The Gaming Race (Video)

This video shows a parody of the Amazing Race substituted with objectives within the games we have written about  for our topic.

Age of Empires II Best Civilization

The Huns:

The best civilization to play in Age of Empires II in my opinion is the Huns. This is because they are extremely versatile and are able to adapt to any map that you decide to play on. They particularly strive on maps that incorporate lots of water due to the fact they do not need houses, which allows you to save wood and expand your empire without being bottle-necked by the population limit. 

Furthermore, the cavalry used for this civilization is extremely effective as they can access all the upgrades at such little cost. This is beneficial because these Calvary are good at scouting out the map at the beginning of the game, and allows you to rush your opponents who are struggling with their upgrading technology, if this is your preferred play style. 

The main highlight of the Huns is their ability to be efficient and powerful without having a drain on resources. Not only can they avoid building houses, and upgrade their stable and calvary cheaply and quickly, they are also able to build many of their buildings and infantry without the use of gold. This means that they villagers can be used instead to gather food which is an essential asset in the game as most units require food in order to train them. 

However, on the negative side the Huns are highlighted as an offensive civilization and therefore lack the ability to defend their towns and cities effectively. This is in particular because the only defensive mechanisms they can build are watch towers and stone walls. Therefore it is advisable for anyone who likes to play offensively is to rush the enemy with waves of cavalry and cavalry archers in order to prevent the enemies from bringing the fight back home.  

LoL My Favourite Player --- Faker

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok is the Mid Laner for SK Telecom T1, who is my favourite player all over the world.Faker's early gaming experience included custom maps on Warcraft 3, particularly Footman Frenzy and DotA. He started playing League of Legends when the Korean server opened in December 2011. He played LeBlanc heavily, which allowed him to progress into a strong mid laner. He was picked up by SK Telecom T1 in February 2013 and played on their second team. He moved onto the first team in June and has remained there since (despite recent name changes by the team).

Trivia

• Awarded Best Mid Laner at the 2013 Korean e-Sports Awards.
• Believes every Mid Laner should be able to play Twisted Fate because he teaches you to look at the mini map, and Ryze because you learn the importance of hitting the right keys, in the right time and order.
• Dustin Beck, the vice president of Riot games, said Faker is the "Michael Jordan" of League of Legends in a press conference at Staples Center.
• Faker tends to play Gragas, LeBlanc, Riven, Zed, Ahri and Orianna.
• He is considered the best League of Legends player in the world by many e-sports journalists and pro players such as Thorin, Alex Ich,  and Maknoon who called him the "Lionel Messi of League of Legends".
• Was highly regarded for his LeBlanc play during an OGN Spring match against MVP Blue where he went 11-0-2.
• Is notable for not using any alternate skins for champions he plays. There are four known exceptions to this fact, the first was in Game 1 of the OGN Winter Grand Finals 2013 where he used Battle Bunny Riven. Faker went on to state that this was a mistake as the OGN staff check the players accounts before the games, and the tester of his account selected the skin - which Faker did not notice in Champion Select.The second time was at the 2014 League of Legends All-Star event, the entire line up of SKT T1 K used their team's respective champion skins, with Faker using SKT T1 K Zed. The third occurence happened in Game 1 against HUYA in the 2015 Champions Preseason when he picked Pulsefire Ezreal. The fourth time he used a skin was when they faced Incredible Miracle in 2015 LCK Spring Round Robin, where he used Lunar Goddess Diana in Game 1.

• Is well known for his hyper aggressive play style.
• Known for his amazing solo queue performance with Riven on the North American server during the Season 3 World Championship, earning him a 92 % win rate in 24 games.
• Owns two flower pots to relieve stress.
• Popularized Riven being played in the mid lane.
• Previously played a MOBA called 'Chaos'; he credits it as a factor in his easy transition into League.
• Quoted as the "Unkillable Demon King" by Cool.
• Views his team mates as his second family and thinks the family atmosphere strengthens the team.
• Was both the Season MVP and the Mid Lane KDA leader in the HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 and PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014.
• Widely renowned for his deep champion pool, mastery of mechanical play, and understanding of the meta-game.
• Popularized Zilean, Xerath mid.
• In SoloQ he always bans Garen, Galio and Gangplank, because they are the first 3 champions in the Korean champion roster.
• Recently awarded for getting the first Pentakill in LCK Spring 2015 in their game against NaJin e-mFire with his LeBlanc.
• When Faker makes an impressive play during the English casting of professional matches, they're commonly referred to as, 'Things Faker does' due to his reputation for consistent outstanding performances.
• He had an undefeated record with LeBlanc in competitive play (12-0) before losing against EDG in the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational.
• Reportedly had a can of tuna in his pocket before going onstage for MSI 2015 vs TSM.

 

The Success of WoW

World of Warcraft launched at a time where the MMORPG genre was dominated games such as Runescape, EVE Online and Maplestory. So what exactly did Blizzard Entertainment do to turn World of Warcraft into arguably the most successful MMORPG game in history? How did WoW retain so many players despite having a pay-to-play model with a monthly fee while most competitors are free-to-play? Below I will analyse the top reasons that attributed to WoW's success.

1. WoW was based off the RTS game Warcraft, a game series which already had a massive following at the time of WoW's release in 2004. While WoW is a completely different game to Warcraft, it stayed true to its roots in many regards, including Warcraft's lore and characters.

2. Immersive world - WoW is notorious for having a massive world and very expansive lore. The world is so big that it would take a ridiculous amount of time to be able to explore all of it. Players especially love the fact that even in very remote, desolate areas of the WoW universe, you will encounter many different, interesting non-player controlled characters with rich back stories. It is evident that the development team spent a lot of time and resources on developing the characters and if you simply google any character you'll find their back stories and whole history.

3. Cater to everyone - Another reason I think WoW has been so successful because it doesn't only cater to a specific group of players. It has content which caters to every crowd, no matter if they are casual players or hardcore players, PvE'ers or Pvp'ers. There are plenty of quests and exploration available for casual players as well as easy mode dungeons and raids which allows them to see the content and the lore/story but do not take up too much time. Meanwhile, there are heroic and mythic mode dungeons and raids suited for hardcore players. There are also plenty of content available to those who enjoy engaging in PvP combat, with battlegrounds, rated battlegrounds, WPvP, arena and more.

4. Endless things to do - WoW offers players more than enough to do to keep them occupied. Players can work on character progression, or professions or exploring new zones and doing those quest. The bottom line is that if you look, there is something to do to prevent you from being bored.

5. The community - Often times in WoW, you will find a sense of community and comradery with fellow players, especially those on the same faction as you. Players will often help you with quests and dungeons when they see you having trouble with them. They will also likely alert you to the presence of danger in the case that they see enemies ahead. Especially back in the earlier expansions you would so easily make so many friends that you likely will be running around with a full friends' list.

6. Expansions to bring new content and new zones - Over the course of WoW's life, we've seen a pattern regarding the subscription numbers of WoW. At the beginning of a new expansion, we often see a massive spike in subscription numbers, mainly contributed by old, returning players wanting to experience the new content. Then, we will see a slow decline in those numbers until a new expansion is released and the cycle begins anew.

7. Constant updates and rebalances - Blizzard Entertainment has a big development team which helps release new patches and constant rebalancing of classes as well as dungeons and raids. This allows classes to feel relatively even in terms of both PvP and PvE.


The above 7 reasons are why I believe has been so successful. They simply offered gamers what usually wasn't found in traditional MMORPG's. They used their already successful franchise of Warcraft to create an MMO that differentiated from the masses which has then allowed them to garner a playerbase which is loyal to the franchise.

Diablo - The begin & the end in my school life

Diablo Series is the first game and also the last game I play in my school life. 

More than ten years ago at primary school age, i started playing my first game while my older brother leaves his desktop on for sleep. On his desktop, there are kind of classic games such as Heroes of Jin Yong, Winning Eleven 9, Counter Strike 1.5 and Diablo 2. Because i cannot find the controller, and i have no more choice of game. Then, i double-clicked the Diablo 2 icons and my gaming life started from this point. 

After playing several hours, i absolute addict of this game. The only problem is not having many chances to play on a computer which is my brother dominated. After that, i always bargained parents to buy one more desktop for assisting me study, which is a plot of having a gaming desktop. Although my plan failed and i argue for having computer time, i still cannot play more on it. Moreover, i not a boy who easy give up and a negotiate with my brother. 

Come up a rule of change sit after dead in the game, and it is the best gaming childhood forever by being played with Counter Strike 1.5 and Diablo 2. The additional fun moment of that period, we will play Winning Eleven 9 by betting everything for each match, such as sweeping floor, cash and punish. 

During days gone, players on Diablo 2 became less and we left too. Until the Diablo 3 published ten years later, we play it again while we grow up and i already got a laptop. But my brother studied overseas and had the time difference for play Diablo 3 with me. 

And few years passed, situation still the same which is i studied overseas and he backed home. The happiness on gaming with him only on holiday. It's hard to find a free time of playing it anymore now and so on i have not bought the expansion version too. I believe one day, maybe in Diablo 4, i will play this game again.

War Thunder's Future Developments and Expansions

War Thunder Development and Expansion

Recently War Thunder has just finished its Beta Testing, myself also being a Beta player have both seen and contributed in the developments of War Thunder by providing feedback in order to make the game as realistic as possible. War Thunder has three major expansions. The first was the creation of the game and the introduction of planes. The second was the expansion "Ground Forces" where tanks and other ground vehicles would be introduced. In the later third expansion, War Thunder will introduce the final frontier, "Naval Warfare" which will revolve around naval battles and cooperation battles between air forces, naval forces and ground forces.

With historians being hired by Gajin, War Thunder's game owners, they go and search for information and blueprints on the historic wars and the planes, vehicles and ships that took part in them. Introducing new planes and vehicles every couple of months like the recent 1.41 patch where Ground Forces was introduced and the 1.43 patch where 25 new planes for all nations have been added. Such as the:

 Horton 229, Germany's secret weapon against America in WW2

De Havilland Venom, Britain's best jet fighter during WW2

F7F-1 Tigercat Carrier Fighter

B57 Canberra Jet Bomber

Jet Yokosuka R2Y2 "Keiun" - One of Japan's few jet fighters

The story between Dota and me

If someone ask me why you are so fascinated in this game in which a little figure kept crawling in a gloomy picture with boring battles, I can show you lots of reasons, such as keeping fighting with enemies as a real man, pursuring a success with perfect teamwork, and pleasure of micro-operation in front of enemies. However, if someone ask when did you start playing Dota, I will fall silence for a time, because it was a long story.

The first time I confronted with Dota was about at my eight grade, when I was changing channels on TV wearily. A colorful screen came to my eyes, where there were some familiar heroes in this game to me which I had used in Warcraft before. After I had watched for a moment, I found it was a little difficult to understand because the heros' skills are too exquisite to know who had released that and the picture of game is a little somber making me feel depressed. However,  when I saw my friend playing the game several months later at vocatioin, a new idea came to my mind that why not have a try with my friends. At first, I always lost even with the help of my friends. Then they told me to watch some videoes to learn how to behave better and what necessary equipments I should gain for each stage.

Then it came to my long vocation between senior and junior highschool, when I was almost got addicted to this game. I played this game for a whole day without relax nearly. Yet, there came the moment when I finally realized the real meaning of the game, attributing to a talk with my team member. He asked me why we always play this game without boring. 'Because it is interesting enough.' 'No, becasue we are so lonely and losing and hold a illusion that we can gain success here forever, but this is not the real purpose of this game. Dota means die or try again, which is not asking you to play the game again and again but recommand you to go back to the real world then have a try again.' Later, I found that I am no longer addicted to the temporary escape of the game but face to everything in my life straightforwardly without heisitation, only play this with old friends for fun and for reminding us the old friendship.

Nowadays, I open this game sometimes to find some familiar feeling of highschool, but can not get that. The reason may be that the familiar friends are not accompanied with me anymore, and it is only me who still miss the period we have spent together long before. For me, Dota is absolutely not just a game but a symbol of old memory and symbol of my teenager period, which will be stored in my deep inside forever.

--by Chong Yao