The International 2012 - Three Weeks Later

Valve's Premier Tournament: The International

The hype has finally died down. My heart has finally stopped beating after the splendor that was an event fully sponsored by Valve. Some three weeks ago, The International Dota 2 Championships were held in Seattle, Washington under the control of the fine folks over at Valve. The top sixteen Dota 2 teams in the esports community competed over a prize pool of over $1.6 million USD, as well as a chance to have their names engraved on the Aegis of Champions that served as the tournament's trophy. I won't say much, as whatever would have been said has already been said by people more knowledgeable than myself at this particular artform. I will do this, though:

This video posted above is probably some of the best Dota seen in years. I haven't seen plays this big since the first International, a year ago. It truly shows the level of skill needed to play at the very height of the scene. Without further ado: The Play. Seen over a hundred thousand times by loyal fans, this just proves that this game (not even out of beta, mind you) has the potential to become huge. Just huge. Even now, as I finish this blog post, I'm thinking about what hero I'm going to play as I enter the matchmaking queue.

Meet the Troll

It's finally here.

Meet the Pyro is released. Go watch it.

Day three of the Pyromania update will be featured later today. Day two was a bunch of weapons, which doesn't really matter.

An interesting thing that went along with MTP's release was the announcement of the Source Filmmaker beta, which can be signed up for starting today. The Source Filmmaker is what VALVe uses to create all their "Meet The" shorts.

The Pyromania Update: Day 1

IT BEGINS

This morning, the TF2 team put out a blog post and a new sub site for what they call "the long-awaited final Meet the Team short, Meet the Pyro". Dropping in on Wednesday (which would coincide with that whole Adult Swim business that was announced a few days ago).

The sub site has day one of the Pyromania update, detailing the story of Poopy Joe, the simian astronaut. Players were given an idea of the new game mode, "Doomsday", in which the teams are tasked with taking enough fuel to Poopy Joe's rocket to send him to space. "Both teams will attempt to get the necessary fuel up a preposterously slow-moving elevator and into Poopy Joe’s Australium-powered rocket to the stars," notes the description of the new game mode.

More posts will be made as the update pages progress. For now, enjoy this promotional image of the Doomsday launch, straight from the Doomsday page linked above:

Adult Swim and VALVe partnership?

Screenshot from the AS/Valve Promo Website.

So I'm looking at my Faecbook wall this morning when I see some of my other friends' blogs posting something like this. Intrigued, I checked out the promo site here, and then signed up for the newsletter.

I suspect it might be something either involving stupid amounts of hats, or (gasp!) a certain Meet The Team video might be released very, very soon.

~~~~~

In other news, I've been playing a ton of Dota 2 and Crusader Kings 2, and I fucking love both of those games.

So yeah, that's my life story as of now. I'll try to put more posts in later.

Also, Vinderptus is on Steam now. Go check that shit out.

It's been a while, I know.

Yeah, it's been awhile. So what?

Summer is here, which means I have more time to discuss important issues that pertain to the content of this blog. Namely, the new music I've listened to from this year, as well as video game/card game experiences I've had over the past few months.

Stay tuned to Traditionally Virtual as I whine about things that annoy me! Or, as I talk on and on about things I enjoy!

For now, enjoy this new lyric video from Nuclear Blast featuring a song from Sabaton's new album: Carolus Rex, due some time this month.

The "teh_chris Best of 2011" Post

Happy New Year

2012, here we come.

About a month late, I'd like to wish my readers (whoever they are) a Happy New Year. Hopefully, 2012 will be an excellent year for Traditionally Virtual, what with different things happening on the virtual and non-virtual gaming fronts, as well as in the music industry. For now, I'd like to briefly give my picks for Album of the Year 2011.

Album of the Year 2011

2011 was not bad, as far as new music releases. Here is my personal top 5 for 2011:

 

AOTY 2011: Syven - Aikaintaite

This five-track, dark ambient work was my Album of the Year for 2011. Released late in the year, Syven's Aikaintaite is an exploration into dark, heavy, and even primordial music, featuring the Finnish kantele, one of my favorite instruments of all time. An excellent album to throw in if you just want to relax and contemplate life's mysteries.

Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole

The new Puscifer album, Conditions of My Parole, was what I thought would be my AOTY, instead dropped to the number 2 slot for the year. You can read my thoughts about this album here.

Nightwish - Imaginaerum

Nightwish's Imaginaerum is supposed to be a supplement to their similarly titled film that tells the story of a conductor who's on his deathbed, remembering the good old days. The movie itself is supposed to premiere this year. We'll see how good it is when it does get released. As for the album, it's excellent. I'm starting to get used to Anette Olzon's voice since Dark Passion Play, and I hope the band continues with this as time goes on.

Iced Earth - Dystopia

After what I felt was an abject failure in "The Crucible of Man", Iced Earth managed to redeem themselves in their new album, Dystopia. Featuring Stu Block on vocals, this album has the fire that made Iced Earth great back during the "Dark Saga" days. I highly recommend "Anthem", it's an excellent track.

Opeth - Heritage

Rounding out this top five is Opeth's newest release, entitled Heritage. Featuring all clean vocals by Mikael Åkerfeldt, I enjoyed this album greatly. Go and listen to it to really understand what I mean.

Anyways, time to look forward, and see what 2012 has to offer us.