It's official: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm has a release date. Blizzard's long-awaited follow-up the the previously longer-awaited StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be unleashed this coming spring, specifically on March 12, 2013.

The Playoffs are in full swing and ZAM is here to bring you the results of the round of 16 and round of eight, of the MvP Invitational.

The MvP Invitational pits the top 24 Proleague players against 24 of the top StarCraft II players. The MvPI is a six week marathon of matches to compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

With the MvP Invitational heading into the playoffs, we will finally see some inter-league battles as the KeSPA vs KeSPA and MLG vs MLG matches begin.
Who will take the eight avliable all expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship and who will move into the RO4 to be within a few games of the $10,000 top prize?


VODs for the MvP Invitational can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

MLG has released the Starcraft II Groups for the Fall Championship.
With the Fall Championship just around the corner, MLG have seeded the players who have qualified via the MLG Summer Championship, MvP Invitational and the Invite Online Qualifiers into the four championship groups.

The Fall Championship will be broadcast over the 2nd and 4th of November as over 200 Starcraft II players will battle it out for the $25,000 top prize and the ability to call themselves the MLG 2012 Fall Champion.

The “Regular Season” comes to an end and ZAM is here to provide the names of the final 16 players that will advance into the Playoffs.

The MvP Invitational pits the top 24 Proleague players against 24 of the top StarCraft II players. The MvPI is a six week marathon of matches to compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

The KeSPA bracket has run away with the wins, but who will be placed in that final top eight to qualify for advancement?
The MLG players may not be as dominant as the KeSPA players, but the brackets are just as tight as we witness some last minute upsets.

VODs for the MvP Invitational can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

Week Two of the MLG versus Proleague Invitational closes after yet another eventful week and we are here to give you a game by game overview of the night’s matches.

The MvP Invitational pits the top 24 Proleague players against 24 of the top StarCraft II players. The MvPI is a six week marathon of matches to compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

The MvP Invitational has already reached the sixth day and the competition is running away on the Proleague side of the bracket.
With players like Rain holding a score of 20-2, can the MLG pros catch up with some wins, or will the MLG brackets be decided with a very small margin of wins?

SK.MC battles his newest rival for the title of “Protos President” SKT.Rain .
Team Liquid’s European zerg, Ret, looks to head towards qualification versus fellow zerg KT.CrazyHydra.
The legend himself KT.Flash returns to catch Rain in the standings, but he needs to beat one of the top MLG players, Crank of Axiom.
In the highly contested korean MLG divison, Fnatic.Alive seeks to break into qualification through SKT.Soo
Evil Geniuses’ Thorzain looks to secure his top two EU spot with wins over KT.Stats
Finally, Grubby, the Warcraft III legend, faces KT.Action.

VODs can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

Week Two of the MLG versus Proleague Invitational starts off with a bang and we are here to give you a game by game overview of the night’s matches.

The MvP Invitational pits the top 24 Proleague players against 24 of the top StarCraft II players. The MvPI is a six week marathon of matches to compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

The second week has come around and the race for qualification really begins, who will tip past the finish line and who will fall at the first hurdle?

Team8.Jaedong and SK.MC open the second week's matches as they both return to the MvP broadcasted line up.
Grubby, after a sizzling start to his run, battles KT.Flash, Who has only dropped a single map so far.
North America’s Col.Sasquatch will face Woongjin’s Sos, who is looking for redemption from a disappointing start versus MC
Quantic.Sase, the replacement for Stephano, will begin his MvP journey versus STX.Last
Fnatic’s Alive will be facing STX.Hyvaa in a TvZ.
And finally Root.Vibe looks to secure his lead in the NA standings versus the rising star SKT.Rain

VODs can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

Week One of the MLG versus Proleague Invitational comes to a close and we are here to give you a game by game overview of the night’s matches.

The MvP Invitational pits the top 24 Proleague players against 24 of the top StarCraft II players. The MvPI is a six week marathon of matches to compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

With the action really heating up, as people try to get their first important wins onto the board, more big names enter the fray for our viewing pleasure.

The Warcraft III legend, Grubby, arrives to face the Proleague’s Stork, of team Samsung Khan.
Root.Major returns after a great first week versus SK Telecom’s Soo
Arguably the best StarCraft II Protoss, SK.MC, begins his broadcasted run against Sos of team Woongjin Stars.
Evil Geniuses’ Huk returns from a great first day series versus Bisu, to face the Proleague’s CrazyHydra from team KT Rolster.
Finally Axiom’s Crank looks to book a place in the top two of Korean division, but Woongjin Star’s Light is standing in the way.

VODs can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

In this amazing MLG vs Proleague invitational. the top 24 Proleague players will be facing off against 24 of the StarCraft II scene’s veterans. In this six week marathon, players will compete for the $10,000 top prize and the eight all-expenses paid trips to the Fall Championship.

The first day has featured some of the greatest StarCraft: Brood War Pros to date, facing off against some of the most well known pros the StarCraft II veterans have to offer:

Evil Geniuses’ Huk fought SK Telecom’s three time MSL Champion Bisu.

Naniwa of Mionix battled the legendary Team8.Jaedong  

Idra, of team EG, stood up to SKStork, a former OSL champion.

Woonjin’s Soulkey threw it all at EG’s Pma.

SKRain took his might to Quantic Illusion.

Team Liquid’s Sheth proudly fought the powerhouse KTFlash.

VODs can be found at www.majorleaguegaming.com/mlg/mvpvod

Battlenet, infamous and trustworthy Blizzard service, is getting an often-requested feature soon. Did you ever pop online just in the mood to play a game of Starcraft or World of Warcraft and not wanting to be noticed by your clan, guild, or friends? Then you'll like the Appear Offline option coming soon.

In the coming months, we're planning an update to Battle.net that will give you more control over your online presence when playing Blizzard games. Soon, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III players will be able to select "Appear Offline" as one of their Battle.net social-status options (along with Available, Busy, and Away) for those times when they want to wander Azeroth by their lonesome, dominate the galaxy in radio silence, or slay demons in solitude.

The feature will be spaced out depending on the game - they expect it in Diablo III in the 1.0.5 patch, and coming to WoW and SCII after their upcoming expansions. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

As we reported recently, MLG is teaming up with KeSPA and IEG to bring the best Starcraft II players from around the world together in one tournament.

The MvP (MLG vs Proleague) Invitational promises eSports competition of the very highest quality.