Zelda Symphony 2012 Tour Starts Kicking Tomorrow!

In order to celebrate The Legend of Zelda 25th anniversary, Nintendo is going to hold Zelda symphony. Zelda symphony is an orchestral concert where songs from The Legend of Zelda is played. The official name is Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. I bet my five bucks that the concert won’t be disappointing.

The Zelda symphony concert itself consists of a full choir with 70-piece orchestra plus brand new arrangements. The songs are chosen by Koji Kondo, the well-known game composer. He is the one who composed the songs in Mario series and The Legend of Zelda. The producer of “PLAY! A Video Game Symphony”, Jason Michael Paul Production, is going to produce the Zelda Symphony.

The premier was held in Pantages Theatre at Los Angeles on the 21st of October 2011. In the premier, Mr. Eiji Aonuma and Mr. Koji Kondo was there. A Lot of Zelda fans that have attended the premier show have posted the review. They say that the Zelda Symphony is breathtaking and dazzling. The money they spent for it didn’t go for nothing. It was unforgettable according to the attendants’ reviews whether they favor either the moments when the songs are played or when seeing the legendary composer in person.

You can buy the tickets via Ticketmaster. The price varies from $19 up to $115. Of course, what you pay is what you get. Originally, a 15 percent discount was only eligible for Nintendo Club members until recently, last Friday, it is stated in the official Twitter and Facebook accounts of Zelda Symphony that everyone can get the 15 percent discount by entering HOOKSHOT as the discount code on Ticketmaster. By the time I am writing this article, the tickets for the first show in 2012 tomorrow that takes place in Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas have sold out. C’mon cheapskates! Don’t wait until the tickets are all sold out!

Currently, the official schedule only involves the US. No news yet regarding the Zelda Symphony’s concert outside the US, but I am looking forward to it. The concerts always start from 8 PM and some may start at 7.30 PM. This list is the latest list as of today (Monday, 9th of January 2012) taken from the official site:

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary - Zelda Symphony

• Jan 10, 2012 at Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, TX
• Mar 14, 2012 at Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, BC
• Mar 26, 2012 at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA
• Mar 28, 2012 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Fransisco, CA
• Apr 07, 2012 at Boettcher Hall, Denver, CO
• Apr 20, 2012 at Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
• Apr 21, 2012 at Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
• May 12, 2012 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta, GA
• May 31, 2012 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Montreal, QB
• Jun 22, 2012 at Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX
• Jul 14, 2012 at Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, Orlando, FL
• Sep 29, 2012 at Sony Centre, Toronto, ON

All of the Zelda Symphony’s tickets can be bought now except for the one in Toronto’s Sony Centre, that one is available on the 31st of March 2012. Residents of Phoenix, you are blessed, Zelda Symphony 2 days in a row!

WCG Korea Next Year?

After the successful WCG Korea 2011 event, gamers all around the world already crave for the next e-sports olympiad. With saliva dripping from their mouth (not mentioning you), they searched and googled for the next WCG Korea. Maybe it was because the battles were so intense and ended dramatically. Your favorite team did the best and they deserved what they got. And maybe you can’t take it off your mind, i know this year’s WCG show of skill were just too hard to understand for a noob like me. But people just wants it more and more. Well, me too, it’s just too hard to handle the addiction. Like the official motto of WCG Korea itself “Beyond the Game”.

WCG Korea 2011

WCG Korea this year took place in Busan, South Korea. With 9 official game titles that varies in genre and contestants from all over the world. First-Person Shooters, fighting game, Real Time Strategy, soccer game, and even Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games were competed in WCG 2011. Even though the official title has not been announced yet, we can only pray that WCG Korea will choose more official title and more genre for the next year. The next WCG will also qualify contestant from countries all around the world. And now is the time to prepare yourself to go to a trip to a nice country called China next year, because WCG 2012 will not be held in Busan, South Korea anymore. Instead, it will be held in Kunshan, China and not only for WCG 2012 but also WCG 2013. It is official that WCG Korea choose Kunshan, China as the host city for the grand finals of next year’s WCG. Even the signing ceremony had been done. This annual event will take place in the Kunshan International Convention & Exhibition Center.

Hey why choosing China? Why not choosing your country as the host for the grand showdown of gamers? Well, the truth is, WCG CEO, Brad Lee, had chosen Kunshan as the host of WCG 2012 and 2013 based on WCG 2009 in Chengdu, China that was unbelievably successful. He believes that Kunshan will bring even more successful result than Chengdu’s. But it is not the only factor that made Kunshan chosen as the host city of WCG for 2 years in a row. It is a fact that China’s market in video gaming industry is the one that is growing the most rapid in the world, like the T-Virus that spread so fast and caused chaos in Raccoon City. Kunshan is also promoting its economy development by making digital animation industry, culture industry, and modern service industry its priority. That two factors made Kunshan the best of the best candidates of WCG next host city. Brad Lee places his bet on Kunshan and one hundred percent sure that with Kunshan support, WCG 2012 and 2013 will be successful and will achieve the best result ever. Kunshan FTW!

But, what about ticket prices? It cost $25 for adult’s 4-day ticket for this year’s WCG Korea grand finals.What about next year’s? Well no info on that yet since it’s not really an important matter. Wait, are you asking for next year’s WCG tickets freebies? Get the hell out!!

WCG 2011 League of Legends Astonishing Battle in Grand Finals

World Cyber Games 2011, abbreviated WCG 2011 features League of Legends (LoL) as one of its official title. WCG 2011 was held from the 8th of December up to the 11th which was yesterday. This year’s line-up consists of 9 titles that varies in genre, which are Tekken 6 (Fighting), FIFA11 (Sports), World of Warcraft®: Cataclysm™ (MMORPG), Counter Strike 1.6 (FPS), Crossfire (FPS), Special Force (FPS), StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™ (RTS), Warcraft® III: The Frozen Throne™ (RTS), and League of Legends (RTS).

This year is League of Legends (LoL) second year being in WCG since last year successful breathtaking Grand Finals in Los Angeles, California. And of course, WCG’s League of Legends finalists shows jaw-breaking skills to the audiences again in this year’s Grand Finals in the home of eSports, Busan, South Korea. The tournament system was knock-out.

WCG 2011 League of Legends finals was held from December 10th to December 11th. The finalists groups was multinational. The groups that successfully advanced to the grand final on December 11th were Team CDE from the United States of America and Team Gameburg from Poland. And also Team Counter-Logic from Canada fought Team Jerome_NEGGRET from France. Team CDE that consists of Alex Chu, Andy Dinh, Brandon Dimarco, Marcus Hill, and Steve Chau emerged victorious from the battle as the fans was cheering with fanatic enthusiasm for them. Team CDE was announced as WCG 2011 League of Legends Gold Medalist and won $25000 while Team Gameburg lost and announced as Silver Medalist, got $6000 as the prize. The Bronze Medalist was Team Counter-Logic from Canada and was awarded $3000.

WCG 2011 League of Legends (LoL) Winner

Chicks Dig Elo (CDE) - USA

While WCG 2011 League of Legends gold medal was taken by Team CDE from the United States of America, Starcraft’s was taken by IM_MVP from South Korea. Silver Medal won by iG.XiGua from China and Bronze Medal won by Empire.Kas from Ukraine. The winners from each game are as follow:

WCG 2011 Winners

Counter Strike 1.6

• Gold Medalist: Team Again from Poland
• Silver Medalist: Team SK-Gaming from Sweden
• Bronze Medalist: Team Moscow_5 from Russia

Warcraft III

• Gold Medalist: Panda.Lyn from South Korea
• Silver Medalist: WE.GIGABYTE.Sky from China
• Bronze Medalist: EG.FLY100 from China

Crossfire

• Gold Medalist: Liaoning_Dongjia from China
• Silver Medalist: HAMMERTIME from the USA
• Bronze Medalist: ruLegends from Russia

Special Force

• Gold Medalist: Team Annul from South Korea
• Silver Medalist: Team AMOTEL from Thailand
• Bronze Medalist: Team WAYISPIDER from Taipei

Tekken 6

• Gold Medalist: NOBI from Japan
• Silver Medalist: dejavu from South Korea
• Bronze Medalist: JDCR from South Korea

FIFA11

• Gold Medalist: deto from Germany
• Silver Medalist: hom3r from Poland
• Bronze Medalist: Lonewolf92 from Italy

World of Warcraft

• Gold Medalist: Team OMG from South Korea
• Silver Medalist: Team Kimchi_Man from South Korea
• Bronze Medalist: Team Anarchy-DKP from Taipei

Every WCG 2011 winning finalists were awarded on the 11th of December continued with the closing ceremony of this year’s WCG. It was one of the most successful WCG. So how will the next WCG amaze us, gamefreaks? Let’s wait and see!


*Source: WCG

BlizzCon 2011: Diablo III, StarCraft III and World of Warcraft

Hey, if you want to know what happened in BlizzCon 2011 you can read this article! I grabbed some information about BlizzCon 2011 from Gamasutra (Thanks Gamasutra!) and summarized it for you. You're also can watch BlizzCon 2011 live stream by purchase a virtual ticket. I hope you enjoy this article!

BlizzCon 2011: A Dynamic Economy From Diablo III's Auction House

At a panel during the event on Friday, Blizzard paid particular attention to showing off the recently-announced "auction house" as well as all the many ways that players can gain, trade, enhance and acquire rare loot.

This past summer, Blizzard revealed the Diablo III auction house, an eBay-like service where players can exchange real money for virtual items, with Blizzard taking a cut.

Many simply accused Blizzard of being greedy.

But Blizzard is hoping that players give the company the benefit of the doubt. Blizzard explained that players can not only sell loot, but can salvage armor and weapons and sell the various components to other players in the auction house. Along with using salvaged goods to create unique weapons and armor, players can also enhance weapons and armor via the Mystic NPC. Continuing the series tradition, Diablo III will feature random environments where players will experience random scripted events and encounters throughout the game (in addition to the scripted events and campaign).

BlizzCon 2011: Heart Of The Swarm Tweaks StarCraft II Formula

Heart of the Swarm -- the first expansion for StarCraft II -- has players taking control of fan favorite Sarah Kerrigan as she slowly reclaims control of the Zerg Swarm and rises back to prominence.

Along with brand new maps and locales, Blizzard revealed that Heart of the Swarm will also introduce a number of new unit types and (for the first time ever) allow players to level and evolve their units.

Just announced today are new units for each of the three races, as well as modifications to existing units.

Zerg players will gain access to the new Viper aerial unit with three unique abilities, and the Swarm Host, a slow-moving ground unit that has no standard attack but when burrowed spawns a continuous stream of slow-moving melee units called Locusts that can be used to lay siege and pressure entrenched enemy positions.

Blizzcon 2011: Mists Of Pandaria Expansion Confirmed For WoW

Blizzard SVP of creative development Chris Metzen revealed that Mists of Pandaria, which stars the new playable anthropomorphic panda class, the Pandaren, will up the level cap to 90, introduce a new monk class, the new Pandaria continent, dungeons challenge mode, PVE scenarios, a pet battle system and a new talent system.

The martial-arts practicing Pandaren race originally appeared in Blizzard's 2002 real-time strategy game, Warcraft III.

BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream

The sixth BlizzCon 2011 was held on October 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center, California. if you want to know more what happened in BlizzCon 2011, you can watch BlizzCon 2011 live stream. In the opening ceremony, a new Diablo III cinematic trailer titled "The Dark Soulstone" showcased, a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm reveal trailer showcasing new units and abilities, a "Blizzard DOTA" trailer for a Custom Game made for StarCraft II and the reveal of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, a new expansion for World of Warcraft.

In BlizzCon 2011 live stream, you can watch free opening ceremony and full tournament coverage viewable on the WoW Stage and RTS Stage channels. But, you must upgrade to a Virtual Ticket for full access to all 4 channels in HD.

BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream

There are 4 stages in BlizzCon 2011: Main Stage, RTS Stage, WoW Stage and Panel Stage. Here are some video that you can watch on BlizzCon 2011 live stream.

Pre-Show Coverage
Location: Main Stage
Duration: 29m 0s

Opening Ceremony
Location: Main Stage
Duration: 46m 0s

World of Warcraft: Intro to Musts of Pandaria
Location: Main Stage
Duration: 87m 0s

Diablo III Gameplay & Auction House
Location: Main Stage
Duration: 58m 0s

Closing Ceremony
Location: Main Stage
Duration: 210m 0s

This is a video that I got from YouTube. Let's check it out!

BizzCon 2011: Day 1

Why you should to buy a virtual ticket? Because by buying a virtual ticket you will get a lot of benefits such as:

• High-definition, 720p quality stream
• Access to all panels, contests, and closing concert
• Exclusive World of Warcraft in-game pet
• And much more

No matter which country you live in, you can buy BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket for $39.99 (pricing may vary by region). Blizzard announced if the recorded stream of BlizzCon will be available until 11/19/2011. So, don't miss it! Let's relive BlizzCon 2011 live stream by buying a BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket in BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream page.