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OK, so I told Lone I wasn’t going to write about this, but after watching the Starcraft II WCS Europe Round of 16, Group A competition today, I had to share, because the series between HasuObs and Grubby was FRAKKING GORGEOUS. Easily my favorite series of the day, the competition was so intense that it ran nearly double what a standard matchup would have, even going so far as to push back the start of the WCS America broadcast later in the day. Each of these matches is a constant back and forth between two absolute masters bringing everything they had to bear.
The final game of the day between Grubby and MvP, which starts at 28:10, was also incredible, though far shorter. Grubby lost the first game of the series, and often seemed to be right on the verge of losing to MvP’s incredibly aggressive style, but managed to overcome and pull off the wins needed to advance to the round of eight. It’s worth it to stick around to the end to see Grubby’s reaction to his win.
The day ended with German underdog HasuObs taking down former WCS EU champion, and favorite to win, MvP to win the day. MvP then fell in the lower bracket to The Netherlands’ Grubby. Both Grubby and HasuObs will move on to compete with the other winners of the round of 16 groups to play in the days to come.
This day of competition sums up so much of why I love eSports. If this is what it’s like at the round of 16, I can only imagine what the subsequent rounds will be like. The skill and passion displayed by the competitors today was so much fun to watch, and it’s games and players like these that are why eSports will continue to grow.
For someone who never heard it before a month ago, I seem to be using the word “voxel” with alarming frequency lately.
Everquest Next‘s Director of Development, David Georgeson, has put out word that the next episode in the Everquest saga will have a world completely composed of voxels, and thus, will be completely destructible. According to Georgeson “We can blow up anything at anytime, anywhere.” Both players and monsters will be able to reshape hills, dig valleys, and even knock down city walls all over Norrath. There will even be secret underground caverns that players will have to deliberately dig to find.
This news comes alongside the announcement that, this winter, it will release it’s world building tool, Everquest Next Landmark, for free. This will allow players to build their own dungeons, castles, and whatever else they can come up with in a persistent world inhabited by thousands of fellow players. Each player will be guaranteed a plot of land that no one else can build or destroy on without the owner’s express permission, while any unclaimed land will be a free for all for players to build on. Some of these creations may even be selected to be included in the final version of Everquest Next.
For those of you playing “Bingo, Put Voxels In It Edition” along with me, that adds Fantasy MMO World to Sandbox World (Minecraft), 2D World (Terraria), Zombie Infested World (7 Days To Die), Multiple Worlds In Space (Starmade), and Slightly Less Boxy Sandbox World (Cube World). Please mark your cards accordingly.
Following this summer’s Steam release of Fist Puncher, Team2Bit has delivered the retro-styled brawler to the console via the Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) channel. (Or Here)
“People think we’re backwards porting a Steam game to XBLIG,” says studio co-founder Jake Lewandowski. “But despite the Xbox One controversy and the questions on where Microsoft will stand with indies in the next gen, they are the ones that truly democratized videogame consoles with XBLIG and XNA.”
“We hope Microsoft recognizes their position as a leader and follows up with another indie-friendly console. As much maligned as the indie channel is, it still stands for something important. True, some of the shittiest games ever made are up there, but that’s what makes finding the hidden gems so much more magical,” adds Matt Lewandowski.
The XBLIG port boasts the same wealth of content that earned Fist Puncher the title of the ‘world’s largest brawler’, including 50 levels, 15 playable characters, an extensive RPG and leveling system and 4 player local coop. It will retail for 400 MSP, or $5.
While the PC version of Fist Puncher was published by Adult Swim Games, the Xbox version is not. “Adult Swim is an ideal partner for small studios, they’re redefining what it means to be a publisher in the era of the indies. While they did provide enormous help prepping Fist Puncher for Steam, they also allowed us the freedom to self-publish on other platforms,” Lewandowski says.
