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I agree strongly with this sentiment. I don't even hate IPAs (although I prefer pale ales), but their ubiquity is tiresome.

Oh I see, yeah, that makes sense.

Moonmeander and Fly are both from complexity. Looking forward to seeing how Miracle performs in the pro scene.

God it would be great to play a non-stupid Far Cry game again.

This game left me feeling cold when I played it (though like the panel, I never dipped into the multiplayer game, although I don't know anyone else that has the game, and I'm not sure playing strangers would feel any more satisfying). I think Rob's Sideshow Bob in a field of rakes analogy was apt. Randomness in games is great if it generates exciting, tense, and/or memorable moments, but the randomness in this game does none of those things really.

Yeah, gross that is really tacky.

LGD's current lineup looks to me like they should still be a top tier team in upcoming tournaments. New roster: Sylar Maybe rOtk ddc MMY!

It's obviously early days for Rocket League as an e-sport so it is definitely too early to say how it will turn out. However I can appreciate a good Slatepitch, so I'll try my hand at going up to bat for Andrew's skepticism. The vaunted approachable presentation of Rocket League that so many people have cited as a reason Rocket League should be a successful e-sport might in fact be the reason it will never take off as one. Having a high skill ceiling in a game isn't sufficient for an e-sport to become popular, you also need an audience that appreciates the high level play. By targeting a demographic of players that is looking for something more approachable than your standard competitive multiplayer game, Rocket League has filled its servers with a reliable amount of people having fun playing their game, but has not filled them with the sort of players that will obsess over trying to organize the most efficient plays possible. Instead the game has more of a friendly couch co-op type vibe. These are not the sort of players that you can count on to reliably tune in to watch competitive matches between the best players. As such, for all the excitement the matches generate, Rocket League won't really take off. Okay, having dispensed with that exercise in sophistry, I will say that the grand finals between Cosmic Aftershock and Kings of Urban was so much fun to watch, and I am excited about checking out future tournaments.

Interesting developments with roster shuffles. After Aui got kicked from Evil Geniuses he went on to form a new team that was announced today, and includes SUMAIL'S BROTHER (who is also apparently some sort of DOTA prodigy?)!!! If he was a secret evil twin you'd have a solid premise for an e-sports soap opera. This is so great.

Another MLG tournament going on http://tv.majorleaguegaming.com/channel/esr

If I am remembering correctly Burning went to VG so they should still be strong. I'm still looking forward to watching CDEC. We'll have to see how the other teams shake out but if LGD remains intact they should still be a team to be reckoned with.

Thankfully I didn't see any booth babes at TI5. But yeah, the space for women in the pro-DOTA scene is still abysmal. I still like Puppey a lot, but I dunno, maybe I root for Alliance or some other team this year?

Misery was in C9. Don't know when that incident happened though.

My understanding is that the tournament was just him and a bunch of his friends, and there was no money involved. Maybe not the best judgment call, but not really anything to care about either. But I don't know, I am super bummed about this lineup. I was really hoping for the 8k MMR Jordanian pubstar Miracle to join the team. But this lineup seems like it is gonna be a train wreck.

Watching Blitz stream on MLG at the moment. He's in a stack with Cap, Aui, and Charlie. It's pretty hilarious. They're all randoming. First game Blitz randomed Storm Spirit. This game Aui is complaining about Techies. The memes are good.

Yeah my introduction to DOTA was the same. Watching the International, not really understanding what was going on even if I understood the object of the game, and developing a desire to learn about it. Accessibility is great, but it isn't appropriate to have that be the most important feature of every game. A plurality of complexity in games is great. Association football is a much more accessible game to get into than American football. That doesn't make one game superior to the other, it provides different kinds of games to different audiences. That's awesome.

I liked Chris Thursten's article about DOTA this week where he is talking about how esoteric the draft phase is, and yet why it is so exciting for fans of the game. http://www.pcgamer.com/in-praise-of-the-secret-language-of-dota-2s-drafting-phase/ I think this is the essential counter-point to Nick's argument in a recent Idle Thumbs cast where he argued that e-sports are being held back by how comprehensible they are to someone not familiar with the game (I also think he was probably underestimating how much esoteric knowledge is embedded into traditional sports that most of us take for granted just because of their ubiquity). Sure, it is definitely baffling to the outsider, but curiosity is a powerful force, and the satisfaction from understanding a lot of these things is pretty powerful too.

Yeah, the ambush at the inn might be the most frantic and exciting moment I've experienced in a game. That was immediately what I thought of when I saw this thread. Robert Yang wrote a great blog post on why the level "Assassins" in the original Thief is an amazing video game level: http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2012/07/thief-1s-assassins-and-environmental.html

I need to check this out!

They look great!

Puppey actually did an interview where he laid out the deal they have with the Turkish businessman. Basically he's a guy in his 40s that sees a lot of promise in e-sports, but didn't have any connections. So he helped subsidize Team Secret in exchange for access to important people in the scene so he can network. He's not an owner in any way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErgT2AVjWpQ

Clint Hocking has left Amazon. www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/08/18/clint-hocking-has-left-amazon-game-studios/

Looks like Pajkatt has been dropped from Alliance. This news causes me a bunch of trepidation since there is a lot of speculation that S4 might return to Alliance, but I'd like him to stick around with Secret and continue to play with Puppey.

Yeah I certainly don't have any special insight into whether it makes more sense to prioritize social cohesion (or, to use the buzz word that appeared in a lot of those soft focus bios they ran during TI, "unity") over competency at the game. I guess the correct, and boring, answer is "it depends". Thanks for the recommendation, I'll be sure to check it out. I love a good sports doc!

Aww man, thanks for the cheat sheet, that is really amazing you guys! Regarding the EG transfer stuff. I think DOTA teams are in this kind of interesting place where they are functionally a bit like a cross between a sports team and a rock band. And so roster shuffles often turn into these emotionally charged events as people often develop affinities for particular players over the teams themselves. I think Andrew is right that it is probably a good thing for these teams to be much more cold and calculating about their rosters. The interesting thing though is that PPD made a blog post today stating his decision making, and it looks to me at least like the exact opposite of that. Aui's performance for EG was admittedly excellent, but when it comes down to it there were certain personality traits PPD didn't like about Aui, and Fear and RTZ were great buds, so they made the decision based on social standings. I also find it slightly ironic that they decided RTZ was easier to get along with since he's been known to rage kinda hard during losses. I can definitely potentially see this lineup of EG looking really strong until they hit their first unexpected loss at a major LAN event, and then falling apart in spectacular fashion (in the style of Brazil at any recent World Cup). Whatever else you feel about it, it will definitely be interesting to watch!