It's been a while since ECL Liverpool opened its doors to the public last summer. The long wait is now over and we're pleased to officially announce ECL2 aka
ECL Blackpool!
The Dates and Venue
The next European Console League event will be held at the iconic Norbreck Castle in Blackpool from the 22nd-24th April. The Norbreck Castle played home to the R3PLAY Retro Event that the European Console League supported in late 2010 and is a perfect location for the ECL circuit. With great travel links and an on site hotel and bar, there is everything a gamer could want from a weekend of eSports.
Hotel
ECL Blackpool is going to be held in the Norbreck Castle hotel and of course, this means there are hotel rooms available within the venue for our participants. The hotel room will also include both Breakfast and Tea. Unfortunately we do not have an exact price yet but this information should be released in one of our next press releases.
Tickets
Tickets will go on sale within the next 10 days. Tickets will be priced as follows:
Team Player Ticket (Includes entry to 1x 4v4 and 1x FFA) will cost £60
FIFA Player Ticket (Includes entry to 1v1 and 2v2) will cost £30
Street Fighter Ticket prices will be announced soon
The Games
Like the last event, we are going to support the following five main titles:
• Halo: Reach (360)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (360 & PS3)
• Gears of War (360)
• FIFA 2011 (360)
• Super Street Fighter IV (360)
However, we would like to welcome some new changes for our second event. For the first time in Europe, a major console event will be supporting Playstation 3 Call of Duty, as well as Xbox 360 Call of Duty. The European Console League may also add further games to our circuit as time goes on.
Prize Fund
The ECL2 prize fund and break down of our prize fund will be released within the coming weeks.
New To ECL
Although ECL Liverpool was a huge success, we listened to what you, the customer, wanted from our next event. Therefore we're pleased to bring you details of what changes, improvements, and new additions you can expect at ECL Blackpool to make your experience even better.
On Site Bar
Though we will not allow alcoholic drinks in the main gaming room, there is a bar in one of the nearby rooms that any over 18s can take advantage of. Please drink responsibly.
Cheaper Drinks and Snacks
A lot of people complained about the cost of drinks and snacks at ECL Liverpool, but unfortunately the pricing was out of our control. We are in a similar position at ECL Blackpool, however, there is a shop about thirty seconds directly across the road that sells water, chocolate and whatever snacks you're looking for at typical convenience store prices. We will be in contact with the shop to ensure that they are carrying sufficient stock to meet the demand of all ECL participants.
Scheduling
Scheduling was something of an issue, with the Halo tournament over running on the Saturday. This was caused by a combination of factors. The tournament began two hours later than we had hoped and consequently had to run over two hours on the Saturday to guarantee on-time completion of the tournament. The delay caused at the start was mostly as a result of the PAT testing and the simple solution is to resolve any problems in advance so we can start on time. We will also aim to utilise all of our stations more efficiently to ensure that the maximum number of games are almost always taking place.
PAT Testing
As covered above, the PAT testing of people's own equipment did create a delay despite our specialists working extremely hard and efficiently to get through everyone's equipment. Most of the delays were caused by none British attendee's equipment during PAT testing, as well as the sheer volume of attendees requiring PAT testing. We have learned lessons from ECL Liverpool and should PAT testing be a future requirement, we will be much better prepared to deal with the problems presented at Liverpool. This will not be a problem again in the future.
Spectators
On paper, the hall in Liverpool was exactly the right size. In reality our estimates of the layout were slightly out and this meant that on some occasions there was over-crowding around the stations, especially during highly anticipated match ups. This will be addressed for the next event and the layout of stations will be changed to give players more space whilst ensuring spectators have a clear view of the action.
Better Coverage
ECL Liverpool was our first event and we accept that the coverage could have been better for the people viewing at home. For future events, there will be more, clearer access to full brackets, team lists and everything tournament related, as well as more of the interviews and content we were already producing at ECL Liverpool.
Admin and Refs
The ECL team fully appreciate the efforts of the admin and referee staff at ECL Liverpool but there are undoubtedly a few things that we can do to help make their job easier and for them to perform more efficiently. We will be providing game specific admin stations, with a bracket system on display for everyone to see and in order to monitor the progress of the tournament. We will also be issuing copies of the rules to every station.
Station Sign-age
As per the community feedback, we will have freestanding signs denoting the number of each station to prevent any confusion.
Travel Guide
We have put together an extensive travel guide that should help anyone looking to attend the event. Click the following link to view the Travel Guide:
The European Console League's Guide to Attending ECL2
If you have any other queries, please feel free to contact me at
[email protected]
or Josh Nino at
[email protected]