An Open championship of CIS on Heroes of Might and Magic III( Shadow of Death) took place in Krasnodar on May 1 st through May 3rd. It was organized by the site Heroes of Might and Magic Portal and the computer club "Ironfist". Though the tournament was not conducted by the official federation of this game (and so it had not the status of the professional one), it attracted attention of the public by solid prize fund $ 2000 and also by the support of the company Buka Entertainment , official creator of the Heroes in Russia. The team of Buka took part in the tournament with other participants . Besides, among members of the judicial board there was a representative of this company. As a matter of fact, it is one of the first initiatives of that kind of Russian publishers, that's why we have decided to take small interview from the manager of this firm - Maxim Mihalev who also visited Krasnodar.
CRPG.RU: Hello, Max. You returned from the championship of CIS on the third Heroes last week. What are your trip impressions?
Buka: Everything was great. Despite the initial scepticisms to the tournament, everythimg was fine. Our train arrived late at night, and there were some fears that we would be alone in the middle of an unfamiliar city (we forgot the telephone number and address of the organizers at office ). However, our fears were unnecessary, we were met and taken in the residence. In general, we weren't bored during that period. I must note that on the way I have grown old for one year, that's why we had to organize an improvised celebration. There I had understood for the first time as far as the company gathered together on the tournament was warm ( don't understand me wrong). And the last stroke of trip there was a trip to mountains. It was superb in spite of a long path and cold (it was rather fresh in mountains ). In general, we didn't want to go away but good things come in small packages!
CRPG.RU: At the same time take congratulations from us. How well was playing of the Buka team? And what are your results in personal offsets?
Buka: thanks for congratulations. If to judge by results, they are not very good. We played both in the personal and command offset. The opponents were well-deserved and our total defeat ( we did not reach prize-winning places ) did disappoint us at all. I would say the other way, it gave a jerk for more thorough training to such measures ( we had prepared for the tournament several evenings after the job and we had expected more our general experience). We hope to get best results next time, but speak on about it later.
Some words about results - I lost personally both plays, though i could win. Denis Tinaev showed the best result, he reached the fourth tour. On the whole, everybody played well, but as the practice shows game with the computer can replace the game with a person, and it did not suffice disastrously. To tell the truth, I did not think before that it was possible to win on the 4 day of game time, however such a thing was. The Buka team also lost for the same reason (it is necessary to play with the people and, really, tactic decides everything).
CRPG.RU: How many players took part in the championship? Where were they from?
Buka: if I am not mistaken, about 40 persons wanted to take part in the championship, but some of them could not arrive. In the long run, there were 22 participants in the championship. Geography of that amateur tournament was large - Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Omsk, Krasnodar, N. Novgorod), Ukraine, Moldavia, Kazakhstan. It was not boring. It was specially pleasant to know that many participants played our russian version.
In sum, the strongest participants were the guys from St. Petersburg . They took the first places both in personal and command tournaments. Then i knew that among them there was a world online playing champion. So it was difficult to struggle against such giants of Heroes of Might and Magic.
CRPG.RU: How do you appreciate the level of the participants? The tournament had the amateur status, is it possible to suppose that the players, competing in Krasnodar, will be able to participate in professional championships, for example, in club Polygon - 5?
Buka: the participants were enough strong (I've spoken about the champion ). Many of them started playing Kings Bounty. Their absence in professional championships only shows that the system of championships is developed insufficiently. Many participants are not simplly capable to take part in them or know nothing about them. As the saying goes, there are many native talents in Russia but nobody searches them. Besides, there are little regional tournaments which could help in the selection of players. I hope that it is only matter of time and full-bodied federation of Heroes of Might and Magic will be formed in Russia .
CRPG.RU: who became the winners and what prizes, excepting money, did they get (as far as I know, Buka also awarded the winners )?
Buka: I shall only mention names and place of residence of the winners as everybody has remembered them so:
Personal offset (in decreasing order):
Air (St. Petersburg);
Antal (St. Petersburg);
Champion (Simpheropol);
Flamingo (St. Petersburg);
Teams (in decreasing order):
St. Petersburg (Antal, Air);
Krasnodar (Gering, Longman);
Hommportal-1 (Salomeya, Champion);
Hommportal-2 (Duk, Melkor)
All winners received money prizes (I remind that the prize fund was 2000 dollars) and also prizes from Buka (disks with the Heroes 4 and MIM 9 and placards). All participants of tournament signed on disks and they transfered to the category of rarity. By the way, a film was shot about it and you will see it soon.
CRPG.RU: Well, it was only a work-out and now serious questions. Why did Buka decide to support precisely that tournament? What aims (marketing, PR etc.) did you pursue?
Buka: In reality, the initiative didn't come from Buka but directly from the organizers. In principle, we have been contacts with HoMM Portal for a long time, our representatives went in Kiev to official opening of the resource, communicated periodically by E-Mail. We were not invited as visitors but as participants of the tournament. We had thought thoroughly before we came to a decision. Initially, we had no any definite purposes, though we realized well that Krasnodar was a far city and people didn't know a lot about our company, and the nearness with Ukraine made of that region a real paradise for piracy production. However, we decided to go after long reflections . The PR-policy on the tournament and means indispensable for it were determined (apart from prizes we carried with ourselves flags, all the participants from Buka wore vests with firm symbolics etc.), a small game practice was held and... in way.
Summarizing the trip, I consider that all the purposes were achieved. I communicated with many people, told them about our occupations apart from the Heroes, explained problems, arising during localizations. I also knew a lot, especially about the attitude to our company. I think that everybody received food for reflections. Moreover, now Buka is not an abstract name for many people but quite concrete alive men. And it is very important too! So the trip was successful.
CRPG.RU: During our last talk you mentioned that it was not apparently last initiative of that kind of the company Buka Entertainment. What is the official policy of the company concerning the support of similar measures? Are there any planning steps in this direction? Perhaps is it a meaning to cooperate with professional leagues and to conduct qualifying tournaments with awarding of categories and etc.?
Buka: Unfortunately, the professional leagues and Buka exist for the present in "parallel" worlds. It is not good or bad, it is a natural evolution of development. For Buka part there is not the legible policy concerning different tournaments, so far there is not, but recently some steps have been taken in this direction. I shall not say yet what this direction is, let it be a trade secret. As you understand, the main value of similar measures is in their periodicity and it is a big problem. But I hope that all will be successful and you will know everything yourselves. Moreover, the destiny of all measures depend on success of one measure. It would be desirable to attract fÑSR (it would be great) in this business. We have some plans and the time will show everything!
CRPG.RU: the third Heroes have already become obsolete, the fourth part has recently appeared and it will have an option of the multi-user game. There is a fine project, excellent game for multiplayer battles. How do you think to support it (besides competitions)? Do you prepare for battles in Heroes IV?
Buka: At first, we plane to continue our cooperation with HoMM Portal and we hope for the swift realization of the next tournament, already on the Heroes 4. Secondly, there are some ideas, but it is also a secret (it is necessary to intrigue you after all). We began to pay more attention to the game, especially after our return. I hope that we shall play better the next time.
CRPG.RU: And there is a question at last. If we have touched the subject of the fourth Heroes, give the official answer about terms of the patch appearance to them for english Buka version.
Buka: Oh, no! Ask about another thing!!!... A joke! I have been answering this question many times, the patch from May 2 is made for the american version of the game. There is an european version differing a little from the american version (other protection, difference in several maps). The patch for the european version (and so for ours) is in a condition of testing and the company wich elaborated it (NWC) is not ready to give exact terms. And our terms, as you understand, are hardly bound to NWC. So it is necessary to have a little patience and to wait.
CRPG.RU: thanks for the time given to us. Good luck!
Buka: Good luck!
Talk was conducted by Chikitos.
