Showing posts with label eSports Malaysia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eSports Malaysia. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Starcraft 2 Malaysia Vengeance Cup Finals set to be held on June 29
Starcraft 2 is a globally-known eSports title and there is no question of its massive fanbase here in SEA and in particularly Malaysia as well. Local teams are getting stronger and more importantly disciplined to further their level into the international scene, and this weekend will mark an important date for all aspiring professional Starcraft 2 players in Malaysia.
En route to the South East Asian Regional Vengeance Cup officiated by Blizzard themselves, the top teams of the country will be fighting it all out in the Malaysian finals to take the glory of nationally representing us in the upcoming regional tournament, set to be held in Thailand from the 31st of August to the 1st of September.
The Malaysian Vengeance Cup Finals will be held on the 29th of June at Autosurf Cafe, Subang starting from 1pm. As mentioned, the champions will hold the rights of representing Malaysia, along with RM1500 and Razer gears. Though both 2nd and 3rd placings will unfortunately not make the cut, they too will be generously rewarded with Razer gears along with RM1000 and RM500 respectively.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Chaos Online Cash Shop opens, announces first Malaysian Invitational Tournament
You might have heard of Asiasoft's latest blockbuster title, but don't mistake it for yet another of their MMOs. Instead, it's the new kid off the block when it comes to MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and yes, we're talking about Chaos Online here. Featuring over 80 heroes at launch, which is actually very impressive itself already, Asiasoft has evidently from their streams of advertising push, already set their eyes to expand Chaos Online in this region.
Asiasoft has recently officially launched the Chaos Online's Cash Shop and will also therefore put Heroes up for permanent purchase, along with the likes of Potions, Skins, and Charms for improved performance. With this announcement, only 30 Heroes will be available for play for free based on a rotation basis, as with other MOBA counterparts League of Legends.
At the same time, Asiasoft has also announced that the first Chaos Online Invitational Tournament will be held from 6 - 7 July with up to RM4,800 worth of prizes up for grabs. This tournament will be held at FTZ Subang Jaya so for all MOBA enthusiasts who wish to get a first look at how the elites get their hands on this new title in town, do check them out or visit chaos.playcybergames.com/main/en/invitation.
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Riot to grow League of Legends eSports scene with inspiration from Olympics
As one of the largest game around the world currently, League of Legends has undeniably garnered and won over a massive fanbase throughout the years since its first debut, and has grown from strength to strength continuously improving and enlarging the set of lineup it offers. Being huge is also being one of the most popular titles in the world of global eSports, and one of the most famous lines in the industry's history is by Brandon Beck, the co-founder of its founding company Riot Games.
“eSports will be an Olympic event in my lifetime”True enough, Riot Games has taken the bold step to take League of Legends and more essentially pushing the eSports industry forward to move up the ranks and incorporate the industry with elements inspired by the Olympics.
"We looked at the more traditional sports like baseball, football, basketball, soccer", vice president of eSports and special projects at Riot, Dustin Beck pointing out to Edge, "and a big thing that we'd never seen done before is an all-star game"
To proposition eSports to a level of Olympics quality (or so to say), not only should the technical abilities be improved or only the community-engagement level be pulled up, but it should also ultimately front a sense of meaning and fulfilled experience.
"We’ve hired people with experience at the Olympics. Our head of global content is a three-time Emmy Award winner. We’ve also added some other core elements that I think have been missing from eSports," he explains, "we do a really good job of storytelling behind the scenes. We want to know who Dyrus is. We want to know who Dyrus’ dad is."
How the community has always been responding to League of Legends as a globally-known, globally-respected eSports title have been exceptional to say the least, but as Beck pointed out, it really is time for eSports to start showcasing and to start developing the individuals of the sports and up, up beyond their current fame. Their potential is already known by avid fans, gamers alike, but it's also time to bring his story, his choices, and his growth to another level where it becomes mainstream.
And that's what eSports desperately needs, becoming anything but mainstream.
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Logitech Malaysia unveils revised G Series lineup, talks about local gaming scene
Logitech Malaysia recently organised a gathering with some of the most influential tech/gaming writers in the local industry to talk about what's in and what's next for the local gaming community. (As a newcomer) we were fortunate enough to be invited over to join in the discussion along with a hands-on experience with the company's latest G Series gaming gears.
With its launch and a re-branding in their lineup, it is apparent that the company is now strongly-committed to invest in and to further develop a quality set of PC gaming gears aimed towards both the casual gamers and the more hardcore ones.
Regional Marketing Director for South East Asia Logitech, Kuah Hsiang Nung, demonstrating the effectiveness of choosing the ideal gaming mouse weight.
"Science Wins" will lead the re-branding of these gears with emphasis on how all the nitty-gritty details can essentially affect both gameplay performance and control. I personally do believe and after testing them out feel that Logitech's 'theory' behind their products do improve the experience overall.
While the gaming roundtable offered us an insight into all their G Series gaming gears, it soon became clear that not only is Logitech interested in product features like macro buttons and erm LCD screens, but also all the tech behind it as Kuah of Logitech SEA repeatedly pointed out that Logitech isn't just about making gaming gears, but more of "precision equipments".
With its official unveiling of the G Series in Malaysia, we were also treated to test their gears out with a generous few matches of FPS and MOBAs. One pretty important feature Kuah pointed out was the lineup's 'angle snapping' ability which basically means the equipment's stability and control while moving the mouse and this can be apparent as you stray across a straight line in a perfect motion.
One of my personal favourites the Logitech G700s rechargeable gaming mouse
This I feel is essential in today's gaming equipments as I believe that at the end of the day, one would only go for a piece of gaming gear if it provides the perfect control and therefore the trust and reliability it extends to gamers. To this, Logitech's high-end G700s (retailing at RM299) in particular has proven so far to have mastered that extend of control.
During the session, Kuah also notably expressed the company's interest in exploring the possibilities they can be part of in both the local and regional gaming community which most definitely includes the up-and-coming eSports scene. At the same time, he has also revealed that Logitech is working with certain game titles to develop certain exclusives, though details of that is understandably can not be revealed as of yet.
It's always good to see gaming (gear) companies like Logitech to show a deep interest in the Malaysian gaming industry especially for our eSports scene I talked about, that there really is a massive gap of potential for both industry professionals and even amateurs like our site to explore, contribute, and develop together.
If you are similarly passionate about our local gaming scene or have any ideas/upcoming events, do say hi! at hello@theshadowgamer.com
Monday, 10 June 2013
Introducing the all-new, all-Malaysian, six-man DuskBin Dota 2 team
From left: Jian Shen "Dy-" Chong , Jason "Jny-" Siew , Shi Yuan " Shiyuan" Soh, Kelvin "MtR-" Chong, Jun Wei "BoyZ" Gan, Kok Chun "MissyZ" Wong
DuskBin, a local (Malaysian) eSports team who specialises in multiple other games have recently unveiled its new Dota 2 team roster. The team has been inactive for quite some time but has made a statement that they will be back in both the local and international Dota 2 scene with a more experienced and strategic lineup and also most importantly a consistent training schedule.
DuskBin.Dota 2 will feature an all-Malaysian, six-man roster boasting of Jny, MissyZ and BoyZ who were all from team FishBall. Mtr, Dynasty and 6th-man Shiyuan will then make out the rest of the all-new DuskBin, led by an experienced Jny.
But forming a new team and even a polished brand image will not immediately mean success, and to this DuskBin have set up a dedicated training facility in Petaling Jaya, Selangor with top-notch gaming equipment sponsored by i-Rocks. In-house trainings are carried out every week from Friday to Sunday, while weekdays will see the team having to train online due to their personal commitments.
In a statement on their official team website, DuskBin has also unveiled plans to compete in the upcoming E2MAX qualifiers in Singapore, and have also announced their commitment to compete in as many tournaments as possible.
Friday, 17 May 2013
Wargaming to host 15th-anniversary World of Tanks tournament
World of Tanks might sound a little fresh when it comes to breaking through the more mainstream online gaming titles, but its developer/publisher Wargaming.net has in fact been around the industry for years. 15 years to be exact all the way since 1998 and a veteran as well, you might add.
Including World of Tanks, Wargaming has shipped more than 15 titles and to celebrate their milestone in the industry, the company has announced that they will be hosting an exclusive 15th-anniversary tournament for World of Tanks, arguably their most successful title yet.
As globally popular the game is currently, the tournament will take place in key regions around the world highlighted by the company which includes Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, China, Vietnam and lastly South East Asia.
The tournament will follow World of Tanks' usual eSports 7v7 format and will start right of in May while finals are already scheduled at the end of June. Though no cash rewards are ready at hand, the champions of this exclusive tournament will ultimately grab hold of themselves an all-expenses-paid trip to the World of Tanks development studio located in Minsk, Belarus. Meanwhile, the 2nd and 3rd placers will take home a huge chunk of in-game gold prizes.
Closing off the announcement, Alexey Kuznetsov, eSports Lead at Wargaming expressed that
"This is a great opportunity for teams around the globe to show their peers and prove they have what it takes to really be the best at World of Tanks. We’re extremely excited to welcome the winning teams to Belarus and give them a closer look at how their favorite game is made."
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Malaysia's ABC dominates Armaggeddon Dota 2 Grand Slam 2013
In an attempt to break into the eSports scene, gaming peripheral company Armaggeddon had recently hosted one of the biggest Dota 2 tournament in the region. Dubbed as the Armaggeddon Grand Slam Asia 2013, it saw teams from all around the region competing for the top title and ultimately a sponsorship contract from the company itself.
Malaysia's very own ABC, or for some particular reason which stands for Apple Banana Cucumber, were one of the clear favourites throughout the competition alongside Singapore's up-and-coming First Departure. Led by one of the more experienced Malaysian Dota 2 player and previous captain for Orange eSports, 'Winter' certainly played a critical role for the team's success throughout the tournament.
They advanced through to the finals with a completely undefeated streak and was finally set up against First Departure again (after sending them down to the lower bracket previously in the tournament).
ABC took the early lead in the first game, but loss focus in the second leading to a third and final determining round on who would take home the sponsorship contract. But once again ABC proved their dominance in the tournament and edged through, taking home the championship title with a 2 – 1 win.
Final placings:
1st: ABC - $5000 + $7500 sponsorship contract
2nd: First Departure - $2000 + $5000 sponsorship contract
3rd: Awake - $1000 + $2000 sponsorship contract
Monday, 11 March 2013
League of Legends Season 3 ranking system explained
Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends has recently introduced and updated the massively-popular eSports title with a new ranking system, dubbing the transition as Season 3. Previously, the ranking system is based on elo points and according to each games, your elo will be added depending on your wins and losses. Basically, the more you win, the more elo you get.
In season 3, however, League of legends has tweaked the ranking system to place a better emphasis on the actual ranks. Instead of merely adding elo points on your wins or loses, League of Legends Season 3 will be based around tiers:
The 6 tiers that have been updated into League of Legends Season 3.
- Bronze.
- Silver.
- Gold.
- Platinum.
- Diamond.
- Challenger.
Each LoL ladders consist of 250 players and each league/tier has 5 divisions. A division has 50 players. For example, if you have reached the silver tier, you will be placed in one of the 5 divisions from division 5 to division 1. The lower the number of division, the easier you will be able to advance to the next tier.
Advancing Division
To advance, players will need to win and reach a 100 league point (max), you will then need to beat a series of best of three. The best of three will determine whether a player is ready to advance to the next division.
Advancing Tier/League
On advancing to the next tier, a players need to reach division 1 and collect 100 league points again. Once you reach the max point, players will concede in the best of five match up. This will determine whether a player is ready to advance to the next league/ tier.
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by Christopher Chan
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Wargaming.net announces professional World of Tanks eSports league
2013 will see the start of the first professional World of Tanks league featuring regional tournaments, playoffs and a grand final with up to a whopping $2.5 million of prize pool. Yes, a freaking $2.5 million up for the tops.
In a blogpost on Wargaming.net, Global eSports Director at Wargaming Jonghyuk Baak shared that "Wargaming.net League is a groundbreaking step in our quest to bring the game’s eSports potential into the international spotlight." With such a large amount at stake, and an indefinitely growing population, Wargaming.net league should make quite a statement in the eSports world. No doubt, we're looking forward to how this community will come together.
Friday, 25 January 2013
Neolution Orange reformed with new 2013 DOTA 2 team roster
After a series of rumours, transfers and in particularly seeing the move of Yamateh to Team Zenith, Orange eSports seemed quite lackluster, much to their fan's dismay. But contrary to a few believes on Orange's not-so-bright future and some words of worries, the management team has came out with a surprise reformation on the team.
For a start, after very recently gaining an invaluable platinum sponsorship by Neolution eSports, what used to be know as Orange eSports will now be officially known as Neolution Orange. With a whole new name and ultimately a new brand and a fresh image, the team will see (for most ways) a new lineup, and a formidable one too.
Chan "Winter" Litt-Binn and Chua "Ice" Chee Cai have officially left Orange, while Neolution Orange will see both Lim ‘Net’ Wai Pern and Mushi's profoundly-known disciple Khoo ‘Ohaiyo’ Chong Xin completing its 2013's DOTA 2 roster along with Mushi, Xtinct (captain) and Ky.xY. Hopefully, this will be a finalised, stable one.
Official words of its reformation, welcomes and thankyous by Orange:
Orange Esports extends our welcome to Lim ‘Net’ Wai Pern and Khoo ‘Ohaiyo’ Chong Xin who will be completing our 2013 DotA team roster. On the other hand, we parted ways with Chan "Winter" Litt-Binn and Chua "Ice" Chee Cai. Like Yamateh, Winter and Ice are also top quality DotA players and accomplished a great deal during their service with Orange Esports. We wish them best of luck in their next stage of DotA career and they will be missed by many of us.
We also take this opportunity to announce our new partnership with Neolution E-Sport who will come in as Orange Esports Platinum Sponsor for 2013. We like to thank the CEO of Neolution Group, Mr. Satean Boonmanant for his generous supports. The sponsorship will complete the new pay package for our Professional DotA players like never seen before in South East Asia. In recognition of their sponsorship, Orange Esports DotA team will be known as “Neolution Orange” in 2013.
Here's to hoping that this will continue to be Neolution Orange's roster for the rest of 2013, and bring even greater success for pride of our local eSports scene! *cross fingers*
Monday, 21 January 2013
Yamateh departs from Orange eSports and joins Team Zenith
In a shocking turn of events, Orange eSports has officially announced that Yamateh (2nd from left), arguably one of its star player has recently departed to join Singapore's Team Zenith. You see, rumours were actually saying that (instead of Yamateh) Mushi was the one who had plans to move to Zenith. This came across when news of Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai and Wei Poong 'Yamateh' Ng wasn't getting along in Orange eSports.
DOTA 2 being a team game and what not, any disagreement between team members would definitely hurt their overall performance. While Orange eSports had their own conflicts internally, Team Zenith, on the other hand, were critically having difficulties in setting up a stable roster after being down to a 3-man team - Yamateh's move will now add it to 4.
Official statement from Orange eSports:
We like to announce the official departure of Yamateh from Orange Esports DotA team. He will be joining the Zenith team as you may see in their GosuCup Asia IV lineup. We thank him for his dedications and contributions to the team in 2012 and wish him much success. Orange Esports DotA team is still working on our 2013 roster aim to be among the Top 3 DotA2 teams in Asia. Thank you to our fans for their continuous support!
We personally feel that it's a real disappointment on how both these 'big' teams are constantly having changes in their rosters and struggling to stabilise internally. Though, we would still definitely wish Yamateh all the best at Zenith, and his huge contribution to Orange before.
Friday, 18 January 2013
ADGSA 2013 - Malaysia
If you're based in Malaysia and would like to give a shot at it, up to 64 teams will be given the chance start the 25th of January in the first Malaysian qualifier.
Malaysian Qualifier #1·Venue: Online tournament
·Date: 25th, 26th and 27th January 2013
·Team limit: 64
·Tournament format: For 64 team slots, first and second stage will be single elimination and the top 16 will be double elimination.
·Top 4 teams qualify to the National Final
Malaysian Qualifier #2
· Venue: FTZ ASIA.NET internet café (Jalan SS 15/8a, SS 15, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor)
· Date: 1st, 2nd and 3rd February 2013
· Team limit: 32
· Tournament format: For 32 team slots, first stage will be single elimination and top 16 will be double elimination.
· Top 2 teams qualify to the National Final
Malaysian GRAND FINAL
· Venue: The Summit, Subang USJ
· Date: 22nd – 24th February 2013
Register your team at armaggeddon.net/adgsa-2013-registration/
Stand a chance to be sponsored by Armaggeddon at DOTA 2 Grand Slam Asia 2013
If the rather recent DOTA 2 The Asia wasn't itself a feast for our eyes on our regional DOTA 2 eSports scene, you will be glad to hear that even more action will be taking place as up and coming gaming gear manufacturers Armaggeddon will be organising a huge tournament regionally, or in their own words, a 'DOTA 2 Grand Slam'.
At first glance, what will catch your eye would probably be its prize pool of up to $20,000 for its Grand Slam finals in Singapore (and the RM10,000 allocated for the Malaysian Grand Finals). Though well this is not the biggest amount an eSports tournament has offered before, it is ultimately still a large sum of money and would forseeably attract some of our top talents, regionally and locally.
But what is more interesting, and definitely worth a shot, is Armaggeddon's offer for an exclusive sponsorship contract with them and their 'corporate alliance' with some of the top brands in the industry like AMD, Asus and Valve.
Quite obviously, Armaggeddon is scouting for an up and coming DOTA 2 team to fully-sponsor, support, and nurture while bringing their company's brand up as well. With that, they have opened the Grand Slam tournament around Asia for the usual SEA countries and even extending to Sri Lanka, though noticeably missing out huge countries like India and China.
The Grand Slam finals which will determine who the company will ultimately sponsor is set on the 9th of March at Singapore, Marina Bay Sands. But meanwhile, Armaggeddon has opened up registrations for its very first sets of qualifier in Malaysia and Singapore which will begin as early as (at the point of writing this) exactly next week - 25th January.
Interested? Get to know its tournament FAQs here at Armaggeddon.net
Monday, 14 January 2013
Garena unveils plans for Malaysian League of Legends Tournament in 2013
League of Legends exploded globally into the eSports scene last year, and with 2013, it sure looks like the rising phenomenon is not slowing down anytime soon. GPL 2013 has recently began merely in days into the new year, and as the official host/publisher of League of Legends (LoL) in Asia, Garena has announced yet another initiative to bring the game up another notch.
In conjunction with LoL Season 3, Garena has began planning on one of the biggest Malaysian League of Legends tournaments this year around, particularly with up to a total of RM100,000 worth of prize pool. The tournaments will be broken down into two progressive seasons, first the Spring then the Summer (though Malaysia only has rain and sun lol), and finally leading to the Malaysian LoL Grand Finals. Plus, the winner of the Spring Season will additionally get a chance to immediately proceed into the LoL Season 3 regional qualifiers.
The Spring Season will also be divided into two categories depending on how much guts or skills you have. Judge and consider yoruself a rookie, or as part of the 'King of the Hills'. Each game will be critical as you and your team will face a single elimination match format. But as you get excited about this, start forming your team if you don't have one yet, and get ready as the tournaments are set to commence in February.
and here's a detailed tournament format sneak peeked by Garena.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
[Event] Garena Carnival Malaysia 2013
For all gamers in Malaysia, 2013 started with a bang as many came together from the 4th to 6th January at Midvalley Megamall to witness and experience Garena Carnival 2013.
Garena has been the official regional publisher of some of the biggest and most popular eSports games, namely League of Legends (LoL), Heroes of Newerth (HoN) and Blackshot.
Now in its 3rd year, the Garena Carnival was naturally all about celebrating its best games and gathering our nation's tightest community in one arena as fans of Heroes of Newerth, Blackshot and not to forget League of Legends gathered on the particular days to put their strength and love for these games to test.
Adding on to that, gamers had the rare opportunity to participate live on stage to battle with similarly talented opponents as both the HoN National Championship and the Blackshot National League were held on the days. With such a huge tournament alive on stage centrally located in MidValley, you can surely expect a large audience as fans and passer-bys alike spectated and supported their favourite teams.
The audiences were also given the chance to put in bets in form of lucky draw tickets and after each game, whoever who played bets on the winning team will then have a chance to get their tickets drawn.
If some of you were there, you would know that the first game of the 3-day carnival was League of Legends - one of the most well-known MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) that exploded into the eSports scene last year, not to mention it is one of the few games which actually require solid teamwork from the whole team throughout the whole game.
One of the highlights on Day 1 was the battle between Nothing to Lose and Team Secret. After an intense period of some serious gaming and strategies, it was ultimately Team Secret who achieved the top and had the rare chance to go against our national LoL team, KL Hunters who at the time we're writing this, are also representing us at the GPL 2013.
Though Team Secret won all their previous matches, they were still no match for our national representatives KL Hunters, being wiped out in under 25 minutes without doing any major damage. Even so, both teams managed to brought their courage and true sportsmanship together, congratulating each other on a good game.
Unfortunately, we couldn't spend the whole of 3 days there but that's our experience at this year's Garena Carnival. And you bet we sure are looking forward to the next!
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by Marcus Heng / Malaysian Representative
Graduating in Mass Communication, Marcus is a diehard Call of Duty fan. A young journalist, he's passion in both video games and producing videos have developed him into an aspiring Youtuber, not for the fame or partnership, but on a mission to inspire the way he was very inspired. Connect with him at his twitter account.
Monday, 7 January 2013
Orange eSports wins Malaysia's HON Championships
With RM300,000, the biggest prize ever in Malaysian eSports history in sight for the champions, you can surely bet it attracted the best and the top talents of Malaysia's HON players. Knowing that many would certainly fight it all out and flip a coin on their luck, organisers Garena has planned hard and long touring around Malaysia extensively to reach out and lure even more aspiring HON teams we have.
Well if you have been following the global eSports scene, you can guess that HON naturally isn't doing quite well in the industry, and that may quite be the reason why Garena has forked out such a high cash pool to attract and 'convert' gamers from playing a certain MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). But nevertheless it's wonderful for our aspiring national players who gathered at the hub of all Garena fanfare, the Garena Carnival.
Also dubbed as the 'Battle of Titans', a total of 8 teams battled it all up on stage to gain the edge over the others. Some stood out, but some, had ultimately fallen. Among the teams, you can say Orange eSports have been the dominating force throughout the 3-day-long tournament, securing wins after wins and presenting a solid performance from day 1 to day 3, it would take a miracle to bring the formidable force down.
I would at the same time say that MUFC had quite been the fan favourites for the game, but their usual standards were somehow lacking and though they manage to crawl out from the losers bracket, they ended up 3rd after succumbing to HON Portal.
But nevertheless a huge congrats to the top 3 winners of Garena's HON championship!
But nevertheless a huge congrats to the top 3 winners of Garena's HON championship!
Malaysia's HON champions (RM300,000) - Orange eSports.
2nd place (RM30,000) - HON Portal
Thursday, 3 January 2013
GPL League of Legends 2013 is back
The League of Legends scene in Asia has been nothing but growing in 2012 and this could not be more possible without Garena entering the scene and taking over as Asia's main publisher. With this, the rapid growth in how LoL plays out in the eSports scene is also credited when Garena decided to host the largest and first professional LoL tournament in the region featuring some of the best talents of the game, from all around Asia, in the Garena Premiere League (GPL).
2012's GPL saw Taipei Assassins clinching the top prize of $10,000 after battling all out with 5 other professional teams of their representative country. With such a huge success last year rallying a tremendous amount of fan base for each teams, it was pretty certain GPL League of Legends is gonna be back and, well well, you bet it sure is.
In fact, GPL Season 2 will start as soon as, at the time of writing this, tommorow! That's the 4th of January and also in conjunction with Garena Carnival 2013 at Kuala Lumpur. This time around, 2 teams, ahq e-Sports Club and Fantastic Five have been added expanding the tournament to a total of 8 teams.
 Kuala Lumpur Hunters |  Taipei Assassins |
 Manila Eagles |  Saigon Jokers |
 Singapore Sentinels | ahq e-Sports Club |
| Fantastic Five |  Bangkok Titans |
Monday, 31 December 2012
[Editorial] Malaysian eSports in 2012
If there was one thing about Malaysia in 2012 to give a huge shoutout to, it would for me indisputably be about our eSports industry, and thus this post dedicated to our rising talents and to all those behind the scenes managing and organising.
Though I myself am definitely not a pro gamer, not even close, competitive gaming have always (well since a few years back) caught my attention. The eSports scene is huge, if not globally played and globally appreciated. Of course, this could only be possible for the number of quality online PC games available, with massive titles like DOTA 2 (my personal favourite), Counter Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA and the now up and coming World of Tanks.
You notice that most of them have been around for years and have been regularly updated, improved and some even recently relaunched to fit in with current trends. Through the years each of them have caught attention of an increasingly massive fan base, each serving its own scope of avid players and each breeding new sets of professional, highly-skilled masters of the game – ultimately creating an online phenomenon of the eSports industry today.
But that’s another thought for another day.
Malaysia, despite only in recent years gained access to a high-speed broadband (and even now still limited to the main cities), isn’t far behind when it comes to the standard of our professional gamers and the extend of what we have achieved.
Professionals
Championships were won, top placings were earned, but more importantly, experience and progress were invaluably gained. 2012 saw some of our top teams, including emerging professionals racing for some of the most prestigious, international titles globally. We may not be a jack of all trades, but we surely are a master in arguably the largest division of the entire eSports industry – the MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arena) like DOTA, LoL and HoN. Oh gosh, those initials, talk about the similarities they carry (pun intended).Orange eSports
Let’s start off with Orange eSports DOTA. After a few changes in lineups and the big news of Mushi deciding to shift to coaching, the professional team has grown from strength to strength as they went all out, travelled the seas, across the globe, all the way to the largest international DOTA 2 tournament, The International. Competing with 16 of the world’s top DOTA 2 teams with $1Million at stake, you could say it was an embodiment of what the DOTA eSports scene truly was, and an achievement itself for Orange eSports already.
MUFC
But Orange isn’t the only professional DOTA 2 team we’ve got. 2012 finally saw the re-emergence of MUFC as an independent team once again after many crucial changes in lineups. If anything, MUFC used to arguably be Malaysia’s top DOTA 2 team until Orange came about and recruited some of its most precious talents. But that’s another story, and for another day. This year, despite having lost several opportunities already and in particularly missing The International, MUFC finally ended the year with a high note as they stormed DOTA 2 The Asia with an impressive set of display, being the only team who was completely undefeated during the group stages and finally earning 2nd among all the best teams regionally.
KL Hunters
While both Orange and MUFC continued to carry our nation’s DOTA pride, KL Hunters, Malaysia’s first professional League of Legends team, brought us an icon, a hope and a belief for us to root for in the League of Legends eSport division. Apart from Orange eSports, KL Hunters seem to be a professional team ready for some serious competitive gaming as sponsored by Garena themselves have led the team to a strong foundation of essential training sessions, strategy meetings and even, fitness workouts (huge kudos to that!).
Tournaments
But ultimately, professional gamers are nothing without a platform for them to shine. And it is these tournaments that truly bring out the talents of the eSports scene. However, most major tournaments have always been held internationally and our gamers have to fork out their personal savings (unless they have a sponsor) just to travel abroad and compete. Being on a world stage is, to say the least, a huge opportunity and should well be deserved for anyone who have already reached the capability of competing with the top. But the costs just to travel and to accommodate is sky-high expensive.With this factor limiting our potential talents to unleash their skills, it inadvertently setbacks our eSports industry if we continue to fail to get a globally-recognised tournament together on Malaysian grounds (or we could also encourage more sponsors, we'll get back to this later).
But we prevailed.
In 2012 itself, Malaysia had the honour of hosting some of the world’s most prestigious and most closely- watched tournaments, from the likes of WCG Asian Championships to DOTA 2 The Asia. Both, were huge. Ushering in massive crowds and spurring an emerging phenomenon in Malaysia, the hosting of such prominent tournaments simply breathed a fresh new air into our Malaysian eSports scene – bringing hope, faith, and dreams all together for the future.
The Future
At TheShadowGamer.com, we truly believe that our eSports industry is growing. Already ranking 6th in the International eSports Federation, our teams are certainly a formidable force on the world stage, while 2012 also brought the spotlight over to Malaysia with the prestigious tournaments held on local grounds.But there definitely is more with our potential. The Malaysian eSports industry still holds a big gap for many more opportunities to come. Sponsoring our local professional teams for one is a huge prospect for companies to seriously consider as after all, these teams are the icon of the games, the idols of gamers, and essentially our nation’s flag bearers in the international stage. Companies out there should realise that there is great potential in using our teams as their marketing platform. After all, our strongest teams are known internationally, around the world.
That said, though we simply as an independent site dedicated to everything gaming, do not have the money for sponsorship, we ultimately do have some resources to give our strongest share of support, and here’s how.
Starting 2013, we have decided that we are going to give a larger focus on the Malaysian eSports Industry than we did this year. And what will this mean to you? Well, for a start, you will be seeing more consistent news/updates relating to our professional teams and their appearances in tournaments. But at the same time, we will be dedicating some time aside to work closely with some of of our up and coming professional gaming teams, and with this we truly wish to give our biggest form of support.
Hence, if you’re professionally gaming or are on the verge to be, and would like some media spotlight or coverage on your performances, simply send us a short message at hello@theshadowgamer.com and we would love to discuss on how as a media partner we can help you.
Till then, have a wonderful, new year!
Monday, 24 December 2012
DOTA 2 The Asia: The Results
1st place: LGD (China)
Last weekend was one heck of a blast at KLCC (Convention Centre) as two major events Comic Fiesta 2012 and TGX 2012 were held at the same venue, despite in different halls. Though we can not rid yet of how awesomely packed the place was with gamers, cosplayers and comic-enthusiasts alike, this post will first serve to highlight one of the biggest regional esports tournament this year, DOTA 2 The Asia held in conjunction with TGX 2012.
Attracting and bringing all the top talents of DOTA 2 around this region and even renown shoutcaster Toby 'TobiWan' Dawson in one venue, The Asia was set to be a massive sight and a must-go event for all DOTA and esports fans. True enough, though sound systems backtracked the event a little, it indeed soon proved to be one heck of a festival for both avid fans and onlookers alike.
But in midst of all these, are the true carry-ers, gankers and supporters in the game, focusing hard and working as one to grab an edge over the other team. All dedicated whatever they had, all played with profession and sportsmanship, but some were less fortunate, while some, advanced.
After the two days long tournament, after rounds of hard battles and overcoming some serious ganks, team China's LGD eventually took the lead against Malaysia's very MUFC in the finals, taking home the tournament title along with $15,000, while MUFC had to settle with 2nd place and $9,000. Meanwhile, Orange Esports, after succumbing to co-country team MUFC during the semi-finals, proceeded to take hold of the Philippines' MiTH-Trust, gaining 3rd place and $6,000.
I would also like to use this opportunity to commend both our boys Orange eSports and especially MUFC. MUFC gave a pretty solid performance from the very start, being the only team in the competition who was completely undefeated during the group stages and obviously, before the finals. Both of our teams had done Malaysia very proud for taking 2 out of the top 3 places, among all the top talents an in such a competitive regional scene. Keep it up!
2nd place: MUFC DOTA (Malaysia)
3rd place: Orange eSports (Malaysia)
Thank you, RGN for the photos!
Thursday, 13 December 2012
[DOTA 2 The Asia] Official group stages and schedule
DotA is arguably one of the more popular, if not the biggest game in Malaysia, South East Asia and especially up north China. To acknowledge the fact and to celebrate all the top talents from each countries around the region, DotA 2 The Asia has been organised.
DotA 2 The Asia will be held from the 22 to the 23rd of December in conjunction with TGX (The Game Expo) Malaysia 2012 and its group stages and schedule have recently been announced.
I would say that both groups are fairly balanced, with probably LGD or MUFC (if they perform at their best) taking the lead in Group A, while Zenith and Orange having a good chance in Group B. But don't get me wrong, all the other teams are equally competitive, but track records have shown that China's LGD and both Malaysia's Orange and MUFC to be the better contenders for this year's one of the biggest regional DotA 2 tournament.
The official schedule, click image to enlarge.
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