Monthly Archives: January 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 24 — Jan 30, 2013

It’s been a bit of a slow news week, with the big Chinese New Year holiday beginning to ramp up for the next two weeks or so. iG announced some special holiday events, including an upcoming YYF documentary, ChuaN started streaming on Twitch, and VG picked up PIS/YaphetS… sorta. The official Chinese Dota2 website also went live, so there’s that too.

Jan 24

G-League finals to feature MC HotDog

The famous rapper to make a headlining appearance alongside big name rockstar Zhang Zhenyue, announced the week before

iG special events during Chinese New Year holiday

Over the upcoming week-plus Chinese New Year holiday, iG and its players will be bringing fans various specials. ChuaN first streamed on the Chinese YY platform (and Dotaland provide a quick and dirty guide to accessing that), and is now streaming semi-regularly on Twitch. 430 also streamed on YY, and there’s a YYF documentary coming too.

Official Dota2 Chinese portal site is now live

The drums of the Chinese influx into the world of Dota2 beat ever closer, as the official site, by Perfect World, has gone live. It features a full set of forums, beta activation and signup links, lots of artwork, and translated versions of hero descriptions as well as the Dota2 comic by Valve, “Are We Heroes Yet?”. Interestingly, it also seems that Perfect World has been putting resources into developing guides and detailed descriptions for players looking to learn, which could prove to be a valuable resource in the future.

Jan 25

What are they up to now? Retired pros SJQ/Crystal and 820 open up a snack shop

According to this news, their online shops selling computer peripherals were so successful that they partnered together and opened a shop selling snacks — mostly the sort Chinese gamers would welcome during a long gaming session. Interesting little bit of fluff.

Jan 28

Vici Gaming picks up pub team Greedy, featuring a certain PIS/YaphetS

The word on the street is that this ‘second squad’ of VG’s will, for now, only play in online Dota1 competitions. So it isn’t a complete comeback by PIS… but, for the optimistic fans out there, it is a start nonetheless.

 

Vici Gaming forms second squad, featuring the comeback of PIS/YaphetS

Original: http://dota.sgamer.com/201301/news-detail-162629.html

Dotaland note: For now, it seems this second squad will only be doing online tournaments under the VG name. Specifically, Dota1 tournaments. So it remains to be seen whether they’ll ever be a ‘full’ team that competes in Dota2 as well, so to speak.

Vici Gaming has taken the entire Greedy team, who had just taken the 17173 Ladder Tournament title, under their flag. The new squad for Vici Gaming will form a backup team, and consists of previous superstar, famous commentator, the renowned PIS. Alongside him is the wonderkid Maybe, former Noah’s Ark player xiaotuji, and ladder stars nL_Ks and Duizhanggeiwoqiu (队长给我球 – aka “Captain, give me the ball”).

Apart from that, former Noah’s Ark player Nada has also joined VG as Dota2 team lead. Their current full roster is as below:

VG.Dota2:
Fengdidi/pandapanpan (Manager)
Nada (Team lead)
Fenrir (Captain)
Cty
Xtt
Sydm
Fy

VG.Dota second/online squad:
PIS
Maybe
xiaotuji
nL_KS
Duizhanggeiwoqiu

 

[fluff] What are they up to now? Retired pros SJQ/Crystal and 820 open a snack shop

Original: http://dota.sgamer.com/201301/news-detail-162348.html

We all know that SJQ/Crystal and 820 have had Taobao web shops, but until now they’ve been limited to selling computer peripherals. Now, it seems their business there has been good, and so after a period of discussion, they’ve expanded into the new territory of selling snacks and foods…

a kind of dried pork jerky

pistachios are very important

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iG special events during Chinese New Year holiday

Chuan and 430 stream, YYF documentary? Read on to find out more, and how to view the streams!

With the Chinese New Year coming up, and teams on break, fans still have things to look forward to! Gamefy recently revealed via a teaser video that a YYF documentary is in the works and set to come during the Chinese New Year holiday.

And iG announced this week that ChuaN and Ferrari_430 would be streaming first person gameplay via the iG YY streaming channel. As of this post, the next streaming session is scheduled for 20:00 China time on Jan 24 (04:00 Pacific time, Jan 24), the streamer being ChuaN. YY requires an account to access live streams, so see below for instructions on how to go about that. So far, the streams have had player voice chat, and the occasional cameo by other iG members, so be sure to check it out!

edit: ChuaN also just set up a twitch stream, follow it!

Watching streams via YY.com, click to enlarge (for imgur, here):

1yy 2yy 3yy 4yy

5yy

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G-League Finals to feature MC HotDog

As reported earlier, the upcoming G-League Finals at Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena will feature various celebrity appearances. Previously confirmed was big-name rockstar Zhang Zhenyue. And now, a friend of his in rapper MC HotDog, who toured alongside him in the past, has been confirmed to be a headliner at the G-League Finals on March 9.

Rapper MC HotDog and rockstar Zhang Zhenyue

According to the Gamefy announcement, it seems that they will not only be making ‘VIP’ appearances, but will also be performing, and even taking on hosting duties for the event. This is pretty big for esports and further illustrates the draw of competitive gaming in the mainstream in Asia, as these two names are quite famous. Let us all look forward to what the G-League Finals will ultimately bring us!

Also, in case anyone was interested in attending the event live in Shanghai, tickets go on pre-sale on Jan 24, and open sale one week after that on Jan 31.

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Official Dota2 Chinese portal site is live

Up since yesterday, the official Dota2 Chinese site, run by Perfect World, is now online. From top to left on the tabs, its sections are home, news, heroes, items, competitions, vods, wallpapers, comic, and forums. The forums are official discussion forums, with general discussion, announcement forums, and a forum for customer support, and one for suggestions. The ‘comic’ is a decently translated version of the comic Valve put out for Dota2, “Are We Heroes Yet?”

Below that, on the row with four tabs, are links for getting into the Chinese server, and a currently idle link for activation of the eventual beta codes. Sign ups for beta are currently on-going for the second wave (first wave ended a few weeks ago), so if you have friends in China, be sure to let them know, as the beta will be coming in March!

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Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 16 – Jan 23, 2013

Well, we expected this week to be relatively quiet, but it really wasn’t. This week started off with two brand new teams being announced. Coincidentally, they’re both “RS” team names, so don’t get them confused! In that regard, Dotaland has you covered, as we translated their debut announcements and in the case of one, translated an interview with RisingStars’ manager. This interview revealed one tidbit that led to the biggest news of the week: that ZSMJ’s as-yet-unnamed new team has completed its roster.

In non-team related news, there is stuff on Dota2 localization, Chinese official server beta date, and more, all on Dotaland!

As a side note, next week will mark the 150th post in the less than five months since Dotaland started. A big thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm and readership, and here’s to more Dota!

Also, new Dotaland Twitter up and running. All new posts will be updated there, as well as any other random things. Follow and spread the word!

 

Jan 16

New team, RisingStars Gaming, announced

Bringing old members of Noah’s Ark and DT^Club back together for another go at Dota2 glory.

Jan 17

More localization hurdles for Dota2 in China

The week before it was dissatisfaction with localized and translated voice work, this week it’s bumps in the visuals of Dota2…

Jan 18

LanM is back, with new team RattleSnake Gaming

Alongside Kabu, Luo, and more!

Jan 19

Chinese Dota2 local server beta confirmed for March

Pretty much as the title says, we will be seeing a limited beta for the official Chinese servers in a few months now.

Jan 20

iG members play Dota2 with pop star JJ Lin…

…results are not pretty.

Jan 21

Interview with new team RisingStars manager Cc

Lots of insightful stuff into the new team, and a small tidbit of news that led to our next post…

ZSMJ’s new team roster complete

We already knew about ZSMJ, chisbug, and Z-god’s two friends from Dota-like game ‘Zhensan’, but the fifth player was never confirmed until now.

Jan 22

Redditor denunciator chronicles 2009, 820

Well-written, well-researched, these give an overview of the rise of some of Dota’s greatest stars.

Reddit user denunciator chronicles stars of the past: 820, 2009

Written and researched by reddit user denunciator, this deserves more views! Very informative, and great writing style too. Click the links below to see the main reddit posts, definitely worth it!

The Raven’s Vengeance: EH.820

GL was one of the earlier teams in the history of Chinese DotA; then, everyone was unknown, everyone played on the same ground. Even then, though, 820 was already known as somewhat of a talent. With team GL, they took the qualifiers of the first LAN even there, CPL, by storm. Proud, arrogant, GL expected their road to be easy.

It wasn’t. Kicked down in the semifinals by HUST, a relatively new team, GL went into the losers finals – a nobody position for such a stellar team. Shaken by the loss, 820 learned the value of respect and stability.

…

 

A genius in his time: FTD.2009

09’s story started somewhat differently than most competitive players; in fact, he was a perfectly ordinary teenager. At least, ordinary by his standards – in 2005, he graduated from a top highschool and entered Zhejiang’s Biomedical stream with flying colors. Just like pupils of his age, studies became a past-time; love and gaming came first. To impress his girlfriend, he took up O2Jam; it was only after his breakup that his DotA career took flight.

…

 

 

 

ZSMJ’s new team roster complete

With this interview, where RisingStars manager Cc mentioned former Noah’s Ark player Li had gone to join ZSMJ, we now have the complete roster of ZSMJ’s new team confirmed in words/writing for the first time.

It is:

ZSMJ
Chisbug
Show
Ran
Li

And those that have been paying attention will notice that ZSMJ has been playing with this team in Dota2 pub matches for a few weeks now.

Interview with new team RisingStars’ manager Cc (bonus, ZSMJ new team info inside)

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201301/148798.html

Dotaland note: Last week, new team RisingStars announced their formation. This interview is pretty insightful into the process that went into building the new team RisingStars, and their manager Cc also reveals that former NA member Li has joined ZSMJ. This means that ZSMJ’s new roster is complete: ZSMJ, chisbug, show, ran, Li.

Anyway, give this interview a read, the rest of it is about new team RisingStars Gaming, and new teams are always worth learning a bit about!

Note that ZSMJ’s team does not have an announced name yet, and RisingStars is a different new team, this is their interview and in this interview they revealed the last confirmed member of ZSMJ’s new team, hence why it is all in one post!

Not long ago, former Noah’s Ark and DT^Club players AIR, SUPER, XDD, PrettyHaw, and Injuly came together to form new team RisingStars Gaming. Now, SGamer brings an interview with Rstars’ manager Cc, who talked with us about the new team.

SGamer (SG): Thanks for accepting our interview. Starting off, introduce yourself briefly for everyone.

RisingStars.Cc (Rstars.CC): Hello, hi everyone, I am the former manager of Noah’s Ark, current manager of Rstars, Cc.

SG: On Nov 28, 2012, Noah’s Ark fell into a state of dormancy, yet just before that they are part of a grand opening ceremony event for their sponsoring internet cafe. What caused this drastic downturn in the club’s fortunes?

Rstars.CC: Eh, to put simply it was a decision by the sponsors to postpone the club in favor of focusing on their internet cafe business development. At the time that was all I heard about the decision. As for why this decision was made, I’m sure the sponsors have their own considerations.

SG: What were the club’s members doing after this, then?

Rstars.CC: Before the announcement was released, the club had actually already been on pause for about a week. At the time the team had decided that they would still continue training, after all, both the Dota2 and LoL squads were still relatively new and needed training. And I would try my best to find new sponsors or investments.

SG: How did you find your current sponsors then?

Rstars.CC: Hm, it can be considered a coincidence. After announcing the club going on pause on our official Weibo, our current sponsors contacted us.

SG: Is the current sponsor stable? Any worries of repeating past scenarios?

Rstars.CC: Yeah, on this point we were very clear and direct from the beginning, and the sponsors have given me a great amount of confidence and support. From their words to their actions, it has been shown, so there won’t be any instability in terms of cashflow and management.

SG: Why isn’t the new team roster the same as old NA roster?

Rstars.CC: Mmm, after original NA went on hold, MOFI chose to go home and take a break, while LI went with ZSMJ’s new team. So that’s why they aren’t part of this new club.

SG: Why has the club chosen to not continue an LoL squad, and instead went with Warcraft 3?

Rstars.CC: LoL is because the club has formed at the end of a year, all the competitions have ended, so the plan is to start an LoL squad after the new year (Chinese New Year, that is). And Warcraft3, it has always been something in both our sponsor and my eyes as a familiar beginning, so as long as a scene exists for it, we will support it~

SG: What considerations were made in bringing MISS on as media liasion/commentator?

Rstars.CC: She’s got rich experience in media, exceptional work ability, and is quite well-known. Her professional attitude it also very important.

SG: In the ACE Alliance, will your new team take the place of NA, or will you have to re-apply?

Rstars.CC: We’ve taken NA’s old spot.

SG: Currently how is the team training, how is the training set up?

Rstars.CC: Training takes place from 1PM to 12AM. Right now most teams are on break. We’ve been practicing a lot with Luo’s new team (RattleSnake Gaming), ForLove, and ZSMJ’s new team, because they haven’t gone on break yet.

SG: What’s your win-loss like? iG hasn’t gone on break yet either, right?

Rstars.CC: We win some, lose some. iG probably hasn’t gone on break  yet, but they’ve been pretty busy with events lately.

SG: What are your near-term goals?

Rstars.CC: For the Dota2 team, it is to quickly train and work on teamwork, while in Warcraft3 it is to try and win current events. The overall club’s goals are to finish early set up work in a timely fashion, including planning for the upcoming LoL squad, settling management, etc.

SG: During the ACE-League, your team had been nicknamed “never all” in allusion to the fact that your roster kept changing, is there any possibility of changes to your current roster here?

Rstars.CC: Eh, I hope that no one will label us as the continuation or remake of Noah’s Ark or DT^Club. Even though past events may have people linking the two things, but this is an all-new, independent club. In terms of sponsorship and management, in terms of roster and methods, everything is different, it’s all new, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Stability is something that the club must achieve.

SG: Outside of training time, what do you guys do? Many pro players have messy schedules, are there any measures in place to handle that?

Rstars.CC: When there is no team training, we do personal training with watching replays, playing pubs, practicing laning. We’ve also made a rule, if they haven’t gotten out of bed by 1PM there will be a fine, and repeat offenses increase the fine exponentially. So they don’t go to bed too late.

SG: What meaning is there in the team name?

Rstars.CC: A rising star. It was thought up by our sponsor.

SG: In the end, one last sentence to cap off the interview.

Rstars.CC: We hope that everyone gives us their support. We’ve been through a lot, and the players haven’t made it here easily.