Dota 2

Super fun addition to dota2, I am digging the Warchasers mod at the moment.

This is something I still need to check out, but sounds awesome.

I thought this was a very interesting documentary. Really makes me want to quit my job and just play video games all day though lol.

Yeah, but I have too much ego to let a 20-something year old tell me that I'm "too old."

This film has been in the works for more then 3 years. Been waiting forever. First it was after TI1. Then ut was going to be after TI2. Then around TI3. Haha. Finally

Oh man, I love dota stats...look at the SB hahaha...BITCH. Also, the popularity change for Brood haha, so funny. Not surprising the win rate hasn't gone up terribly much yet. Still too new on changes and people don't know how to play her yet.

You are entitled to a few free drops like any other game. Then you have to spend if you want more. Or purchase a "booster pack" like every other game on steam after you get your initial drops

There were many awesome games. Very worth watching if at all interested in esports.
this is the event that changes the meta of public DOTA games for the rest of the year.

Teams really step up their games. And pull out all their tricks. I guess 2.5 million bucks worth of prizes is a big deal.

DOTA might have been in beta. But it is more stable than most other competitive games. I dont think it had anything to do with the quality of the game. Or bugs. I think it was a marketing decision.

It's still available to be viewed AFAIK (easily on youtube). And I've been watching dota2 or MTG tournaments/matches at work for the last couple months. Both are fun to watch and both have good broadcasters.

So, as a semi professional video games podcaster, I don't actually keep up with much in the way of news about new games/new shit. What advantages does the Steam Box have over, say, a computer?

I am a bigger fan of gaming in my computer space but I supposed it'd be nice to have the option for Isaac: Rebirth.

I've been couching for Demon's Souls and it's not bad but I like being closer to the screen, like I am with the PC. Also, ease of alt-tabbing and looking up shit.

I need one if you don't mind steam Id is amorales2005

This game is my obsession...I also have a bunch of invites.

Funny...8 months ago this game was my obsession....today, even more so lol. I played 6 games between Tuesday/Wednesday night and I just want to go home now and play allllll day.

Yeah, I can do that. I tried getting Tim into it...but unfortunately the game we played he got steam rolled and it understandably burnt him. I've always been into competitive PVP style games though. From FPS, to MMO, to RTS, and MOBA (Multiplayer online battle arena).

This game is definitely not good to new players, but everyone starts somewhere/sometime. I actually started playing dota2 by myself (I had played dota 1 quite a bit) and frankly, it's rare to ever see another player again. That maybe adds to the bashing you may get because players are so anonymous, but it also made me feel comfortable learning and being a noob too. I would give a disclaimer that I'm pretty new. I just took any hateful comments and shrugged them off, I didn't care, I told them I'm learning and often times if you are playing by yourself new, the other players are either new too or on re-rolled smurf accounts. Either way, no one will seriously hold it against you and you won't see those players again. It gave me a blanket of not caring what they thought of me.

Now when you group up, you get equalized a bit in the matchmaking. I've played with a new guy and we got matched against new guys that I then just stomped...and it was nice for him to be able to learn w/o the pressure of needing him to make good plays lol. But other times we've been pushed up closer to my skill range and then he gets creamed and as a team we get creamed because he "fed" the enemy and they got powerful.

Bots and solo que are a pretty decent way to learn. There's a tutorial now too, but I haven't gone through it. There's also tons of websites dedicated to giving useful info. Another super useful thing now is being able to load a hero build. So I use these all the time when I play heroes I don't have my own strategies with, you just open the menu and look at some popular builds (skill and item builds) and then as you level it'll highlight the skill you should learn next (and they often put in some text to give you tips on using those abilities) and same with items. They'll be prioritized as starting equipment, core items, situational items. That's real handy to save time trying to read everything and pick the best option while also trying to play the game.

The most important thing to learn is to not die. Play conservative if you have to, but dying is the worst. It obviously happens, but each death gives the opponent heroes more xp and more gold to increase their advantage over you and your allies.

Well...I report players for being A-holes and so do other people. Then a week later I get a notification that they've taken action against one or more players I reported for bad conduct.

Also, to add to the whole "anonymous" thing. I go to dotabuff.com to see better stats and I played a game last night and I was checking stats on the site today. Not everyone's name shows up on this 3rd party website because you have to enable it, but some of my opponents had it enabled. With someone's name/profile I can click on them and and it will show me their stats but also show me how many games I've ever played with this person.

And this is how I can say you rarely see the same person twice. Only twice so far have I seen more than 1 match with someone (I haven't clicked on everyone I've played with obviously). This guy, I played 2 matches with, one last night, other one 8 months ago lol.

I just went back 51 games played, which put me to August 28. I clicked on everyone that wasn't private profile and blocking 3rd party apps. Probably average of 3 people to look at each game. That's 153 profiles I checked. There was 5 people I've played 2 games with. Everyone else, only 1. And FYI, my total matches played is 712. So, it's not like in some games where you may have a reputation and have like a persona or presence in the game....you really are 1 little drop of water in a huge pool.