Tag Archives: Tencent

TDSL Dota 1 League sees a brief return of 820, YaphetS, and more

Streams for the elimination segment of the TDSL Dota 1 league can be found here: http://tdsl.gamefy.cn/

Interestingly, this is a Dota 1 league sponsored by none other than… Tencent. The choice of Tencent to sponsor Dota is strange, but perhaps less strange if you consider the fact that it is Dota 1 and not Dota 2… Prize pool of nearly 10k USD for first place, with a few thousand more split between the next couple places. Also interestingly, the team with 820 and Nekomata (both former pros turned commentators) crashed out early on in the event, so 820’s competitive cameo return was short-lived, apparently.

A brief interview was done with 820, who had a team in the tournament, and is also the lead caster for the league.

Q: 820, hello, very happy that you are able to participate in this as a commentator. What led you to also participating as a player?
820: As a former professional Dota player, I still have a lot of love for this game. Even though I’ve transitioned into commentating, I’m still very passionate about the game, so I put my name in for the competition.

Q: Regarding version 6.79b, what strategies do you feel are more flexible, and are stronger in pubs?
820: This version has changed a lot of heroes, causing heroes that formerly had no chance of being used seriously to emerge left and right, such as Venomancer, Clinkz, Bristleback, etc. Lots of strategies still remain to be developed.

Q: There are fewer and fewer Dota 1 events nowadays, how long do you think Dota 1 can continue on, and why?
820: This is a very normal thing, after all Dota 1 was popular for so many years, so its fading away now isn’t unexpected. But there are still many people playing it right now.

Q: This event will be played on the Tencent matchmaking platform. You’ve also used this platform before, what do you think of it?
820: A pretty good software, lots of functions have optimized the small details, allowing the whole experience to be more streamlined. I hope they can continue to improve on it.

Q: Because you have a team participating, you became favorites for the event. PIS (YaphetS) and his friends are also participating, what do you think of this old adversary of yours?
820: PIS is a very good player, and he’s been doing vods and practicing all along so I believe that he will be a threat to us.

Q: What do you do in your spare time outside of Dota?
820: Watch some shows and make some vods.

Q: If you were given another chance to play professionally right now, would you choose to do so? Why?
820: I think probably not, because I’ve already experienced life as a professional player, so if I was given the chance again, I would probably choose to go do something I haven’t done before.

Q: Anything to say to those fans that still stick with Dota 1?
820: There is no Dota without friends.

Sources: http://www.gamefy.cn/nview.php?id=362&class_id=51 – http://tdsl.gamefy.cn/ – http://www.gamefy.cn/nview.php?id=393&class_id=51

iG Dota wins Tencent’s Esports Team of the Year Award

“This Year’s Exceptional Esports Achievement Awards” by Tencent QQ’s Games section has iG.Dota placed as number 1 esports team of 2012.

Their criteria gave points based on three aspects: online fan voting, media scoring, and score based on competition results. iG easily won both the media scoring and competition results segments, and perhaps predictably, placed second in fan voting on QQ.com to the WE.LoL team.

Additionally, iG’s YYF placed second in the Esports Player of the Year award, losing out to some LoL player.

 

 

Tencent posts an article on qq.com flaming Dota2, quickly removes it but not before dota.uuu9.com posts a counter-flame

Dotaland note: the original Tencent flame article was at http://games.qq.com/a/20121208/000026.htm — but has now been replaced by a completely different topic at the same link. Amongst other things, it claimed that Valve was selling Dota2 for $100 each… Nonetheless, if you think Riot does shady things, wait ’till you see some of what Tencent does to promote its own interests and/or crush competitors… is this the first shot fired of an inevitable clash to be heard across all of gaming?

Dotaland note 2: Tencent is the Chinese distributor of League of Legends, and they also own Riot Games, devs of LoL. QQ.com is Tencent’s official main portal website.

Original: http://dota2.uuu9.com/201212/95503.shtml

Earlier today a certain website published a report on “The biggest money-grabbing, integrity-lacking games of 2012 — Dota2 ranks top”.

Therefore, we at UUU9 Dota will debunk each of their claims one by one:

1. Claiming that Dota2 is literally the most expensive game in history, with a price of 100 USD?

The [Tencent] article claimed that there is only one way to buy Dota2, with a price of 100 USD. This is purely baseless fabrication, we won’t even mention that Dota2 can be purchased as a standalone bundle currently, but they even failed to realize that this 100 USD pack includes every single one of Valve’s games since 1998, with a total value of more than 150 USD.

And then of course there is the standalone purchase of Dota2 available right now, for 30 USD, which gives you the game, a wild boar courier, and full cosmetic sets for Sven, Juggernaut, and Witch Doctor. Compared to a certain ‘penguin company’ (they mean Tencent, as a mascot/logo of Tencent’s is a penguin) selling skins one at a time for over 100 RMB each, we think everyone will be able to realize in their own hearts what is what here.

2. Flaming Dota2 translation team for profiting from beta keys

This is really causing a fuss out of nothing. First off, Valve giving keys to the translation teams is not a ‘compensation’, it’s more an effort to use the translation team to spread keys to Chinese players and thus grow Dota2 in China. The translation team often posts keys on their Weibo accounts, and for sure there are many current players who have access to the beta because of this. As for how Valve actually thanks their translators, they have other means, such as mailing gifts from America or inviting them to tour their offices etc, we’re sure most people have seen this from interviews at TI2 and will understand.

3. Steam as a platform is run with only profit in mind

Compared to a certain penguin company’s (aka Tencent) reputation as “king of copying”, Steam itself is a superior platform that is unique and groundbreaking in its convenience and pushing of the entire industry. In traditional retail channels, game developers only get around 30% of revenue, while on Steam they get up to 70%. This alone has greatly increased the standing of many a developer, as well as helped developers create higher quality games. Yet penguin company’s motto for operating is to copy a popular game or platform and then spam the internet with braindead pop-up advertisements. And in the process, destroy many a decent website while simultaneously spurring more unhealthy and unfair forms of competition in the domestic gaming industry, and ultimately become the root cause of such a proliferating trend of copying and infringing in the entire Chinese gaming industry.

After reading the above, hopefully everyone has a better understanding of the situation now.

Interestingly, compared to a certain penguin company going out of their way to try to stifle and slander Dota, Valve has shown a degree of openness. In addition to Valve saying that they “will not limit players”, and are rumored to be allowing Penguin company’s League of Legends onto the Steam platform, Gabe Newell has also said that he is a fan of all games in this genre, and not only limited to Dota2: “I think moba-style games are a pretty nice genre, they’re very exciting when you play. The reason we’re doing things this way is because everyone at the company are fans of this type of game, and we feel we should allow more gamers experience the fun, not only limited to IceFrog’s creation.” (Dotaland note: this LoL on Steam thing is not actually confirmed as far as I know)

So, gamers, viewing the difference in attitudes between these companies, who will you choose? In the words of the Dota2 shopkeeper: The choice is yours!