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.

GSC Game World Closes Doors?

Dead? Seriously?

A troubling bit of information hits me right as I begin finals week for my university classes. Apparently, Ukrainian based GSC Game World has been abruptly shut down today, and all of its employees have been let go.

Sadly, this appears to be not rumor, but truth, as posted by Joe Mullin, GSC's social media manager.

GSC themselves have not commented on the issue, but will do so on Monday, according to their own official twitter.

When more information becomes available, it will be reported here for the readership to view on their own.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Day 2 Steam Sales)

Happy Thanksgiving!

From all of me here at Traditionally Virtual, Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your flying turducken, your turbaconducken, or even your turbaconepicentipede on this fine day.

Now, as I said yesterday, the Steam Autumn Sale has begun, and here's today's list of featured sales:

*Monkey Island Special Edition Bundle -66% ~$5.25
*Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Platinum -66% ~$10.25
*Total War Mega Pack (Medieval II Gold, Rome Complete, Empire Complete, Napoleon Imperial w/DLC) -75% ~$12.50
*Fallout: New Vegas -75% ~$5
*Sniper: Ghost Warrior -80% ~$6
*Rift -75% ~$7.50
*VVVVVV -75% ~$1.25
*Zeno Clash -75% ~$3.75
*L.A. Noire Complete -50% ~$25
And the 3 Franchise sales:
*Two Worlds II -66% (If you're into that thing.)
*Operation Flashpoint -75%
-Dragon Rising ~$3.75
-Red River ~ $11.25
*Red Orchestra -50%
-Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 ~$5
-Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad ~$20

Happy Spending and Happy Thanksgiving!

Steam Fall Sales Have Begun

I love these dudes. Seriously. They're adorable.

In the interest of always being ahead of everyone ever when it comes to holiday sales, the fine folks at VALVe have begun their "Autumn Sale" over at the usual place. And as usual, they have a rotating list of major sales plastered on the top half of their splash page; this list rotates at around 8 AM GMT-10, and are the best deals for the day if you're looking for something cheap to pick up. On top of this, many publisher's catalogs are also hugely discounted for those looking for that special something from their favorite dev team or something.

The current games on the featured list are (with the discount and price rounded up):
-Dejobaan Collection -50% ~$10
-Renegade Ops -50% ~$8
-Oddworld: The Oddboxx -75% ~$4
-Test Drive Unlimited 2 -75% ~$5
-Sam & Max Complete -75% ~$12.50
-Duke Nukem Forever -66% ~$7
-Risen -50% ~$15
-Orcs Must Die! -75% ~$4
-Portal 2 -66% ~$10.25
-Call of Duty: Black Ops -50% ~$30
and the two franchise sales:
-Mass Effect -75%
ME 1 and 2 for $5
ME2 Digital Deluxe Edition for $7.50
-Men of War -75%
Men of War ~$3.75
Men of War: Assault Squad ~$8.75
Men of War: Red Tide ~$6.25
Men of War: Vietnam ~$8.75
Men of War: Complete (Includes the above, also has various DLCs not listed) for ~$19

Happy Spending!
New posts featuring the new sales will be up as the lists are updated.

Portal Free Until Sept. 20

Probably one of the best puzzle games ever, says me.

I know this is a couple of days late, but I figure I'd announce it here as well as all the other social networking sites I frequent, because, well. If you don't already own a copy of Portal, you really are missing out.

VALVe even put out a sweet YouTube video about how educators are starting to use games like Portal and the Hammer editor to learn physics, and things of that nature.

In any case, VALVe has made Portal free until September 20. Yes, all you need is a valid Steam account and you're set. Here's the place, and the pretty interesting YouTube video:

http://learnwithportals.com/

Spotlight: Upcoming Releases

I've felt ways about many different upcoming video games, but a few of them stand out as ones that I am actively trying to acquire to play. Here are just a few of them:

1. Assassin's Creed: Revelations

With the final installment of the Ezio Auditore da Firenze story arc taking place in this game, and the connections between Ezio and Altair (along with the game taking place around the old Masyaf fortress), I'm sure Revelations will bring some of the best story driven gameplay that Ubisoft brought to the table with the earlier Ezio games.

Also, that E3 trailer with Woodkid's Iron playing in the background. Incredible.

2. Red Orchestra 2 - Heroes of Stalingrad

With the game close to release, I still want to put in a word or two about the newest game by Tripwire Interactive. Their first game (and the first game in this series), Red Orchestra - Ostfront '41-45 is still one of the most widely played and popular first person shooters online. I can't say enough about how incredible this game will be. I've come to place Tripwire at about the same level as VALVe in some respects, with their ability to really listen to the community and include features that not only make gameplay challenging but also exciting. Also, every single game you guys have made (bar The Ball) has been awesome. Keep up the good work.

3. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine

Relic Entertainment is known for bringing the Warhammer 40000 universe to life, most notably through the last two Dawn of War sequences (Dawn of War, Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, Soulstorm and Dawn of War II, Chaos Rising, Retribution). Having done more than enough real time strategy games, Space Marine is an action adventure shooter much in the same vein as Gears of War. While I usually wouldn't care for a game like Gears of War, I personally enjoy the Warhammer 40k universe and always look for ways to do things within it.

Just keep Matt Ward away from it, and I'll be fine.

4. Defense of the Ancients 2

People who know me in real life would probably raise an eyebrow at this next one. I have for the most part been against DoTA and it's other MOBA spinoffs (mainly League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth) finding them to be dull, unentertaining and for the most part, unfun. Having recently seen what VALVe has done to this new version of the popular WarCraft III custom map in conjunction with the DoTA team has made me take a fresh look at this game. As of this writing, VALVe is hosting a tournament with a $1 million prize and the game is still in beta. If VALVe has the confidence to host such a tourney, then I should be a bit more open-minded and give this game another try.

5. Path of Exile

I recently got into the closed beta of this game, and I like what I'm seeing with it. Path of Exile is an Action RPG in the vein of Diablo I and II which is being developed by Grinding Gear Games. As of right now, the game has 5 different character classes, and spans across 2 different Acts. The game will launch as a free to play title and will be constantly updated with new content.

6. Saints Row The Third

For the sandbox GTA category, I have decided on Saint's Row III. Why? Well, Saint's Row is about awesome. It's a million times better than GTA and I loved Saint's Row II. That's about all I need to say about this awesome game.

7. Dead Island

In the horror genre, Dead Island stands out as a real competitor. The game takes place on a resort island that has fallen to what is basically a zombie infection. Your character must try to survive on this resort hellhole.

8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

To be clear: I'm not buying this game. I'm going to acquire it to play single player. I've put too much time into this ass backwards story (starting with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, then going full retard in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2), and I'm going to see this damn thing through. Activision can go screw itself, for all I care.

And finally:

9. Diabl- LOL JUST KIDDING

The more I look and hear about the newest installment of one of the best RPG's I've played ever, the more I want to weep. Between the art style getting shat on by that Warcraft influence that StarCraft II also suffers from, to the recent reports of Blizzard removing single player and LAN functionality, along with the money grubbing auction house bullshit that reeks of Bobby Kotick, I'm going to skip Diablo III. Granted, I'll acquire a means to play it on my own. I'm just not going to spend $60 dollars like I did with StarCraft II. Talk about buyers remorse. Instead:

9. Torchlight II

I'm buying Torchlight II. It's literally done by all the old members of Blizzard North (makers of all those classic Blizzard games that came out before World of WarCraft and it's ilk.). This essentially makes it the spiritual successor to Diablo II and Lord of Destruction. I'm also buying it as a big "FUCK YOU TOO" to Blizzard, who has really betrayed my trust as of late.

The Post-Summer Camp Sale Post or: "Holy Crap, Terraria is Fun!"

My Summer Camp Achievement Box

Now that the Steam Summer Camp Sale is over, I'm able to take a look back at all the games I've played and all the sweet freebies and other awesome games I picked up.

First off, I like this new way Valve is doing in regards with major sales. The Steam Treasure Hunt was fun as hell, and this is just a better version of that same promotion. In this case, I picked up what probably amounted in at least $25-30 in free DLC and full games, while rediscovering hidden gems and rediscovering what it means to have fun (like with Poker Night at the Inventory)

One such game is Terraria, which to me looked like a shitty 2D Minecraft clone. This was the original reason for me to pass the game by and continue to look for more entertaining venues (Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was one such entertaining venue, which I'm glad I played). Well, I had a copy of Terraria gifted to me, and, well.... it's incredible. I love just going around creating awesome shit all while dodging zombies, slimes and other incredible enemies. You think Creepers are the worst things to deal with in Minecraft, check out the motherfucking Eater of Worlds. This guy will fuck your shit. Seriously.

Anyways, here's a picture of my floating death yacht. The floors are made from hellstone bricks, which can only be mined at the very lowest levels of the World, commonly referred to as Hell.

Floating a mile or so above the ground, my battlecruiser of death will kill most visitors that have not made proper trips to Hell.

I love the soundtrack that this game uses, and it's hard not to hum along with the day and nighttime tracks as your in game day progresses.

Anyway, back to more Terraria.

First Impressions - The Über Update

Partners in Racketeering.

So, now that I've given myself some time to acquaint myself with the new major Team Fortress 2 update, entitled, The Über Update, I suppose I should write my opinion on it as a whole. This was indeed the most ambitious update for Valve as a whole, because while there was weapon packs for every class but the Pyro (who only got a small flare gun as a consolation prize) or the Engineer (who got jack shit), the real update was with the game itself. As of last week Thursday, Valve made Team Fortress 2 a free to play game, like Nexon's Vindictus or World of Tanks. All a person needs is a Steam account (which is free) and they can jump on into the class-based combat that is TF2. Of course, this means the best time to learn (or relearn) TF2 would be now, with all these new players running around, even an average player can dominate with little to no problems.


As for the actual items themselves, well... Figures Valve would go and give the easiest class to play another two weapon sets. On top of this, they give the Scout another overpowered weapon set that literally makes anyone average at Scout become Scoot, Destroyer of Everything. Meanwhile, average, fun classes like Heavy and Demo get shat upon by "competitive" whiners.

In any case, the game is still fun as hell, if one were to ignore the ramblings of it's crazed player base. Now it's free to play. Go play it.

The New Facebook Infused Steam Community

Yep, these folks are now in our Steam.

So I haven't posted much in some time, owning to the fact that I cared little for what was happening over at this year's E3 and that as a gamer I had become stuck in a rut regarding looking for new forms of entertainment. I was even thinking of writing a blog post where I play around with the new Team Fortress 2 replay editor (I'll probably still do one, since that replay editor is pretty neat.)

Now, I restart my Steam as I usually do to check for updates for my client and games, when a notice pops up stating that the Steam Community service Valve maintains now has Facebook integration. I thought this was rather neat, so I did it.

Update news for profile linkage.

Upcoming topics I'll be talking about -- the new MTG summer product, Commander (known by many MTG vets as Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH) and me playing around with the TF2 replay editor.

Portal 2 Soundtrack Released

It's here. And it's awesome.

"Bolstered by recent breakthroughs in the field of jazz smoothing, Aperture announced today the first of three downloadable aural stimulus packages." So says the Portal 2 team as VALVe released the first volume of Portal 2: Songs To Test By. The first in a three-part OST, this album comes with 22 instrumental pieces of musical excellence. As a person who has been hunting for the soundtrack back when I first heard bits of it in Portal 2's announcement trailer, I can confidently say this is one of the best soundtracks I have heard, up there with Bioshock 2's Sounds From the Lighthouse.

Anyway, pick up a free copy of the entire album on the Portal 2 music site here. The site also has sections from selected tracks that are usable as ringtones for your phone. I personally like the Science Is Fun ringtone.

World of Tanks Major Update v0.6.4 Released

World of Tanks -- Free to Play Panzer MMO

So another major update has been released for World of Tanks, including a few new premium tanks and self propelled guns, two new maps, reworking of some gun hitboxes, major reworking of the tread immoblization system, matchmaking re-balance for the Tier 9 mediums, and other nifty bugfixes and features. Here's a list of the major changes:

• Added new vehicles: premium heavy Lowe and KV-5, KV-13 and Pz38NA, tier 8 SPGs: Object 261, GW-E serie, T-92.
• Readjusted visibility parameters of all vehicles while standing still and on the move.
• Introduced detailed damage mechanics for tracks. Reworked durability of tracks and repair time for all vehicles.
• Increased match-making value for tier 9 medium tanks.
• Reworked vehicle movement system – sticking at vertical surfaces and map borders is nearly eliminated. Reduced chance of getting stuck in terrain objects.
• Changed damage mechanics for tracks. You can damage tracks if you hit the leading or the rearmost wheel of the tank. It will be much more difficult to detrack it by hitting middle part of the tank.
• Added the possibility of dismounting non-demountable equipment (Rammer, Coated Optics and other) for 10 gold.
• Added the automated ban system for teamkillers.
• Added new maps: Mountain Pass and Steppes.
• Corrected a lot of mistakes connected with objects’ disposition, passing ability, getting stuck on most of the maps.
• Fixed a lot of rendering errors, increased the efficiency of advanced dynamic shadows.

Not convinced? Have a screenshot of the new Pz38NA:

Looks pretty awesome, right?

Check out World of Tanks here, download/update your clients here, and check out the patch notes here.

Modern Warfare 3 Plot Mostly Leaked

Yep, another one.

So I read on Kotaku recently that they had for the most part received an overview of the new Call of Duty game scheduled for release this November. It's a continuation of the shenanigans started way back in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and continued in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Some interesting spoilers include the destruction of the USS Intrepid during the Russian invasion of New York City, and huge terrorist attacks launching all across the globe, sponsored by Makarov and the Russian Ultranationalists.

Well, good to see Activision totally going "Well, this story is absolutely ridiculous, so lets just go overboard with this!" with this third installment in the surprisingly popular franchise.

In other news, I still miss United Offensive. It's still the best CoD.

Adventures in Plants vs. Zombies

My "Zombatar".

So recently Steam put out a -66% sale on the popular Plants vs. Zombies as their "Midweek Madness" promotional. Being a person that wouldn't usually purchase or play this particular game, I figured that the low low price of  $2.50 (and the Genuine TF2 hats that came with this Midweek Madness) was reasonable enough for me. So, I put a five dollar bill in my Steam Wallet and purchased the game.

PvZ is one of those "defense" styled games in which the player is given control of a portion of land and told to defend it using a variety of static defenses. In this case, a horde of Zombies have surrounded your house and you must use your collection of house plants and lawnmowers to survive.

I can see why my brother had fallen in love with the game a couple of years ago, the controls and interface is simple and the gameplay is addicting. It's a good time waster when a person is bored and needs something to pass the time. I'll probably play more of it over the summer break.

PSN Network Taken Down, Pirates Blamed

Failure? You Decide!

Guys, guys. I think Sony is mad.

Just putting that out there. Y'know, since they've completely failed with the PS3-related DRM/anti copy protection earlier in the year (root keys found in firmware) and now this.

Seriously, Sony. The PS2 was awesome. Now you just herp and derp all over yourself with this.

Stop that. Stop being bad.

Easter Madness

With Easter only being tomorrow, some online games have put out their Easter promotional events. Here are a couple:

World of Tanks -- Free to Play Panzer MMO

The fine folks at World of Tanks have a small Easter related event in which players will look for Easter eggs and report them in for a chance at 2500 in-game gold, usually used on timed premium accounts or on premium tanks. It's a one day only event, so players will have to act fact to be one of the winners of the large amount of gold.

Vinderptus, more like. LOLOLOLOL

Nexon's Vindictus has an Easter event, entitled "The Colossal Ovum Crusade" lasting from April 20 thru the 26th. It looks like defeating battle quest bosses will drop eggs that can be turned in for prizes gifted by Nexon.

Tomorrow's looking to be pretty good for players of both games.

Portal 2

The wily GLaDOS is at it again.

What better way to start this blog off than to talk briefly about the newest in Valve's distinguished collection of games, Portal 2.

This game is incredible. From the incredible cinematic opening sequence of the game (which blew me away) all throughout the entirety of the various test chambers, there was never a real dull moment for the player. The puzzles were elegantly simple, yet just challenging enough to last most of the 8-10 hours an average play through would take. The animation suggests almost Pixar level detail in everything, and comes a long way from the animation detail of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and the Orange Box (which I felt was very impressive for its time).

The characters were unforgettable, witty, and charming. I always find myself quoting GLaDOS or Cave Johnson (We're done here.) in my conversations with people, which may make me seem like a douchebag or a very crazy Potato lover. The plot is engaging and clever, and the ARG that surrounded its release had me on the edge of my seat.

In any case, this is definitely a game that should not be left unplayed.

Portal 2 is available on Steam (PC/Mac), PS3, and the XBox 360.

Grand Opening

Welcome.

I've been thinking. What have I been thinking? I've been thinking of things. Gaming things. Of MTG decklists, of new video games, of the new Matt Ward codex, of all sorts of strange, awesome things.

This blog will attempt to collect my thoughts on the many subjects of gaming. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as I will be writing it.