April 3, 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: Mar 28 — Apr 3, 2013

This week featured an interesting question and answer session with iG.ChuaN and iG CEO Efeng, very candid and insightful. The people at Perfect World remain active with a release day drawing ever nearer, VG and ZSMJ make changes, April Fools happened with a ‘rumor’ on Mushi, and G-1 marches on with half a dozen more fun little interviews. Check it all out inside!

Mar 27

iG.ChuaN and iG CEO Efeng question and answer session

iG held an event on t.qq (similar to Twitter) where anyone could ask questions and they would answer. Good questions, good answers. Quite a bit of good stuff here, check it out.

Mar 28

Chinese Dota 2 server test to come April 15?

Rumors are placing the impending Perfect World Dota 2 launch ever closer…

VG makes internal changes: ZSMJ to join VG first team, Cty to move to solo mid position

As the title says, ZSMJ has been moved into the VG first team, previous VG first team carry Cty moves to the solo mid position.

Mar 29

Official Chinese Dota 2 portal site ramping up with events

Wondering what our Chinese Dota friends have been up to? How their community has been growing and evolving? Here’s a snippet…

Apr 1

Mushi searching for a Chinese team

April Fools! But still, it remains an interesting thought exercise to think about where he might go if Mushi were indeed to move to China…

Apr 2

G-1 interviews roundup: Mushi, Faith, RSnake and LGD managers, and more!

Lots of interviews for G-1… check ’em all out at the G-1 portal. Previews and direct links at Dotaland!

March 13, 2013

Dotaland (bi)weekly recap: Feb 28 — Mar 13, 2013

The Chinese New Year holidays over, G-League finally saw its Grand Finals, and those finals witnessed iG taking a well-deserved victory. In other news, ZSMJ seems to have found a new home with VG, 17173 brings a new show based on finding new talent, and Perfect World partners up with Gamefy to bring a million-yuan Dota2 league to China. Last but not least, LanM shares with us an extremely insightful view into his life as a pro-gamer. All this and more, as the Dota scene in China picks up steam anew after their big holiday!

Feb 28

Chronicles of LanM: parts 4-5

Chronicles of LanM: parts 6-9

PLT/LanM’s deeply personal writing documenting his time in the pro scene, and how it has affected his life, his dreams, and more. Profound reading, definitely a bit sad, but provides a level of insight into the scene that is rarely available. Translated on Dotaland in three parts. (Oh, and yes, I know technically it’s “LaNm”, but this is what I’ve stylized it as for a while, so whatever. :P)

17173 introduces new weekly show focused on finding new talent

Every Friday evening, 17173 will have an episode of their new show, which focuses on giving newcomers — teams and players alike — a platform to learn, develop, and make a name for themselves in the hopes of joining the pro scene.

Mar 1

ZSMJ joining VG

Instead of having a team entirely his own, sponsored by someone related to LGD, as was rumored before, ZSMJ has joined VG instead. As of yet, his team’s roster has not been confirmed, although it is hinted that Chisbug will no longer be with him, while some of his other previously confirmed teammates will likely stay. This marks a second official Dota2 squad for VG.

Mar 6

RisingStars replaces PrettyHaw with xiaotuji

Xiaotuji, formerly of Noah’s Ark, joins RisingStars, replacing PrettyHaw.

Gamefy G-League preview and predictions

Their preview favored iG heavily, and it all proved to be correct, as iG swept to a 3-1 victory. Nonetheless, the writeup has some good analysis of the various positions and roles between the teams, with head to head comparisons and predictions. Worth a read even after the finals have ended.

Mar 8

Perfect World and Gamefy announce partnership

Said partnership will bring about a 1 million RMB Dota2 league in China, about the equivalent of 160k USD. Big money and ambitious undertones from Dota2’s official Chinese publisher, and now it looks like with the addition of Gamefy, one of China’s longest standing esports media organizations has joined the effort. Dota2 definitely on the upswing for 2013!

Mar 9

iG takes G-League Season 2 over LGD.int

By a score of 3-1, almost exactly as predicted, iG stormed to what most people viewed as an inevitable victory. LGD.int put up a good fight in games 3 and 4, but ultimately their early 2-0 deficit was too much to overcome. Well-deserved win, with a dominant overall performance by iG in this G-League.

February 27, 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: The two-week “not much is going on” version, Feb 14 — 27, 2013

Missed DOTALAND? Worry not — in the interests of keeping things, well, interesting, last week’s recap was skipped in favor of consolidating recaps in the face of a general lack of news and pieces to report on and translate. In the span of the past two weeks, with everyone still recovering from the once-a-year Lunar New Year holiday across Asia, happenings haven’t picked up much, but nonetheless, the world of Dota has provided just enough to keep us all on our toes.

A preview of G-League has us looking forward to March 9, SGamer brings us some humorous critique of the average Dota player, ZSMJ pops up again with rumors of his team joining VG, Perfect World continues their efforts for Dota2 in China with rumors of a TI3 qualifier, and finally, LanM pulls us into his world with some well-written accounts of his path so far.

Feb 18

Gamefy G-League preview, hype piece, by BBC

Not only does BBC appropriately hype up the upcoming G-League finals, but he also does so while giving some insight and reflection on esports as it has grown from his point of view.

Feb 19

SGamer’s Top 10 Factors Holding Players Back

A bit of a humorous take, this nonetheless covers many relevant topics in things to improve on for the average Dota player. Lots of good advice here, and some jokes, this makes a good read in case you’ve got half an hour and want to read something.

Feb 24

ZSMJ and team join VG? Perfect World to host TI3 qualifiers?

The rumors suggest that ZSMJ’s team will become VG’s second official competitive squad, following the breakdown of ZSMJ’s previously lined up sponsor. Perfect World is rumored to be planning qualifiers for TI3, to come complete with a substantial prize pool.

Feb 26

The Chronicles of LanM: “Stories of Yesteryear” [part 1-3]

A nine-part series penned by LanM himself, this is a sentimental, detailed, and personal accounting of his own path in esports. It touches on his struggles, where he’s coming from, and more. Another classic piece in esports insight, Dotaland will bring parts 4 through 9 in the next few days.

February 13, 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: Feb 7 — Feb 13, 2013

This week saw the Lunar New Year holiday kick off all across Asia. News has been slow. We had iG wishing us all a good holiday, a very well-written analysis piece of BurNIng, and the highlight of the week undoubtedly goes to the iG.YYF documentary. A sparse week in terms of quantity, but absolutely not lacking in quality. Read on and take a look…

Feb 9

iG wishes a joyous Lunar New Year to all

In this video, iG’s players, from every squad, wish all their fans a happy Chinese New Year.

Feb 10

DK.BurNIng playstyle and skills analysis

Following the iG.YYF playstyle and skills analysis (also translated on Dotaland, here), Gamefy brings us another in-depth look at a renowned player, this time in the form of one of Dota’s greatest carries.

Feb 11

The life and times of iG.YYF

For the holiday, and in anticipation of his appearance at the upcoming G-League finals in Shanghai, Gamefy produced an exquisitely-made video looking into YYF’s past. This was the highlight of this week, and rightly so.

February 6, 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 31 — Feb 6, 2013

Still a relatively slow week, as we’re now in the final days of the year of the Dragon. Next up is the year of the Snake, and our players and teams across China have all taken to their homes to celebrate the passing of the year with their friends and family. This week saw news of an earthquake and the perseverence of Dota players in the face of it, a video from 820, an analysis of YYF, and a few other things. Check it all out at Dotaland!

Feb 1

Earthquake uncovers best Dota teammates ever

There was a mild earthquake in China, and this guy’s teammates at the time played through it for the sake of finishing the game. Foolish? Perhaps, but the line between bravery and folly is thin.

Feb 3

Gamefy playstyle and skills analysis of iG.YYF

Pretty in depth look at the machine that is iG.YYF. A good read if you’re always looking to pick at the details of what make great players who they are.

Feb 4

820: Behind the Glory

In this video, where we’ve provided translated subtitles, 820 shows up and updates fans a bit on his latest tribulations and triumphs since his retirement.

Feb 5

Gamefy Best of 2012 vote

Otherwise known as the “iG team of the year 2012” vote. You can go vote for iG too, just click the link. Oh, and there are some other players listed as well, for some odd reason.

Chinese Dota2 beta codes steadily approaching

Players can now check via a page provided by Perfect World whether or not they’ve made it into the first two waves of beta invites.

January 30, 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.

January 23, 2013

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.

January 9, 2013

Dotaland weekly recap: Jan 2 — Jan 8, 2013

We have no less than 5 interviews from G-League this week. In addition, we have two spectacularly insightful pieces recapping 2012, direct from insiders in the Chinese Dota scene. And in other news, iG’s reserve team event continues, and Tencent crowns iG.Dota the Best Esports Team of 2012. All this and more, below!

Jan 3

iG promo series in the process of selecting an iG reserve team

A nation-wide tour of universities sponsored by Lenovo, iG is holding an amateur tournament where the winners, hand-picked by iG players, will have a chance to compete for the ultimate glory of wearing the iG tag in future Dota competitions.

Jan 4

iG wins Tencent’s Esports Team of the Year

Tencent, no without recent controversies against Dota2, held an end of year esports vote. The best team award went to iG, while YYF took second in best esports player.

G-League semi-finals interview with LGD.DD/Sc and LGD.Nicholas

Read some of the thoughts of LGD.cn after their narrow victory over VG to advance into the G-League semi-finals.

G-League semi-finals interview with TongFu.Sansheng

TongFu’s Sansheng shares some thoughts after defeating ForLove to qualify for G-League semi-finals.

Jan 5

G-League interview with LGD.God.int

LGD.int’s God talks a bit after their win over TongFu in the G-League, and also pokes fun at Brax.

Jan 6

iG CEO Efeng recaps 2012

The CEO of iG, former manager of PanDa, and general Chinese esports insider shares his thoughts and reflections on the past year in Chinese esports. Very insightful read!

Jan 7

Dotaland weekly recap: Dec 26, 2012 — Jan 1, 2013

This past week mostly revolved around news and interviews from the on-going G-League 2012 Season 2 Dota2 tournament, where DK unexpectedly crashed out after losses to ForLove and LGD.cn, iG crushed everyone, and more. Dotaland has so far translated six separate items from G-League, so check them out below.

Apart from that, the most popular piece was by far an introduction and overview of each of Vici Gaming’s members. The new team released promotional photographs, player bios, and more. Last of all, Dotaland exclusively researched and translated an overview of a large-scale grassroots collegiate Dota league in China, be sure to take a look at that as well!

Additionally, the end of 2012 also meant a look back at the Best of 2012 on Dotaland, with lots of quality reading material and insight.

Dec 26

LGD.Yao G-League interview: “It is a must-win against ForLove”

After their loss to LGD.int, and before an important match against ForLove in the G-League group stages

Dec 27

DK.Dai G-League interview: “We’re not in great form”

After losing to ForLove, Dai talks a bit about DK and their prospects

Dec 28

Meet Vici Gaming

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Vici Gaming, the new Chinese team

Dec 29

LGD super fan…

Fluff — a bit of gossip revolving a ‘super fan’ of LGD’s

Dec 29

DK.Super G-League interview: “Axes killing courier was intended”

Super talks about beating LGD.int to continue their hopes in G-League, and comments on his Beastmaster kill of courier with axes in-game

Dec 29

G-League interview with LGD.xiao8, after LGD vs ForLove

LGD.cn defeats ForLove to keep their hopes in G-League group A alive

Dec 30

G-League interview with LGD.Sylar, after LGD defeats DK to take the last spot out of group A

Sylar reflects on their win; DK eliminated

Dec 31

242-team university Dota league in China

Organized in a grassroots fashion by Baidu Tieba forumgoers, the tournament was featured on Baidu, and included over 200 universities and schools across China

Jan 1

Gamefy G-League video recap

Video: check out the production quality… also, Zhou talks about his Divine Rapier versus VG

December 26, 2012

Dotaland weekly recap: Dec 19 — Dec 25, 2012

This was an action-packed week, as we started off with The Asia and towards the end of the week kicked off the highly-anticipated G-League offline event in Shanghai. LGD won the former, and ForLove have posted a huge upset in the first match of the latter. We’ve got interviews with players from both teams this week posted.

Perhaps just as interesting were a few other snippets that revealed no less than THREE NEW TEAMS potentially coming from the Chinese scene: iG to form a new squad, recruited and trained by iG’s current players themselves; TongFu possibly forming an international squad; and former WE captain xiaoluo, former TongFu player Kabu, and former EHOME powerhouse LaNm coming together as the core of another new team.

For all the goods, check below! Thanks for reading Dotaland and be sure to comment if you have anything to say.

Dec 19

LGD.cn lookin’ good

Bit of fluff: pictures of LGD.cn modeling their team uniforms

Dec 20

iG team interview reveals a new iG squad coming soon?

Additionally, iG players talk a bit about each other

Dec 20

The Asia venue pic in Kuala Lumpur

Looked quite the venue

Dec 21

Old pro ZhaoYun suggests that TongFu.int is on the way