products/phones/xperia-tl/

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My MLG 2012 Season

My MLG 2012 Season

   Hey guys! I just wanted to share with you guys a quick recap of my 2012 MLG season. As you may know, MLG held 4 Arena events and 4 Championship events this year. They also held 4 European Qualifiers to qualify for those. So how did it go for me overall? There is a red line in the story here which I’d like to show you ;)

For the first three EU qualifiers: 

   For these qualifiers, you needed to be top 7 or top 9 or so to get placed for the main events. 

- The good part: I qualified through each of the three qualifiers!

- The not so good but still OK part: I always qualified in last place (7th, 8th or 9th) :)

That’s just a funny little statistic to entertain myself with. It’s that “try hardest when you’re on the brink” attitude that has been some of my greatest help as well as greatest thorn sometimes. Although it may be exciting to always fight back on the edge of a precipice, you don’t really have much space to trip, and it was nearly giving me heart attacks. However, the important part was that I qualified for the Arena events, which also functioned as fully paid qualification spot qualifiers for the Championship events – very important!

The last EU qualifier:

   I did better in the last qualifier. I didn’t drop down the loser’s bracket. I started off with a freewin against XlorD because he did not show up, and then won against roxkisPomi, Gaulzi and Cytoplasm to place myself as Top 2 alongside FXO’s BabyKnight. You can find a Video Blog where I talked about this, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVW7JoYKOHc

The Arena events

   I really, really loved the Arena events. It was cozy and comfortable in a way that many events are not. I got to hang out with a lot of the foreign and Korean players, watch the stream on the 80” TV in the Dr Pepper Ultimate Access Lounge, and most of the times there’d be a practice PC available to use when not competing in the tournament. More than that, having so many awesome games happen in a small area allowed me to watch a lot of the developing tournament games. More so than almost any other event, I feel like I grew tremendously as a player through learning from the other players in attendance. I’ve also had some good results at the Arena events; at the 3 Arena events that I attended, I qualified for the Main Event twice; beating players such as LosirA, ThorZaIN, Oz, and Ryung. I also valued my losses against players such as HerO, Naniwa, Rain and DeMusliM.

The Main Events

   My favorite moment was when I realized I was going back to Anaheim. MLG Spring Championship was being held in Anaheim (08-10 June) and this is one of my favorite cities to go to. I’ve got a lot of good memories accrued here from my WC3 days, even winning a BlizzCon in 2005. I also felt good leading up to the event, and it became my best MLG of the year! I took out the Koreans GoldenLight & MVPDream, and took a map off Symbol & MarineKing. I then lost to ThorZaIN and SaSe (who went on a rampage, beating Leenock, Polt, Stephano before falling to Alicia). It was an awesome MLG for me even more so because I got to hang out with my friend Joshua “Raihn” Keyes who came to visit and support me. Socke and him are two contributing factors to my “feel-good” factor and subsequent performance at the event!

   My hardest moment came in the very first MLG Championship that I attended in 2012. I had played MLG’s before, in 2011, but I was only just starting out with SC2 and didn’t expect much in the way of results. In the MLG Winter Championship (Columbus, 23-25 March), I made the acquaintance with PartinG, aLive, TheSTC, Oz and Rain, all of whom were in my group – and all of whom defeated me ^_^. Having 5 Koreans in my group as opposed to other groups which only had 2, did not bother me in the slightest. I even feel privileged that I got to experience getting such a beating, because I think I learned more in that weekend than I’d learn in one month at home. I got my first really important breakthrough in understanding of the PvP match-up in losing my series games against PartinG & Oz! It’s that kind of “revelation”-type of feeling that draws the curtains away from a previously obscure point. Still – having said all that, 0-6 in series play was a tough break to accept (I lost to the Korean SeleCT in the Championship Bracket), but I grew stronger from it regardless.

Evaluating MLG

   As an independent player, I really value the support and sponsorship of my valuable partners such as Sony Xperia. You know, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this, to enjoy the experiences and the thrill of competing against the best players in the world. Moreover, many people might not think about it a lot, but MLG has made sure that everyone who qualified for their events can also make it out to the States, irrespective of whether their team or sponsors can fork up the travel expenses. That’s because every player who qualified, was given full travel support and accommodation. As a result, there were barely any drop-outs and the quality of the player attendance & skill was insane! I’m really looking forward to seeing what MLG’s plans are for 2013, and I hope to come back a lot stronger :]

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Grubby - MLG Dallas - Sony Xperia Blog

MLG Dallas

I wanted to make this MLG “my MLG”. I’ve had mixed results in the first three MLG’s of this year. With only one MLG remaining and my ambitions fired up, I was determined to make this one my best yet. So far, my highest placement was Top 16 at MLG Spring in Anaheim. Could I do better? I had my work cut out for me – my first opponent was going to be Flash, “The Ultimate Weapon”

  Great Turnout! (Taken w/ Sony Xperia TL)

Preparation & Goal Setting for Practice

In order to try and give myself the best possible preparation leading up to this event, I booked a plane to Korea after casting the WCS Asia Finals (15/16 October). The two weeks I spent there led up to the MLG Fall/Dallas event on 02-04 November. I had previously spent two weeks in Korea and gained a lot from it, getting Top 6 at WCS Europe finals, beating players such as Ret, DarK_ForcE, and Nerchio.  My goals for this training session were to (1) Drastically improve my PvT knowledge, (2) Keep up my speed and confidence, (3) Prepare specific strategies against my potential opponents. The luck of the draw gave me a PvP-filled bracket, but I spawned on the PvT side of it. For the past 6 to 9 months, my PvT match-up hasn’t been very good. I wasn’t going to get an easy start with FlasH either.

The Progress

Although I’d like to say I made a lot of progress, I wasn’t gaining a lot of confidence over the course of my practice session. I was practicing a lot on the ladder, as well as with some top NA Terran Pro’s like TheOgnis, Major, KawaiiRice. I also played a session with aLive – that one started out well (2-1 for me), but he was relentless and probably figured me out. After losing the next 8 to 10 or so maps in a row, I threw the towel in the ring, deeply disturbed, and went to sleep. I was working on my foundations rather than on gimmicky strategies, and my practice & ladder results weren’t very encouraging. 

  View of Main Stage (Taken w/ Sony Xperia TL)

The Results

My practice session at an end, it was time to go to MLG Dallas. I felt quite a lot of pressure since I was going up against such a legendary player, and the match was being hyped up as the opening match. It feels good to get that much hype for a match, but I didn’t want to disappoint the fans. Therefore I had practiced almost exclusively just to win my opening match, and didn’t worry too much about the rest of the matches afterwards. I was hoping to win. However, Flash beat me 2-0 pretty handily, and my confidence sank a little lower. I dropped down to the Lower Bracket, where I lost 0-2 to IdrA. In game 1, IdrA played very well – a lot better than many other Zergs I’ve competed against, with a very solid defense of spores & spines, making my harassment ineffectual. I confounded things afterwards, making a pretty horrible mistake in Game 2. I guess you could say I was on tilt already. At 8-9 minutes, I discovered I had not even started Warp Gate research – a fatal error. 

My best games of the tournament came against formerly-oGs JookToJung, which I lost 1-2. I had a real chance of winning (unlike the previous two), but by this point I was not only a little flustered, but also quite exhausted due to the emotional stress and it being a generally long day.

My Feelings about the Tournament

Given the situation, I don’t think I could’ve done much better in this particular case. My opponents played well and I wasn’t confident enough. I’ve really got to thank the fans and MLG attendees/audience here. I would’ve felt pretty horrible if this was all that happened, because I put so much time, energy, and money into my preparations for the event, and I feel like I performed poorly. However, I wasn’t allowed to mope and pout since so many people came up to me and said that I held my own really well against Flash. Even if I disagree, they were heartfelt sentiments shared with me by the fans, and that’s why it means a lot. They also cheered me on a lot in the series vs JookTo. I love playing for a crowd – even if I lose – and this gave my weekend some meaning. I’ve also had great fun meeting people at the meet & greet and signing sessions for Sony Xperia and BenQ, as they help me feel closer to the fans and the community in a way that was nearly impossible back in my WC3 career. It’s really awesome ;)

Hope to come again to MLG’s in 2013, make my mark, and meet more awesome SC2 fans! Thanks for reading ;) 

Here are some pictures I took with the new Sony Xperia TL phone:

  Oz vs Leenock on mini-stage

BabyKnight and me

  and Ganzi (posing^^) & CranK!

  Epic Naniwa vs Flash Series

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Interview with SjoW [GSS Pro Invite #4 winner]

Hey SjoW! I'm Simon from Team Grubby.  Congratulations on your victory in the GSS!  As always, it was a pleasure to see you stomp through the competition :)

If you don't mind, I would like to ask you a few questions about your victory and your career on behalf of Team Grubby, as well as maybe a few fun questions as well.  Feel free to answer as many or as few of the questions as you wish. 

First, it seems prudent to ask you about your victory.

1.  How do you feel following your GSS victory? 

Im very happy with my performance overall and winning with such a lineup. it's been awhile since I won a tournament. 

Mostly it feels good because I recently changed hotkeys and it's comforting to know im back to what I was before I changed.

2.  What did you feel was your most triumphant victory of the tournament?

The final I have to say, I always aim for first place when I play a tournament and after a 7hour+ tournament you feel very saticsfied after you win since you can relax better after and dont think why didnt win.

Other than that when I got foodbreak between semifinals and final ^_^

3.  You blew through some big names such as Bly and WhiteRa to get to the finals.  When going in and having a look at the competition, were there any opponents you were particularly worried about?

Whitera is always a tough opponent, you never know what to expect from him and thats sometimes very frustrating to play against because it can easily throw you off your game. Also he have beaten me alot lately.

Recently I actually tried to approach the game more like that and do more calculated allins when I see a hole in somebodys play or if someone is playing greedy. I think its crucial in tournament play with bo3 or more.

4. You faced the Russian player "sLivko" in the finals, where you proceded to walk over him 3-0. You played solidly all-round and never showed a moment of weakness.  Were you surprised at the results?  Was there ever a moment where you were worried?

I was playing pretty good that day, Im not really suprised about the outcome. I know theres alot of variance in sc2, On another day I could lose to slivko. Mostly the result was due to the firstgames outcome.

I made an 2 rax semi allin into 2 starport 1 base allin which caught slivko totally by suprise and that might have affected his mindset towards the next games, doubting his buildorders and play. 

It also boosted my confidence for the next games. In a best of 5 winning the first game is usually very deciding for who wins in my opinion.

Now, if you don't mind I would like to ask you a few questions about your career in eSports and SC2.

5.  You have been on Team Dignitas for some time now, and have been consistantly posting results since beta. Not many players can make the same claim.  What do you feel has kept you competative in SC2?  Can you tell me a little about your training regimen?

Competition has always been very dear to me. I tried to play professional in wc3 but only got to a semi professional level, mostly it was because I had school or other intrests like poker so it only became a 50% effort. 

When I got the sc2 beta I stopped playing poker and I told myself Im gonna try it full hearted if I like the game and I did. I also got very passionate about it and I played 12h+ for the first year of sc2. 

Passion always get you good because it makes you wanna play more no matter the result. In 2011 I feel like I kinda lost the passion but I still liked the game. Due to it I didnt play the same amount and it has shown in my result.

I know now that you have to fight to get to the top but I still wish I had that burn I had before because I got everything for free. 

My practice has always been ladder and customgames with other pros I think you need to mix it up. 

Playing ladder doesnt always give you the best way to test your skill but it gives you variety of gameplays which is good to increase your game knowledge. 

Customgames on the other hand is usually same builds and strategys so it helps your raw skill more and mechanics.

6.  Team Dignitas is one of the major players in eSports at the moment.  For those of us unfamiliar with the inner workings of a team, how does a team help you improve your play?

We help eachother with internal practice and build and strategy discussions. Especially me select and merz all terrans have helped eachother since the beginning of dignitas.

7.  In many cases, ex-WC3 such as yourself players seem to be outperforming ex-BW players in tournaments.  Do you have any idea why that may be?  What skills from WC3 do you feel have helped you the most?

I think sc2 is a combination of wc3 and bw, some parts favors the wc3 other the bw player. The result might have to do something with wc3 had a huge tournament community and bw had practicly nothing outside korea.

Wc3 players have just more tournament experience and thats something really important. You can win 100-0 in practice games but If you dont win the tournaments it doesnt matter at all. 

8.  Without meaning to give your opponents information... What do you feel is the greatest strength in your play?  What about the greatest weakness? 

My strength is my decision making and knowledge for the game. My weakness is my mechanics and multitasking but I have improved my speed and im planning to continue doing so also since I changed my hotkeys my macro is starting to get better

9.  What are your strongest and weakest matchups?

Strongest has always been TvT overall but that shifts alot since metagame changes all the time. My weakest overall is TvZ but at somepoint it was my best.

Now for a few fun ones! 

10.  If Blizzard came to your today and asked you to make some balance changes to the game, what would you change?

This is a hard question since we havnt really figured out the game fully yet and also not so funny since you always look biased in other races point of veiw ^^. 

I think terran has gotten too much nerfs lately and I feel like we are struggling alot in TvP.

I would like mech to be more viable in TvP maybe change back thors to no mana units so they cant get feedbacked and see how it works out. 

Also hydras needs to be buffed somehow so they are used in ZvT, maybe a speed increase off creep.

11.  From the look at the Heart of the Swarm units at Blizzcon, what are you looking most forward to in the expansion?  Any thoughts on the expansion as a whole?

Im not really looking forward to it because it looks totally imbalanced to be honest, I have faith in blizzard to balance it out eventually tho. Variety in gameplay is always good tho and the units looks cool.

12.  Can we have some insight onto your name?  Where did Sjow come from?

I was using the nickname show in wc3 and I wanted to make it more original so I changed it to sjow. Actually if you pronounce sjow in swedish its almost exactly the same as show in english.

13.  What is in the future for SjoW?  Do you have plans for 2012?  Where are you hoping to be by this time next year?

Im gonna try harder and I want to have a even more succesful year than this one. My goal is to win a major international event like DH, MLG, IPL.

14.  Any words for your fans?

I wanna thank all fans for supporting even tho I've been very up and down and keep supporting esports you make it even more awesome.

15.  Any shout-outs?

Thanks to all sponsors Alienware, Intel, razer, 6pool gaming and my team for making my dream come true!

And SjoW, we thank you for everything and hope to see you kick all the ass in the world in 2012!

-Simon "Zanez" Rees

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steelseries:

Want to win a SteelSeries Sensei?

Reblog this post, help us spread the word! We will draw a random winner among the re-tumblrs’ this Friday. :)

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steelseries:

The Sensei is hitting stores soon and the first reviews have now gone public:

“SteelSeries Sensei is the best mouse I’ve ever tested.”

- XSReviews (full review)

“The SteelSeries Sensei is the most powerful mouse we have tested to date.”

- Hardware Heaven (full review)

“It’s clear that the Sensei is an amazing mouse with absolutely no issues at all.”

- Lan OC (full review)

More to come. :)

Lotta love.

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steelseries:

The magnificentness is upon us. Pop by www.steelseries.com/anniversary and enter our new, huge giveaway in collaboration with Blizzard for prizes from ourselves, MSI, Blizzard, J!NX, Brady Games and Cryptozoic.

Additionally, we’ve put up some sweet deals on our webshop (International / North America) to go with the celebration:

Coupon code: epic50

Entitles you to 50% OFF any World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and StarCraft II product on the SteelSeries webshop

Coupon code: epic30

Entitles you to 30% OFF any product on the SteelSeries webshop.

Remember to apply your coupon code of choice when checking out. :)

Have fun!

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kimrom:

You probably have to be in the know to appreciate how awesome this is.. But meet the SteelSeries Minecraft aim_map. Two of my favorite games combined in one nerdgasmic picture.

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Hey everyone,

I've recently launched my new website "FollowGrubby.com" (Beta). This is the official Grubby homepage - the one-stop website for all news regarding me, including blogs, updates on my next tournament, results, when I will be streaming, the ability to download my latest replays, wallpapers, and you can watch VODs - Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 commentaries and so on. Be sure to also check out the photo gallery and Grubby Shop (Coming soon, Team Grubby jerseys, jackets). 

Though the page is in Beta with improvements and changes on its way, it's already fully functional, with a few hundred users signed up. Signing in with your Facebook account is possible - Just click on the Facebook icon on the top left. Come join our sweet community today, hang out in our discussion forums, discuss strategies and make friends with the same passion, talk about anything under the sun!

See you at http://followgrubby.com/ ! 

Warmest regards,

Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen

[followgrubby-blog]

Grubby gives tips on becoming a progamer

Polarfluke: Want to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Grubby: Sure. I'm a professional electronic Sports athlete that goes by the name of Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen. My specialties are RTS games, namely Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2. I've been a Professional gamer for 8 years. 

Polarfluke: At the Copenhagen Games you got to do a little casting, how was it?

Grubby: Was great, but I really have respect for Khaldor who can cast 12 hours straight without losing his voice. After 1 hour of casting my voice was already getting a bit sore :) I really enjoyed it and the reactions were positive.

Polarfluke: Do you want to do more casting or are you more focused on your play at the moment?

Grubby: While I am a pro-gamer, casting would never take precedence over focusing on my play. Though I thoroughly enjoy casting (and was surprised but glad that the viewers apparently did, too), I prefer focusing on competing for now ;) I will however cast at any time when I have a nice chance to do so, to add more value to the tournament(s) I'm playing in for everyone.

Polarfluke: You have obviously been living the pro-gamer lifestyle for a while now. What are your thoughts on it? Can you give us some of the pros and cons?

Grubby: It's amazing. I get to play an awesome game, meet diverse people, travel around the world and see places. It has enriched my life in so many ways. I love the lifestyle of being a pro-gamer though it can be challenging. My dreams are to contribute to the growth of eSports worldwide and to become very successful in Starcraft 2.

Polarfluke: You are also part of a rare breed of pro-gamers that are married. How do you manage to find the balance?

Grubby: The wife has to be very understanding. Do you want to become a pro-gamer wife? Here's what to expect:

You may get to travel with your husband around the world.

If he does well, you may have a comfortable financial backing.

Be near your husband more often since he works from home.

Pro-gamers are usually quite honest, sensitive human beings, so he'll probably totally respect you, and none of that jock behaviour or male chauvinism.

Live in the knowledge that your support helps make your husband successful in fulfilling his dreams.

So in essence, you live and work together.

He may propose to you in front of a tens of thousands live audience.

Polarfluke: Any advice you would give people who want to go professional?

Grubby: The player has to be very hard-working, self-motivated and clever. Do you want to become a pro-gamer? Here's what to expect:

Long hours of constant, epic mortal combat with people from across the world.

Missing some family engagements.

The love and adoration of fans from around the world.

Losing a lot of games along the way.

Earning your money with your passion.

Shady or bankrupt organizations getting you in trouble with paying your rent.

The fulfilment and satisfaction rewards as you reap the fruits of your labour.

Be on the forefront of the digital revolution as you pave a pioneer way into a new profession.

Get to travel around the world, meeting people and going places, never a dull moment.

Polarfluke: What are some of your targets and goals for the year?

Grubby: My dreams are to contribute to the growth of eSports worldwide and to become very successful in Starcraft 2.

Polarfluke: Any last minute shouts or words of advice?

Grubby: I'm incredibly grateful for SteelSeries' support in eSports. Besides making the gear that I play with (5L, 6Gv2, 7H and Ikari Laser), they sponsor me so that I can continue my adventure to becoming a successful Starcraft 2 pro-gamer. I haven't been playing that long yet, but I work hard and I hope you will all see the results of it along the way. Thanks for your support, too, and good luck to everyone in your own dreams!

Read the entire interview here:  http://tinyurl.com/3kp87qt

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Interview with sc2tv.ru

interview by sc2tv.ru

interview link http://tinyurl.com/3p9bqnl

interview with Grubby

translated on Grubby's facebook by Alex Smith

-Why did you start playing sc2 instead of going to China for CEPL? Any team would be glad to take you.

-They promised to start CEPL in march. In Feburary they announced that it's gonna be delayed for uncertain period of time. It was may already, but I haven't been hearing any news about it, so I thought that the league got canceled. If I'd went to China in Feburary I'd be there for 3 months waiting, which I consider too much for some uncertain event.

-What's the reason for you not joining any teams but creating your own?

-I think everyone already knows. For those who doesn't: since 1st of april 2011 I'm the leader of "Team Grubby". We have some pretty big plans ahead about other progamers but first I'd like to deal with some other main things. I'm currently trying to be as good as possible as a pro sc2-gamer.

-Do u still play WC3 from time to time? Or SC2 only?

-Yeah, I do a bit, but there's no tournaments I'd have to prepare for (not sure if there are any qualifiers in Netherlands), so it ain't like it all used to be.

-Are you going to participate in some big WC3 events? For example WCG. If you have to choose between SC2 and WC3, what will you choose?

-Not sure there are qualifiers for WC3 going in Netherlands.

-What do you think about your success in SC2? Do you think you're gonna get as big as you used to be in WC3?

-We'll see. I hope I will.

-What do you prefer: Customs or Ladder?

-I like 50/50. Ladder is pretty good: I can always find a game.

-Why did you choose protoss?

-It's fun to play with. I also like the Zerg. Humans/Terran on the other hand are boring. Well, we're humans, they're humans: there's no science fiction in that. :)

-What do you do besides practicing?

-I like eating, watching movies, walking on the beach...I read fantasy and science fiction. I do some sport activities on the weekends like snowboard and skiing but not so much.

-Say some last words for your fans from sc2tv.ru :)

-"Privet, zdarova, spasibO, kak dela? Me horosho, ti sam, all horosho :D Spasibo" (Hey, whatsup, thanks, how's it going? I'm good, you?, it's all good :D thanks -- apparently Grubby knows some Russian)

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Copenhagen Games April 2011

Captain's log, Star Date: 21-24 April 2011, Earth days: Thursday - Sunday

For this event we decided to get comfortable in taking up lodging in a Hotel Apartment. Apartment style hotel rooms are pretty cool since you get to have a refrigerator, a stove and a living room / bedroom segregation kind of thing. Also more furniture like tables/chairs for laptop usage :D Hotel rooms are pretty fine too and I'm comfortably used to them, but apartments have a little something extra.

Arriving in Copenhagen on Thursday 21st April..

Also, we were sharing this apartment stay with Empire.Kas & Empire.Stranger. Great guys! Kas has long been a practice partner of mine since WC3 while Stranger was a stranger to me thus far. Cassandra and I brought and bought some groceries to do some cooking, and on the last night we shared a nightly supper with this knightly duo :)

Cooked spaghetti with Cassandra for dinner.

  Eating late supper with Kas and Stranger in our service apartment on the last day.

Back to the first day; we came in from the airport into the room just as Kas made his way to go play his first group matches. We wished him good luck and rested for the rest of the day since I didn't have matches until Friday, the second day. Kas came back really late as there were some problems on the first day with connectivity and PC's. Copenhagen Games administration is aware of these issues and said they'll try hard to fix it for next tournament. I believe them, as they worked really hard, and it was their first SC2 tournament. I'm sure glad I missed the first day, though, as it would've most likely been quite frustrating!

Warming up before playing Lalush.

Second day. Had to play at 12:30 so I woke up early for a good breakfast, made my way to the event. Started out playing LaLush on the stage and I knew it'd be an important match for seeding. The first game ended up being pretty epic; 200 food armies on crossmap Tal'Darim Altar and I took it. Second game was a chaotic second win for me and I was off to a good start. The other group opponent was ThomasG's girlfriend MissCupCake and I won the game easily.

The Steelseries booth at Copenhagen Games, where gamers can test out the professional gaming gears.

Playing on stage.

Nice audience!

Normally bracket play would start on the second day but due to schedule changes it was all moved to the next day. However, I did have an awesome time socializing with all the cool foreign players (even spoke a few words with oGsMC) and fans who showed up. Some really great Danish fans came, man. It was a very intimate atmosphere, players mingled with fans and we had a goodly sized enthusiastic audience. Sure made everything feel greater. I don't like playing for empty halls ;)

Received my Team Grubby jacket! Cool design! ;)

Team Grubby jacket (Will make it possible for fans to buy the Grubby jerseys and jacket later).

In the evening Cass & I went to eat dinner with my homeboys TLO and Ciara and my new homeboy Bumblebee, my country mate ReT and my best dressed partner-in-crime MyWa in an Indian restaurant. Was pretty good!

Walking back to our hotel to drop off our bags before going for dinner.

Walking to dinner with the guys..

Mywa, Ciara, BumbleBee, ReT, TLO and me enjoying our meal at the Indian restaurant.

At the end of the second day I spent some time on Teamliquid.net and watched some replays. I didn't know who I was going to face the next day yet because groups were still going on as I was going to sleep... third day was going to start at 9a.m. so I needed to catch some Z's.

Third day. Xenophobe was my first round opponent and people kept telling me; you know your next opponent? He's HUGE! So when I saw a big guy sitting down in front of me I knew it was the Xenophobe. Funny thing is, in any other sport I'd probably be the underdog but instead it was him giving me face and saying I'd probably take an easy win. eSports is truly amazing! ;D

Second round opponent was FuZeR whom by now was quite infamous to me for loud outbursts at completely random moments during his games. Quite funny guy, and surprisingly good as he had taken out NaAma in 1st round - I was sure I'd be facing NaAma but it wasn't to be. FuZer was a strong opponent and pulled a good all-in tactic on me on the 2nd map with Raven and banshees. I decisively won map 1& 3, though so I was going on to Top 8 match. 

Playing on stage again.

Awesome fans!

TLO, who just took out Elfi on the stage, was to be my next opponent. A lot of "legtics" were going on which involved him rocking the stage and shaking my monitor, a trick which I will surely try to remember. He took the first game, playing strong and unique styles, but I was able to adapt and win the Bo3 by winning map 2 & 3. This was my first big opponent win in a Bo3 on LAN so I was pretty psyched, and as I walked off the stage Khaldor (rightly) remarked I seemed quite shaky. I was quite mentally drained for the moment and was hungry, as if I immediately needed to replenish my used strengths. I gobbled up a ton of yellow raisins (something which TLO said he hates so I didn't share any with him though I offered it - nice random fact).

ReT, MaNa and me taking pictures with fans. We're really enjoying the event.

My semi-finals match was against room-mate Kas. Very strong opponent and turned out to be too strong for me that day. I lost 0-3 but I don't think it was such a shame as he's very good. I was happy for him as well since it's only his 2nd LAN and being so good he deserved to be in the finals as well.

The third place decider was against MorroW! Stefan is a very scary methodical player. I would've felt extremely sad if I had not gotten a podium placement after breaking out with quite a nice performance, so I felt very happy to win the series 3-0. I had had some time to prepare mentally since there were some delays, and I had seen MC vs MorroW in the other semis from which I took some pointers as well. 

Thanking my fans before I collect my prize for 3rd place..

Thanks for holding the tournament..

YAY!! 

Fourth day. Nothing eSports going on ;) Just took a lovely walk in the park called Ørstedsparken. Quite nice! Since it was Easter, lot of couples and families spending some time lying in the grass and enjoying the beautiful weather. Not a bad way to end the trip at all :) And then, it was flying home! Great trip!

Climbed a tree at the park..

Beautiful weather in Copenhagen - we had a relaxing afternoon at the park before flying back to Amsterdam.

Thanks to everyone who trained with me, thanks for all the overwhelming support (& later congratulations) from my fans, makes me really happy ;)

Also thanks to STEELSERIES of course for supporting me on what is already looking to be a great beginning of the first year of SC2 for me!

Grubby

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Going to the airport now. 1 hour 25 mins flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. Copenhagen Games here I come!

[followgrubby-blog]

Hey guys,

Help Steelseries by voting on which you think is the best design for the mouse and it will become a real product! Go to http://steelseries.com/design/ to vote now!

steelseries:

Designed by Gamers: Mouse1.1

For the past 10 years we have helped gamers win by engineering and designing award-winning gaming peripherals, by working with the best gamers out there and by giving technology a purpose (as opposed to just boosting meaningless numbers or inventing fancy ultrahyperspacesoap™ marketing terms™). This time, we are turning the tables and are asking you to help us win. Help us choose the best design for one of our next performance mice (set to be released in late 2011).

We have selected 8 new and original designs for our new mouse - now it’s up to you, and the rest of our global gaming community, to decide which of these concepts will become the real product.

Link: Designed by Gamers. True Story.

[followgrubby-blog]

New partner: European Game Series

I'm very happy to present you all with another awesome news. I'd like to introduce a new partner of mine - the European Game Series (EGS). EGS will be creating a platform for playing a number of different games competitively.  

The goals of my partnership with them is as follows:

To stimulate the eSports growth in Europe further

To help give exposure to gamers. Both to young gamers and aspiring gamers, as well as already established professional gamers.

To create an interesting tournament with a unique new format

Combining my experience with that of the EGS, I hope to bring another great source of gaming entertainment and participation to gamers around the world.

Together with EGS, I'll be working on setting up an exclusive new StarCraft II competition called the Grubby StarCraft II Series (GSS). Stay tuned for more information about the GSS later.

Read the press release by EGS: http://egsinc.org/the-european-game-series-announces-partnership-with-game-icon-manuel-grubby-schenkhuizen

Sincerely, Grubby

Fans, press and interested sponsors can email to: -fanmail@followgrubby.com -press@followgrubby.com -sponsorship@followgrubby.com 

Grubby's portals: Website: http://www.followgrubby.com/ (coming soon) Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/FollowGrubby Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FollowGrubby Blog: http://followgrubby.tumblr.com/ Stream: http://www.justin.tv/followgrubby

[followgrubby-blog]

SteelSeries as my main sponsor

April 3rd, 2011

  I'm really excited to share a major piece of news in my gaming career with all of you guys. Together with my wife I will be leading a new one-man team, "Team Grubby" if you will. As I apply and commit myself to StarCraft II, I will be supported in this by my main sponsor. SteelSeries has done a lot for eSports and thus its fans; sponsoring tournaments, teams and now their first individually sponsored player. With SteelSeries' support, I can develop myself as a player, visit tournaments and support myself as a professional gamer.    In a more direct way, I can continue to use the excellent gaming equipment that I've grown to love over the past years already. I use full SteelSeries gear for a few years already, and this has helped me to win dozens of tournaments, including the World Cyber Games, Electronic Sports World Cup, World eSports Masters, World Series of Video Games and BlizzCon. For more information on my exact gaming set-up, see the Q&A below.

  It's been two and a half months since I started with Starcraft 2, and I've grown to love the game a lot. Improving day by day, I am motivated to grow as a player. I know it would be a big challenge to catch up with the other players who had been playing for a year already, but with your support, I feel that I could just be up to the task. I'm grateful to all my fans for choosing to follow me on my journey to be one of the top players in Europe. I will play hard and continue to bring you my best.

  I've gotten a round of questions already at MLG Dallas (my debut event as a solo player) and through Facebook & Twitter and so on, that I thought it'd be nice if I do some FAQ's.

Will you be joining a team? I am a one-man team for now, just like White-Ra. I've learned enough over the past 8 years that I've been doing pro-gaming to know how to manage most things myself. Of course, I will be aided by my wife (Cassandra) and some cool people I'll be working with. The knowledge and experience of my sponsors, partners, people who have volunteered to help me and people I've hired to do things, will all help out in a big way.

Without team mates, how are you going to train?  I will continue to train as I always have. Training on ladder; training with friends and practice partners; and by myself.

Grubby with his friend, TLO

Are there any other players maybe going to join the Grubby team? It would have to be a mannered, professional, talented and hard-working player. I'd love to give such a player a chance to develop himself with proper support and guidance if the time is right for it. Will you be looking for any more sponsors? Yes. Getting more sponsors would provide me with the chance to visit more events, be a professional gamer for longer, do more activities or projects for the fans and maybe even allow me to support other talented gamers with sponsorship.

Grubby taking pictures with his fans.

How will you going solo affect the amount of tournaments you visit in the future? Starting up for myself could of course be challenging in the start. I have one great sponsor and a few partners already. I'll continue to work hard both in the game and outside so that I could land more sponsorships. This would help me to travel to the awesome tournaments around the globe.

What's your current set-up for gaming? I'm using the SteelSeries Ikari Laser on their 5L semi-hard semi-soft mouse pad, the 6Gv2 mechanical keyboard and the 7H headset (I choose the provided leather ear cups for sound isolation). Will we be able to see you streaming again any time soon? Once I get back to the Netherlands (April 6th), I'd love to enjoy the company of my fans through my streaming once again. It's great to chat in between games and have an audience spectate as I attempt to get into Grandmasters League, train and have fun. A bunch of people came up to me at MLG to say how much they enjoyed my stream. I'm glad you feel the same way as me about it! :p So see you guys soon on my stream.

You have a really cool Jersey! Is there any way for fans to order shirts just like it?

Grubby competing at his first big SC2 tournament, MLG Dallas.

Grubby gaining tournament experience at MLG Dallas, 1st - 3rd April 2011

Thanks, glad you like it! I developed it together with Enuzi Clothing, one of my partners. It was supposed to be something that's comfortable and looks good, and I'm really happy with it. I plan to offer the same jersey to fans in the future; coming soon!  Before then, there'll be a contest on my Facebook page where two participants will be able to obtain an exclusive autographed Grubby jersey. To enter the contest and have a chance to win, just become a fan of the Grubby page and follow the contest rules. Two lucky winners will be chosen.

Autographed Grubby Jersey.

Grubby jerseys give-aways at Grubby Facebook page.

This contest should go live today or tomorrow! So check back on my Facebook for more details.

Warmest Regards, Grubby

Fans, press and interested sponsors can email to: -fanmail@followgrubby.com -press@followgrubby.com -sponsorship@followgrubby.com 

Grubby's portals: Website: http://www.followgrubby.com/ (coming soon) Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/FollowGrubby Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FollowGrubby Blog: http://followgrubby.tumblr.com/ Stream: http://www.justin.tv/followgrubby