The ESPORTS REPORTER 4/17/2012Information with updates: http://www.chobopeon.com 1. The lead story today, CBS interactive has announced partnerships with Twitch TV, MLG and the NASL. ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=329968) CBSi will exclusively sell advertising, promotions and sponsorships for Twitch which is a huge deal for Twitch. One of the major issues for that company has been that its fill rates are relatively bad - which is to say twitch simply did not have enough ads to serve all of their streamers and viewers. this is nothing new, partners have aired their complaints about twitch's fill rate in the past but with CBSi behind them, Twitch will almost certainly be able to provide better advertising for their partners and that bodes well for the overall strength of the company.Last night on VVV's the loser bracket, MLG Adam, the VP of operations, said that we're going to have double the seats for SC2 at future events. There is a new game for MLG that is also going to have a huge spectator presence as well and an open qualification component - will it be LoL? he's been hinting heavily at it by saying that there will be 200+ comptuer set ups, something that leans toward lol and not dota2. makes sense, lol is huge in california and riot is in los angeles. theres a new hero coming out and riot's ceo made a recent trip to NYC. it all makes sense, huh? Adam says MLG will announce it next week. As Adam has said, the lead up to Anaheim is going to have a ton of announcements and plenty of hype. Adam said, again on VvV's Loser Brackets, this will be the largest event in MLG history. Slasher says, "MLG's Adam Apicella says MLG and CBSi will share a booth at E3, hints heavily at Heart of the Swarm being playable and BW pros in Anaheim (https://twitter.com/#!/Slasher/status/192426319995342848)The final piece of this puzzle is the NASL. When you look at the headlines about the story anywhere from Forbes to Team Liquid, the headline said MLG, Twitch and CBSi are partnering. NASL was not mentioned until later when adweek.com noted it. CBSi themselves did put out a press release but instead retweeted the release that left out NASL. Why was NASL omitted in the press release that was widely distributed to sites like forbes and thenextweb.com and then if they were added in - and they werent everywhere, forbes still doesnt mention them - they were added was as a footnote, as on thenextweb, where it was one sentence at the end that said nasl was "accidentally omitted". The question is, why was NASL omitted from the release?IPL4's numbers: More than 6 million hours of video content was viewed online over the course of the 3-day event. The event sold out its physical venue, bringing more than 10,000 spectators to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas - the first time eSports favorites StarCraft II and League of Legends have hit the Las Vegas strip. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ign-pro-league-now-biggest-esports-league-deli­vers-largest-single-event-in-north-american-esports-history-2012-04-17)League of Legends Supremacy game mode is likely on its wayCounter-Strike: Global Offensive review by professional gamers http://www.destructoid.com/halo-4-coming-out-on-november-6-2012-226000.phtml?.. . Halo 4 coming out on November 6, 2012, info on conan tonight http://blog.counter-strike.net/science/maps.html Mining the data of 6.5 million shots fired so far in the CS:GO version of de_train, Valve's output is a heat map that's filterable based on team and two weapon types.Fnatic Raidcall (dota2) picks up H4nni http://fnatic.com/news/9735/fnaticraidcall-pick-up-h4nn1.html William 'reaverxai' Burden: The Dota 2 subreddit is on course to double it's unique vistors this month - estimated 350,000 visitors

THE ESPORTS REPORTER 4/19/2012Kevin Lin, COO, Twitchtv on The Executives. Lin wants to get into esports start up funding, start up help a la Y Combinator http://ycombinator.com/ 12.5 % monthly growth for twitch (125% annual growth), the company has been profitable for 2 yearsbrood war pro league rumors: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=323013 esports journalist employment news:”I’ve quit SK, so as of May 7th I’ll be seeking paid esports work” check out his latest post /////I will now be working full time for @GameSpotesports! (@GS_esports). Really excited for coverage all year long. ALL leagues and events!Benito Gonzalez is head of esports at CBS interactive on lo3. the big news there was that he said we can expect partnerships with Own3d as well. http://onemoregame.tv/ http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4882104/StarCraft_II_World_Championship_Series_Italian_Nationals-4_17_2012#blog The road to the Blizzard World Championship 2012 has begun in earnest. Detailed schedules for national qualifiers and finals have started to be released by Blizzard, with Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Poland among the countries now open for sign-ups. In the case of Italy, the National Championship has already been confirmed for May 1st, at Napoli Gamecon. Make sure to check your country’s section to see if there’s a qualifier that interests you, as a viewer or participant! http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=330391¤tpage=last Good news!First Beta Weekend Event will be from April 27-29. We will let you know once the client is ready for download. ^MK http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/mlg-and-dreamhack-announce-collaboration-tied-to-sc2-tournaments-this-weekend/ MLG/Dreamhack collaboration http://www.cstarleague.com/news/2500/announcement-csl-scholarships $2k/yr esports scholarship from Xerisgootecks hosting at mlg fighting arena next weekend, “not related to why he’s not on CC live” ( https://twitter.com/#!/gootecks/status/192446358546939905) Halo 4 on Conan http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-halo-remote discussion - also, check out The Halo Council at http://www.twitch.tv/thegamingcouncil/b/315437066 - if you’re interested in Halo or the console FPS esports community, this a great primer episode.

PC Market Returns To Positive Growth, Though Gains Remain Small, According to IDC http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/19/pc-market-refuses-to-die-rises-again-in-q1-2012/ http://kotaku.com/5903404/people-like-you yes-you gave-9-million-to-kickstarter-video-game-campaigns-last-month where are the esports kickstarter projects? http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/shxmt/dreamhack_summer_to_be_broadcasted_on_swedish/ So it has been confirmed that Dreamhack Summer will be broadcasted on Swedish television, not only on the website but on the actual channel aswell! This is pretty amazing news and hopefully it will get a lot of eyes on the e-sports scene. Twitter post from SVT employee:stephano stays in SC2 , going to koreachinatown fair reopens http://shoryuken.com/2012/04/19/chinatown-fair-reportedly-reopening-on-may-5th-as-family-friendly-destination/ http://kotaku.com/5903329/let-the-worlds-best-street-fighter-player-teach-you-aboutlife Kotaku Previews Daigo’s Book With Choice Translated Passages\blizz na quali emails confirms that NA qualifiers are in anaheimhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/teamliquidNYC/440588449300448/?notif_t=group_activity Congratulations! Your performance on the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit has earned you an invitation to compete in the StarCraft II World Championship Series. You are invited to compete in the United States of America National Championship in June.dreamhon http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?413155-Announcing-DreamHoN-at-DHS-2012! over $60,000 in prize money atdreamhack summer 2012 - They will join the winners of the Swedish national tournament (BYOC) and the champions of last year’s Dreamhack - Fnatic.RaidCall.mym-mvp - why? mym has almost no one playing at top tournaments, definitely no one on the top tier of sc2 and is nowhere near the level of complexity, who http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=330617 r/ tribes audience: 10k subscribers and over 600k unique viewers per month (compared to r/dota2 on pace for 350,000 visitors this month) http://i.imgur.com/n0MPB.png On r/dota2, reaver has put out a great primer on getting into the Dota 2 competitive scene http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/sgyuq/looking_to_follow_the_competitive_scene_where_to/