In Defense of Competitive Gaming

There are many people in this club who dislike the idea of competitive gaming. The concern is that competitiveness discourages a social atmosphere in favor of a competitive atmosphere where the only concern is to beat the guy who is higher up on the competitive ladder then you. Its why this club is called the "Social" Gaming Club; the "Social" is meant to indicate that we are a group of friends that play video games, instead of a group that focuses on tearing each other up on some sort of competitive ladder.


So here's my argument: There is actually very little difference between a social gamer and a competitive gamer.

A Fine, Fine Line

I don't really play video games anymore. I'm not sure when I first realized this, but I certainly find myself remembering the fact often. I have a Wii, a DS, and a Playstation 2 in my possession, but they tend to collect dust more than anything else. I have a laptop capable of running a modest number of games (provided that they're run at settings on the lower end of the spectrum), yet I only find myself idly playing minesweeper over any other game.

Thrilling adventure awaits!

A thread was recently posted on a forum that I go to, asking the community about their picks for the top five games of 2011. The ones that he remembered to list were the following:

Dead Space 2
DC Universe Online
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
LittleBigPlanet 2
Killzone 3
You Don’t Know Jack
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Bulletstorm
Dragon Age 2
Homefront
Pokemon Black/White
Yakuza 4

League of Legends: Before the Game Starts

Hello everyone! My name is Kathy Chen and I am a sophomore majoring in Accountancy and Finance. I’m being forced to blog (not that I really mind >.>) so I’m just going to write down my thoughts (THESE ARE OPINIONS PEOPLE, NOT FACTS). This blog is mainly going to be about League of Legends (since that’s the only game I regularly play). My blog assumes that you have played LoL before or at least know the fundamentals of the game. I figure I’ll start with strategy and move onto champions and other games when I’m done. If anyone wants to talk to me about what I’ve written, be it congratulating me on how correct my analysis is or raging at me because I was terribly wrong, leave a comment at the end of this post or add me in game. I am mostly on the NA server, but sometimes I play on the EU servers. The summoner name for all three accounts is UTXKai.

So let’s get started. Strategy in LoL begins before the game begins. Many games have been lost before the game even starts, whether it be the synergy of the team (if it’s solo queue), team composition, or the setup of each individual summoner. Much of what I’m going to say is common sense, but these are ideas that many forget to apply.

Kieran's Movie Reviews- Mission Impossible 4 and Real Steel

Hi everyone. Since Scott reviewed some games, my entries will be movie reviews.

DISCLAIMER: To start I would like to say that the opinions in these reviews are only mine and you don't have to agree with me. It's better to have your own opinions about movies than to blindly follow the opinions of others, including me. That being said, my opinions are right and if you disagree, well then, I guess you're wrong.

RATING SYSTEM: I don't give movies numbers or letters as ratings. Instead I developed my own system. If a movie is GOOD, I compare it to an equally good thing. And if a movie is BAD, I compare it to an equally bad thing.

The argument against Snipers

From its onset, Team Fortress 2 brought a different style of gameplay from other shooters. While other shooters focused on varied equipment for a single character, Team Fortress instead, focused on varied characters. This design philosophy brought the world 9 unique and memorable classes. Scout. Soldier. Pyro. Demoman. Heavy. Engineer. Medic. Spy. Sniper. Each class had their own perks built into the characters themselves, and in the different weapons they wielded. Each one granted a much different gameplay to the FPS world, new strategies that have not been seen elsewhere. All except for one. The Sniper.

Now, before I continue on, this isn’t a rant that snipers are overpowered, or that I have a personal grudge against them (which I do, but that’s still beside the point). This is to explain why Snipers have no place explicitly within the Team Fortress world.

What IS StarCraft?

Most gamers have heard of StarCraft, the strategy game by Blizzard Entertainment. But very few people actually know what it is. Most people know that the game is very popular in South Korea, and that there are tournaments and “pro-gamers” that spend their entire lives playing this game. This produces the general perception that StarCraft is incredibly difficult to play and that it’s impossible for a normal person to enjoy this game.

But the game has changed. In July 2010, a sequel to StarCraft was released. Though this game is just as difficult to play as its predecessor (I would argue that it is more difficult), the game has been completely redesigned so that it is much easier to watch. This means that it can be enjoyed by people that do not actually play this game. And it shows. In 2008, only around 30,000 people outside of South Korea followed the StarCraft: Broodwar professional scene. During the beta of StarCraft II in May 2010, the top tournaments would be lucky to have 3000 concurrent viewers. By the end of 2011, popular online streamers can easily break 60,000 viewers and the top-level StarCraft II tournaments would have more viewers than nationally syndicated television channels such as Comedy Central. (in the millions)

And I am a strong believer in the power of professional gaming, or “e-sports”. I want it to succeed, even more than it already has, because I love this game and I love the community. So I decided that I want to write a guide to StarCraft for people who want to watch the game, but don’t really want to spend much time learning how to play it. Therefore I want to explain this game in a simple way that may not be very good for people who actually play the game, but would suffice for those who want to watch a StarCraft match and know what is going on.

Scott's Analysis Corner, Issue #1: Pokemon

Hello, all. My first entry in this blog has arrived much later than intended, as I originally wanted to do a review of Super Mario 3D Land but forgot to complete the game. While trying to come up with things to post about, I initially wanted to do game reviews. Then I got a great idea: why not review entire series of games? As a longtime Nintendo consumer, most of the mainstays of my collection are entries in a franchise, so I've got quite a few I can cover. With that in mind, Pokemon was an easy first choice. That's enough rambling about my thought process, so onto the review!