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.

GotFrag's coverage of the MLG 3v3 Arena Tournament in Orlando begins at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific today. If you didn't tune in at all last month, I definitely recommend doing so this time around. Generally, I'm not a PvP fan, but this was very fun to watch last time. WoW's impact as an eSport isn't really something you can witness in-game (which is a shame) but for me, tournaments like this give it a whole new dynamic. The emphasis is placed more on the players and the choices they make, and a little less on rock-paper-scissors and endless countercomping. It's an all weekend event, so if you're only interested in watching the finals, that'll be tomorrow.

Like Amanda Dean and GotFrag themselves detailed the other day, there are a lot of teams to keep an eye on this time around. Frag Dominant took the win last month, and there are plenty of other teams you may recognize. SK-Gaming, MoB, Got Game East/West, Pandemic, Fnatic, plenty more. If you don't keep an eye on the PvP scene on a regular basis you might not recognize those names, but they put on a good show last time.

To view the live stream, you will probably be prompted to install a codec if you don't have it yet. All of us WoW players are a little paranoid these days (with good reason), so don't be afraid to run a background check on anything you're asked to download. I'm pretty positive there's nothing to worry about in this case, but better safe than sorry, eh?

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:

Remember the MLG San Diego 3v3 WoW Arena Tournament we reported on a while back? If you missed the live streaming video of the event, you now have a second chance to watch, as GotFrag has begun posting videos of various matches and interviews with team members at their website.

If you have any interest in Arena PvP, these videos are definitely recommended watching. The commentators obviously know what they're talking about, and explain both teams' actions in terms that your average WoW player should be able to understand. A lot of us at WoW Insider watched, and we all agree that we learned something valuable about life, love, and learning to play Arena PvP from it. You may even pick up some tricks to kick off your Season 4 playing from them.

MLG's PC Circuit Arena competition has come to an end, after an exciting weekend of coverage by GotFrag. The final round came down to a best of eleven showdown between Frag Dominant and Nihilum, first to six wins. Frag Dominant's Rogue/Warrior/Druid managed to get the best of Nihilum's Priest/Druid/Hunter after a grueling contest that never had a clear winner until the very end. After the first eight matches, they were tied at an even 4-4.

The Nihilum team's aggresive nature seemed to get the better of them when Frag Dominant caught onto their playstyle. More than once it appeared to me that their Hunter was left open to FD's double melee burst when the Nihilum Priest and Druid shifted their attention to take out Frag Dominant's healer. Nihilum's healers being focused on downing Frag's own forced them into reactive healing rather than proactive, and the deaths of their Hunter throughout the contests ultimately lead to their downfall. Very well played by Frag Dominant.

The tournament was definitely a good watch, and the highlight of my day was my roommate shouting obscenities about drain teams. WoW arena tournaments don't quite have the strangely entertaining glitz and glamour of Starcraft tournaments yet, but it's only a matter of time. I'm fairly confident that I'll tune in for the Circuit's tournament in Orlando on July 11th, and many others after that.

Edited to fix the date of the Orlando tourney.

Today is the second day of GotFrag's live coverage of their 3v3 arena tournament. If you didn't tune in and see the action yesterday, I definitely recommend giving it a look for at least a little while at some point today. I'm not exactly the arena type, but even I watched for an hour or two yesterday afternoon with one of my current roommates. It's just plain interesting to watch some of the top players in the world go head to head, and see some of their reactions in person, not just the written word.

Plus, there's another bonus for watching the tournament. As Amanda Dean mentioned yesterday, the first player to post the top four teams and the final score in the comments of GotFrag's post will win an A40 MixAmp and A40 Headset.

If you get the chance, be sure to tune in to GotFrag's coverage of the MLG's PC Circuit' Arena competition this weekend. The action will be going on throughout the day today and into tomorrow. I can think of five great reasons to watch this event:

1. Get to see stunning arena action by the best players
2. Support WoW Arenas as a spectator E-Sport
3. Learn ways to improve your own play style by watching the pros
4. It's more fun than watching golf on TV
5. Win fabulous prizes.

That's right, you don't even have to be an arena champ to take home the goods today. Heck, you don't even have to be in San Diego. GotFrag announced a prediction contest on their website. The first player to post the top four finishing teams and the final score in the comments of GotFrag's post will be granted an A40 MixAmp and A40 Headset. Take a look at some of the teams that will be playing and post away. Check the post at GotFrag for more details.

The best of the best will be going head to head next weekend, June 14 and 15 in Major League Gaming's $22,500 tournament. Members of the winning team will each receive a Blackbird gaming PC in addition to a $4,000 cash prize. The arena action will be live in San Diego, but for those of us who can't be in "'s Finest City," the events will be broadcast on GotFrag TV. Broadcast coverage begins at 9AM (Pacific) each day and will be hosted by Rob "voice" Simpson and Jared "vhell" Coulston.

This event, inaugurating MLG's PC Circuit, promises to be action packed. Registered participants include:
fnatic
Frag Dominant
Frag Dominant (Duelists going for Glad)
MoB TurtleForce
MoB TurtlePower
Pandemic
SK Gaming

If you've never viewed any of GotFrags web-based programs, you will need to prepare your computer. Viewing the tournament will require installing GotFrag's Octoshape Plug-in which operates in the Java runtime on a PC. You can also use an external Octoshape player. Mac and Linux users are not excluded from the broadcast. It'll be almost as much fun as watching the Wings win the Stanley Cup.

Wow. Last we heard, the WSVG was going gangbusters. They had events appearing on CBS, they were working with Blizzard to make Arena PvP huge, and their president was extremely optimistic about the future of professional videogaming.

But earlier this afternoon, the World Series of Videogames shut its doors, and announced that all of their future events are cancelled. In their notice, they cite the "challenge of securing adequate revenues" to keep up their big events (they had tourneys planned in LA, London, and Sweden yet this year). Games Media Properties, WSVG's parent company, says they will continue to grow the "online advertising network" of websites-- which sites these are, we're not sure.

Again, wow. GotFrag has already talked to Pandemic about the closing, and they say they're going to go into a "waiting game" as regards to professional Arena PvP, and that they're "deeply disappointed" in WSVG's "inability to finish out the season." They, too, had no idea this was coming. Will someone else step up into the WSVG's place in professional gaming promotion? Blizzard was doing a lot of work directly with the WSVG in terms of presentation, and while it's hard to say this will be the end of professional Arena PvP, there's no question this will have a major effect on professional gaming at large. The World Series of Videogames as we know it is no more.

Thanks, Jason!

Update: Curse has more, including players calling it "a huge blow to WoW professional gaming."