I've made a huge mistake.

I've gotten into DOTA 2.

After hearing Brad Shoemaker of the Bombcast go on and on about, and seeing the recent hype surround the International and how it's just the right time for new players to jump in, I got a little curious.

Then I made the mistake of watching the Dreamhack tournament finals the other day between teams Quantic and Alliance. I don't know anything about those teams, I couldn't follow very much of what was happening and why, all I know is that it was exactly the kind of thing I love to see in games.

There is a complicated series of drafts, bans, and counter-drafts that precede tournament DOTA apparently, and while I know nothing about the game, the commentators did a fantastic job of quickly summarizing each hero and their role in the meta game, the likely strategies they'd be used for.

Quantic organized a fiercely aggressive line-up. Lots of lane clearing AoE, tough ganking heroes (characters that specialize in taking out enemy player heroes), with solid mixed support.

Alliance on the other hand picked out a motley crew. Judging by the commentators, it seemed like they had been a little screwed by the draft bans and were scrambling to come up with a backup plan. They organized a team of traditionally weaker units. Lots of strong support like the fragile Wisp, and a bizarre Cleric character called Shen that works as a odd support character that is capable of converting hostile NPC mobs to his side.

By the commentary, it seemed like the game had already been decided. That Alliance effectively committed suicide on the character select screen and barely stood a chance against Quantic's roster of heavy hitters.

Then the unthinkable happened. A total blow out. Alliance started off cautiously, but soon began a steam roll the likes of which you only see in the lowest dredges of pub games. The freak team of glass cannons and oddball support units took down one of the strongest teams WITHOUT A SINGLE DEATH.



It was insane. Like I say, I don't know jack about DOTA, but I know that was amazing. THAT is the kind of thing that gets me pumped for a game. When unconventional strategies can trump cookie-cutter builds, when even at the top level of play there is room for major upsets and dramatic wins.

So today I spent hours pouring over newbie guides, setting up hotkeys, and picking out a few interesting heroes on the DOTAwiki.

The scope of the game is staggering. Intimtading. One of the first resources I stumbled upon was Welcome to Dota, You Suck, an introductory guide that's straight up honest about what a new player is getting into. Hundreds of heroes to learn, thousands of abilities and items, countless match-ups and strategies, and an entire language of jargon and slang that has to be penetrated to even know why your teammates are screaming at you.

It's intense. But it's also the sort of thing I can see myself getting lost in.

So farewell everyone, it's been nice knowing you. I think I'm going down this rabbit hole, and I don't know where I'm going to end up.

* - Spec Ops took on some very ambitious issues. I'm not convinced it really made good on the lofty aspirations, but I appreciate that they even tried in the first place.

* - If you aren't sleeping with Garus Valkarian, you're playing Mass Effect 3 all wrong. Dat voice... Oh yeah, Elsa also takes a pretty intelligent look at the various portrayals of women in the ME series, but whatever. Dat voice...

* - I don't think Nintendo is in as bad a shape as LordPsyBorg does, but the ship does need some straightening. I was really hoping they'd come out strong this E3, right now it looks like noone is at the wheel.

P - Self-fapping is a shameful act, but it's hard for me to stay mad at someone who posts vintage sci-fi UFOs.

P - More podcasts for your ear diet! If you like Phantasy Star, or games in general, you should check em out.

A - The next-gen looks great for every system. TroyFullbuster is looking forward his impoverished game-filled Christmas.

D - REZZED! Our favourite brit GlowBear is going to be getting her journalism on at Rezzed this weekend! Sounds exciting. If you're also going be sure to drop her a line, Dtoid gatherings are always a  magical thing.

T - If I stand for one thing in this world, it's fantasy rosters for fighting games. Dapper Blanka has his wish list for Smash Bros all ready to go, King K. Rool is an inspired choice.

R - A solid necro-review for Zelda: Oracle of Ages that avoids all the usual pitfalls these blogs usually fall into. This is how you do it people!

T - Watch_Dogs might be the poster child of the next-gen systems pretty graphics and huge memory capacity, but is there a chance the best way to play it will be on the humble Wii U? SamWHYZ makes a decent case for getting your paranoid espionage on with the Wii U's unique touch screen controller.

? - Who doesn't want to sleep with Holmes?

V - Oldschool SHUMPing with Crisis Force.

F - Barely relevant YouTube spam.

F - Put some effort into it, write a fucking blog, introduce yourself, comment on other blogs, don't just spam an embedded video and call it a day.


I hear Meepo is the most difficult to hero to master because of his weird cloning ability. He's also the most rad.

-Wrenchfarm

FPotD

Hey it's a me! Das Phil! As some of you may have guessed, I had a horrible fucking Father's Day, but that's in the past now. FUUUUCK IT! You might be wondering where Smurfee is, but most likely not. I mean who would? Let's just all be thankful he is not here. Unfortunately that means you're stuck with me. Not much better eh?

i find myself pretty excited today. Tomorrow I am guesting on Scary Granules podcast. I'm honored to be among the accents. In more game related stuff, Shadowrun Returns has definite release date now. The only shitty part is it's not next week (like we were led to believe), but next month. Either way excited to see how that turns out. I am a little more reserved and cautious about it now though. Not by much, but a week from release and getting pushed another month, does give me pause. I know they ran out of funds and had bugs in the editor, I just hope that's all it is. More bug stamping and polish. The game looks incredible from all the footage I've seen, but hey. That's happened before and we ended up getting shit. Maybe I'm too cynical these days, but I can't blame myself. Devs and publishers have pulled a lot of shit these past few years. Either way, fingers crossed and I hope it's as good as I think it will be.

I tried out Akaneiro last night. You might have read a little about it in Jinx's recaps. It is a simple, yet fun game. Gorgeous visuals, but it needs some work and I really hope they switch their f2p model. They should sell vanity items only in the PC version and up the difficulty (it was quite easy). The one thing I ran into (and I guess I'm in the minority) was a cooldown after 20m or so of play. It might be because I had just started, leveled up or w/e, but that is a huge pet peeve of mine. Keep that shit for mobile platforms, but on a PC I want to play the game I'm digging. Not wait 5m to do the next mission. This shit ain't Facebook. I'll be keeping a close eye on it, the devs seem to listen and the game shows a lot of promise, so once again, fingers crossed.

Other than that, still playing Raid mode in Revelations, just got The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (looks hot, word is sp is great), looking forward to Fist Puncher in the next couple days and that's about it. Let's get to capping, shall we?

Hint: Yes.



P - Communitoid nude wrestles a platypus that is also a zombie.
S - Kodu continues his VS. Tropes series with part 3.
A - A good read from EverydayLegend on the Xbox One's affect on ma 'n pops.
P - The Shattered Podcast rolls out episode 4. I see nude, so I am interested. Then I remember it's Ev777 doing it. ;)
A - Calidreth has thoughts on MMO's and their monthly fees.



S - Option1Soul has a very interesting read about making in video games.

D - PlayBoyMan updates us on his game progress. Pffft. Indie devs. >.>
N - Breaking Xbox One news from Caimdark.
T - JDBooker thinks Metroid needs to continue in 2.5d and I agree. SUCK IT 3D! Unless it's more Prime.
R - NeoValis reviews/dispells myths about Settlers 7 and it's DRM.
T - Some detailed thoughts on Remember Me from Ethan Christopher Clevenger.
N - KOF XIII may be coming to Steam (pleasepleaseplease) and Mininano dishes out the news.







F - Not a good idea and bad execution indeed.
F - Cute or not, sorry Wagner. I don't dig it.
F - This just reeks of copypasta.

Well that was Monday for you. No sauces, a few fails and everything in between. Hopefully we see our blue friend return next week. I miss him, despite knowing better than to do that. Have a good week and see you all on Sunday. I need lunch....

FPotD

Didn't spend a lot of time gaming this last week because all the news and drama from E3 was so engrossing. But... still a few things worth mentioning.

I checked out Akaneiro: Demon Hunters Saturday, a new game by Spicy Horse. It's still in development, but so far it's good fun. I backed it on Kickstarter so I got a free Steam key for early access. Feels somewhere between Diablo and Zelda 1, which is not a bad thing. The game takes place in Japan, and the watercolor-styled visuals are quite cool. Worth keeping an eye on. It will be free-to-play, the early access kit just gets you some extra goodies.



I've also been tinkering with a 3rd person hack I found for Borderlands 2 (PC). You wouldn't want it on all the time (you can toggle it), but it's a neat change and quite playable. Since the game lets you customize your character, it's nice to actually see them in-game rather than just on the inventory and title screen.



So yeah, my Wii U hate has been somewhat... excessive. Seriously, I think I need medication or something. HOWEVER. I'm finally startin' to feel some love for the 'ol Wee-ooo. Super Mario 3D World had me jumping up in down in my seat like a little kid. It's not quite the Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy type game I was hoping for, but... kittie suit OMG ADORABLE AAAAAHHHH!!!! *bounces*



Now, on to those C-Blogs!

* - bigboss0110 shares a fun and uplifting blog about how New Super Mario Bros. U made him feel like a kid again. He managed to get ME excited about a Wii U game, that's sauce-worthy right there.



Word of the day, courtesy of the Torgue vending machines in Borderlands 2...




E - Marcunio tells us about his trip to "Etoo" London- a small, more intimate event that's quite the counterpoint to E3.
S - YesConsiderably talks about the interesting method he used to seek out a new gaming handle for his shift to Playstation. He needn't worry, though, picking your second gaming nick is-
I - Calidreth gives us a (re) introduction, and talks about his love of writing about gaming.
S - dergrimnebulin (okay that's a mouthful) shares a touching story about his childhood, his family, and Super Mario Bros.

T - Nick Di Fulvio shares his thoughts on Nintendo's E3 showing.
R - Willza gives us an excellent, upbeat review of Remember Me. I'd throw in a few pics to mix things up next time, though.
P - KeiththeGeek gives us an in-depth look at how the Villager character might play in the new Super Smash Bros. game. SB and fighting game fans will appreciate this one.
T - TheManchild expresses his excitement for Final Fantasy XIV, and puts it in context with some other MMOs and FF titles.

S - ZombieePanda ordered a special 3DS XL - an Animal Crossing: New Leaf one! She's looking for recommendations on a good case for the XL. Hopefully when she gets the system she can give us a mini-review!

L - Moth informs us that Xbox One games may not be playable on the system until about 2015. Because television?

F - I'm sorry, Nihil, but this Remember Me "review" is not that funny and potentially offensive :/


And finally, you Fake Nerd Boys are getting called the hell out!





-Jinx

FPotD

Well happy Father's Day to my fellow dads out there. This has been a bittersweet day for me the past couple years, due to the loss of my own father, but I wasn't in a funk about it this year at least. I miss the big asshole, but I know he's better off wherever he's gone to. As for myself, today kind of sucked for other reasons, but fuck it. I got two beautiful kids and I am not dead yet at least. Not a lot to say, due to beingtired from work, a trip to Monterey and of course, kids. So have some Saturday caps and I'll see you tomorrow, as I'm covering for the Smurfmeister. 


* - A good blog examining E3 from ManWithNoName.

S - C is the letter of this entry into Shaxams ongoing series on game design.

S - Mike's Musings: E3 Week


I - Say hello to Option1Soul.

I - Say hi to HGHambo. I fucking love that name. Like esteemed ham. Mmmmmmm ham.

C - Spieler Dad think 3D TV is in trouble.

E - Weekend Warriors says hug your Dad. Unless he sucked. Then just fuck him. Wait not like that.....

I - Say hello to Alain! You might need to translate this though.

D - ArkCo #21 - It Keeps Getting Better.

T - NeoValis is not digging where Thief is going.

T - Silver Waseskuk makes some Smash predictions in this well put together blog.



V - Troy throws down some reactions to E3 this year, in video form.

C - Pope needs to work on the approach. Coming off a bit dickish.

V - Mikki thinks Cliffy B doesn't get it. I agree, the guy lost touch with fans and consumers a long time ago.




No fails... YAY! Peace.

FPotD

So E3 happened, and I am now officially excited for the next generation of consoles. Now, I'll be honest here and say that this was the first time I actually watched E3 live (I usually just read the articles afterwards). Some people seemed less than impressed with this year's show, but I thought it was really exciting! Granted, I only really had time to watch Sony's conference, but it sounds like that was the best one to watch. I thought the PS4 console they showed looked really sleek, I love the design. I'm still not too crazy about the controllers though. Plus there were tons of great looking games and exciting reveals. And then, of course, there were the "Oh shit, is this actually happening?!" moments where Sony kicked Microsoft to the curb, and then just kept on kicking. I was already planning to get a PS4 sometime anyway, but after watching the conference, I kinda hope I can get one sooner than I was planning. 



As for the games they showed, the section of the conference that focused on indie games was my favorite part of the show! Mercenary Kings is looking all kinds of beautiful, Galak-Z, Secret Ponchos and Outlast look really neat even though I'm not even that crazy about their genres, and the announcement of a new Oddworld game was super exciting! Plus, Octodad being a highlight of Sony's lineup at E3? That's so awesome! Indie games have come a long way in such a short amount of time.

Of course, it wasn't just the indie games that looked great. The Order: 1866 looked intriguing, Transistor looked lovely (is Supergiant Games indie? I'm not really sure...), and Watch Dogs still looks like it's gonna be awesome. And even though I'm not typically a fan of shooters, Destiny did look really cool. Maybe it'll hit that sweet spot between shooter and RPG like Borderlands managed to do, and I'd totally be on board. The reveals for Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV and Mad Max were also very exciting to witness, even though I don't have an interest in any of those franchises.

Aside from Sony's conference, the only other part of E3 I really paid attention to was Nintendo's announcement of the new Super Smash Bros. game. If anything will get me to buy a Wii U, it's Smash Bros. I've grown kind of jaded towards Nintendo lately, none of their other announcements were all that interesting to me, but Smash Bros. is something that I feel like I need to play. The new game is looking lovely, but not too different from Brawl (which is OK by me, because Brawl was my favorite one!). The Animal Crossing villager looked adorable and hilarious (and thanks to the internet, he's also become super creepy). He will likely become of my main choices, because he looks really fun to play as! Plus I love me some Animal Crossing. Mega Man looked awesome as well, and I can't wait to play as him too! He has a custom death animation and classic sound effects, and the LEAF SHIELD! As a die-hard fan of Wood Man, I am super excited about the Leaf Shield. And then there was the Wii Fit trainer. At first completely absurd, she's slowly becoming one of my favorite things. I look forward to playing as her all the time, just to annoy my friends. 



And now we play the waiting game while more information about all of this stuff is leaked, and my wallet silently weeps. 

* - SuperCrow believes there is still room for more zombies in video games. They just need some life breathed into them. Wait... Unlife? Death? I dunno.

S - OpiumHerz's series on censorship focuses on Fallout this week. It seems Germany really has a thing against blood.

A - Rimmon gives us a rundown of everything we learned about the PS4 during E3.





F - Friday Night Fights on the 360 + Thoughts on the Xbone?

F - Friday Night Fights on the PC + Metal Gear Solid V hype!

F - Friday Night Fights on Nintendo + Animal Crossing!

F - Friday Night Fights on the PS3 + E3 thoughts!

T - PopetheRev has been playing a lot of PS3 games lately.

T - TechnicolorDewDrop doesn't think turn-based combat defines the Final Fantasy series.

T - Wagner is really enjoying the Last of Us. Like, hyperbolically so.

$ - June 14th UK releases and bargains!





R - nilcam seems to be particularly unimpressed by E3.

V - Mikki Saturn's video response to Nintendo's E3 conference.

C - You heard it here, folks: Microsoft gives balls.

C - Spieler Dad's blog about the games coming out this summer is composed almost entirely of oversized images and unpopular opinions.

F - Scott posts videos with no information to get me interested... while hammered?

F - A super hard megawad? I don't know what that even is.

F - Far Cry 3 wants you to buy Far Cry 3! Zombie Orwell goes ballistic.



- bbain

FPotD

A lot of what I was going to say here I’ve already covered in my own blog from last Wednesday, so go read that for bonus Shadeisms. Because I actually blog sometimes! Once the planets align and the blood moon rises, I just get the sudden urge to write down words and fling them to the Internet for all to see. It’s a novel concept, I know.

It has never been a secret that I’m a Nintendo gamer, so they were definitely my focus this E3, as they are every year. Nintendo Direct showed us a lot of cool games. While I don’t think they’re all the most original of titles, I can’t help but acknowledge that they look like tons of fun. Super Mario 3D World has cats in it, for one, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has Viking penguins (<-fun factoid, Word just auto-corrected “Viking” to capitalize it. That made me smile). The more I see from them the more I get excited. They’re still not the games I really wanted to see, but it’s hard to stay mad at Viking penguins.

My favorite games on show, however, were X (untitled Monolith Soft project) and Super Smash Bros. X because it’s Monolith Soft and that right there is enough to get me hyping all over my best pair of pants, and Smash bros…well, because it’s Smash Bros!


- “Did somebody say Smash Bros.?!”

I love what they showed of it, and I love the new characters. Mega Man, of course, is awesome in the same way that Sonic and Snake were in Brawl. In addition, there’s some amazing attention to detail in the little guy, up to and including a custom death animation. The Animal Crossing Villager is very cool too. He was way overdue for being included (there was an Animal Crossing level in Brawl, for god’s sake), so it’s nice to see him join the team. I’m very interested in seeing how he’ll play, but already I’ve seen some fun moves, like cutting down a tree or dropping a bowling ball on people.

My favorite, however, is the Wii Fit Trainer.
She’s just so silly and cool and sweet and brilliant and I love it. Just the fact that some guy at Nintendo suggested that she should be in Smash Bros. and they rolled with it is awesome to me. Of course, it’s still much too early to say whether or not she’ll actually be a good fighter. We’ve only seen a couple of her moves, which seem fairly standard gameplay-wise apart from being yoga moves. Regardless, I’m totally going to give her a shot once the game comes out next year. Who knows, maybe she’ll be really good! In all likelihood though I’ll stick to my main guy and gal, Luigi and Zero Suit Samus. Yes, Luigi. He’s got a killer air-game (Better recognize, fools!), and I do emphasize “killer”. Zero Suit Samus I like because she’s quick and nimble without becoming uncontrollable like a certain hedgehog I could mention. She’s just fast enough to pull off some nasty combos, especially once you pair it up with her stun gun and whip, but she controls like a charm. Hopefully the Wii Fit Trainer is a viable enough fighter that she can be added to my team or, barring that, is fun enough to play as that it doesn’t matter. I have little doubt at least the latter will be true.

I also feel the need to point out that I’m impressed with the response she’s gotten. When she was just announced it seemed like a lot of people weren’t down with it, but that seems to have changed over the past few days. There’s already tons of memes flying around, only rivaled by the Villager. It looks like people are already starting to get on board and I’m incredibly glad for that. It’s sending Nintendo the right message: that as long as they make it awesome, we’ll happily take every weird thing they’ll throw and us and we’ll run with it.

Fuck, I’m so hype for Smash Bros. now. Looking forward to beating up all your asses. ALL OF THEM. WITH YOGA.


- Wii Fit Trainer demonstrates.

* - Why do fans of the Blue Bomber still care while Capcom clearly doesn't? JoyfulSanity tells you why, and gives a very interesting interpretation of the storyline to boot!

* - Silent Hill is one of those series that you just have to feel sad for. The Defenestrator chronicles the series decent from Silent Hill 2 to Downpour, and has thoughts for how to fix it.

A - How are an old cult movie studio and the modern game industry alike? Voodoome tells you how!

A - Like all the ones before, Microsoft is falling victim to the curse of 3. Except not so much "falling victim" as "deliberately performing voodoo dances and praying to pagan gods to please curse them already".

M - AnjuL's first love was his trusty NES.

A - iOS devices may be popular now, but that definitely doesn't mean there's no place for handhelds and consoles anymore.





C - A silly picture of Jonathan Holmes raises a pressing question....What is in Holmes' mouth?

D - BBats sent Swishiee a couple of kick-ass Power Rangers toys! Not to mention an incredibly helpful bungee cord.

N - Not sure what "YRP" means, but Lightning Returns may be paying tribute to it, via dress-spheres-in-everything-but-name.

T - There were a couple of rumors surrounding Dark Souls 2 that were worrying Rimmon, but it sounds like the E3 trailer has eased his pains.





C - Just because Sony is not Microsoft doesn't mean it should be our big hero now.

C - If you like The Last of Us so much, surely you can think of more to say about it?

C - Broke a knee while playing Halo? Jumped out of the window after losing in Mario Kart? Accidentally smacked yourself in the face with a Wiimote? What are your gaming injuries?

F - Thanks Nanbu; I'll take it from here. Failblog is fail.

F - I understand very little of this besides that it has to do with Total War: Shogun 2.

F - You called your own video dumb from the get-go, didn't provide any info on it, and didn't even embed it properly. There's no way in hell I'm still watching it.



   

- ShadeOfLight
May you always find water and shade


FPotD