Posts with tag orlando

Local paper profiles TCG $50k winner

by Mike Schramm Dec 3rd 2009 at 9:00AM

This is cool -- after local paper the Winter Park/Maitland Observer (near Orlando, Florida) heard that the winner of Upper Deck's last WoW TCG World Championships was from the same area, they went and found him, fittingly, in a game store. William Postlewaite, a.k.a. Billy P, won $50,000 just for playing the WoW Trading Card Game very, very well.

While there's not a lot of info on the actual mechanics behind his win (this is a local paper, after all), it's very interesting to get a look at the player himself -- he works at the game store while going to school to learn finance, and spent about two months testing decks of cards with a friend before he found the one that he thought could go all the way. And what's he doing with all of his winnings? He's planning to buy a house. Smart play. You always hear about these wild sums being won by card game players -- good to know that this set of winnings is going to what seems like a good guy.

Filed under: Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Making money, WoW TCG

Meet WoW Insider at the Wrath midnight launch

by Mike Schramm Nov 4th 2008 at 3:00PM

Blizzard's holding official launches across the world, various retailers in all sorts of places are planning out midnight launches, and we here at WoW Insider are no different -- we'll be covering the release all across the world, and we're inviting you readers to come out and join us wherever we are.

We've got a full list of meetup locations after the break -- I'll be in Chicago, co-lead Dan O'Halloran will be at the Fry's in Anaheim covering the Blizzard event there (Chase Christian will be in Santa Barbara, also in CA), and Elizabeth Harper will be in Austin, where Blizzard devs will be meeting and greeting as well. We've also got reader meetups planned in North Carolina and Minnesota (where BBB will be passing out buttons), and our own Jennie Lees will be picking up Wrath in Edinburgh, Scotland. And if you're in Orlando, BRK and Mania from Petopia are holding their own event down there.

Stay tuned to this post for more updates (if we've missed anyone on the team, they'll add their information here), and feel free to organize your own meetups and events in the comments. The second expansion launches next week -- let's party!

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, WoW Insider Business, Blizzard, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King

More information about the Wrath of the Lich King midnight launch

by Mike Schramm Oct 30th 2008 at 4:00PM

Blizzplanet's got the deets on a Future Shop midnight launch going on in Canada (eh?), so plans of Wrath midnight launch events are starting to sneak out into the world. Blizzard will be doing their usual schtick in Los Angeles, and this time also in New York, San Franscisco, and Austin, where developers go out to stores to sign and say hi while people buy their game. Our good friends BRK and Mania are hosting an event in Orlando, Florida, and I'll be picking up my game at the Gamestop just south of Clark and Diversey in Chicago (and I'll probably invite you all out for a drink or two beforehand at a bar around here, if you're interested). We're also planning some more events around the country here at WoW Insider -- stay tuned for more information about when and where things are going down.

And if you've got information about a special midnight launch event going on around the country (or if, hint hint, you happen to work for a retailer and want to give us an inside scoop on what they've got planned, anonymity assured), please do drop a note on our tip line. The Burning Crusade launch was the biggest expansion launch of all time ever, and Wrath, with its return to Warcraft III lore and the increase in Blizzard's playerbase, is shaping up to be even bigger.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, Expansions, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King

Kungaloosh drink honors Disney's Adventurers Club

by Mike Schramm Sep 9th 2008 at 3:00PM

This one's just for the Disney World fans out there -- down in the Orlando resort, there's apparently a club on "Pleasure Island" called the Adventurers Club that offers shows and drinks every night for Disney's adult visitors. Just like most of the stuff at Disney's theme parks, the club has quite a following, and apparently Blizzard devs are part of it. One of the Club's signature drinks, the Kungaloosh, has made its way into the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. This unofficial Disney newsletter has more -- apparently the drink is a cooking recipe that's similar to the real-world recipe. Definitely a fun little Easter egg for Disney and Adventurers Club fans (and a nod to the sad closing of the club -- Disney announced in July that they plan to close it later this month).

Unfortunately, there is no Adventurers Club at Disneyland (located in Anaheim, where Blizzard is and where BlizzCon will be held), which is too bad, because we here at WoW Insider are in the middle of looking for a location for our BlizzCon meetup. Last year, we held it at The Lost Bar, and that worked pretty well, but if anyone knows of a better location around the Anaheim Convention Center (or even better, if anyone works at Disneyland and wants to offer up a great location for us to bring a bunch of WoW Insider readers), definitely drop us a tip. It would be great to find a place where we could actually drink Kungalooshes (or any other drink, really, we're not too picky) while meeting up with all of our favorite readers during BlizzCon.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Blizzard, Humor, Lore, BlizzCon

The Art of War(craft): How WoW as an eSport can actually work

by Zach Yonzon Jul 13th 2008 at 7:00PM

If you're even moderately interested in Arenas, I hope you caught the live stream of MLG Orlando yesterday, hosted by GotFrag TV. The stream quality was much better than the one from the Worldwide Invitational, and it was truly entertaining, um... television. A lot of video entertainment is available through the web these days, and GotFrag TV has been providing topnotch coverage of the Major League Gaming World of Warcraft Arena tournament series. As a student of Arenas, I've found the coverage to be extremely fun and educational. This is competition at its highest level, where players actually get paid, or win money, for playing. And just like any sport, there are a few special elements that make it interesting to watch.

The stars
Every sport has its stars. You have athletes like Tiger Woods being the face of golf, or Kobe Bryant being the guy you either love or hate in basketball (for the record, I've been a Kobe fan since he got drafted by the Hornets in 1996), or even Maria Sharapova for tennis, who doesn't even necessarily have to win in order to be fun to watch (I mean, look at Anna Kournikova). Tournaments, when they're in a televised LAN format -- as opposed to online, such as the Blizzard-sponsored 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament -- means that audiences will actually get a glimpse of the players behind the characters. Just like sports stars, these players need to have some special quality that holds the interest of fans. Let's go through a few examples.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, PvP, The Art of War(craft) (PvP), Arena

GotFrag's Orlando Tournament Preview

by Amanda Dean Jul 8th 2008 at 8:30AM

American arena's best of the best will be back in action this weekend as MLGs PC Circuit continues in Orlando. Once again, the winning team will be awarded $12,000 and three Blackbird Gaming PCs. There is a lot on the line with a total prize purse is $31,500. You can watch the tournament live on GotFrag TV. Broadcasts will begin Saturday and Sunday, July 12^th and 13^th at 9am Eastern time.

Many of the same teams from the San Diego event will be representing in Florida. GotGrat's Knitt Quinn posted a preview analysis of the teams to beat. The analysis describes the strengths and weaknesses of each team. You can expect to see some well known teams and a few newcomers to the MLG scene. Many of the teams have a pool of known compositions to draw from:

Filed under: Ranking, Events, News items, PvP, Arena

MLG Orlando tickets on sale

by Michael Gray Jun 24th 2008 at 5:00PM

Tickets are now on sale for the next step of the Major League Gaming 2008 PC Circuit, which will be in sunny Orlando. The event runs from July 11 until July 13, and will once again be covered by GotFrag. We'll see more of the best Arena players going head to head in a 3v3 Arena tournament, with over $31,500 available in prizes. You can visit the official site for registration details. There are 32 team slots available in MLG Orlando.

Of course, you can still view the videos from MLG San Diego on GotFrag. There's a lot of interesting gameplay available there, and everyone who's wondering about how to handle Season 4 can pick up some tricks. As news develops and we start seeing who registers, we'll get a better idea of what compositions we might expect at MLG Orlando.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Contests, Arena

WoW TCG: Darkmoon Faire Orlando this weekend, and new boosters to come

by Mike Schramm Mar 7th 2008 at 10:30PM

The first Darkmoon Faire event of the year is set to kick off this weekend (and indeed, has probably already started) in Orlando, Florida. If you're around down there and have any interest in the TCG at all, it's a lot of fun -- they're going to have lots of beginner and advanced tournaments, of course, and an ingame leveling contest on an event server, as well as tips on how to build the best deck and do some card crafting. I went to the Chicago event a little while ago, and I can confirm it's a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon. As always, if you go, take pictures and drop us a note when you get back.

In other TCG news, reader Dave (thanks!) sent us a note about what looks to be a brand new booster set, called The Hunt for Illidan. The set was announced quite a while ago, but with a release date of July 2008, retailers are just now ordering the cards. And there will be new loot cards in the new set, so we'll keep an eye out to see what else Blizzard has up their sleeve for new TCG rewards.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, WoW TCG

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