How much did Team Pandemic win, anyway? Aside from gaining bragging rights for winning the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade segment of the World Series of Video Games, the team has also been awarded a cash purse of US$ 9,000. As for the rest of the runner-ups:

• Fnatic: US$ 4,500
• MoB: US$ 3,000
• Part of Shadow: US$ 2,400
• Obsidian: Warden: US$ 500
• Warden: US$ 500
• Extra Order: US$ 500

A total of US$ 50,000 was reportedly handed out in cash prices for China's WSVG event. Other champion teams we make mention of are team wNv.cn, who bagged a whopping US$ 10,000 prize for their Counter-Strike 1.6 bouts, and team Moon, who earned US$ 5,000 in the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne matches.

That 's the short on the rewards for the first segment of this year's WSVG. Stick around in case details pick up for the upcoming fights to go down this June 21 to 24, at Louisville, Kentucky. Or, click on the read link for the full list of winners, and other competition details.

The World Series Of Video Games hosted in Wuxan, China had 25,000 people attending the opening matches. This number eclipsed the first day turn out which was said to be at 11,898 people.

President of the World Series of Video Games Matthew Ringel was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who attended and said:

We were amazed to see such a turnout—there were 2,000 people in line outside who we could not let in. Last year’s event in China was the biggest stop on the 2006 tour with 17,000 over four days, and this year’s attendance numbers offer an incredibly promising beginning for our second season. Next year, we may have to find a stadium!

This is the first of six events in the WSVG's this year. It should be noted that this is one of the official welcome events for the Sixth Intercity Games of the People's Republic of China with the last major sporting event in China leading up to the 2008 Chinese Olympic Games. Gamers who take part have a lot to play for since almost US$ 50,000 in cash prizes will be given during the event. The games that the competition will host include World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, CounterStrike, and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

 

Team Pandemic's own World of Warcraft PvP team performed consistently well in the World of Warcraft PvP Upper Bracket, ending up in a showdown against co-U.S. team MoB *Turtle Power* in the Finals round of bracket. Taking a stunning two point gap from MoB, Team Pandemic has won the Finals of the Upper Bracket and moved on to the Championship Bracket of the World Series of Video Games WoW event.

The Lower Bracket consisted of the majority of the Chinese teams, as the Burning Crusade has only touched China in the recent weeks. The U.S. teams had plenty of hands-on experience with the game, allowing them to gain phenomenal wins in the Upper Bracket matches.

Currently, Team Pandemic is up against Europe's Fnatic.WoW in the first set of the Grand Finals. Fnatic.WoW won the Consolation Finals match by a single point against MoB *Turtle Power*, although lost in a match up against Team Pandemic. Second time's the charm? We'll find out!

China's World Series of Video Games event has risen for an early start on Day Two, and managed to put a few photos shy of a hundred in their online gallery this early in the second day. While we await the results of the game brackets and details of the main events that took place, let's take a breather and soak in these life stills for a sec.

Being officially sponsored by Intel, it appears even consumer and business computing solutions giant Dell made a grand showing at the 2007 WSVG in China. They've got keyboards to monitors and even laptops touting the Dell brand all over the competition floor.

And...wait a second. Do you see what we see? It's World of Warcraft! Funny how the laptop keyboard wasn't good enough for the contestant, eh? And look, there's Team Pandemic's Power Trip! If these pictures weren't enough to get you tingly all over, budding pro-gamers in North America might want to know that the WSVG is coming to Dallas soon, with an additional game to their lineup of game brackets.

And because the majority of WSVG patrons have spoken, Gears of War for the Xbox 360 is now an official game event. It will be included into the official Dallas lineup that includes Activision's Call of Duty 2, EA's EA Sports Fight Night Round 3, Activision's Guitar Hero 2, id Software's Quake 4 and Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

Day One

Need to see more? Well then, feel free to click on Full Article below!

Yes folks, in the other side of the world its already May 1 and the first day of the 2007 World Series of Video Games has already kicked off to a huge start - with pretty fanfare and all. The 2007 WSVG in Wuhan, China is a two-day affair to bring together the world's best in Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake 4, World of Warcraft PvP and Warcraft 3: The Reign of Chaos for a chance to win approximately US$ 750,000-worth in prizes.

The U.S. realms' very own Power Trip, sponsored by the veritable Team Pandemic of WCG fame, will be doing battle against Asia's best in World of Warcraft competitive PvP 3v3 Arena series to be held within the two days of heavy gaming battle. We've oriented you on the inventory, the rules and the prizes before. Now you can keep up to date on the news as well, with WSVG's very own Videos on Demand (VODs) providing in-depth coverage of the entire event.

In league with this, the WSVG 2007 season is also rocketing off to Dallas, Texas with the 2007 WSVG in Dallas. Registrations are now open for participants who want to show their professional gaming skills at the Gaylord Resort in Dallas on July 8 - 9, 2007. The event will sport six games plus one game that has been voted as the Gamer's Choice at the WSCG polls on their website.

So what are you waiting for? Get that mouse moving and navigate your way to the WSVG official site now. We'll keep tabs on the latest developments and especially on the World of Warcraft PvP bracket. So keep your eyes peeled, readers!

 

Attention World of Warcraft players: Anybody up for watching hot, intense three-on-three action? This announcement's an update for the World Series of Video Games (WSVG) WoW chapter, which was previously reported to be starting at Wuhan, China. Going into details on the WoW 3v3 Tournament Introduction:

• Event: WSVG-2007 Wuhan, China
• Dates: April 30, 2007 - May 3, 2007
• Max Teams: 64
• Registration Fee: US$ 20.00
• Prizes: US$ 20,500.00 + US$ 12,000 travel bonus

• Event: WSVG-2007 Louisville, Kentucky
• Dates: June 21, 2007 - June 24, 2007
• Max Teams: 64
• BYOC Registration Fee: Players may register for competition after they have registered
• for a $65.00 seat in the BYOC
• Prizes: US$ 30,000.00 + US$ 12,000 travel bonus
  

That's just a sampler of what players stand to gain when they enter this upcoming competition - extra details and downloadable registration forms are available at the WSVG site (which you could visit via the Read link below). To the brave souls gearing up for this WoW major event, we wish them Godspeed - all the more that we've gotten word that Team Pandemic's sending their Arena Team over for the bouts.

Team Pandemic is sending their World of Warcraft Arena team, Power Trip to the World Series of Video Games (WSVG) going to be held in China. The tournament is set to start during China's Golden Week - May 1 to 3 at Wuhan City.

More than US$ 60,000 worth of prizes is at stake at the WSVG. During that time, we'll also be seeing the launch of Blizzard's offline competitive template - meaning, we're about to see the World of Warcraft on LAN. After ending up on first place in their battlegroup, Power Trip is now sharpening their axes for the next competition and the next qualification stage (on April 22). Their main roster:

• Joseph "Noktyn" Romano - Warrior, Leader
• Jared "Iamvhell" Coulston - Priest
• Greg "Ecilam" Risselada - Mage
• Nathan "Kintt" Quinn - Priest

Power Trip is also the lone US representatives in the World of Warcraft division. The trip to China is actually an out of budget expense and Team Pandemic is currently selling limited T-shirts to help support the team. Power Trip will be travelling to China on April 27 (they'll meet up in Los Angeles) for last minute preparations. Expect more news from the trip, and we'll keep you posted.

The Chinese government is cracking down on online players below 18. They have just passed a regulation that requires online game operators to install an "anti-online game addiction system". China is definitely concerned about the effects of online games on school kids as truancy and petty crime rates rise. The regulation will affect players who are below 18; it doesn't really stop them from playing, it just whittles their gaming hours to an encouraged limit of three hours.

How will it work? The anti-online game addiction system will be installed on MMO games (by the operators, definitely no squeezing out of this one). After which, the under-age player logs in and plays for three hours everything will be normal (full experience points and whatnot). If the player goes on playing for two more hours, he will only get half of the experience points. After five hours, the player gets none at all.

Plus they will be barraged with a message "You have entered unhealthy game time, please go offline immediately to rest. If you do not, your health will be damaged and your points will be cut to zero." at 15 minute intervals. In addition to the system, players will be required to register using their real names and identity card numbers for the system to verify their ages.

The MMO operators aren't exactly worried. The9 (exclusive distributor for the World of Warcraft in mainland China) spokesman Zhao Yurun expressed that the system won't have a great impact on their player base as most of the players are adults. Other operators in China are Shanda, NetEase and Tencent - all agree that the impact will be minimal.

The regulation will be effective on April 15, whereas the operators have until July 16 to have the system installed in their games - or be shut down. According to China Daily, there are 31.12 million online gamers in 2006 but only 10% was below 18. So it's pretty clear that the anti-addiction system is not really a big issue with the MMO operators. But the real identity registration might pose a concern as it might scare off players.

We'll see how this goes in the long run. Would you like to play your favorite MMO on a leash?

Several hours ago, we reported that Electronic Arts had agreed to buy a 19 percent stake in The9 Ltd. for about US$ 200 million. The9 is currently mainland China's exclusive distributor of Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMORPG, with this deal (according to Shanghai Securities News) giving the Shanghai-based company further rights to EA's FIFA Online game.

That is, if this report had been confirmed.

EA spokesman Jeff Brown has just stepped out into the open to announce that contrary to reports from publications like the Shanghai Securities News, EA had not entered into any business dealings of the sort. "There is no signed agreement with The9," Brown said, further commenting that EA did not comment on rumors and speculation like this. Given that this is all EA has to say at the moment, we'll let the readers know in case we run into more clarifications on this whole matter.

Is Electronic Arts trying to get a piece of the MMO - specifically the World of Warcraft piece of the pie - in China?

The9 is the exclusive distributor of Blizzard's World of Warcraft in mainland China. They reached an agreement with Electronic Arts - selling a 19% stake for about US$ 200 million. Another big purchase for EA is a 25% stake in Neowiz (Korean game developers) for US$ 190 million. What exactly is Electronic Arts planning? They still have Ultima Online and The Sims Online (which, this writer notes only has a fraction of players compared to the giant World of Warcraft.)

Anyway, we'll see where this is going. Stay tuned for more news.