August 2012

August was such a hectic month; because of Gamescom I covered a bit more than my usual load for MWEB GameZone, I finally got around to cover eSports for Bravado Gaming and then we hosted the next 16Bit Team Fortress 2 competition. I totally got this journo thing down after Aug ;)

Herewith my article highlights for August

Review: A lesson in empathy from The Walking Dead

The game explores the most fundamental and simplest of human needs; the need to survive. Every confrontation, every decision and every interaction seeks to strip the player of the layers of morality that coats the mind with decency.  It hits you right in the gut with, “How far are you willing to go to live?" The Walking Dead takes the question of survival and escalates it to the point of complete insanity. Now, here is the catch. The game also succeeds in justifying the most outrageous and despicable of deeds in the name of living. It does this by eliciting empathy for the various characters you meet throughout the game. Read the rest of the article here.

An invitation to explore with thechineseroom

I invite you to take a journey with me through the creations of thechineseroom, an Indie studio whose games are changing the electronic playground. They looked into the hearts of gamers and correctly saw an ache for games that are able to tell deeply immersive stories. Dear Esther will leave you with an impression of profound beauty and wonder. Amnesia seems to be a celebration of terror and madness and with Everybody's Gone to the Rapture gamers can expect a game environment that is beautifully drawn, music that cloaks the player in the atmosphere of the game, and a journey that tears at the heart. Read the full article here.

Review: Get feared for free with Slender

Terrifying, nauseatingly fearful, diabolical, erratic, shat in my pants.This free-to-play Indie horror game from Parsec Productions had me in a grip of icy terror. The thickness of the fog, the dreadful noise and the ever present suggestion of his presence all becomes too much. It’s such a sudden bombardment of horror on your visual and hearing senses that you totally overload on fear. It felt like I was physically being cloaked with evil, and I screamed like a little girl. Read the full tale of my night of dread in the foggy woods of Slender Man’s virtual nightmare here. 

My Indie pick for the month: A horror filled space exploration with Rescue

I found this promising new game from Indie studio, Lunar Software. Routine is a first-person horror exploration game set in space, and it has me in a vice grip of fearful anticipation. Where AAA titles have ceased to impress me, Indie games seem to continue to blow my mind away with its ability to tell compelling stories, create immersive atmospheres and to well, just, be a breath of fresh air in the over saturated, stale playground of video gaming. The glimpse we see of the dreadful world of Routine hints at a game that will be on par with mainstream games on graphics and with a soundtrack that cloaks the player in absolute terror. Read full article here.

Understanding the deeply layered world of Beyond Two Souls

I am fascinated by Cage. What he aims to achieve through the medium of video games are both exceptional and immensely intriguing. To therefor understand Beyond, I propose we take a look at it through the eyes of its Maker. Beyond focuses on two themes; accepting who you are, and the question of what happens after death. The emotional quandary of finding meaning in death and the struggle of self-acceptance are two issues that we all face at some point in our lives. For a game to be able to reflect the inner conflict those two questions can cause, are absolutely fascinating. Cage understands the fundamental ability video games have to engage its users in a way unlike watching a movie or listening to a story is able to do. Read full article here.

The truth about the 3rd degree Mind Sports South Africa received

I've waited years to write this article. The way Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) and its president, Mr Colin Webster, have been treated by the majority of the South African (SA) gaming community, is something that has marred our image as a mature and respected sub culture within society. I took the most serious allegations from the do Gaming comments (Dec 2008-current) and posed them as statements for SA leaders that has actually walked the line with MSSA. Read the full article here.

Noteworthy news articles & interviews

Check out Living the game, Cape Town gears up for its own gaming festival, A look at the authentic war universe of Medal of Honor, Achieve moral excellence with Ultima Forever, Reinventing death with Dishonored, Capcom introduces memory bending with new game: Remember Me, le Broken Sword reappers, The argument for eSports.

Many thanks to all the readers for your input and support. I'm excited to discover what September has in store for us.

May 2012

Much to my surprise I won writer of the month for April with Bravado Gaming. The month of May almost completely consists of e-Sports coverage. I have to admit that having to produce articles on just this one aspect of gaming is not shaping my writing in the way I would prefer. I will have to deliberatly push myself to cover the aspects of gaming that I am actually passionate about.

Here's a snapshot of my writing for May.

Education meets gaming

Ben Bertoli is a 6th grade teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana. His passion for gaming and teaching led to the creation of ClassRealm, a teaching method that relies on gamification to motivate learning. Children are shaped by the world around them. With ClassRealm, Bertoli has invented a teaching method that promotes intrinsic motivation (motivation that comes from within) by extrinsic motivation (motivation that is influenced by external factors, in this case, gamification). He pulled this off by drawing from his passion for gaming. He is an example of someone that desired a change and then he made it happen. Read all about this extraordinary young man and his adventures here.

Bird's eye view on e-Sports SA: LAN's

The LAN scene is like a “gamers-brawl”. We hook up to hang out with buddies, do some bonding and share e -love, but most of all we have fun and jam to our hearts content. There is a lot of potential in LAN’s to incorporate other aspects that can link to gaming, for example, OC that bring us Cosplay and other fun events. Organisers with rich imaginations and mind-sets that aren’t afraid to try new ventures head up the LAN’s. Read the rest of this article here.

ROCCAT and Bravado: Innovation & skill unleashed

ROCCAT is to gaming like Quicksilver is to surfing. Having gaming skill merge with optimized, top of the range gear is any gamers dream. The ROCCAT products aren’t good pc peripherals; they are products specifically designed to enable gamers to showcase their skills to the max. Your rig becomes an extension of your skills. Read more about the partnership between ROCCAT and Bravado Gaming here.

Bird's eye view on e-Sports SA: The rest

SA has a few small organisations that provide competitive play for specific games. The people who run these sites are fuelled by passion and a dedication to see their game of choice excel. The effort they put into the service they provide for their respective communities can only be labelled as a ‘labour of love’. We owe them much respect and gratitude. Here are a few words from them on why they’ve chosen to provide a platform for the specific game that they host competitions for.

Lastly we have the organisations, websites and individuals that provide other services to e-Sports in SA. They cover news, provide servers for competitions to run on or just a place where gamers can feel at home. Without their input, advice and passion for gaming, we would find our virtual worlds to be lacking. Here are a few words from them on what service they provide to make your gaming experience run smoothly.

The 3 musketeers of Bravado Gaming

We have a lot of very talented gamers in South Africa and a lot of people who are passionate about developing e-Sports, but just a handful of people who will stick together for however long it takes to see that dream realize.  Andreas ‘Cent’ Hadjipaschali, Dimitri ‘Detrony’ Hadjipaschali and Andrew ‘chaylek’ Cowley is the driving force behind Bravado Gaming – the most prestigious Multi Gaming Organization in South Africa. Join me for a peek into the minds and hearts of these three comrades in arms.

A driving force behind SA gaming

If I would ask our gamers if the name Lauren das Neves rings a bell most would probably say no. If I would, however, ask them if rAge and NAG do then almost everyone would give a definite “Yes!”  She is one of the puppet masters behind the biggest gaming event as well as the most successful gaming magazine in South Africa (SA). Join me for a first time exclusive interview with the woman who has been a driving force behind some of the key elements that have made gaming in South Africa what it is today.

This concludes May. A big thanks to all the people who took time of their busy schedules to do an interview with me. A special mention has to go to Ben B from ClassRealm because of the work he does in education. Please visit his website and spread the word about ClassRealm.

April 2012

The highlight of April was that I started writing for Bravado Gaming, covering the e-Sports section. I have only been part of the very secluded Team Fortress competitive community, but as always, I cannot resist a challenge. Working with Bravado also meant that for the first time since I've started writing I had to meet deadlines and produce a certain amount of articles per month. This excited and frightened me at the same time. I also covered my beloved TF2 a bit and wrote an opinion piece. Let's have a closer look.

A birds eye view on e-Sports SA: Multi Gaming Organisations

Being involved in the management side of competitive gaming requires a different kind of animal, one that can handle the horde from hell called ‘Pro-Gamers’. A unique skill set is a must; the skin of a rhino, the roar of a lion and the shrewdness of a snake. In this first part of a series on e-Sports in SA ,I covered the MGO. These are the organisations that take care of us, the players. Here the nappies get changed, tantrums get thrown and players get the occasional pat on the back. It’s also where players share in common goals, get rewarded for their skills and belong to a brotherhood of gamers. People with balls of steel run these organisations. I asked them to share with us what they stand for and what it takes to run a MGO in SA. Read the rest of this article here.

 

Meet the WarMaster: Tim 'wm' Bagheri

This man’s gaming resume is as impressive as his willingness to throw open his resources to aid those who comes knocking on his e-door for assistance.  That having been said, any person can brag and throw around an impressive nickname. The true judge of a man’s character should be the impressions he has left on those who has been caught in the wake of his passing through their lives. Throughout this interview, you will find some of those impressions. Join me as I discover Tim ‘WarMaster’ Bagheri. Read the rest of this inspiring interview here.

 

5 Reasons to play Team Fortress 2

An assortment of classes that defy logic, gameplay that inspires creative thinking, clothing accessories that would make the macho’s of men giddy and of course weapons. Lots of weapons – you can fly, charge, bomb, burn, stab, scare and even mock your enemies to death.Let’s take a look at 5 reasons why you should be playing Team Fortress 2 (TF2). Read here why you don't have an excuse to not play TF2 ;)

The internet is a good mirror

The tragedy of the Breivik massacre and his many references to gaming did lead me to ask myself this question. “Are there any real dangers in playing video games and being involved in social media?" Are we as gamers so baised about gaming that we are making the same mistake that the people who blame gaming as a catalyst for violence do? The pitfall of confirmation bias (automatically searching for evidence to support whatever you believe, reasoning not designed to pursue the truth, but to help win arguments), forces me to rethink my position on these matters with every new outcry from society blaming violent or unacceptable behavior on gaming. In this opinion piece I take a hard look at possible pitfalls in gaming and social media. I cover esacapism, online behavior and internet persona's. The internet provides us with basically a regulation free world, how do we behave within that seemingly borderless environment? Read the rest of this article here.

 

A birds eye view on e-Sports SA: Organisations

In part two I looked at the organisations that give us leagues and competitions. The people who manage these events for us is the driving force behind e-Sports South Africa. Their dedication to gaming gives players across all gaming platforms, MGO’s and clans the opportunities to compete at the highest level of gaming in South Africa and even abroad. They have to not only ‘tank’ the endless complaints from gamers, but also the pressure from sponsors and higher ups. Join me for a peek into their hearts as I set out to discover why they endure so much for so little and what drives them to continue to give into e-Sports in South Africa (SA). Read the rest of this entry here.

"Suddenly a wild MGO appears on the TF2 scene"

The Multi Gaming Organisation (MGO), Xperts@Total.Chaos took the brave, unconventional step to add a Team Fortress 2 (TF2) division to their current teams. In my opinion this unexpected yet very welcomed joining happened because the manager of xTc, David ‘Machaven’ Olivier, a regular TF2 pubber, lost his heart to; unconventional clothing accessories, strange guns, gravity defying jumps and the most cheerful gaming community in SA. I caught up with the CEO of xTc, Kenneth ‘Slade’ Willmore and one of the infamous Severe players,  Tye ‘Tyelander’ Walker to investigate this joining of hearts. Read the rest of this interview here.

That brings me to the end of an eventful April.