League of Legends vs. Dota 2
I'm going to kick this off right now with League of Legends vs. Dota 2. Now if you follow at least one of these games, you probably heard the news/controversy involving GamesIndustry. Basically, what happened was GamesIndustry posted that Dota 2 had surpassed League of Legends as most "core" PC title... in the west.
"GamesIndustry reports that Valve’s Dota 2 is the most played “core” PC title according to the DFC Intelligence report; the report combines data from multiple sources through its PC game Meter service, which includes real-time stats from Xfire’s 23 million users. The top three most played games were Dota 2, league of Legends and in third place World of Warcraft, although the free-to-play MOBA’s numbers far surpassed that of Blizzard’s subscription based MMO."
As you would expect Riot, along with the League of Legends' players and fans, exploded and for good reason. There was no way that Dota 2, a game still technically in beta, could be beating League of Legends in most played game. I don't even play these two games and I cried "B.S." after reading it. Well, as was expected, this wasn't entirely true. We're not entirely certain what part of Xfire GamesIndustry was looking at, but the list shows League of Legends in first and Dota 2 down in sixth.
GamesIndustry than retracted their original statement and analyst David Cole responded with:
“We have this service that tracks usage of PC games. League of Legends is always on top by a huge margin, an order of magnitude. The only time anything came close was the launch of Diablo III, but just for a short time. Dota 2 showed a huge bump in usage; first product to do that well in a long time,”
“The thing is globally [League of Legends] is still much bigger because we don’t track Asia and many of the small markets they have penetrated. Our tracking is only key Western markets. China alone counts for way more usage of [League of Legends] than the rest of the world, so that is the major footnote we have been telling everyone,” he added. “The main news to me was that Dota 2 has been a huge success.”
What do you think? Do you feel that at one point Dota 2 will be pass League of Legends as most played "core" PC title? My only question is, "when is it coming out of beta!?!?!?!" However, I choose to not discuss that today because I will fill this post with angry rants and there's a better time and place for that.
Camelot Unchained
There's been a flood of "new" game ideas that have been getting their funding from kickstarter. Among those games is Mark Jacobs: Camelot Unchained. What makes this game special when compared to other MMO's? Camelot Unchained will have no PVE content. This includes no PVE levelling or loot drops. Basically, it's considered to be an RVR or Realm versus Realm. Players will have to craft the world, building camps and cities, sharing resources with their competition. Here's a big question, Subscription or free-to-play?? This surprised me, it will be subscription based. Basically, they're saying that they are looking for a certain type of player and having a sub will give these specific players the type of game they are wanting. But, with so many sub based games failing and having to adopt a free-to-play system I would personally be a bit worried to bring a game I've been working on and attach a subscription to it. In a recent interview, Mark Jacobs said:
"We don't need one million subs to make money," he said. "If we get 50K paying subscribers a month it will justify the $5 million development budget."
Is Camelot Unchained a title that interests you at all?? I love the idea of having to build my world up right from the start; however, I'm not much of a PVP gamer and definitely would not pay a subscription for it. Therefore, I am not that "certain type of player" they are looking for... the system works. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
Violence & Video Games
This topic seems to never want to rest... It has come up again, this time by California Senator, Dianne Feinstein. She stated:
"I think the really violent video game becomes a kind of simulator to practise on. And it enables the individual to become much more familiar with that depiction of death and blood."
Really!?!?!?! Here's a thought, how about doing a little research into it?? <Gasp> I know, its a crazy concept!! If the only information you are going off of is that the Sandy Hook shooter played violent video games, than I'm going to respond back with "parents who have weapons in their houses breed killers." Hmmmm.... sounds just as ridiculous, doesn't it?? What do you guys think, debate it out in the comments below.
But, wait I'm not done yet. She later goes on to say that violent video games play a very negative role in young people and if video game companies continue to make these violent games congress may intervene. All right, while I do see her point (to a small degree), I feel I need to bring up game ratings. A game has a rating for a reason. I don't know what it's like in all stores, but if you try and purchase a game here at our store and you don't meet that rating, they won't sell you the game. In order for these under-aged kids to get their hands on these games, their parents have to buy them. Who are you to decide what a parent feels is OK for their kids?? I have a five year old... do I let him play violent shooting games? No!! Will he get to at one point?? Guess what!! I will decide that when the time comes, not you.
Betas
Let's simmer down on the anger for a second and chat about betas. Elder Scrolls Online released a bunch more beta invites. If you happened to sign up for beta, check your email, you may be among the lucky few.... that does not include myself <sigh>.
Neverwinter has gone into another beta weekend, starting today. They have released a new class, Great Weapon Fighter and are introducing their crafting system. If you are in the closed beta, definitely go give that a try. If you are among the unlucky few who have not received a beta invite, do not worry!! Open beta is set to begin April 30th.
Wildstar's first closed beta has begun (the previous betas were for press only). You can still sign up here. I did not get in, but I've been scanning my email every day with my fingers crossed.
Which of these games appeals the most to you?? Any other games you've been waiting patiently (or impatiently) for??
Eve News Can Be The Best News EVER
I seriously love Eve news. While everything so far has been about the games in general, Eve news tends to be random crap that happens in the game. Like this story, for instance. April 10th, the CEO of Space Monkey's Alliance, aka Alisonia, robbed from his own people. What did he get: Approximately 400 Billion ISK. In a letter, Alisonia wrote:
I was spending needless hours on something that was pointing SMA into the direction of NOWHERE [so...] Tonight I stole about 220B+ worth of assets, this on top of what I had already taken. The total comes to around 440B in assets.
...after about a year and a half this idea came to me to steal as much in assets as I could. At first I only stole small amounts of assets to test the waters. Eventually leading to stealing Tech, capital ships and more. If I had to guess 200Bish since I started. I want to go through my logs and figure it maybe more. I mean why steal it in a bulk (one-time) when you can milk the cow.
Space Monkey's Alliance released a statement about the theft:
Spacemonkey's Alliance [SMA] is confirming today that one of it's Alliance Directors and a real-life friend of the brothers that run SMA executed a plan to rip off the alliance. Alisonia spent more than a year growing SMA and, for all appearances, executed a long planned theft.
A few months ago he was promoted to Director for his service providing not only IT but in-game help without ever asking for compensation or a position. This was a betrayal of trust, not of data or pixels. We have been told that he will be quitting EVE and that he "wanted to go out with a bang."
As of today, the amount stolen has gone up to approximately 600 billion ISK. You can correct me if I'm wrong, I don't play EVE, so I'm just going off of what other people are saying. 600 Billion ISK is approximately 22, 253.70 USD. So... now that he's quit playing the game, all that money is just sitting there untouched. It's just amazing, I love reading about this game!!
Well... that's it for me. As always thank you for reading. If you want to stay updated on the random things I do, you can follow me on twitter: @akadarcee, send me a like on facebook, and subscribe to me on twitch. If you have anything you want me to cover or add in, feel free to let me know. I have a super, amazing, and awesome new project I'm working on, so I will definitely be keeping you posted about that. Catch you all later.
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