New humble indie bundle!

A new Humble Indie Bundle was just released!  Go get it!  It contains some seriously cool titles like:

Super Meat Boy: Seriously, this game is frustrating.  If you are easily angered by repeatedly dying horribly, or are offended by sentient blocks of meat, do not play this.  If the above stipulations don't apply to you, GET IT.  If you ever played I Want To Be The Guy, it is a lot like that.

Bit Trip Runner: I love the Bit Trip games.  They are just so simple but amazing.  The music and sound are top notch, the gameplay is addicting.  Altogether, this is probably my favorite part of the bundle, even though I already own it.

Jamestown: I think this one is considered a bullet hell but I could be wrong.  The setting is great and it has a lot of that old fashioned arcadey goodness thrown in.

I haven't played most of the other games.  Cave Story + is probably great, as it is an updated version of the old fashioned Cave Story game.

Make sure you pay at least 5 dollars. (Hopefully more!) Because at 5 you currently beat the average.  I would say at least spend ten bucks or you are a jerk.

Semester almost over, what do?!

So, after today, there probably won't be any updates to this site.  I still think that Esports are worth following, so I'll throw up some links to very useful places.

Day[9].tv : Day9's website, a ton of content because of the dailies.

Justin.tv / Twitch.tv : There are usually a lot of streaming pros on here, so it is a pretty cool place to check out.

SC2Replayed : Hosts about a bajillion replays, from pros to noobs.  Great for looking at new builds.

Youtube peoples:

• Total Biscuit: Not the best commentator, but he is very entertaining.
• Husky: I don't know what it is, but I just don't like Husky too much.  He's a great commentator though.
• Appollo: I think he is my favorite next to Day.  He really knows his stuff. He doesn't have his own youtube account, but you can usually find him co casting with any of the others.

One more post incoming!

Project 2!

So my project 2 is up.  It is kind of an old version, so I might have to bring in the newer one at some point, link right HERE!

Dreamhack Winter

NOTE: I actually started writing this at like, 10 on Monday because of the way that the video upload schedule worked out but I didn't finish it until after 12.  Oopsy!

Yet again a Dreamhack tournament.  I love Dreamhack.  I didn't get to catch any games live sadly, and that makes me sad.  I caught the finale first by accident, so I knew what the outcome was going to be.  So I'm just gonna go through and watch at least the finals real quick.

Of course the two finalists are Korean.  Hero from Team Liquid Vs. Puma from Evil Geniuses.  Just in kind of skimming these games, I can see some of the little mistakes that the players made.  Puma especially seems a bit off his game.

In the third game, Puma made some seriously bad mistakes when dealing with the early stalker aggression.  His bunker didn't have any marines in it, he tried to repair and almost lost several SCVs.  Seriously, that third game was brutal for Puma, all of the early aggression that he just couldn't cope with.  That's one thing I don't like about Korean builds.  Some of them can be so early game dependent, compared to the long term macro games that are my favorite to watch.  It's like, the longer the game goes on, the more there is at stake, which makes it that much more exciting.

The early warp gate harass during game 4 was awesome to watch, but yet again it just happened so fast and Puma couldn't come back in any way as far as I could see.

Game 5 was much more in the style that I like.  It ended up being a much bigger, macro focused game.  The VOD did cut off at like, 8 minutes and then restarted at 14, so we missed a lot of the mid game.  At one point it was all infantry, then all the sudden Puma had Medivacs? What.  But yeah, maybe a glitch when they were recording.

I just kind of skimmed game 6.  Saw that it was an all in and just didn't care that much.  The only part that I really liked was when Hero's probe almost held back the army, and then it just got steamrolled.

Game 7 didn't get interesting until minute 13, where Hero had some great force field placement that led to his immortals ripping apart everything Puma had.  There were so many satisfying things that Hero did.  All of the force fields  psi storms and Colossi just made this game great.  I mean really, Psi storms are just awesome.  He landed like, 4 in a row at one point, which just ripped up the whole force that Puma had.  All in all, this game really made the series.  If it would have just been all ins or early game wins, I would have been very disappointed but it ended up being pretty okay.

MLG Providence

Ugh, I haven't had time to watch any games lately, but I found some time and here's what there is.

So looking at the comment last week, I thought I had to do a post about the Idra vs. Nestea matchup.  As a little background, Nestea is pretty much considered to be one of the best, if not the best Zerg players in the world.  Idra is another really great Zerg player.  So when these two played eachother in the semifinals of MLG, it promised to be awesome.  

The first game was very suprising.  The first thing that made the crowd and I get all riled up was when Idra got his lings into Nestea's base. It's always feels great when banelings run straight into a group of workers/marines and just blows all of them up.  Then right at the end, both armies at full supply, they just smack straight into eachother.  At first it looked like Nestea was going to take it but then Idra got upgrades and reinforcements, clenching the first game.  The macro in this game was great, which is why it had such a huge finish.  

The huge armies really made this a great series to watch, seeing giant armies just destroy eachother is wonderful.  There was also many, many baneling strikes from Idra that were just so... there really isn't a good word to explain baneling busts in supply lines, there is only that sound the crowd makes that's kind of like "oooooOOOOOHHHHH! , aaaaaaah....".  

Honestly, I don't know that much about Zerg play.  I'm more of a Protoss fan, so it's a little harder for me to really look into these games, and I spent more time just enjoying them.  Thanks for the recommendation!  Hopefully I'll get to watch some of the Dreamhack games live.  

Project 1 finished!

Project 1 is finally done! For my project I did a site that talks about and reviews indie video games.  Indie games are very interesting so I think it is important to spread the word as much as possible.  If you've never played an indie game, think about looking at the site and checking out some of the games mentioned.  (Except for the ones on the homepage, those aren't really indie titles for the most part).

Project 1 site!

Controversy in Esports

Sometimes, the decisions made by tournament holders can be seen as controversial.  Recently in the WCG qualifiers  team Dignitas pulled some fishy maneuvers, which led to much speculation on whether or not they should advance.  The controversy is mostly surrounding the player Jatt.  At first, he competed on a Canadian team that was eliminated, after which he used his double citizenship to fight with Dignitas on the US side.  It is against the rules to be on two teams at once, so WCG eliminated the Canadian team, which had already lost.  Dginitas went on to win and go to Korea for the finals.  I think that the whole thing was really shady, including rule changes mid tournament.  I think that CDE should be allowed to go to Korea and compete, even if it means both teams going, I think it would be more fair.

A little league spectatin'

So a couple weeks ago was IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) New York.  I didn't get the chance to watch any of the games live, but I did find the vods for the semi finals (I guess they haven't uploaded the finals or 3rd place games yet).  Even with my opinion that Summoner's Rift is pretty boring, it is always awesome to watch super good players go head to head.

My favorite were the SK vs CLG games, mainly because SK dominated for most of them.  I'm not a big CLG fan, although Saintvicious is one of the few streamers I have ever enjoyed watching.  I had never really seen SK in action and I wasn't disappointed.  The first game saw Ocelote playing an AMAZING Kassadin.  At one point, he pretty much ate their whole team after almost losing his own.  In the second game, Ocelote played Gragas, who is such a weird pick, but whenever he is played well he can be terrifying!  I loved the opening gank on Saint in the jungle.  By the middle of the game, Gragas and Vayne both had perfect games going, so they were doing CRAZY damage.  Ocelote could pretty much one shot the enemy Caitlyn with his ult.  All in all, I'm glad SK won.

In the Fnatic vs Sypher games, I knew exactly who I wanted to win.  Fnatic has some really cool players, like Shushei.  Shushei played Talon for both of the games I saw, which wasn't too exciting.  The real star of the show was either Mellisan or Cyanide.  Mellisan had some great Sona ults that left the other team completely stunned.  Cyanide did a crazy awesome job as Lee Sin during the first game.  The second game was really the only interesting one out of this series, because Fnatic was so far behind for most of it.  Sypher owned the early game, where their Garen did a seriously amazing job surviving.  Then at the very end, Fnatic got two aces and the other team just couldn't hold on any longer.

Pretty cool tournament!  Can't wait to see the finals.

League!!

The past few weeks have left me with little time to focus on fun things to do.  Mainly it has all been either school or work.  But when I do have some time to myself, I usually get on League of Legends and play a few games with my friends Pat, Kyle and Laura.  We are pretty bad at the game, but with the recently added Dominion mode, we have more fun then ever.  Dominion is much more fast paced and action packed when compared to the classic DOTA style play present in Summoner's Rift.  It's almost like there is always a chance to win a game, even if you've been behind the whole time.  It's so much fun!  I have a few replays that would be awesome to add on here, maybe I'll fraps a few games in progress so people can hear us yelling stupid things in the middle of games.  Dominion might lead to less of an esports focus for this blog, and more of a focus on the everyday player, playing exclusively for fun.

Me, being awful at Starcraft.

Okay, so I tried to play a game of Starcraft 2.  Playing is a whole lot different than watching.  It's tough making sure that your CC's are always producing SCV's!  My general strategy were just to get a big group of infantry, with a few hellions and at the end, a siege tank or two.  This was just a placement match, which means that after a few, I get put into a league.  I expect that I will enter bronze or silver if I keep going, but it would be awesome to go into gold or platinum.  Somehow, I still won!  Probably because the guy I was against was just as bad, if not worse than me.  He spent the whole time holed up in his base, building a Battlecruiser, which my marines then went in and blew the junk out of.  So I guess in a field of bad players, I rank up there in the middle.  Maybe next time I'll fraps it and watch it a bit, or look over the replay and see how I could do better.

That's all for now!

Dreamhack Valencia!

Some actual coverage of actual Esports in action!  Dreamhack Valencia was held on Saturday!  I didn't get to watch most of it, but I made sure to watch the finals.  Looking at the opening brackets, I had a completely different idea about who would advance to the end.  First off, I thought Huk would do much better.  Back in Dreamhack summer, Huk took the championship, becoming one of the few foreigners to win an international tournament against Korean players.  I was very disappointed when he lost to Thorzain in his first match up, but that just cleared the way for one of my new favorite players, THORZAIN.  Oh man, this guy was crazy during this tournament.  Apparently sending foreigners to Korea to learn is becoming more common after Team Liquid moved in with the oGs team, training with them and producing some very good players.  Thorzain really shined, and I was rooting for him to be the winner.  In the next matchup, I didn't care for either player.  I'd never heard of Moon, and I don't really care about Idra. Then there was Rain vs. Naniwa.  I like both of these players, but I had a feeling that Rain would take it.  And closing out the first round were two players I hadn't heard of, Lucifron and DonRaeGu.  I didn't know what to expect from DRG, but his Zerg play was intense, especially in the final.  

SPOILERS!: If anyone cares.

Okay, the finals were amazing!  It was so close, Thorzain using his slow, deliberate Terran play against DRG and his crazy Zerg control.  So much happened in these games that I didn't see coming!  Ultralisks! Who would ever think that we would see Ultras!  The mutalisk clouds were so ridiculously annoying, so much harass and for the most part, Thorzain just couldn't take them down.  There were so many parts in these games where I just couldn't sit still.  Whenever Thorzain repelled an attack, the crowd just went crazy, and I totally understand why!  But really, both of these players were very entertaining to watch and DRG did amazing!  

Apollo and Totalbiscuit are a great casting team, I hope that they work together more in the future.  Apollo is great at talking tactics while TB is very entertaining as the color commentator.  Down below I'm gonna throw up some links, in case anyone wants to watch the VODs of any matches.  

Dreamhack Valencia videos!

TotalBiscuit's Starcraft-centric channel!

General Starcraft info: The super basics

Years and years ago, a game came out.  This game was called Starcraft.  I wasted many hours of my life watching my friends play this game.  So when I found out that Starcraft 2 had such a great competitive scene, it felt just like old times.  But this post isn't for people like me, it is for people who haven't played or watched Starcraft ever.

Starcraft is a Real time strategy game.  The camera is usually positioned in sort of a bird's eye view, where the player can see everything that's happening on the battlefield.  At the start of the game, you can only create harvester units, which pick up minerals which are then used to build structures which lead to more unit types and even more structures.

Collosi eating some SCVs

What are these crazy races and what do they do?!

                                 

There are three different army types to choose from.

• Terran:  The human race.  A very beginner friendly race, which focuses on having a medium amount of moderately powerful units.  They are very, very defensive in comparison to the other races.  With siege tanks and bunkers, it's very hard to break the Terran line.  

• Protoss: Egyptian alien dudes.  Regarded as the middle ground in terms of ease of use, Protoss focus on having smaller amounts of extremely powerful units.  They are a good balance of offensive and defensive, with cannon pushes and warp prisms, they can sneak in and destroy the enemy before they know what's happening.  Two of their specialties are unit shields, which absorb damage before taking hits to health, and the ability to build several structures at the same time, using only one probe.

• Zerg: Creepy crawly bug fellas.  Considered the hardest of the races to use, Zerg focus on large armies of slightly weaker units, mixed in with some that do crazy amounts of damage.  All of their units start as larvae, which can all be evolved into different units simultaneously.  They have great map control, needing several bases to gain the most larvae possible.  They are very offensive, with banelings to rip apart rank upon rank of infantry, and mutalisks which do insane damage to air or ground.  

Each race has their own strengths and weaknesses.  Try out all of the races to decide which you like most.  I enjoy Protoss and Terran personally.  I am really bad at handling all of the Zerg larvae.  

Random basics to know when watching or playing Starcraft:

1. MACRO, MACRO, MACRO!  Always be making harvesters.  Always build supply.  Always keep up an army and map awareness.  Moving units out onto the map gets rid of the fog of war that covers everything at the beginning of the game.  Keep an eye on everything you can.  +
2. HAVE A PLAN!  Never go into a game without some idea of what you're doing.  Watch pros play and spend some time copying and testing out their builds.  
3. REACT.  Scout your enemy.  Try to counter what they are doing.  This is tough when just beginning, but after you watch for a while, you can start coming up with ways to fight back.  Are they building tons and tons of marines?  BANELINGS! Dark Templar? Throw out some turrets.  Brood Lords look scary? Bring in the Carriers!  Know what counters what.  
4. micro.  This should come later.  Focus on macroing and plans until you are comfortable.  Then, start paying closer attention to battles.  Use skills or position some units in a more effective way.  Great micro can spell the difference between winning and losing.  
5. Be nice! Start games with a GLHF (good luck, have fun).  End with a gg (good game).  
6. This is only for people who seriously want to get better.  Watch streams.  Watch replays.  I feel like this is the best place to bring up the king of us tiny little bronze through platinum league players, Day[9].  I think I might have to talk more about Day9 in greater depth during a different post, but seriously, go watch the Day9 Daily. (WARNING: Sometimes there is some foul, awful, terrible language. Still hilarious.)  

My hero.

So in closing for this one, just take it slow if you want to get into laddering.  Play through the campaign, try out the races and then just play  some games.  Odds are that you will be terrible at first, but the more you play, the better you'll get!  And always have fun! Why play if you aren't having fun?  Maybe I will take some footage of me trying to play, but trust me, I am much better at knowing what to do than actually doing it.

An intro to the intro!

Welcome! As this is the first blog post, I think that it should be an introduction to the subject itself.  E sports has been around for a while at this point.  The first appearance would probably be high score tables in arcade games.  The community and technology has made E sports grow into an industry.  Now, tournaments can be held in either LAN environments or online.  Online streaming has also revitalized the industry by giving people anywhere in the world access to the tournament.

While there are several different genres represented in the worldwide E sports community, such as First Person Shooters and fighting games, for this blog I want to focus mainly on the Real Time Strategy (RTS)  games that make up the bulk of the E sports scene.  The RTS game that will probably have the most focus is Starcraft 2, as it currently has the largest following.

The original Starcraft was a huge stepping stone for E sports.  It was one of the earliest games to receive a worldwide fan base (especially in Korea) as well as international tournaments.  The game still has a following, even after 13 years and a sequel.

As a disclaimer, I'm not great at Starcraft 2! Maybe some posts will be my attempt at playing, I guess we'll find out.  I might do some posts about League of Legends as well, as it is a game I'm actually pretty good at and can cover in way more depth than Starcraft.

That's it for today!