Seeing as I've been getting more and more lazy about updating this thing, more than likely this will be the last entry for 2011. Alot has happened since my last post so I'm not sure if I can put it all down here. Here are some of the highlights. My friend Kevin Turner got sponsored by Quantic Gaming. This was huge news since this was their first time sponsoring a fighting game player. I knew of their group from MLG and their National Championship Call of Duty Black Ops winning team Next Threat. Kevin recently went out to Cali for the SoCal Regionals and had a good showing in his first official event competing under the Quantic Kensou name.

Last week also saw PZ playing host to its first Starcraft 2 tournament. The original bracket was held earlier and drew 64 players, many on the Grand Master level, in an online run preliminary to cut the field down to the top 16. The top 16 played in front of a live audience at the Westchase Marriott hotel and played out on TeSPA's stream site in association with Quantic. I have an interview with the winner of the tournament coming up next week, so be on the lookout for that!

2 weeks ago, the Space Circuit car show was held. I went to go check it out with Kevin and got to see DJ Heavygrinder freezing her butt off while spinning for the crowd. Pretty neat event, just wish the weather cooperated a little more.

Later today, PZ will continue on with their weekly SF4 series of tournaments. But this time they are adding a new wrinkle. Kevin, and a co-host to be named later, will be hosting a live stream show for the weeklies. This is a pretty exciting venture and will definitely help bring some needed exposure for the Houston scene and its players. After the huge success of the UH meet this past Monday, events like this will just keep getting bigger and better.

So today I'm back at work recovering from a crazy weekend in Orlando, Florida. The past 3 days I was at Major League Gaming's final stop of the regular pro tour at the majestic Gaylord Palms Hotel and Convention Center. This place was crazy, the front of the hotel looks like something out of resort movie! I went to the one in Washington, and that hotel was also ginormous, but this one seemed even crazier. So walking in, you see the lobby, nothing overly spectacular, but then the receptionist hands you this fold out map in order to find your elevator and room. Why do you need a map you ask? So you don't get lost in the Biodome right behind the lobby. Plants, jungles, waterfalls, bridges, and a coffee shop.

But I wasn't flown out there to sight see, I was there to be a ref for Call of Duty: Black Ops. I haven't been at MLG for the past 2 events, so it took a little bit for me to get back into the settings and rules, some of which changed since the last time I worked. Also didn't take long to issue my first Technical foul. Seriously, kids, stop yelling when all you did was get lucky with a grenade. I don't thing there were any real surprises as most of the top seeds advanced without any real break through performances. Apex, a team from England, traveled overseas and made top 16, kudos to them. Halo surprisingly(or not for most) had been moved from the center stage for Starcraft 2. Given the popularity of the Korean players flying in as well the overall hype over the game, its no shock that it usurped the perennial favorite franchise.

Speaking of Starcraft 2, its insane how big the crowds have gotten. They were already the largest gallery at our first event, and now theres no question its totally engulfed the entire staging area. The top players are treated like rock stars, attracting groups of autograph and picture seekers no matter where they go. Now it begs the question, whats next for MLG? CoD is uncertain for next season. Halo has suddenly become a second fiddle. Will they bring back a fighting game? The National Championships loom next month in Rhode Island, then its the long off season as we wait to hear the new developments for 2012.

Trying to finish up cleaning up my new place before the weekend. Planet Zero is hosting an SBO qualifier for Super Street Fighter 4 AE and BlazBlue CS2. Going to host a post bday/house warming party of sorts afterwards. Hopefully it doesn't get too messy. Last time I threw a house party, cops were involved, and a lot of people redecorated my front yard.

This year MLG seems to have problems with their lineup. Trying to find a good balance between all the games and match the popularity of Starcraft 2. Even Halo Reach is having trouble matching the hype from Blizzard's big creation. After introducing Mortal Kombat 9 into the mix 2 events ago, now comes League of Legends. To be honest, I know nothing about the game. I had to ask some friends what it was. But they seem to be excited about it, and so must all the hardcore LoL players as well. Hopefully it takes off and becomes a full fledged tournament game like SC2.

The NFL season is almost upon us, and that means Fantasy Football time. I'm in 2 leagues currently, one with SRK friends, and one with co-workers. So naturally, we end up watching camp news, latest injuries, and so forth in preparation for our drafts. But why watch pre-season football? I mean, sitting at home is one thing, theres nothing else really on, but actually buying a ticket and going to watch it? I hope the tix were discounted cause I really can't imagine doing that at full price. The starters are out there for all of 1 quarter, if they suit up at all! Watching 3 quarters of bumbling 4th string kick return backups trying to figure out which side of the ball their on is not my idea of premium NFL action. But then again, I guess if you're really starved for football, its better than watching some random school get their butt kicked by some powerhouse school.

So this month is the month where everything in my world is being shifted and moved all over Houston. Over the past week we've been moving everything from my old office to a new(er) one next to Sharpstown Mall. Its strange how ghetto an area can get after just one block. We're on the 19th floor, and I'm not great with heights. Upside is it has a big parking garage, which I ended up using to film a video with Lana. Lord knows when I'll ever have time to finish editing it.

Next weekend Planet Zero is hosting their SBO qualifiers for BlazBlue CS2 and SSF4AE. Should be interesting to see who takes it. The weekend after that is probably one of the busiest in the competitive gaming universe, Evo2k11 and MLG Anaheim are literally happening a state apart at the same time. Players from all over the world are coming for both events, and where will I be? Stuck in Houston working...

Oh well, I finally got into Google +


Music: TVXQ - Keep Your Head Down

Finally back from MLG Dallas! Got to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a while, and check out the new season for Major League Gaming. Starcraft 2 looks hella fun, but man the no Lan thing really sucks. At least 3 matches I watched had to be replayed or otherwise because of disconnects. The game I refereed, Call of Duty: Black Ops was relatively smaller than MLG had hoped, but the competition was pretty interesting. There were 2 all girl teams, one I think made top 16 so they started getting hella press. The 4th place team were like all young kids, you could barely see the smallest one behind the monitor. His teammate was just as young, and if you follow my twitter, that's the one I gave a techincal foul to, lol!

Halo was obviously the crown jewel and had like 170 something teams entered. All in all it was fun and interesting, hopefully next event will be bigger. But man, the venue was crazy. They have these metal statues made up showing some Oregon Trail scene or something in the front with cowboys leading bulls over a river. Next to it was some old cemetery that's treated like a park?!

Saturday, I got to meet up with James, Raymond, Natalie and Thu. Ate at someplace called BJ's and had some kinda beer cider thing called a "Snakebite". It was pretty good food too, definitely better than the McDonald's I was forced to eat most of the time there.

Coming back was a stupid adventure. My friend James picked me up from the hotel to the airport, but it was already raining. Traffic wasn't too bad, so we get to DFW with plenty of time. Check in was normal, screw checking in bags, stupid airlines always seem to lose stuff. Security thought my boob mousepad was some kinda liquid bomb and kept checking it over and over again.

It was pretty funny cause it was the old guys insisting to check it, and the asian chick who was scanning it looked hella embarrassed, lol! So I finally get done with that crap and wait for boarding. That was supposed to be at 8:45am. I take a little nap cause I do that whole closing your eyes, but I can hear whats going on around me thing. But I don't hear anything announced at all, just the stupid airline tv prog that's been looping for an hour...

I finally open my eyes and see that it has been an hour! It's friggin 9:45am and nothing has happened! I look up and see a sign saying its been delayed for 35min, great. So finally we board, on the smallest airplane in the world... I chose the very back seat cause I like to get in first and goto sleep. Well that didn't happen, some off duty stewardess sat next to me. I know it use to be a fantasy to be with a stewardess or something, but that definitely isn't viable nowadays. I have yet to see a hot stewardess anytime I've flown. Well her and the active working stewardess kept yapping, THE ENTIRE FLIGHT! Ugh, remember how I said I close my eyes but can still hear? Yeah, that ability now sucks! I was too lazy to get my headphones out, so I just dealt with it. Then the turbulence hit, oh man did it ever. I seriously thought we were gonna crash, so did the redneck in front of me. "Oh hell, we all gonna die! This is ya'lls fault!" This went on during the entire 15 minutes of turbulence. Outside was nothing but fog and clouds and rain. Literally, the plane felt like a Tetris piece, we went up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, B, select, start. Then magically, the sun was out and the turbulence stopped. Redneck proceeded to rant the rest of the flight, wanting a refund and crap, good luck with that. So then we land, wrong terminal, I call up Zen to pick me up, who apparently waited at Jack in the Box for almost 2 hrs, sorry dude. I went to the bank so me and Tito don't get evicted, and then passed out for 6 hrs. And that's my weekend.

Music: ACDC - Highway to Hell