Intel Extreme Masters which was held from October 1st to 3rd, was a remarkable tournament is many ways.
Twelve Wacraft III players from around the world were gathered in Chengdu, China to compete for a total prize money of $10,000.
Among the attendees were the most achieved WC3 player Jang "Moon" JaeHo also known as Fantasista and 5th race, two times WCG winner XiaoFeng "Sky" Li, Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen also holder of two WCG titles and the tower master Xuwen "Infi" Wang.
Group D saw the first shock, where Grubby lost both his matches versus Infi and ReMinD and was eliminated earlier than his fans had hoped. As the best European player, he failed to keep up with the expectations.
Grubby disappointed his fans
There were no other surprises during the group stage and Lyn, Sky, FoCuS, TeD, Moon and Fly100% joined ReMinD and Infi in the playoffs.
Playoff phase was this tournament's true peak as fans got to see some of the best matches of WC3's late history. The leading light was none other than Moon of course, who seemed to be in his prime shape again. He played almost perfect in every single match and brought about some of the most amazing moments we had seen recently.
Moon being paid $16,000/month to play video games
Moon defeated the in-shape Lyn in the first round of playoffs and made it to the semi-finals where he had to face FoCuS who had overcame Infi earlier. The epic match on Turtle Rock between these two will be remembered for a long time amid the fans. Moon won the match and stepped to the finals.
Beside Moon, there was another player who kept stunning spectators with his performance during the tournament. Sky who was paired with ReMinD in the first round of playoffs, defeated him easily and advanced to the next round to meet Fly100% who had managed to beat the Undead prodigy TeD in the previous round.
Fly100% has always been Sky's nemesis and this time was no exception. Despite losing one map, he managed to win the other two in a best-of-three series and moved to face Moon in the finals.
Strangely enough, Moon played really sloppy against him and lost the series in two really fast games. Leaving the title and the first place prize money to the Orc player.
I have been following competitive Warcraft III scene for 6 years and I have seen many many tournaments and this one was among the best. You can find all the replays here. They are all worth watching in a way. If you always wanted to get into WC3 but didn't know where to start, let this be the beginning. This is simply the best WC3 has to offer at the moment.
Final Standings:
- Fly100% - $5,000
- Moon - $2,500
- Sky - $1,500
- FoCuS - $1,000
Fly100% with his cheque
- Photos courtesy of ESL's Julia Christophers
Contains major spoilers
Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the most anticipated games of current generation and truly an astonishing achievement for gaming industry in various aspects.
Technically, MGS 4 was a breakthrough for sure. The way the game plays and looks, is just mind-blowing. The graphics are not photo realistic yet, but they're really close and the gameplay is the best I have seen in my 13 years of gaming experience. Approaching current gen's end of lifespan, I'm positive we won't see a game of such quality in this generation.
That aside, the game has unique production elements that make it look like a movie. While we had seen such elements in previous Metal Gear games as well, here they are truly shining, presenting an extraordinary experience. To sum it up, if you want to convince someone a game is a form of art, this is the best example. Strong plot with solid characters and innumerable twists, boosted by stunning presentation – sounds like cinema, only better.
I'm usually like "game with a badass dude and buncha guns? No, thanks" but Metal Gear is far superior to that. It's not even a game; to describe it, I can say it's an experience you must go through, before you die.
Enough with the praising now, here comes the bashing. As I said, I loved almost every facet of this game, there was a huge disappointment for me though. Right when I was doubting Kojima's true nature and whether he's even human or not, I had a slap in the face.
Yes, I'm talking about the ending, where Kojima had the opportunity to reach the true zenith but he blew it.
The cemetery scene, where Snake is going to suicide to prevent an epidemy. Sacrificing himself to save his loved ones and a lot of other people, would be the ideal end for such a hero, but to my amazement, he didn't have the courage to do it, turns out he was a coward. Wait, what? The legendary Snake, a coward? Yes, I can't find any other explanation for what he did or rather, what he did not.
I know there was no epidemy danger at all but Snake didn't know it, did he? One might argue his death would be in vain if he had killed himself. To reply, I can say that's where the true tragedy would come in. Snake taking his life thinking he would save countless others by doing it but in reality he didn't have to do it. Now that would be THE tragedy but what we got instead? A happy end!!!
Rose reuniting with Raiden, Meryl reuniting with Campbell and marrying Johnny and Snake not killing himself; what is this, Love Story?
And to think that Snake was going to die soon anyway, just makes me want to bang my head on a wall. The image that remains of Snake in my mind is that of a coward and that's not fair. He deserved more.
You blew it, Kojima-san, you blew it.
Metal Gear: Peace Walker
I have been going through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots recently and while I don't expect that quality on PSP, playing it has fairly risen my standards.
Before TGS, we already knew some exciting facts about Peace Walker. Kojima stating Peace Walker will be his MGS 5, MGS 4 team working on the game and some amazing videos from E3, all had made for one of our most anticipated games on PSP.
We had the final blow at TGS though, where a truly stunning story trailer was released, featuring details on Peace Walker's plot and characters, not to mention the great soundtrack (specially the song "Heavens Divide") and great visuals with the comic-like cutscenes we already know and love from Metal Gear's previous installments on PSP.
Capcom's original RPG for PSP
Being an RPG freak, I have been longing for a quality old-school title after Tales of Eternia on the PSP.
Seems like Capcom has been working on such a game, a PSP exclusive named Last Ranker.
Tatsuya Yoshikawa has done the characters design. He has worked on projects like Devil May Cry 4 before.
The game sees Kazuya Niinou as its director who is quite experienced with handheld games, having 7th Dragon and Etrian Odyssey in his resume, both of which were well-received DS RPGs.
The main scenario writer is none other than the old hand, Kazushige Nojima, the name behind wonderful scripts such as those of Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X. His most recent oeuvre is Final Fantasy XIII.
With such an eminent crew working on the game, one can expect one of the PSP's strongest RPGs. The game will be available in Japan next year.
Final Fantasy Agito XIII is not dead!
YES! Two screenshots were released during TGS which show the game is not dead after all. Last I heard about it, was at TGS 08, where a trailer was released.
At this rate, I'm not sure if the game will make it to the stores before PSP's lifespan ends, though. And the fact that it was initially considered to be a mobile game, doesn't make me feel any better, either.
As I mentioned earlier, little is known about this game. Actually apart from some screenshots and some details about the gameplay, we have no information about it. This game exists and it will probably use a battle system similar to Crisis Core and that's it. No release date or anything like that.
PS3 250GB Final Fantasy XIII bundle
Such a cool package. A sweet 250GB HDD, nice illustration of the game's protagonist, Lightning, on the top and of course, a copy of Final Fantasy XIII, all for $461.76. Now, that's a great deal……..for the Japanese. Yes, as always such stuff are Japan-only. Oh well, I guess when we start supporting games like people in Japan do, we'll get stuff like that overseas, as well.
My Ratings
