Oh my goodness. I have never seen anything even close to that distort effect. It looks awesome. I'm making a 3D engine right now. It could use a special effect like that. The only real problem is that your Distort effect is for 2D images. I need it for 3D meshes(models), and I need it in DirectX. Is it possible to have this in 3D and DirectX?
BTW: Interesting that you used an Age 2 Screenshot for backround and Starcraft firebat unit.