2013 A Good Year for Women in Gaming

Who do you see as the lead role in almost all video games in the past years? It is usually the typical while male character in every game, just with a different look and actions. Well not in 2013. 2013 has been a very impressive year for girl characters in video games. Hopefully raising the profile and views of virtual women in major or minor ways is hopefully a trend we continue in 2014. 

What are these games?

Tomb Raider is a game where it shows that a girl lead character is just as a good as a male lead character. Tomb Raider is in the eyes of a young, certainly attractive young lady. But that doesn't overshadow the fact that she has been beaten, stabbed, shot, skewered like every other male character has in games. Doing the same in return to her enemies or worse in many ways. This game starts you out as a innocent explorer to a huge action hero and does it just as well or even better than male led games. Whether it is a female or male character, doesn't take away from them being a "badass" action hero. Not to even mention that the quick scaling of sales showing that the game is very popular, we will see more games with female leads. 

In newer games that have some of the biggest sales of the year, BioShock Infinite and Last of Us are male leads but the female characters definitely are the harder fleshed out characters. They have been made to be bigger parts of the game more than just a liability. They are now assets and a priority to the game where without them playing the role they play, the game wouldn't be the same. 

Female roles in video games are becoming just as big as many female roles in movies being centralized along with everyone else. They are required much attention in the game because if you let something happen to them you lose, but aren't what it seems to be a hard task to handle. They usually aren't able to be killed to make the game easier, but are soon developing into the characters that if anything at all happens to them you will not be able to complete the game. 

What Is The Best Pro Equipment?

When you are on your way to being a professional gamer you are going to need professional equipment. This is the gear you will need.

If you are looking to have the listening competitive edge over your opponent then how would you?
You have to be able to out hear your opponent playing around you in game, but also be able to hear your team communicating with crisp clear sound. astrogaming.com is the place to get sound like this. At Astro Gaming they have put together the best headsets you can imagine with their crystal clear voice communication and pinpoint accurate 7.1 Dolby Digital and Dolby Headphone surround and the comfiest user friendly adjustable headset on Earth.

You looking to outplay your opponent with jumping/laying down skills or knifing skills. Make it easier on yourself instead of straining your fingers using Claw grip on your controller. Buy a Scuf Gaming controller that gives you paddles on the back of your controller. These paddles are hardwired into your controller to be the buttons you wish you could press with ease. Like the A button or the B button. The best part is that they are on the back of the controller in a place where your fingers rest anyway. Another great advantage to using a Scuf Controller is the trigger stops that are applied to the triggers that have pinpoint shoot timing. They are put together so that you don't have to push the button all the way down to shoot or aim, you just have to press it to where the trigger stop is and it will do as you say.

Have a hard time seeing on your tube T.V. or playing on your big 50" Plasma screen? Buy the best gaming monitor on the market. The BenQ RL Series monitor. This monitor has the fastest response time known to man for digital devices and comes with HD quality to see every detail you are looking for when playing against your opponent.

How To Become A Professional Gamer

There is 3 ways you become a professional gamer or also know as a Major League Gamer. One way is more difficult the another and the other is a little bit easier. Here is how.

Way 1:
The first way to be an MLG is by actually competing. There are hundreds of thousands of teams out there for any competitive game you play that you have to overcome and be better than. For games like Call of Duty, Dota, League of Legends, you need to put together a team and go practice. Practice is a very viable thing you need in order to become the best at anything you do. Without practice you won't succeed and if you don't succeed then you won't be an MLG. Once you think you get enough practice in then you go to one of the MLG and UMG events that go on year around all over the United States. That is where you see how you stand against others who have practiced and the pros. Now this is the stage of the game where you need to go the hardest in because if you don't place top 8 at that event then you technically aren't a pro. Because in order to be a real professional gamer placing top 8 at an event is how you do it. That means there is 8 teams with at least 4 players per team. That is 32 players you have to play against and be better than in the final 8 in order to be the best of the best and be a real MLG.

Way 2:
This way to be a professional gamer is the easier one of the three. This way is just by making money to play the game. To be a professional at almost anything is by making money at what you are doing. In order to do this you have to stream your games on twitch.tv everyday, upload videos to youtube.com everyday. This takes a lot of equipment to be ready and a lot of time and effort into keeping it steady.

Way 3:
This is the last and the hardest way to being a professional gamer. This way is by doing both the first and second way at the same time. Compete with your team and still find time to stream and upload and that is what makes you a true Major League Gamer.

What Is My e-Sport Story?

Hi everyone,
I have noticed that I post a lot on my blog about e-Sports but never have talked about what I have done myself that has to do with e-Sports. Well, here is my story!

Ever since the release of Call of Duty 4 I was competitive gamer. I never went to competitions but that is the game where it all started for me wanting to beat my friends. From there on, I have bought every single Call of Duty that came out, even up to the newest release of Call of Duty Ghosts.

In Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is where I started looking into putting together a competitive Call of Duty team and competing like all the pros. That is when I started watching live events of pro teams winning events, and learning strategies of all the games that have been coming out. The sad side to the story is I turned out to be a bust. I couldn't put together a steady team at the age of 15 years old and I almost wanted to give up. But one thing my dad always taught me, is if at you first don't succeed, try and try again. So I did. I kept on pushing my efforts into being a good Call of Duty player and then the release of Call of Duty Black Ops 2 came out. That is where my competitive world really took the biggest turn.

In Call of Duty Black Ops 2 I finally established a constant 4 man team and was able to compete. That is where I went to MLG.com and played against other teams that were looking to get to the top. My team rose up the ranks, of course losing some before he we hit the top 50 teams in the world for competitive Call of Duty on MLG.com. That doesn't include all the pro teams out there and the teams that practice in other ways. I spent the majority of my days constantly playing Call of Duty to where my mom hated me being home because all I did was sit in my room. It wasn't the healthiest diet plan I shall say. I became recognized as a Top 3 player in the State of Maine for Call of Duty. Then the release of Call of Duty Ghosts came about.

When Call of Duty Ghosts was released my same 4 man team was able to get a sponsorship with Aroma Joes Rush Energy and that is where I stand now with my competitive Call of Duty career. It never gets boring to me, even though I do get really frustrated. I will always have a passion for being a Call of Duty player and soon become a Call of Duty pro.

Besides me becoming a top player in my state for Call of Duty, I have always noticed the growth in e-Sports in the years. I am now getting a liking into the evolution of PC competitive games and once in a while enjoy watching Dota 2 or Star Craft 2 players go against each other. ESports will always be the biggest passion of mine and even when I get too old to play video games, I will sure keep up on all my favorite teams progress as I support them like most people do their favorite sports teams.

Thank you for reading, if you have any questions comment on my blog!
Have a great day!

Can North America Compete With the International 3?

Team Liquid is THE American Dota 2 team. They are the hope North American eSports have. Last year at the International 3 they had a very impressive run. They qualified for the Final Tournament Bracket after a on stage record of 7-7 which is very impressive record against the level of competition at the event. Bringing an amazing win over Malaysian team Team MUFC and pulled of a legendary upset over Chinese team LGD.cn. This shows that they have dedicated nothing but hard work into their progress. This is shown because of what North American teams struggle with that I talked about in my last blog post. Their training consisted of a 6 week hardcore training session. Since the International 3, Team Liquid has put up substantial numbers of wins over European teams and decent results over major global powers like Alliance. Team Liquid isn't the only hope though for the North American revolution in Dota 2. Evil Geniuses has placed consistently in the 2nd and 3rd spots in the second half of the Dota 2 2013 season. Another team is a half Canadian international team, Speed Gaming who have taken the championship win over the top Chinese team Team DK in the November MLG Columbus. The only thing is, it will take time for the balance of power to shift.

What Will It Take for North American Dota 2 To Succeed?

North America holding a strong third place globally. They are still falling behind Asia and Europe as dominant Dota 2 nations. But why is that if the amount of people in North America playing is still very high? America holding many of the biggest eSports events around the world, has been the worst at the eSports games since 2001. Many believe that it is a cultural issue on why America falls behind all their foreign counterparts. America has always offered scholarships for their youth in athletics so that they can have a way of financial help when they go to play their collegiate sports and that is why North America is some of the best at team based sports. That doesn't happen for the athletes because there is no collegiate eSports system for the gamer's in North America. It doesn't compare to countries like South Korea, where gaming is a recognized passion, there is a system that helps those players be able to financially be helped. North America's phenoms mostly come from individual talent that hope to reach the top because of their worth ethic, but not as much as the help from others. Video games in these European or Asian countries are much more accepted, and the players don't have to move out of their houses and live on their own till they usually are in their late 20's. Where as in North America the young and coming up people in society are continuously moving out by the age of 18 and having to pay their own bills and not have the money or time to pay those bills. Living expenses in North America are also much higher than countries like Sweden. With expenses and gaming not being accepted as much, it is harder for gamer's to be able to shine in their eSport title because the time simply isn't there unless they force upon their schedules.

Also North America was a late bloomer compared to these other centers of Dota 2. The game has been around East Europe and China much longer than it has been in North America. A matter of fact years ahead. With the majority of America's gamer's are still more willing to play hardcore games on consoles, it is knocking them off the stepping blocks and putting them behind all the other countries that are rising with PC eSports.

Another big let down is that it is hard to play and get better if they can't play every day against the best teams in the world. Because all these other countries are so far away from North America, the over see connection counts in lag compensation for whoever is player. It makes the game harder to play. Have you ever clicked a button on a computer and it doesn't respond for a few seconds after? Well that is what happens when American gamer's are trying to play these top teams in other countries. It doesn't allow for the full practice. Time zones are even off. If a team on the West Coast of North America is trying to play a team in Europe, the time difference makes it hard to find times to where they can actually play. Then when they do, there is a lag. There is going to have to be a way for players all over the world to compete against each other with no disadvantages so the playing field is level and the practice needed, is fulfilled.

Can Next Generation Consoles Hold Their Weight?

The competitive world wasn't too excited about the next generation consoles coming out. None of them seemed too great on supporting the eSport world. Matt "Nadeshot" Haag America's favorite gamer definetly wasn't. He expressed in many of his youtube videos that he didn't know how the turn-out of the Xbox One would be. It didn't seem to support much of the competitive world like the Xbox 360. But have their opinions changed? The 2014 Call of Duty Championships are to be played with the Xbox One's. Why would they do that though if all the qualifiers are with the Xbox 360? They are having all the teams looking to qualify for CoD Champs, qualify on the Xbox 360 but expect them to play the event on the new generation console. It is Call of Duty, and Microsoft's way of gliding the new Xbox One into the competitive world of gaming. So yes, Microsoft when making the Xbox One did intend on letting it be compatible for all competitive gamer's in the Xbox franchise and regular gamer's.

What is Sony doing with their Playstation 4? Well at the beginning of Black Ops 2 there was no competitive seen for Playstation players like there was before and that is MLG's choice. Unless Sony does something that interests MLG, it will still be off the competitive side of games. Only the future will tell on how the competitive world will be with the new generation of consoles being brought into the hands of the gamer's.

Where To Watch eSports Live!

If you are interested in seeing how eSports is evolving and want to have a first hand account of what games are shining. There are many websites you can go to and see what pros are playing what. First and fore most, the best site to see what professional games are being played and where the biggest viewer base is, is on twitch.tv. On twitch you can browse every game that is being live streamed known to man. There are tips and tricks streams, pro streams, etc., on every single game that you can find on twitch. Also on twitch, if you sign up you can talk in the chat to ask any question you want, and 100% of the time you will get a answer that is fact, and will help your understanding. Go ahead try it out and look for the game that you have once played before. Youtube.com is another great website that the majority of people already know, you can search anything you want. If you want help with gaming on there, go ahead and search whatever you'd like to that could help you with your gaming. Strategies, tips, etc. The last website that is very helpful is majorleaguegaming.com, this website is the home of all competitive gaming and if you go to its streaming website, mlg.tv, you can see live professional scrims of games going on and even learn straight from those. I hope this blog post on learning competitive gaming helps with a better understanding of how you can get better at video games!

Call of Duty Championships March 28-30

Call of Duty Championships are just around the corner for all the teams who are going to attend. On March 28 the day starts of who will make it through the open bracket and make it into the championship bracket to compete for the $400,000 first place prize. But what teams will statistically be predicted to win? Well there are a couple. If you look back at Black Ops 2 to the top 3 teams at the event. Fariko Impact won the whole tournament with EnVyUs taking second place and OpTic Gaming taking third. But you can't look at those being the teams anymore because they for one, aren't all the same rosters, and it isn't the same game. Then you have to look at who has the most championships under their belt. Well, compLexity Live is the current and record holding Call of Duty Champions. But where was compLexity at the last Call of Duty Champs? They weren't there because the team wasn't formed. Fariko Impact was thought to be the team that could never be beaten because they did exactly what compLexity is doing now. They won every event and couldn't be competed against. Well Fariko Impact is no longer a team, but 3 of the original 4 players are on Curse Las Vegas together, and they are hungry to win a championship. But what about compLexity? Are they willing to give up that easily on their champion belt? I don't think so, with them taking MLG Columbus at the beginning of the CoD Ghosts season, and UMG Philly, they are showing no signs of stopping. But, tK Gaming has been runner-up to them in every single event. Being only rounds away from beating compLexity tK is ready to finally take the belt and defend it themselves. Is tK Gaming the only ones though? EnVyUs is looking strong with their new pick up of Seth "Scump" Abner and coming only rounds to compLexity and tK in online scrimmages. Remember though, we can't all forget compLexity's fall to OpTic Gaming at MLG Champs last year for Black Ops 2. Even though OpTic Gaming hasn't been as strong as they were in Modern Warfare 3, OpTic Gaming has always been a championship caliber team and is never underestimated at LAN events. There are many options to who is going to beat compLexity, but the reality is, which team will fulfill the destiny of becoming champions, and reign as the new kings of the game.

Red Bull & eSports

Red Bull is an energy drink company as most of you know. You might also know that they spend a lot of time sponsoring some of the best athletes in the world to wear their product as advertising, and in return giving them benefits that only they can get from Red Bull. Now I have said that they, "sponsor athletes". You would never think that they are sponsoring video gamers because its not an athletic field one bit, not to anyone in the world. Well everyone is right, it's not athletic but they are still looked at as athletes. E-Sport players are players who play certain video games professionally and only the best of the best are sponsored by Red Bull. They are looking to expand the horizon of the gamer and help people realize that gaming isn't what everyone thinks it is. They want to show people that eSports is something that can be a heavyweight contender in viewership with a lot of sports in the world. Right now, at the start of 2014 there are only 8 gamers sponsored by Red Bull and among those 8 have more personal views on twitch.tv, than a lot of sports do on some of their biggest events. Do you like Red Bull? I know I do, but not just because of the drink, but because of all the extensions in the world that they are reaching out to in order to show everyone that the "norm" isn't the norm in the world anymore because now pro gamers are now making just as much money as a lot of pro sport athletes. Professional gamers are indeed, at the same level as professional athletes all over the world.

What Are The Facts?

What are the facts behind eSports? Is it REALLY growing or is it not what people are all hyping it up to be Well here is where you find out. eSports is the number 1 growing community in the world right now. For three years all the competitive platforms that are associated with Major League Gaming have increased in online viewership by 1557%. Online viewership has increased from 3 million viewers an event to 54 million viewers per event being watched online. Those are exponential numbers to have in a community that is new to the world. With these statistics being released by MLG itself, they also pointed out how much more supportive of the players the community is by how much advertising has been watched. The industries standard of completion percentage on ads is 74%. The average number of people watching the full advertisement on MLG players streams or event streams is 90.7%. 16.7% MORE, than what all industry standards are for all T.V. ads being aired. Major League Gaming is rising to be just as popular as some sports in America. How many of you watch NCAA March Madness? A lot I assume. Well In one weekend of an MLG event, there was 14 million more hours watched then there was the whole month of the NCAA March Madness tournament. More hours viewed that Americas favorite college basketball tournament? That is impressive if you ask me and it has the statistics to back it up. E-Sports is on the verge of a new era, and the stereotypical gamer will be looked at, as the equivalent to athletes, superstars, etc., because that is what they are becoming. 

Complexity The Reigning Titans for Good?

Since Black Ops 2 compLexity Live has been winning every single tournament they have been playing in. Being the longest reigning Call of Duty champs in history of Call of Duty, they are showing no sign of slowing down. Their roster consisted of Aches, Crimsix, Teepee, and Clayster. But now with Clayster gone will compLexity still be able to win like they have done before? They are showing that they can. After dropping Clayster they picked up DKarma as their new fourth. Since then they have been winning all online matches and are even shutting down their demi-god opposites with ease. tK Gaming and EnVyUs are so far the only teams to show any resistance to compLexity but can't seem to find that breaking point. Only time will tell if this almost God like team will continue to be unbeaten and remain champions or will these young raw talented teams coming into the scene be able to stop them? Or will these seasoned veterans be able to put a halt to compLexity's terror and start a new entrance into the world of competitive Call of Duty? We will see how this year unfolds in 2014.

A Rough Start For OpTic Gaming

The month of January has been a rough month for OpTic Gaming at the start of the 2014 season. Will OpTic be able to keep a steady roster for CoD Champs? Well lets see here. At the beginning of the month of January OpTic had dropped Jordan "Jkap" Kaplan from the roster and picked up Ricky Stacy. He made a great addition to the team when going into their first event of the year UMG Philly. Going in looking strong at the event, OpTic took a hard loss to FaZe Clan and fell directly into the losers bracket. Then in the losers bracket they faced the defending champions compLexity and took a hard loss. Placing 9th in the tournament not many people were happy with another tournament loss. Sunday night it was confirmed that Seth "Scump" Abner had left the team and joined EnVyUs with Will "BigT" Johnson retiring and becoming the coach of OpTic. They needed two spots to replace. They then picked up Clayster and Parasite as their 3rd and 4th players but that didn't last long. After only a couple days of playing Ricky and Parasite both left OpTic to join up with Curse Las Vegas reuiniting themselves with Killa and Miraculouz. Now OpTic Gaming was looking once again for two new players to fill the 3rd and 4th spots on the OpTic roster. After a long search on who they should pick up, OpTic decided their roster for the 2014 season will consist of Nadeshot, MboZe, Saintsss, and Clayster with BigT as the coach. Now everyone is thinking will this roster last? Well there is no arguing between the teammates like there was with Parasite and Ricky on the team and their matches are going much more fluent with more scrimmages being won and a lot more chemistry being easily built between the players. But all of us as a community can only sit back and wait to see how well this team really is and how well they perform at CoD Champs in June!