Animation and Gaming Ohio, the annual convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, has teamed up with sponsors Ubisoft, Intel, and DSGW.de to create the premier Trackmania² competition within the United States! However, this does not mean only U.S. residents can participate...

This competition is Worldwide. That's right if you can make it to Cincinnati, Ohio in March for the final, you can be crowned champion of the first ever "US Open" of Trackmania²: Canyon.


Competition Format/Timetable
*Prelims, January 21st (Online): This will be open to any person willing to enter into the tournament. All you will need to do is to fill out the entry form, submit it, and be on time to the competition server. This will be in rounds mode, to eliminate backmarkers, and to help seed the 16 semifinalists.

*Semifinals, February 4th (Online): The top 16 competitors from the preliminary round will compete in one of 2 semifinal sections. Cup mode will be used.

*LAN FINALS, March 10th: The top 4 competitors from each semifinal matchup (8 in total) will compete in a live, LAN Final on the A&G Ohio stage. All finalists will receive FREE entry to the convention space for the weekend. Cup mode will be used.
** Many more prizes will be announced within the coming days and weeks, and we have some great ones lined up already!

Register Here: http://www.aandgohio.com/events/video-gaming/trackmania

Track packs containing the online competition tracks will be available 1 week before each round. More details regarding specific rules, regulations, event times, and other related items will be made available very soon! In the mean time, start training and we’ll hope to see you in Cincinnati in March!

Prizes:
Intel will be supplying Core I7 processors for the Top 3 in the final. In addition, a much larger prize to be announced within the next couple weeks... stay tuned.

Ubisoft will also provide each finalist with t-shirts and a free copy of the 2nd environment!


On Another Note:
We are still in need of maps for the finals.

Right now we are in need of mainly speedtech/harder tech maps.
All maps should be finishable after a respawn.
The track name should be A&G '12 - Trackname
Sign packs will be provided to all the authors in time

On the downside, anyone who makes a map will not be eligible to participate in the tournament.
Please send any maps to:
anxiety@staff.esl.eu (or, PM them to me via mx)
We will then let you know what we think of the map, any suggestions we have, and if we will be using it in the tournament.

One track sent

Me too

Errors, crashes, and stream problems aside... we made it though the prelims! Rankings are as follows, with the top 16 advancing to the semis...

1. Laurens, 193
2. Iceman, 185
3. Supra, 172
4. Anxiety, 163
5. oNio, 115
6. Besus, 109
7. FrostBeule, 99
8. MephistOMG, 95
9. Dr. Rock, 79
10. Z3pp, 66
11. Red, 48 * *=Broken by rankings
12. Demko, 48 *
13. Exodeath, 35
14. Nicknacknob, 34
15. Marioman, 32
16. ThatOneGuy, 23

And thanks to those who submitted maps, they will all be tested this week and we will let you know what we think
However, we still don't have enough!

Here are the groups for the semifinals on February 4th. These are organized using the "snake" method from the prelim rankings. Again congrats to the qualifying competitors!
Semifinal 1 (Start 2:00 PM EST, 20:00 CET)
Laurens
Anxiety
Onio
MephistOMG
Dr. Rock
Demko
Exodeath
ThatOneGuy

Semifinal 2 (Start 5 PM EST, 23:00 CET)
Iceman
Supra
Besus
FrostBeule
Z3pp
Red
Nicknacknob
Marioman

Both of these matches will be streamed live at twitch.tv/aandgohio

Anxiety says:
We are still in need of maps for the finals!

Qualifiers to LAN:

From Semi 1: Laurens, Anxiety, Demko, Dr. Rock

From Semi 2: Iceman, frostBeule, Supra, Besus

Full results here: http://wan-party.com/tournaments/trackmania/canyon/aandg2012/semifinals/aandg_semifinals.html
Semi 2 Shoutcast: http://www.twitch.tv/aandgohio/b/307550621

Congrats to all, specific time detail and final prize detail is to come. I would get in contact with each other to try and split the cost of hotel, travel, etc. if possible!

Tracks will be released in about on 24 Feb.