Monthly Archives: September 2012

After TI2, Chinese teams to skip WCG Asian Championships (Asian Cyber Games)

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120905/1724784.html

WCG Asia, also known as the Asian Cyber Games (ACG), is one of the longest-standing and older high level Asian Dota competitions. From last year, the competition switched focus to Dota2, where EHOME represented China and ultimately lost in Kuala Lumpur.

This year’s ACG has set their main event as Dota2 (other events are Tekken 6 and FIFA), and will run from Sept 7 to 9. But because of Chinese teams all having just gotten back from Seattle, they are still resting. Plus the Chinese ACG partner Neotv didn’t hold any preliminaries, and the result is that China will not be sending any representative team to the ACG for Dota. So, the ACG Dota competition will have no Chinese presence, and the original 8-team tournament is a 7-team event this year.

(editorial) After iG’s win — “All those years, the championship I wanted, it was this one”

Note: This is a pretty powerful piece written by a Gamefy (Chinese gaming TV) reporter named Ling Zhihao. It describes the dreams of a generation of young Chinese gamers being fulfilled in seeing iG win…

Original: http://www.gamefy.cn/topic/dota2_120830/view.php?id=24774

BBC and DC (Chinese commentators), their hoarse voices floating about my ears, 5 golden stars on a red background, the Chinese flag dancing in the air in front of me, brought me back to images of Sky (major Chinese Warcraft 3 player) winning the WCG championship on stage years ago.

That thing we call a dream, it always takes flight quietly at some point in the past. Years ago, those kids staying up late secretly watching their heroes winning on stage, now they’re grown and standing on the stage themselves victorious, leaving their own names on the walls of eSports history.

Continue reading →

(video) Dota2 and TI2 make it onto Chinese national TV!

Note: This is a video, click through below to watch. This was featured on the Chinese CCTV national news channel’s world news section!

Source: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120904/1724402.html

Rough transcript: Fans of electronic gaming competition have gathered in Seattle to view the top level competition for Dota 2. In Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, a venue that is typically entertained by musical instruments is instead filled with mice and keyboards as youth from around the world gather to compete in the video game Dota2.

As one of the most influential worldwide competitive games, the competition has 16 teams from around the world, and a record-breaking prize pool. Additionally, the organizers have set up commentators in several languages on site.

Players from China played to the best of their abilities. “Go China, iG for the win!” They ultimately won the championship, to the applause of the crowd.

This tournament has brought together people who formerly only knew each other online, and they have shared and learned from each other, and made friends in the process.

(rumor) EHOME for sale after TI2?

Note: This is from Aug 28, it remains to be seen whether EHOME’s 5/6th place finish at TI2 this year is enough to change anything. Also, remember that this is merely a rumor.

Original: http://dota.replays.net/page/20120828/1722339.html

The famous Dota news weibo “Dota2路边社” has revealed a potentially heavyweight topic: because EHOME’s 2012 results have been less than satisfactory, the club’s investors wish to sell the club after The International 2 in Seattle, and are currently actively looking for buyers.

EHOME’s 2012 season has included Dota2, League of Legends, and Warcraft 3 divisions, and they have consistently been around top 3, yet they have not won a single championship. The Warcraft 3 division has only one player ReMinD, the League of Legends division has done nothing, and the Dota2 division has had high expectations yet have performed poorly so far, and their performances have been weak so far at TI2 as well and it will be an uphill fight to achieve a good result there. With a lack of results all across the board, it is no wonder EHOME’s backers are looking into selling.

Early TI2 interview with LGD.DDC

Note: This is from midway through the preliminaries. But it has some random interesting questions too. Part of my catchup translation coverage of TI2 from the past few days!

Source: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120829/1722638.html

BBC (interviewer, Chinese commentator): Congrats on going undefeated so far in three days, let’s talk a bit about your last match vs Mouz.

DDC: Before the match, we already felt that Mouz only knew how to use Anti-mage, so we thought it should be easy to counter, give him no farm and we basically win. In the actual match they did in fact use Anti-mage, and then they did indeed lose to us.

BBC: Summarize your performances for us.

DDC: I give the team full marks on performance, and I’m pretty happy with my own as well.

Continue reading →

Dota 2’s Chinese partner confirmed?

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201209/147024.html

According to Sgamer’s reporters on site in Seattle, the previous rumor that Perfect World would be the official Chinese partner of Valve in releasing and supporting Dota 2 has been confirmed. Perfect World’s higher ups had received invitations from Valve to attend The International over the weekend in Seattle, for the purposes of taking the next step in confirming and preparing for the partnership.

Taking into consideration that Dota2 is still in beta and will probably remain in beta for a while yet, and also the administrative steps needed to officially release Dota2 in China with a partner, a good estimate for Dota2 to officially be in China is the second half of 2013.

Finally, we have learned that the announcement of Perfect World as official partners of Valve’s Dota2 in China will come a month from now, and so once the partnership is confirmed, Dota2 will be coming even faster to China!

Chinese reactions to TI2 Finals Day: Chinese Tide vs NaVi Rubick, iG club response, fan criticism of Finals crowd

Note: Some fan reactions to what was probably the key matchup in the Finals. Some good insight too.

After that is a tiny sample of stuff that is said regarding the crowd for the Finals, not a conclusive representation of overall opinion. In the end, this probably doesn’t even matter, but I thought it was an interesting insight into the ‘international’ dynamic at play here.

Continue reading →

(Sept 3 short bit) Praise for NaVi’s Dendi

Note: Wow, what a great tournament. Hard to put into words, but I’ll try to help translate as many of the words from the Chinese scene as I can find in the next few days. Stay tuned for that. For now, have this short bit from our friends at Replays.net about NaVi’s star, Dendi.

Original (page 7): http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120903/1724079_7.html

Against iG (prior to the Grand Finals), Dendi’s Rubick was thorough and nearly perfect. He controlled Tidehunter’s movements and ult so well, and then when he stole it, he used it even better. His skills, knowledge, and instinct on display were all absolutely top tier. It must be said, his understanding of the game was perfect.

(Sept 2 quickies) Chinese appreciate Zenith and iceiceice, iG vs NaVi — iG overconfident?

Note: DC’s Day 5 Dota diary just went up. I’ll probably get translations of that plus all the rest of DC’s diaries up starting Monday, so stay tuned for that! Until then, enjoy some random snippets of comments and reactions from around the Chinese internet. Not meant to be a complete sample of all Chinese opinions, just a window, so it could be biased one way or another.

1. Chinese appreciate Zenith and iceiceice

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120902/1723974.html

In the loser’s bracket fifth round, Zenith clashed with DK. Sadly, Zenith came out as the losers of this battle. At the end of the match, Zenith’s iceiceice used all of his gold on Sentry Wards to write out ‘gg’ in large letters in the middle. He ran out of Wards halfway and only made one ‘g’, and informed that he was out of money. This ‘gg’, though, not only signified the end of the match, but also Zenith’s well-wishes for DK’s next matches.

Iceiceice is a legendary player, and this time in Seattle he has been the center of attention many times, including excellent plays and strategies, but especially when he went on stage and played without pants on. Now he’s out of the tournament along with his team, and it is definitely a bit disappointing to see, but we only wish him and his team good luck and good performances in the future.

2. iG vs NaVi — iG tweets show overconfidence?

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120902/1723939.html

After three games, iG lost 2-1 to NaVi and dropped into the lower bracket. After an easy first game win for iG, NaVi was widely seen to have lost out in the bans and picks for the second game yet managed to read every single one of iG’s moves, and then the third game iG basically lost at the bans and picks stage.

But, shortly after the bans and picks concluded for the second game, iG’s CEO Efeng tweeted:

Efeng: Bans and picks are exactly as we predicted and wanted! In terms of game intellect, we have achieved a flawless victory, let us go forth do battle!

This tweet would’ve been innocent enough if everything had gone as planned, but just as Efeng sent the tweet out and it began picking up notice, iG was also choking on the main stage at Benaroya Hall.

Before the match, iG people ranging from Efeng to ChuaN had tweeted reflecting their confidence:

Efeng: 7 Asian teams came to TI2, now in the top 8 all 7 are still alive. The only non-Asian team left is NaVi, it’s about time we send them out too!

Efeng: NaVi and their TI1 championship rings said to us, “you don’t have this!”. We can only answer, “enjoy it while it lasts”, it is not 2011 anymore.

ChuaN: I hate the waiting, time to let it out on NaVi!

After iG dropped into the lower brackets at the hands of NaVi, these tweets were retweeted furiously. And as for the statement from iG CEO Efeng, “in terms of game intellect, we have achieved flawless victory”, well, later on during game 3, the Chinese commentator Miss said, “NaVi has such great game intellect!”

Many fans have pointed at Efeng, saying his tweets lack respect and decency. Regardless of the facts, we hope that iG picks it back up, and that all the Chinese teams remaining can stay calm and composed in the face of these big matches! Truly, we shouldn’t be overly proud of our game knowledge or anything like that.