The StarCraft II Open Tournament is fantastic

TG Intel Starcraft II Open 2010 For tournament fans like me still suffering withdrawal symptoms from the FIFA World Cup, the nerdfest that is the TG Intel StarCraft 2 Open tournament is making a pretty nice substitute.

I have to admit, this is the first video games tournament I’ve checked out so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The tournament runs between September 4th and October 2nd, when the overall champ will pocket a cool $87,000 cash prize. The event had a proper opening ceremony complete with live music and a speech by Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime.

Fans can watch all of the matches on GOMTV.net – one set out of every match is viewable for free, while the other two sets can be viewed by paying for a season pass for $19.95. The season pass also lets you view any video from the tournament in a higher definition.

That’s a veritable feast for StarCraft 2 fans like me who only started playing the StarCraft genre in July and would like to see how the pros play.

The thing I like most about the tournament though is the over the top and enthusiastic live commentary on each match. I don’t know who the two guys are who do the commentary but they’re obviously big StarCraft fans and know their stuff well in their own right.

Between now and September 14th we’re promised 4 matches a day broadcast live on the site.

I highly recommend you check it out if you’ve played StarCraft II and are looking for pro tips, or just need a good tournament to follow.

The only criticism I have is the lack of a leaderboard to follow on the site, at the moment it’s hard to tell how many players remain and so on.

Check out the tournament here, or follow the GOMTV twitter list for updates.