Discover the world of eSport Italia the Italian magazine for the videogames champions
lIve the InternatIonal events wIth esport ItalIa: everythIng about the World Game Cup CanneS 2010
halo reaCh anD StarCraft 2: not so much to waIt!
great numbers for fnIGe, join the Italian electronic sports Federation!
Videogames as Sport
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the editorial director speaks Together you win but first let’s play. The first multiplayer game in history? Is also one of the first. We are speaking about Pong. Do you know it, don’t you? The Atari videogame showed two white bars and a ball on the screen to simulate a ping pong set. first the game did not allow to play with the computer: the basic issue of the game was the human players challenge. Only afterwards it was possible to play against an artificial intelligence. But is it really possible to obtain from a PC performances similar to the human intelligence? The question goes back to the origins of the videogame medium. In 1996 there was the first online multiplayer game, even if there have already been several attempts, even if less well structured and famous: it was called Quake. Even if the title had a quite good setup for the single player, the real fun was to play online with machine gun and rocket jump. From then on the multiplayer gaming is still growing and the online area has great testing possibility. At the beginning of this hobby, the Silicon valley pioneers were expecting all the great possibilities of the multiplayer game. And after all, during my life, marked by different videogames moments, the most important constant has always been having a friend next to me and to share with him all the success and failing moments. both because a friend can give you a hand and because with a friend there is even more fun. And the multiplayer game also works when you challenge your friend: a comfortable sofa, two joy pads, a cold beer and FIFA or PES are single elements that create a magic alchemy together to make the life of million players more enjoyable. I am sure that Nolan Bushnell had exactly this idea when he created Pong. Its reaching point is a social hobby: what the videogames are today thanks to internet and above all thanks to the players, funnier than a machine brain which is not even able to share with us the pleasure of a beer.
Simone “Akira”Trimarchi
YEAR I N. 2 APRIL 2010
Editorial Director Simone Trimarchi Graphic Project XLC Italy Via Manzoni 15 20060 Gessate (MI) www.xlcitaly.com Editing Idra Editing Srl Via Val Trompia 136 00141 Roma Editorial coordinator Giovanna Vizzaccaro Graphic Alessandro Benedetti Contributors Dario Bertollini, Daniele De Marco, Carlo Giannacco, Francesco Massaro, Fabio Nan, Simone Sassuoli, Luca Spagnoli Publisher FNIGE P.zza IV Novembre, 4 - 20124 Milano Tel: (+39) 02 67 16 56 62 Fax: (+39) 02 67 16 52 66 info@fnige.org - www.fnige.org Responsible Director Sebastiano Silluzio
Sommario 4 FNIGE presents itself 6 News 8 Starcraft 2: happiness and revolution 10 The fairytale of the Championship Gaming Series 12 Waiting for Halo Reach…
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14 eSport Italia Guides Let’s learn to play Street Fighter 4 Lesson 1 16 International Events World Game Cup Cannes 2010 18 Multiplayer Reviews Bioshock 2 - Multiplayer Review 20 Clan Life KeyVale and Clan N7 3
interview
FNIGE introduces itself Paolo Filippi at eSport Italia microphones The second number of eSport Italia and the second Interview with FNIGE which, for this time is exploring an “aliene” world or better a past world: that of PC Electronic Sports with Paolo Filippi. In the FNIGE you are going to have a pretty central position: you will be the PC area Manager. Could you please explain what it is and what kind of issues are you going to deal with? It would be absolutelyreductive to explain in a few words what my function will be in FNIGE. The figure of the PC area Manager will deal with the gaming area development, PC platform, the Italian Videoames League, the Italian Videogames Championship, and many others parallel projects that are going to start very soon. Basically, what I am going to do is to be sure that the national legislation is going to be applied in every national sport event so that there will be uniformity in every happening developd by different sport associations or companies. You passed from a Starcraft player to capoclan and from capoclan to a real organizer. www.esportitalia.com
You do not like to play anymore or now are you going to play in a different game called “job”? What have pushed you to spend a great part of your time in these three roles? I have practically held all the positions in the Videogames area in my career. At the very beginning I was an occasional player and, even if I was a real, a I had no right prompts to become a full time player. All these prompts came when I discovered the different administrative positions available in this world; All those I have mentioned are just a few. Like in every challenge, whatever it is, a high hurdles or a at your favourite game, it’s devotion and constancy, but above all which will allow you to reach great results. With a bit of arrogance, I can say that, after several years, with some mistakes obviously, my experience and my competence are without parallel. I have learnt personally that most of the people working in this world, are completely unaware of what they are actually going to face so they underestimate the amount of time they will have to wait before they can reap the benefits. Remember that for any
problem you always have the solution even if it is uncomfortable or difficult. The secret to succeed is to be able to rise again after a bad moment. How did you know FNIGE and what were the reasons why you have decided to accept your appointment? To be honest, at the begin-
ning I was underestimate FNIGE in fact I wasn’t there at their first press conference. But then there were several meetings where II had the possibility to Know Sebastiano Selluzio, the FNIGE President. This kind of union to develop different projects linked to the Electronic Sport world cleared my mind from any doubt and I 4
interview
Breaking News E Sport Italia is double! Now available also in English. High international demand: E Sport Italia must reply. Thanks to E sport first number success, both expected and unexpected, with about 2000 readers, FNIGE has decided to satisfy the thousands of requests sent by e-mail and to make an international version of the magazine. Starting from the present number E Sport is now available available also in English. The service conditions are the same of the first number: the magazine is free, it can be consulted online and downloaded and printed in PDF format. Enjoy your reading! Paolo Crispino enter the Board in FNIGE. FNIGE family is enlarging itself. According always to its improvement values, FNIGE is pleased to announce Paolo Crispino’s entrance in the Federation. Paolo Crispino is considered as one of the most important experts in the Netgame field, both nationally and internationally and he is
didn’t’t hesitate to accept what the President was offering me. Professionalism and transparency? These are the best words to describe, also considered as our motto. Actually FNIGE is more and more and after several months from the beginning of my partnership I am always more persuaded that this was the right choice. www.esportitalia.com
Tell us about yourself. Which was the title that made you fall in love with videogames when you were a child? And you are asking me this question? It’s without any doubt the best title that the e-Sport has ever had. It’s Starcraft (and its extension Brood War). This is “The videogame” for definition and it is the
only one that after over ten years keeps being one of the most played games all over the world. The only one which has become a national sport in South Corea. Yes It is right.even the Air Force has team made by videogames players and they spend their national service training for the best game strategies of all the time. Many
officially entering the FINGRE board as national Councellor (Advisor) for thePresident. Welcome! Italia sport Game is now a FNIGE partner for the web area. FNIGE came to an agreement with “6x Media content and relationship“ which qwnd the italiantopfgames.it website, one of the most important Italian information websites on videogaming: ItaliaTopgames becomes media partners of FNIGe for the web area.
Francesco “Roger” Massaro
fans have been waiting for years for a sequel and in 2010 they will be satisfied. In the next pages you are going to discover interesting opinions and previews about that. I just can thank Simone for this interview and you, all the readers, and I hope you will appreciate it.
Simone “AKirA” Trimarchi 5
NEWS Boom accESSioNS for fNiGE The subscription and affiliation campaign 2010 starts in the best way possible
T
he subscription and affiliation campaign of FNIGe 2010 has started.
subscription to esport,the official esport magazine. There will be also the possibility to take part to the competition fof the Italian Championship and much more.
This federation, that presents among its most important purposes promotion, spread and regulation of the e-sport in Italy, aims at supporting the sport societies that promote videogames in Italy through the organisation of events linked to videogames, and also wants to unify under the same reality all the videoplayers and the ASD Teams.
There will be also a selection for the Italian national representative team, made up of the best Italian players who will have the possibility to play in worldwide events and try to defend the Italian esport flag abroad. The ASD team will take part to the special National ranking that will award them for the results obteined by their players.
For this reason the campaign has two clear purposes. The first is to collect membership from the sport societies which will promote, through events in italy, the esport and that, adhering to FNIGE, will obtain several advantages. To be a member of FNIGE means first of all to be added to the register of all the sport associations that belongs to it.
More information to join FNIGE - Italian National electronic sport federationcan be required by e-mail at the address info@fnige. org or by calling the number 02-67165662 from Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 13:30.
And then FNIGE supports all the societies that want to promote the esport development through events and sport happenings in the esport field.
ognized for the Electronic Sport by CSAIN (an organization created to promote sport activities all over the national area presented by Sebastiano Silluzio in the first number of this magazine).
Affiliation means to be a part of the only organization rec-
The second purpose of the affiliation and membership cam-
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paign 2010 is to involve firstly the players and the ASD teams. For them as well there will be great benefits. Enterinf FNIGE will give them the possibility to take part to the Italian videogames league. For those who will have a card there will be also an annual
At the moment FNIGE is trying to fulfill all the requestes received as soon as possible. In the meanwhile we officially welcome the first three associations that joined the federation: Inferno eSport ASD, ITNS ASD, and the Universe ASD. Francesco “Roger� Massaro
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They are coming www.italianvideogamesleague.com
IN COLLABORATION WITH
ITALIAN ELECTRONIC SPORTS FEDERATION
C.S.A.IN.
Ente di Promozione Sportiva Roconosciuto dal CONI
SPECIAL fEAturE
Starcraft 2: joy and revolution
The beta version of one of the most important multiplayer games of all times is available and our exp
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e have been waiting a long time for Starcraft 2, with frequent delays and previews about all the new units and features of the game; but now that we have the beta version of one of the most expected strategy games, we can say that the time we waited for it was not useless. The first chapter of Starcraft, science-fiction strategy game published in 1998, wrote the history of all the eSports: it was and still is a game with an incredible longevity and depth. A perfect title in almost all its details, which still has a great number of players
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and fan despite of the presence of more graphically advanced products. Starcraft 2 could be considered as the “worthy heir� of its precursor. All the basic features that made Starcraft a perfect game, have been renovated and adapted to the new technologies so that all the players will be busy for the next years. The species provided are the same as the first chapter, the Terran, the future human beings developed as to colonize new planets and characterized both by marine and space cruiser
armies and by political and inner conflicts; the Protoss, a race of higher humanoids with access to advanced psionic abilities and technologic skills; and then the Zerg, a race of insectoids obsessed with assimilating other races in the universe making each planet a new colony. t’s a blend of new issues and homesickness perceived from the first games of the beta version of Starcraft 2. Everything is as we remember it but at the same time we have to deal with new units , new structures and new skills. If depth was the most
important issue of the first version, the new one is not worst: the strategic choices are several and also a little variation of the construction order can mark the difference between a winning plan and a failing one. However Starcraft 2 is not presenting again what was good in the first version. There are new opportunities added to the three species in the field of mobility and control of the map with several unities able to go over the enemies without being seen to destroy the economy and all the enemies structures. The most important example is given by the Reaper Terran, a unity of human infantry able to move quickly and to go over mountains against the collector units. With new strategic possibilities the tactic approach is not only limited to the units produced and to the construction order; this makes very difficult to built a
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SPECIAL fEAturE The single player mode Starcraft 2 is really striking also from the single player point of view: the campaign will be divided into three chapters, the first of which, called “Wings of Liberty”, will follow the actions of Terran soldiers guided by Jim Raynor, while the chapters “Heart of the Swarm” and “Legacy of the void” will be released as future expansions. The story of the Starcraft Universe will be continued where it stopped and we will deal again with the first chapter’s heroes, like Rainor, the dark templar Zeratul and the queen of the Swarm Sarah Kerrigan.
ectancies have been rewarded by an excellent job A brand new Battle.net Even Battle.net, the board dedicated to the Blizzard online competitions have been upgraded. Most of the new functions are not available yet but it is possible to play a “ladder” game, that is the system that allows the players to challenge other players that have a similar level to theirs, in order to gain positions in the charts. Between the new issues, it is also possible to find an achievement system and the division of the available charts in different championships and rounds.
good defense and at the same time it invites the player to have a more dynamic and aggressive behaviour. Starcraft 2 offers both a more rapid and frenetic rhythm and a larger space where to plan the strategy. www.esportitalia.com
It is possible to shoot the enemy through rapid attacks on different sides, to disturb their economy using particular units that, even if not equipped with fire or an armour strong enough to win a fight, thanks to their rapidity and mobility are really suitable for touch and go attacks. The Zerg, for example, can hide underground and wait for the enemy troops to make traps. The Protoss, on the other side, can now use the warp doors to send their troops directly on the field or in an enemy base and the can always dispose of a Dark Templar, one of the most dangerous game unities at least their invisibility is not interrupted. In the end we can say that what is possible to see in Starcraft 2 is a game which can promise really well an characterized both by simplicity and charisma to attract new players, but it is made up also of depth and complexity
to satisfy the competition expectations online. And it’s from the competitive point of view that the second chapter of the science-fiction saga by Blizzard is promising to shine: if the first one is still really popular and is the most important eSport in South Korea, Starcraft 2 shows great possibilities to become the new, main area for the online competitions so unifying the players community who have
never found in Warcraft 3 or in the other recent strategic the kind of game desired. We are now waiting for the finished product that has been announced for the first 2010 and let’s get ready for the release of a great product which will satisfy those who have been long waiting for it and which could mark the revolution of the eSport scenery. Simone “aShuN” Sassoli 7
SPECIAL
The tale of the Championship Gaming Series
The bigger they are... the more they make noise when the fall down.
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ho knows the esport world definitely knows about the Championship Gaming series . For the others it is enough to go back to June 12th 2007 when in the headquarters of Playboy in Los Angeles there were the sorteggio for the first season of this championship. The basic concept was simple but really intelligent: a federation with some franchise to represent the most important
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North American cities, a system very similar to that of other awarded concerns like the NBA for basketball and the MLB for baseball. The first championship welcome six teams challenging on four different topics. The competition format was realised as to be adapted in the best way to the television standard while the technical comment was made by the most important figures of the field like Jonathan “Fa-
tal 1ty� Wendel. Even if the commentator did not have real tv experience, on the other hand there was someone, finally, who could explain precisely what was going on during the sets. The effect was something magnificent: the spectacolarization of the videogames as a sport seemed to be completely successful and the audience feedback was confirming that. On the contrary the experts could say that there is nothing innovative in all this. In Corea, for example, a project like this already existed and keeps existing from several years, even if in a different way. In the Asiatic version, indeed, more attention is given to the real game, and for this reason the most awarded are real time strategy like Starcraft which require a
very deep knowledge of the game to follow the development of the games. The American version, on the other hand, focuses on the competition and on the show side of the games, as for the poker, for example. For this reason there was the real need to give the competition a real TV show make-up, with showgirls and scenografie, with particular attention given to the players considered as the protagonists of a real story rather than a game. The show, originally transmitted only in the US also spread in Europe and Asia arriving even in Italy on Sky Sport (even if only with highlights). With great surprise the show obtained a great success with a total share of 50 million people of audience. What is not surprising at all is that 10
SPECIAL Stermy, the Italian flag at CGS Alessandro, “stermy” Avallone, is surely well known for his great results in the FPS like Quake and Painkiller but, at the CGS, togheter with the San Francisco OPTX, he has started a new experience with FIFA, showing great skills against the other players even with the famous football game by Electronic Arts. He did not fail the expectations, leading the team to the second place in the World series.
CGS: how did they work? Each team (or Franchise) was made up of ten players. 5 for Counterstrike, 2 for Dead or Alive 4 and project Gotham Racing 3 ( boy and girl in each team and one for FIFA 07). In each set the different teams scored and the final results determined the winner. During the last seasons the CGS were devided according to the different countries and the best teams for each place were playing in the great final to determine the world champion.
the 90% of the audience was represented by Asiatic people and in the Asiatic continent these figures are not so impressive. The unexpected closure left a great void in the field and deceived many people who really believed in the project and invested their time and money and all www.esportitalia.com
their energies. The project failed because of a completely wrong management of the money given by the sponsor. When the CGS were created the project included sponsorship and funding for a total amount of about 50 million dollars for 5 seasons. But the 50% of the sum, never sen before, was used to realize only the first season. These great depenses can be justified by the fact that all the first seasons had to berealized in the North America and then come to Europe. actually, after forur months there were already new teams ready in the rest of the world. Bad choices have also
been made like for example The Playboy mansion or the Fatal1ty wage who have been paid 300.000 dollars for each season. Too much indeed. Maybe all the managers were expecting a great success for the electronic sports. But actually really didn’t know so much about the. They made the wrong investments. The failure was predictable: the organization has decided to spend everything at the beginning trusting in new sponsorship. the TV rights were not enough to cover all the depenses made by the Federation. In the last season the number of players and staff member
was decreasing but this was not the right solution to stop the failure. On November 18th 2008 the closure was announced and after few months there was a press release on the official site of CGS. The only positive aspect was that the show closed wonderfully leaving something like a model for all them who are interested in being involved in something like this. What’s the meaning of all this? This was the last wasted occasion but with style and for the first time maybe we have learnt something.
Daniele “R4zer” De Marco 11
SPECIAL
Waiting for Halo...
Brian Jarrard: “The greatest game ever created by Bungie and, as far as we are concerned, Halo’s best
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n the far November 15th of 2001 Halo, the Bungie masterpiece for the first Xbox, was released. The game was something like a messiah in the videogames field with something new: it was possible to play an FPS on console, having fun like on a PC. Before Halo, the first person shooter had to deal with rieditions and porting but the miracle had to be done
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and Microsoft was working for it. After 10 years the saga sold 27 million copies and Halo 3 was the most played games. With the only exception of the US, the other countries have different situations. In Asia it is not played while the European level is encreasing and a team, The Power Gaming, is becoming a semi-professional
team. In Italy the solution is not evolving, the players are everytime the same. The most important meeting, for the moment, is “Videogames Party”, a Ian which will take place every six months, with the support os referees belonging to the community like Ichigo, using competitive setup unlike Call of Duty and Gears of War. Other events have been realized in the 1UP of Rome, or in the Roma Videogames Festival organized by AIOMI and ESC with a good success. But these events did not succeded in creating a real community and that’s a pity for the European Console league. The final stage will be on August 1st in the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool. Maybe there was not a
great success because of the fact that frim the Halo 3 release the saga has not evolved while call of duty attracted more and more players of Halo. The only new release was ODTS that does not present anything new or different from Halo3. From September 26th 2007, when the last adventure of Master Chief was released, three new titles of Call of Duty have been released, against only one titles for the Bungie franchise. In short there seems to be no escape for the Halo community, unless there will be a kind of miracle from the messiah. The reincarnation is expexted for next autumn in the Halo Reach box. Maybe it will be the last chapter of the saga and it is going to offer a new 12
SPECIAL
What’s the MLG? It’s quite impossible not to have heard about the Major League Gaming, one of the greatest leagues of professional eSport in the world. The league has the chance to be in the US where it is possible to find one of the greatest number of users in the world. Thanks to its success it was able to obtain the support of important sponsor at an international level that have guaranteed to the league the leadership of the completitive field on console. In the MLG it is possible to find the best professional players at a global level, and its example recalls the dream of many American boys who believe that is possible to live playing. Considering the league players’ earnings, it is possible to say that the dream, sometimes, comes true.
representive title” graphic engine which is probably going to increase the Xbox 360 hardware up to the limit. In this way the technology gap with Call of Duty. But Microsoft and Bungie really do not want to fail with the multiplayer and they are ready to make the biggest beta testing ever existed on console, so they can release in less than a month the multiplayer beta of the game. Unlike Infinity Ward and Epic, that could seem not so interested in providing their titles with a competitive high level multiplayer, Bungie is working very close to the Major League gaming. The first video, recently released, with the changes of the multiplayer modality, brought about caos in the world forum. www.esportitalia.com
The main reason were the innovations that never belonged to the series like the somersault in GOW style and the introduction of the jet pack. With an innovation, however, all the new players would have a smaller gap respect to the older ones and, in a small period of
time, they could equal or even pass the competition level of players of the same age. This would certainly create a new “viral buzz” on the name of Halo, and we are ready to bet that the call to arms could be similar to that of the older series titles, if the game was up to the expectations. All the innovation just criticized could be excluded
The Power Gaming legend Alex and Will Buck, Eddie Leck and Jack Baxter are the Halo 3 team of Power Gaming, an English multigaming community. They are known as: BUK20, BUK, BUK57, Reaction and Baxter. Afret having dominated the final of the I38 against SK Gaming, they became famous because they were the first European team to succeed in Halo’s homeland, the American Major League. In Anaheim, California, they started low, changing completely their situation from the Loser Bracket and succeeding in finishing in top 20. It is a great result for a European team: speaking with a football paragon it’s like when in Champions League the San Marino team would arrive to quarter finals against the Real Madrid. It’s great!
after all with some MLG setup, as it happens in the Bubble Shield in the professional competitions in Halo 3. There is no reason to worry about that. A video is not enough to judge a game in a negative way (the video, among the other things, has excited the “casual” fan). All things considered, it’s time to get back into your Halo ODST copy ( in both titles there was a ticket to take part into the Halo Reach beta multiplayer): the 3rd of May it’s time to shoot again!
Fabio “ Ne0n” Nan
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esport italia GUiDEs
Let’s learn to play Street Fighter IV: Lesson number 1 Punches, kicks and much more: let’s take some confidence with the beat’em up king.
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ith the creation of Street Fighter IV, released on console at the beginning of 2009, the beat’em up genre started a moment of so-called “rebirth”. Something like a second youth! All this excitement around the Capcom titles brought many new players in the beat’em up environment. And it is for this reason that we would like to help all these new players to be less disoriented, and this will surely lead to great results on the competitive level and to a great fun. The first step to make when there is not a complete knowledge of the game is to choose the character. There is a great number of fighters so it would not be so simple to find the character with which starting
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the training. The advise is to try with all the figures up to the right one, with which it is possible to feel fine with the movements of our alte-ego and this is very important to go on and learn all the basic skills. It could take a long time to find the right character for our game style but sooner or later everyone will find the right choice to face the game at a competitive level. After this step there will be the real training. Unlike what the less experts would think ( and this is the typical beginners mistake), the so-called combo (combination of sequencial hits) are not necessary at the begginnig ant they do not allow to focus the attention to the real important things, the basic hits.
First of all, it is important to learn the basic movements, that are the foundations on which we can build our game style before starting making useful combination that coul be used only under particular circumstances. The first lesson is to know perfectly when and how to use every single hit and details like the distance, the damage and the coverage, before trying everything else. The risk is to have to forget, maybe one day, everything we have learnt before (firstly the bad habits) and have to start again from scratches.
Dario “Angel666” Bertolini
The importance of controls The best control system of Street Fighter IV (for the beat’em up in general) is the arcade stick. We suggest you to apply all our pieces of advise using one of these very precise controller: do not worry if you won’t be able to do grat things at the beginning, persistence will repay you and after a little time, when you... you will not be able to play using a normal joypad. You’ll feel the difference.
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Videogames as Sport
ARE YOU ORGANIZING SPORT EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS IN ITALY? DO YOU WANT TO GROW UP WITH US?
YES, WE CAN! AFFILIATION CAMPAIGN 2010 IN COLLABORATION WITH
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Ente di Promozione Sportiva Roconosciuto dal CONI
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INTERNATIONAL EvENTs
World Game Cup Cannes 2010
The International beat’em up Championship
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urely a great event, with few precedent examples in the beat’em up tournaments history in Europe: this could be the description of the World Came Cup’s third edition, the WGC taking place in Cannes, France, this year, from March 3rd to 7th, during the International Games Festival. The event took place in the Cannes Cinema Festival location: absolutely the right place
for this international beat’em up championship. Among the disciplines, the most important have been Street Fighter IV and Soulcalibur IV, that brought in Cannes the greatest players from Japan, US and Singapore to compete with our European champions and win a 10.000 Euros jackpot. On Friday there was the most important challenge, 5 against
5 in teams in Soulcalibur IV, won by Muscle Team, where the Italian representative Satana XXX plays. The same day there were also the BlazBlue and Street Fighter 3 tournaments. On Saturday there were hot contests. The Street Fighter IV Master Series ended and was won by Eita, who got a ticket to take part to the World beat’em up championship in
Las Vegas, on July. There were also great surprises like the Japan legend Daigo Umehara who could not win against the English champion Ryan Hart in the semi-final. The performance of the Italian team in the nation tournament for Soulcalibur IV was also very important. Italy had a second position and really exciting moments against Singapore in the semi-final, in a very hard challenge ended
Interview with Francesco Barberi: SatanaXXX Francesco Barberi: Satana XXX was interviewed by eSport. He is one of the Italian Muscle Team stars Hi Satana XXX, and welcome on eSport. First of all we would like to know something more about yourself and how you started playing videogames. My name is Francesco Barberi, I’m 31 and I am from Verona. I started playing videogames with Street fighter from the age of 8 and with Soulcalibur I started taking the eSport seriously. In this way I could take part to the Italian and international competitions like in Cannes and Paris.
Let’s talk about the Italian team at the WCG. What have you done?
In the 5 against 5 in teams I have played with very good and famous international players. And we were winning over the others like steamroller. For this competition, I had great expectations, because we had the greatest Soulcalibur players in Europe, and I thought we could win. Malek, the French player, in particular, was great against all the US players. We got the second position in the nation tournament, and this was a great result considering that the Italian players are not as experienced as the others. We won against Spain and Singapore in great sets, but then we lost against France even if we played very well our match. Well, I guess we can consider ourselves pretty satisfied of those results.
www.esportitalia.com Have you fulfilled your expectations about the competition or not?
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INTERNATIONAL EvENTs The beat’em up champions in Cannes WORLD TEAM CUP SOULCALIBUR IV 1° Team France 2° Team Italy SOULCALIBUR IV 5on5 1° Muscle Team 2° Cosa Nostra MASTER SERIES STREET FIGHTER IV 1° Eita 2° Allioune STREET FIGHTER IV SINGLE 1° Fuudo 2° Daigo SOULCALIBUR IV SINGLE 1° Thugish Pond 2° Maxou
up after 9 sets. We did our best in The final against France but their most important player, Scud, made the difference. Last but not least, Super Street fighter IV, that will be released in two months, have been presented to the audience. On Sunday, there were all the prize-giving ceremonies and the Street Fighter IV single tournament where our player, Shirl,
from the Inferno eSports, gained a 5th position, losing only against the Japanese champions. The 2010 Cannes WGC have been a great event and a successful experience, that we hope could help starting a long series of international videogames competitions.
Carlo “Cloud” Giannacco
A player like you had surely had a great training. Could you please tell us how many hours do you spend playing and what is your secret to reach such a high international level? Like in every sport you need to be constant. I have also realized that the quality of your training is really important, choosing very well your contestant and facing all the difficulties. The real secret is to believe in it and not to give up. Never.
A competition like this in Cannes have been proposed again after six years. This is a good sign, in your opinion, for the eSport in 2010? How would you describe this edition? This www.esportitalia.com is absolutely a good sign for eSports that has not been evolving that
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STREET FIGHTER IV 2on2 1° Team Japan 2° Team AAA STREET FIGHTER III 2on2 1° Team Yamato/Nico/CCL 2° Team Desora/Ryan/Kenpachi TEKKEN 6 1° JTB 2° Solid Jin BLAZBLUE CT 1° Zero No Shana 2° 4K
much during the last years, especially in Italy. I can see the conditions for a great retrieval, especially for Street fighter IV. The quality of this edition also create good conditions for the improvement of all the feature eSport events and happenings.
What would you suggest to those players who would like to take part to beat’em up competitions? They have to play a lot, they have to choose the right character learning the basic rules, but, above all, they have to share their passion for the game with a group of real them and improve their skills all together..
17w eSport thanks you and wishes you all the best for your future competitions. 17
MULTIPLAYER REVIEW
TEsTEdn VERsIo
XboX 360
Bioshock 2: multiplayer review
enjoyment
8 6 5 6
community
tournaments
support
rapture is a wet and scary place, even with several players...
B
ioshock became a real landmark in the last few years. The first episode of the saga 2k games, developed by the authors of the system shock (Irrational Games) was quite a miracle in 2007. We had never seen a shooting game with strong horror cues being so exciting and original. There is nothing new. Ken Levine (the director) and his team, succeeded in blending together classical elements of the first person shooting games and a bit of role-playing
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games, so creating an unforgettable game. With this second episode, the Irrational team has created something almost perfect: we would give it a mark of 9 on 10. But, for what concern only the multiplayer mode, on which the Boston studios have centered their prerelease campaign, would the student Big Daddy pass the exam? Of course he would. Anyway the very good mark of the complete product is far, considering the big faults of the multiplayer version which is, after
all agreeable and rich in interesting cues. Connecting to a Bioshock 2 server what immediately strikes the player is the playable waiting lobby. This will help you to create a personal weaponry, to check your own statistics or the world ones, start to play or change your aspect. It will be possible to walk through the corridors of a waiting room, living another little part of a plot written by the Irrational games smart team. This is wonderful and really interesting but completely useless for the analysis
18
MULTIPLAYER REVIEW Mode: Catch the little sister
we have to make. Maybe this particular issue will be appreciated by those who really want to have rest between two games. Once you enter the area, you will dial with a pure shooting game (like Quake), a bit chaotic, which is not always bad. Like in Modern Warfare, the starting weaponry depend on what the player chooses during the setup: at each level it will be possible to have different weapons and more powerful plasmids; this will require a great effort to solve complicated situations, almost impossible to face. This is actually the main fault of the production: while in Call of Duty the first weapons available are “acceptable”, in Bioshock the starting difficulty level increases too quickly. At the beginning, even the most expert player will be a “frag” (that is to say “dead”): this is not a good reason to go back to the arena and find an isolated shelter. But everything can be sorted out with a bit of intelligence and..a picture. One of the most interesting new issue in Bioshock 2 is the possibility to take a picture of the corpse of your contestant, to get, against him a damage bonus. Every time that the player has got the possibility, he will use his camera to take a picture, but at the same time he would take the risk to be shot. The most interesting new issues are, however, the plasmids and the genetic tonics: mental powers thank to which it is possible to hit the enemy with a 10000 volt discharge or set a telekinetic trap. Also the plasmids will work as weapons: if the player reaches a high level he can get more powerful weapons and skills. Using continuously this resource, chaos is generated : each battle is different and cannot be predicted and using the right plasmid can change the www.esportitalia.com
results of the battle, unless you meet a Big Daddy in the corridors. The last great quality of this 2k Games product is the reinvention of the power up to increase the damages, the classical “Quad Damage”. Indeed, in Bioshock 2 you have to find the Big Daddy suit to became a deadly war machine. The suit appears randomly about 3 times every 10 minutes : who manages to find it has great possibilities to reach the end of the round positively, thanks to the great transformation powers it presents. In short, we have all the ingredients for a good multiplayer game but those players who cannot spend so much time in it are penalized and, above all, the battles appear to be too chaotic. For these reasons, maybe it is not completely suitable to become a real electronic sport. Anyway this does not mean that this game is not able to entertain its players giving them a kind of Adam’s injection!
The other interesting issues in the Bioshock multiplayer are the challenge mode the player can choose among which we would like to mention “Catch the little sister”. Do you remember Capture the flag with the classical mode of the teams challenge where the aim was to catch the flag of your enemy and bring it back to your base? ok, forget it. In Bioshock 2, which focuses its attention on the settings and on the artistic side, you won’t find any flags to be captured, instead you will have to catch the sweet Little Sisters, the same protagonists of the single game. This kind of challenge is a bit different from the classic CTF, in each round each team has a particular role: the attackers will have to catch and save the little sister in a fixed time while the defenders will have to stop them. At each round the teams will exchange their roles till they reach the final score necessary to win the game.
Simone “AKirA”Trimarchi
19
CLAN LIFE
rumfree.it/
http://nseven.fo
KeyVale and the N7clan
An interview with Valentino “N7 KeyVale” La Favoci, the “Doc” of the virtual football
F
or the FIFA players the N7 tag does not sound new: it is one of the most successsful XBox live teams with real legends inside. This month esport made an interview with Valentino “keyVale” La Favola, an old member of this clan. Welcome on eSport, let’s start with an introduction. I am Valentino La Favoci, “N7 KeyVale MK”, I am 22 and I am from Como. I usually like to play FIFA and it is the best game for me, but I also have fun with Call of Duty, because I also like to change sometimes. I have to admit that I am pretty bad at this game, actually! www.esportitalia.com
The N7 are a great team for FIFA. What do you do in the team and how was it created? I am the President of N7 but the group is our real strenght because all the member are important.The clan was created in a cold winter day. It was raining and we couldn’t decide how that day could evolve. Go Out? Watching TV? Much more: my Xbox 360 was waiting for me and all the online players. I invited someone to play and we started to think about the idea of a clan : a group of young people to write the story on “Live”. We wanted to be nice in order to be loved and we wanted to win in order to be hated. But above all we
just wanted to have fun even if we couldn’t accept to fail because we were too strong.Most of our dreams came true thanks to the N7 and to the sponsorship. We want to dedicate our success to all the people who really believed in our possibilities. Who are the N7 members and what are their most important achievements during the past years? There are a lot of members in the clan: GAZZA, Dark90, DIEGO28, Druido, KeyVALE, motokey, nico82,Pampa,Patri13, BRAMBOA, Evil Kiu, Kni-
ves, lele10, MaRkiNo, MetalmauX, Nicolas, XxRAFFOxX. Generally, we spend a great time togheter, playing and laughing, but always with a main purpose in mind: to win, or at least to improve our skills. This has always been our purpose, and once we have realized it we try to reach it again. Thanks to all these guys, my friends, I won several competitions. Both in 1vs1 and multiplayer, as the last TlC competition I won demonstrates, Beginning with Fifa 09 our clan has become one of the most important groups in Italy, 20
CLAN LIFE
and this time too, with Fifa10 we had very successful moments. What is the competition you won that is most important for you? I have to admit that the greatest moment for me was the Roma Videogames festival where I was introduced as the champion to beat. This is called the King of the Hill mode, that is to say a random series of normal players who try to challenge a really expert champion. The one who won at least a game would win a Xbox 360 console. A great moment. The www.esportitalia.com
atmosphere was great. I had never played with so many people supporting their favourite player: I was really nervous because I didn’t want to make a bad impression besides the XLC team; they organized the team and offered the price. What a great emotion: videos, pictures, supporters, a commentator (Simone “Akira” Trimarchi) all strange and new things for a normal guy who used to play on the sofa, in front of the TV with his cat. Actually I can remember other great moments, great satisfaction always on XLC, maybe this is a lucky
portal. I guess there was also a defeat or two. When did you feel really depressed about that? To be honest it was at the Winter Cup in Milan, because I played really well during all the competition but at the final I was really nervous and I deceived to lose. What a pity! What are the next engagements for the N7? Are you going to take part to some important competition? We have to play in a LAN in Jesolo, where we have
qualified in advance winning the online competition TLC 10vs10. To be qualified it’s already a great satisfaction. Once there we will try to do our best even if we are in a more competitive field like a LAN party (where all the players use a wire to connect , they avoid the LAG and try to look at each other straight in their eyes). Some weeks ago the most important official titles of the World Cyber Games 2010 have been announced. Unlikly FIFA 2010 is not among these. Do you think it will be announced later? Obviously I hope so. It would be a real “crime” not to include it. It’s really a great title, played by thousands of people all over the world. And then Fifa is really wonderful to be played: a real football simulation. It’s quite sad not to see it among the Olympic games. 21
CLAN LIFE
Are you ready to play live? For the second birthday of the clan ASD ItNS (Italian Navy Seals the first clan to become an Amateurish Sport Association member of the Italian National Federation for the Electronic Sport) is ready to party in the only way possible for a player: a Lan party supported by FNIGE. It is really important to underline the social engagement of the ItNS clan and its founder Simone Galli: from 2008 they have worked with Activision in the If it will be admitted are you going to take part to the qualifications for the world final in Los Angeles? Of course we will. We created the clan for this kind of competitions. To play in Los Angeles it’s our greatest dream and we’ll try to make it come true. In Italy is there an active community for FIFA 2010? What’s its level? Thanks to the quality of the FIFA series, which is, according to me, the best football sumulator, there are always more players. All the online players have a copy of the game, I guess. So the answer is www.esportitalia.com
Bus Telethon, with Mc Donald’s Italia to help the children in the Ronald McDonald’s recoveries and with Marco Mazzolli radio show on Radio 105. On Saturday March 27th and Sunday 28th from 9 am to 19 pm, in the Europa restaurant, 39 Via Bulgaria, in Grosseto, who is interested in showing his skillshtintpFIFA ://w10, wwGuitar .itns.it Hero and Modern Warfare 2, is invited to the event which is absolutely free! yes. There is a really active community for FIFA. I cannot say anithing about the level, but I guess it is quite high. Talking about the European community, what can you tell me? Are there great players and Have you ever played against them? Of course there are many good players and many more good players in the 1vs1. Actually the N7 is winning quite a lot in Europe. So the continental level wouldn’t be so high. I really hope this googd moment will last and maybe, one day, the other European
clan will mention N7 in an interview. Have you ever thought to evolve in a multigame community including teams for other games? Yes. We are really interested in having titles like COD5 or Gears of war. In the meanwhile we are creating our personal website and, thanks to our sponsorship, we are printing our official t-shirts. For the moment we are starting to think about it. Maybe one day we are going to be much more. Just another question. If someone wants to play against your clan, what
should they do? It is through XboxLive, in the evening if possible. Or leaving a message in our forum which is already working. We are ready to accept any challenge! Do you want to thank or give your regards to someone? Firstly I would like to thank you for this possibility. Thanks also to the Clanand to our graat sponsorhip. I would like to mention also XLC that I proudly represent!
Luca “Gold Jok3” Spagnoli 22
MULTIPLAYER ANALISIS
In The Next Number of