OT: DoTA2 World Championships - ESPN3 - North America vs China in semi finals

Submitted by Michael From TC on
USA based team Evil Geniuses (EG) is only non-Chinese team left in the tourney 10 million dollar payout to winners. I figure some of you may play e-sports and be interested in this. Watchespn.com for live stream or Dota.com if your ESPN stream won't work. Or http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/The_International/2014/Americas_Qualif… for updated results Go USA! #beatchina

Smidgens

July 20th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^

Valve (company known for popular games like Portal, CS, Half Life) holds an annual tournament for their game Dota 2, called The International. The prize pool this year is over 10 million dollars, making it one of the highest prize pools for any tournament in any sport. Higher than Masters and most tennis tournaments I think.

 

Dota 2 is a strategic 5v5 game, lot of teamwork, communication, reflexes, and tactics involved.

 

The game going on right now is a Best of 3 match between Evil Geniuses, a US team, and VG, a Chinese team. The winner goes to the Grand Finals to meet Newbee, a Chinese team. So this is the US's last hope, the other teams lost earlier in the tournament. Winner of the grand finals gets $5 million.

 

ESPN3 is streaming the tournament, and ESPN2 will have a preview of the Grand Finals tonight.

MichiganTeacher

July 20th, 2014 at 6:43 PM ^

I wish I could get into MOBAs. Maybe if I didn't have young kids. But even then, something about the genre doesn't seem to click for me. Wouldn't mind seeing a return to ascendance for RTSs. I think Starcraft et al's increasing emphasis on micro has hurt them in the long run.

Mustachioed Ge…

July 21st, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^

I've played LoL extensively and just started getting into DotA and all I have to say is I don't think one is better than the other because the games are similar but different enough to keep them separate. Dota is way more in-depth, way more tactical, and was more nuanced.

I consider DotA the hobbyists MOBA. LoL is none of those things, aside from tactical, but even LoL tactics pale to DotA's. LoL : Dota 2 :: Hearthstone : Magic the Gathering.

Dawggoblue

July 21st, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^

The Old School Dotas on TFT were great.  1/10th the items and probably 1/10th the heroes.  These days its just so much to learn and study.  So many key bindings and so many counters to learn.  It's like a poor man's WOW. 

 

Old School DOTA was beautiful because it was a simple quick game that you could teach to any gamer in a matter of minutes and enjoy.  Now its all builds and team comp that matters. 

 

I know that games have to evolve to stay relevant or people get burned out and stop playing.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

CLord

July 21st, 2014 at 2:07 AM ^

Meet the future.  Ever since I played Everquest in '99 I knew I'd be looking at the future of competition.  Our "real" sports won't be going away soon, but the fact that these online games are far more accessible to the world (no need to leave the house to play), and that they just keep getting so much better leaves little doubt this is where the future lies.

I remember the line in The Matrix where Joey Pants said something like "If it's between this hell-hole you call reality, and the Matrix, I'll choose the Matrix."  Foreboding.  There are already thousands of people, especially in South Korea and China who spend the better part of their lives plugged into games like DOTA and World of Warcraft, and as life just gets harder and harder, and as virtual experiences get better and better, I can't help but think this artificial life will be the fate of many future generations.

But honestly, if you have kids, do everything in your power to keep them away from massive multi-player online games.  They are insanely addicitive and engrossing, and in many cases, more satisfying than reality because they are more black and white with winning/losing as opposed to the greyness that is our day-to-day reality.  If they'd been around when I was in middle-school and/or high school, I highly doubt I'd have this Michigan degree.

Hannibal.

July 21st, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^

This is an interesting experiment.  I don't think that e-sports has much of a future as a spectator sport, but we'll see.  I don't think that video games need to be popular as spectator sports to thrive, for what it's worth. 

CLord

July 21st, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^

You're very wrong.  It's no different than any other activity where most people can appreciate it to some degree because they've tried.  Even most girls at a b ball or football game have thrown the ball around or shot some hoop.  The fans are mainly comprised of the tens of thousands of other players who can appreciate the play they see at a high level, and learn from the best.

Hannibal.

July 21st, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^

Video games are somewhat different.  There are more barriers to enjoying watching somebody play it.  Games are highly specialized.  Every genre is like a different sport.  There's not enough shared experience there for any one game.  There's also just the issue of it being really difficult, if not impossible, to follow the action when it's a 16 player death match or an RTS, where the action could be happening in a huge number of places.  I think that is the bigger barrier.  It would be like having to watch every player in a golf tournament play their ball simultaneously.  G4 had a show called "Arena" about 10 years ago and it didn't make for compelling viewing, largely for these reasons IMHO. 

DOTA 2 sounds like it is in a genre that would make a really poor TV viewing experience.  It might make for decent viewing if the viewer can control the camera.  The fighting and sports genres might be okay, but there have been tournaments for these sports for years, if not decades, and I don't sense much demand for TV coverage.