The General "E-Sports" Thread, or 'making a living from being dead good at games'. - The Bear and Badger

stormyskiesahead

Dark Soldier wrote:

Bugha wins it, 16yo, 3mil. Dominated from game one. Fair fucks.

Good for him. I missed the last two games but it was a blast 'til then. Watching Tfue get rekt game after game was a highlight.

Blue Swirl

Something from the Taipei Times I've been meaning to post for a while. The Chinese government are getting involved in e-sports:

mk64

found a MLG Halo 3 competition which took place in March. Still names like Walshy, hungrybox and Roy playing in the top teams (Toxic/GMS/Reciprosity).

Watching the pit and narrows on slayer really took me back to 2007

Blue Swirl

The Pit was the fucking mutt's nuts.

davyK

Wasnt hungrybox a smash bros melee man too?

stormyskiesahead

League of Legends Worlds on Twitch atm. Whatever you feelings about League, this event's always a spectacle.

Edit: A ten year old game with 1.6 million viewers on Twitch. Damn.

Djornson

I watched for a bit. I have no idea what's going on, like, i don't even get what the skill of the game is. I don't dislike League, it's just alien to me. Le Old

stormyskiesahead

No worries, that's the MOBA way. They've been around for years and have hundreds of millions of players, but they really aren't inviting to casual viewing or casual play. Just picking up enough that you can get an idea of the complexities and skills involved is a serious commitment.

Anyhoo, the result was unfortunately rather predictable.

davyK

Isn't it a kind of Gauntlet taken to the max?

It's a great old genre when >1 are assembled.

First example of it is believed to be a game called Dandy upon which Gauntlet was based. It may have been a bedroom indie effort.

They are more dungeon based whilst the big boys of today are more arena-like?

Gauntlet made a big leap though as its a co-op game with 4 characters with different abilities. Odd that Atari didn't think of a 4 vs 4 setup.

stormyskiesahead

League and other MOBA's are definitely not Gauntlet. This is an old vid, but it's decent enough and targeted at the absolute beginner - with some carefully staged "gameplay" to illustrate the narrator's points.

stormyskiesahead

I don't play Dota 2, but I've watched it since before I started actually playing MOBA's and I'm not gonna pretend it isn't a better game. Hell, Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm has elements that trump LoL. League's genuinely fun to play though, and when it comes to world building, to the characters and the lore, it's unrivalled. I've always been a sucker for that kinda shit.

davyK

All looks splendid; albeit a serious time sink.

Is there something more arcadey?

stormyskiesahead

I feel like I'm kicking myself in the balls by saying this, but League is about as arcadey as MOBA's get. Which is to say, not at all.

MOBA's really do require dedication, pick up and play they're not.

stormyskiesahead

You mentioned Gauntlet taken to the max, Davy. Diablo III absolutely isn't Gauntlet, but the console versions might just be the closest to this I can think of with those sweet analogue controls. That minute to minute gameplay, when you're in the thick of things in a dungeon and surrounded by enemies, can feel very old-school.

Of course, there's way more to Diablo than that, and it might not suit your needs at all. Worth checking out some vids though.

davyK

I reckon you are right. It does look arcadey as is.

I suppose I'd be looking for something a bit simpler but I reckon I'd enjoy it at a casual level at least.

Fancy the sound of console Diablo III.... that get a 360 port?

davyK

oh - it did. Looks interesting.

I like the local co-op thing.

There's a delicate balance with these games as they can easily degenerate into mash-a-thons which I don't like. That's what put me off God of War actually.

Tempy

I can't remember where I wrote up on D3 but it can be as simple or as dense as you want, but at its core it is a game about optimizing to crank out the max amount of damage with the least amount of effort and the highest synergy efficiency.

davyK

There's D3 and D3 : Ultimate Evil Edition for 360 which I assume has more content?

Plain D3 is a tenner new.

Tempy

latter has more content including an extra character, yep. Might have the Necormancer now too, no idea how they did this stuff on console though.

Also not sure how we got to this from League - the inferior Dota.

stormyskiesahead

My random as fuck train of thought, I'm afraid.

Really dunno if D3 is the kinda thing Davy's looking for though. A modern game with Gauntlet-like feels? Some twin-stick rogue-likes might fit?

davyK

heh.

yeah - it would probably end up in my 360 pile of shame which contains Forza Horizon (1 & 2) and Portal 2...

Gungeon is probably more my thing. Is it twin stick? Might be mouse and keys.

stormyskiesahead

Ah man, Horizon is the reason I started back peddling! I remember enthusing about OG Horizon when you were asking about arcade racers, and while the actual racing has that arcade immediacy, the structure of those games is the exact opposite. Wouldn't wanna do that to you again.

I enjoyed Gungeon when it came out, but it's not without its faults. Tempy might be the guide you need for this kinda thing.

davyK

I really like Horizon. It's just me. Games that are in my pile of shame are games I like and haven't played enough of. If I don't like something I get rid of it.

I'm just in a real 2d shmup mood at the minute. When I take a notion for racing I go for Horizon.

The driving between events gets in the way a bit but there's way of getting around that. I think what I didn't like about it was how easy the early races are. It's kind of hard to lose - so it felt very artificial to me.

I'm a big fan of straight up cup, straight race and TT modes. But I can get that in Horizon too. I liked grinding a track against best times - found myself doing that more than driving to the next meet.

I quite like Sega Rally on 360 too - but it's nightmarish from the off!!

stormyskiesahead

Glad to hear you're getting some enjoyment out of Horizon, Davy, and the demo for Sega Rally 360 was too hard for me.

It might be worth asking around on the Roguelike thread (currently on page 4) for shooter/dungeon crawler recommendations. I'm too out of touch to be much help, but I'm happy to declare Nuclear Throne as amazing, and free on the Epic store atm. Hades has a killer rep as well.

davyK

stormyskiesahead wrote:

Glad to hear you're getting some enjoyment out of Horizon, Davy, and the demo for Sega Rally 360 was too hard for me. It might be worth asking around on the Roguelike thread (currently on page 4) for shooter/dungeon crawler recommendations. I'm too out of touch to be much help, but I'm happy to declare Nuclear Throne as amazing, and free on the Epic store atm. Hades has a killer rep as well.

A bit more Chaos Engine - loved that one.

Blue Swirl

Taiwanese gamer sets new record contract - roughly US$6M over the next two years. Not bad for playing a game more than a decade old.

stormyskiesahead

Well done that chap. And it might be over a decade old but League's bigger than ever. It currently has around 115 million monthly players, with a peak of 50 million concurrent players. The game's fun and you can play it on a potato. Shit, I know a dozen people who've started playing it during lockdown this year - all old Overwatch players.

And with the mobile/console version, Wild Rift, getting a full release next year expect those number to rise considerably. League ain't going anywhere soon.

Nexx

I've been playing the Wild Rift open beta, getting really into it. Matches seem to last about 20mins which is more manageable than actual League. Looking forward to the console release.

Blue Swirl

stormyskiesahead wrote:

League ain't going anywhere soon.

Gameplay > FPS and number of pixels on your screen.

stormyskiesahead

Yup. I do love my frames though, and the difference between 30fps and 60fps in some games is crazy. 4K can eat a dick.

Nexx wrote:

I've been playing the Wild Rift open beta, getting really into it. Matches seem to last about 20mins which is more manageable than actual League. Looking forward to the console release.

Yeah, I'll be all over that. No idea how well it'll do on console tbh, but I can see the mobile version being a monster of a game.

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