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COVER STORY The Future of e-Sports
Headline News
The rosy future of e-Sports in 2013 - e-Sports starts to regain its vogue - “That people love competition, and the ability to compete in games, whether casual or hardcore, makes gaming a whole lot more interesting.”-from Activision
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s spring comes in Korea, it’s getting warmer and the flower starts to bloom. So the future of our e-sport industry is looking very rosy. According to officials, as the e-sports association announced the 5th launch, a few big conglomerates are checking supports to acquire pro-gamer teams. It seems that e-sports starts to regain its vogue: there are lots of positive expectation from fans&officials and from new inauguration of the president who used to be a congressman. He said “ I consider e-sports as essential cultural contents for healthy leisure to the public and shows much interest in the e-sports field, proposing to increase budgets.” He added that he tries to his best to start a new proteam. It suggests that regular pro-leagues can be held as it used to be and more pro-teams can be founded with other titles. Issues like diversifying titles has been raised up and new teams like Najin Sword and Azubu show remarkable activities.
The number of companies outside of Korea who understand this business model is still very low. Telia Sweden took their Korean counterpart SK Telecom as a role model by supporting e-sports in Sweden at the largest e-sports Festival, Dreamback. With a message that fits to the target group, the Swedish Telecommunications operator, wants to follow the steps of SK Telekom. Telia wants to “Speak the language of their end customers” (6).
That people love competition, and the ability to compete in games, whether casual or hardcore, makes gaming a whole lot more interesting. - the CEO of Activision Eric Hershberg
Many refer to the bright future of e-sports both at home and also abroad, including Forbes, Activision , Gosugames, Telia Sweden and so on. Forbes Magazine looks for answers to the question why competitive gaming should be a part of the 2020 Olympic Summer Games. In an interview Forbes quotes Daniel Grzelak, CERO of Gamers Institue: "Given the international popularity of eSports and the young generation of gamers that embrace huge events with large cash prizes, the leap to playing video games for gold medals isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound."(4). In the mean time, the world of electronic sports is still on the lookout to create valuable business models.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia
IeSF is doing its part: With effort of IeSF, e-sport is being recognized as one of official sport disciplines by OCA(Olympic Council of Asia) as an official sports and it seems to be a stepping stone to enroll Sports Accord as an official sports organization. It remains to be seen how well they make some results. Besides, we can hear interesting news from USA. A young researcher gets to start to study Korean e-sports. Stephen Campbell Rea majored in anthropology who prepares his PHD dissertation of California University came Korea to study Korean e-sports culture. “My main interest of my research is about Korean IT culture, game culture. Korea is well-known around the world as the center of e-sports, e-sports is both popular cultural activity and very important part of IT development and computer history in Korea. And many fans from overseas want to visit Korea and see games in Korea.” He said. News | 2013. 3. 19
by KHgames Sophie
Large Korean enterprises like SK Telecom and Samsung have been among the first companies worldwide to understand that sponsoring e-sports can pay off. Already in 2005 "Samsung Economic Research" came out with the conclusion that "Running a e-sports team of professional players is five times more efficient than a traditional sport team of professional players." (1). Gosugames states in their article that this is not just due to the lower salaries of e-sport games, but mainly due to the fact “We (the e-sport gamers) happen to be the specific target market.” (1). Assuming that e-sports in the United States and Europe now reaches a comparable level, this outcome of the Samsung research seems to be applicable in 2013. In the same year SK Telecom claimed that “for every dollar they spend promoting their "pro-gamer" team, they obtained back 10 back in revenues, directly and indirectly from increase sales of their products. "(2)
The main support in the US and Europe comes from game publishers who see the value of electronic sports. In an interview with Forbes, the CEO of Activision Eric Hershberg, stated “eSports is becoming increasingly important to the gaming industry. It helps developing gaming franchises gain traction in the industry, and it opens new doors and possibilities for gaming in general” (3) This statement of Acitivision’s CEO comes from a strong believe “That people love competition, and the ability to compete in games, whether casual or hardcore, makes gaming a whole lot more interesting." (3) One reason western based companies struggled to follow the steps of their Korean counterparts can be a lack of stability in the e-sports industry. In an article about the future of e-sports on fanatic.com the wish for stability has been explained well: “First of all, in order to create a solid basis, on which the entire scene can make steps towards the outside, every instance in the gaming community has to show and act professional.”(5). The need of an organization, "which keeps track players, tournaments and the rules" (5) brings up the comparison to traditional sports, where organizations like FIFA support stability and continuity of their sport. With the Player and Regulations committees this is exactly where the International eSports Federation (IeSF) started to be active and provide this stability for e-sports to be more attractive for larger corporations to invest in the world of competitive gaming.
Quotes: (1) & (2) http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/ news/2843-the-future-of-e-sports (3) http://www.slashgear.com/activision-ceo-erichirshberg-reveals-his-thoughts-on-esports-17269625/ (4) http://www.forbes.com/sites/ johngaudiosi/2012/08/15/league-of-legends-andstarcraft-ii-could-become-olympic-sports-as-earlyas-2020-summer-games/ (5) http://www.fnatic.com/content/95350 (6) http://www.moremobilerelations.com/#/work/show/ telia-at-dreamhack
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NEWS BOARD Game & e-Sports News
IGN Cancels IPL6 eSports Tournament
Pro-gamer from the eyes of photographer By Teemu Hiilinen
By Alex Lim / Editor at IeSF
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“ e regret to inform you that we have decided to cancel our next public competition event, IPL 6.” After all of the buzz, the cancellation of the IGN Pro League 6 (IPL6), scheduled for March 28 through 31 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, has finally been announced. The event was to feature headlining competitions in Blizzard's Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and upcoming expansion Heart of the Swarm, Riot Games's League of Legends, and Ubisoft's ShootMania Storm. Cancellation of the event was rumoured for days. According to IPL’s sponsors, the products they sent over for sponsorship are being returned to them. Korean eSports-focused network OnGameNet said that the IPL6 League of Legends Korean qualifiers have been canceled as well due to change in management policies and financial difficulties. The IPL website has also removed links on the front page to reserve hotel rooms for the weekend. Major League Gaming (MLG) CEO Sundance DiGiovanni has already offered discounted tickets to the MLG Dallas event to those who purchased spectator passes for IPL6.
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atrick Wagner and Valeria Schmidt are behind the professional gamer photograph exhibition. Both Wagner and Schmidt have been studying in Helsinki at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and the exhibition is graduation work for Wagner. The interest for eSports started years back, when Wagner was reading an article about game research. He was fascinated about the tactics and mental play of justreleased StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. After watching the game, he became more interested about the gamers. “Gamers are the ones who are behind this phenomenon. They are really interesting personalities. At start it was really hard to get into eSports, but now when you know the players, you know the people behind the events, the world has opened for us,” says Wagner. Schmidt didn’t know anything about eSports before she was first brought to ASSEMBLY Winter at 2012. She decided to use old 19th Century technique for photographs. “By going old school, players were forced to sit very still up to five minutes. We took the players straight off the stage and in front of the camera. There is some special magic in the pictures because of this. You could never get this kind of pictures, which has so much soul in them, in the studio settings. These images are really special because of this,” Schmidt explains.
According to IGN’s official announcement, the reason for the cancellation appears to be that IGN was not ready to adapt and host an independent event in the current clilmate where game publishers are holding their own competing events. IGN announced that they are working on finding a new home for the IPL team and will continue to broadcast partner tournaments in the future.
Wagner and Schmidt will continue working with this project in future and they are now expanding from StarCraft to other games as well: “The world of eSports has really opened for us. Now we see what happens backstage as well, and it really is addicting.”
Potential buyers for the IPL brand are said to have reached a wide range of options, from other leagues to game publishers and developers.
You can see some of the photographs from the homepages of these two artists: http://www.valerieschmidt.de/index.php?/projects/starcraft2-soldiers/ http://nymphomation.de/
Fnatic Welcomes SaSe By Alex Lim / Editor at IeSF
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eam Fnatic promised a while back that they would be adding more players to their StarCraft II division. As of March 3, Fnatic is adding Kim "SaSe" Hammar to their Professional StarCraft II squad. SaSe was a member of Fnatic during his time playing WarCraft 3, and now he is back for StarCraft II. SaSe has been at the forefront of Protoss innovation in the first expansion of StarCraft II and has been working hard to improve himself for the upcoming release of the Heart of the Swarm expansion. Patrik 'cArn' Sättermon, Fnatic Chief Gaming Officer stated, “We have had our eyes on Kim for quite some time now, and with the recent reconstruction of our Starcraft 2 division we feel that the Swedish Protoss star is a perfect match for our ambitions and goals in 2013.” Fans will not need to wait long to see SaSe's first official match representing Fnatic since SaSe will be one of the foreign players to participate in the Taiwan e-Sports League. Hammar expressed his feeling for joining the squad, saying “I am really happy to have found such a stable team in Fnatic. Now I feel like I don't have to worry anymore and can focus one hundred percent on improving my play. I hope as the year goes by I can show a lot of great games and performances. Heart of the Swarm is being released soon and it is time to release the new SaSe as well.” Sase’s addition is expected to boost Fnatics division’s strength in team leagues and it is also rising people’s expectation for his performance in upcoming events, such as MLG Dallas in mid-March. News | 2013. 3. 19
World of Tanks Starts Professional eSports League By Alex Lim / Editor at IeSF
Wargaming has jumped into the popular competitive gaming sector by
establishing a professional World of Tanks eSports league, the “WARGAMING. NET League”. The Wargaming.net league is scheduled to launch in the 1st quarter of 2013 and will feature regular regional tournaments and playoffs leading up to a grand finals event. Wargaming announced that this competitive league will offer a prize pool of $2.5 million during 2013. Mr. Jonghyuk Baak, global eSports director at Wargaming says, "The scale and popularity of competitive gaming has been skyrocketing over the last couple of years, and we have now reached the point where we can focus significant effort on advancing World of Tanks on to the global eSports scene. Wargaming.net League is a groundbreaking step in our quest to bring the game's eSports potential into the international spotlight." Running Wargaming.net league is expected to focus on making World of Tanks not only a compelling and challenging eSports discipline, but also one that's incredibly entertaining for spectators. Wargaming also announced, "Now we have a sustainable tool to broaden our global eSports involvement in an unprecedented way: stimulate the growth of the competitive community, organise bigger and better tournaments with larger prize pools than ever, and provide our best pro gamers with completely viable career opportunities." World of Tanks debuted at the World Cyber Games Grand Finals last year. 3
NEWS BOARD Game & e-Sports News
World’s Best Video Gamers Take Home $170,000 at Major League Gaming Winter Championship in Dallas Champions include: Call of Duty®: Black Ops II on Xbox 360® - Fariko Impact– Top Eight Also Earn Trips to Compete for Their Share of $1 million at Call of Duty Championship League of Legends – North American - Cloud 9; International Exhibition - KT Rolster B StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™ - Life – back to back MLG Champion
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ideo game fans around the globe tuned in this weekend to watch the Major League Gaming (MLG) Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas from March 15-17. Nearly 1,000 of the world’s best players competed for $170,000 in prizes and at the end of the intense, three-day competition, the following players and teams proved victorious: Call of Duty®: Black Ops II on Xbox 360®: $50,000 in prizes; First place - $20,000 In addition to cash prizes, the top eight Call of Duty: Black Ops II teams earned trips to Hollywood, CA to compete for their share of a $1 million total tournament purse in the Call of Duty® Championship April 5-7. • 1st = $20,000 - Fariko Impact • 2nd = $12,000 - Unite • 3rd = $7,000 - vVv Gaming • 4th = $4,000 - CompLexity • 5th and 6th = $2,300 - EnVyUs and OpTic Gaming • 7th and 8th = $1,200 - Elgato SoaR and Quantic Gaming League of Legends: $45,000 in Prizes • North American Summer Promotion Qualifier • 1st = $20,000 and a spot in the May Promotion Tournament into Riot’s LCS - Cloud 9 • 2nd = $5,000 - Velocity eSports • 3rd and 4th = $2,500 - Curse, Dignitas • International Exhibition Tournament • 1st = $10,000 - KT Rolster B • 2nd = $5,000 - Gambit Gaming StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™: $75,000 in prizes; First place - $25,000 • 1st = $25,000 –Life – back to back MLG StarCraft II Champion Fall Championship 2012 and Winter Championship 2013 • 2nd = $15,000 -Flash • 3rd = $9,000 – Innovation • 4th = $6,000 - MC • 5th = $3,000 - Last • 5th = $3,000 – Bomber • 5th = $3,000 - Parting • 5th = $3,000 – Rain Photos are available at www.dropbox.com. Login – pr@mlgpro.com; Password – mlgprocircuit – MLG Winter Championship folder. VOD of the tournament is available at www.majorleaguegaming.com. The Pro Circuit will continue with the MLG Spring Championship in Anaheim, CA, from June 28-30.
News | 2013. 3. 19
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GAME LIFE Jay’s Game Analysis
Jay’s Game Analysis in March Jay’s Game in March : FIFA Online Series My game selection for March is the FIFA Online series, which is especially popular in Korea and other Asian countries. Although FIFA Online is not well known globally, it has driven a high level of interest more than the FIFA package series in Korea. The newest version, FIFA Online 3, was launched in Korea last December. FIFA Online 3 was developed by EA Seoul Studio, the Korean branch of EA, and published by NEXON, one of the massive game publishers in Korea. Some readers might be curious why Jay deals with the FIFA Online series instead of FIFA 13, which is known more globally. Here is my answer: By Jay Shin / Editor at IeSF
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eatures of the FIFA Online :Possibility of being an eSports title Let’s have a look at the difference between the FIFA Online series and FIFA package series. One of the biggest differences is related to the eSports factor. Electronic Arts, who has all kinds of licenses on the FIFA series, focuses only on a few eSports events that they hosts such as the FIFA Interactive World Cup and has little interest in other eSports events. In fact, FIFA Interactive World Cup is very large in scale, which other events cannot compete with (it is famous for being recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records). However, in Korea, where eSports has been well invigorated based on a high quality of eSports infrastructure, FIFA Online tournaments have been held more than the FIFA Package series. Indeed, FIFA Online 2 excited many eSports and soccer fans by being featuring in various eSports competitions such as the IeSF World Championship and Hyundai FIFA Online 2 Global Championship league. In other words, FIFA package is well known as a game, but the FIFA Online series shows overwhelming power as an eSports title. Actually, FIFA Online has a weakness in its base that covers only Korea and Asia. As the publisher of FIFA Online 3, however, NEXON pursues a goal of global expansion. I am sure that FIFA Online 3 will be positioned as one of the representative titles in the eSports genre.
Licensing of soccer player data. FIFA Online 3 has information of about 15,000 players in 40 countries who belong to 30 leagues.
In addition, FIFA package, which is based on a console platform, cannot avoid lag issues, even though it supports network competition. On the other hands, FIFA Online is operated on PCs, which allows users to play in an optimized eSports environment. Licensing of soccer player data FIFA Online has never missed the 1st rank among online soccer games in Korea, not only because of the factors explained above, but because FIFA Online has much more soccer player licensing than the FIFA package series. FIFA Online 3 has information of about 15,000 players in 40 countries who belong to 30 leagues. It means that FIFA Online 3 has a possibility to attract gamers as well as normal sports fans.
Games | 2013. 3. 19
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GAME LIFE Jay’s Game Analysis
FIFA Online 3 Game Types 1) League Match Single player mode. Players can be compensated after finishing one season in the game and start a new season. There are five levels of difficulty: Amateur, Semi-pro, Professional, World Class and Legend. Players have to clear the amateur level first to move on to the next class. Until the professional level, players can clear modes with two or three skills. But starting from world class, the AI seems harder than ordinary players so that players will find themselves challenged. 2) Friendly Match Multiplayer mode. In Friendly matches, player can enjoy two types of games. Player vs. Random mode has players meet opponents who are nearly equal in their skill according to players’ records. In Player vs. Friend mode, users can compete with people they know. FIFA Online 3 supports not only one-on-one matches but up to five-on-five team matches in Friendly Matches. 3) Ranking Match Ranking Matches were added in January 2013. Users start the game with 1500 points. Ranking matches also support max up to five-on-five team matches like Friendly Matches. Users are sorted to five classes: Amateur, Semi-pro, Professional, World Class and Legend, like league matches according to their record, and they can compete only with opponents in the same class as them. In ranking matches, there is no draw and players must fight to the finish with injury time and penalty shoot-out, unlike other modes. Also, conditions of players such as injuries, records of yellow or red cards in the game have influence in successive matches. Expectation for FIFA Online 3 Not long after FIFA Online 3 was launched, it was necessary to establish an exclusive client for eSports. Normal mode cannot guarantee a fair match because of the gap of ability between players according to nurturing players in the game, so it is currently difficult for FIFA Online 3 to be selected as an eSports title yet. NEXON recognizes this issue and is in progress of setting up the client. I hope that the development of an eSports client keeps pace with its global adoption. Unlike the package series, FIFA Online 3 has a lower barrier to entry for users, not pushing them to purchase the game and support smooth network service. As FIFA Online 3 has already acquired the ability to attract players, I believe that FIFA Online 3 will show its worth as a great eSports title to users all around the world.
Games | 2013. 3. 19
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GAME LIFE PC / Online Game Zone
DK Online, Voted in the Top 10 Games of North America by Gamespot -Localized and Stable service, Customized contents and Intriguing characters -Starting Global Service from North America, Entering Europe and Thailand in the first half of 2013
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K Online(Dragon Knights), developed by PRG Factory, Operated by SG Internet and published by Aeria Games in North America, was voted in the Top 10 Games of North America. Aeria Games famous for a global publisher having 45 million users has started the game service since January.
There are four races in the game: Humans (Male), Elves (Female, Lycans (Male) and the Felynx (Female). These are gender locked and this is the same with classes as well. Sorceress is locked to Elves, Shadowmage to Felynx, Warrior to all and Paladin to Humans and Lycans.
DK Online is the latest offering from free-to-play publishing giant Aeria Games: Imagine and even Battlefield Heroes. Billing itself as a heavily PvPoriented world, with large guild battles and castle sieges.
Jumping straight into the game, combat is traditional, right click to attack, with skills binded to the number keys. The action certainly looks good, along with the colorful skills adding to it. Character progression is handled through a point-spending talent tree; each class has two different trees. Additionally a significant spell is gained every level milestone; these buffs stay casted until cancelled and significantly improve stats such as attack speed or spell power.
Gamespot, a professional game webzine having high webtraffic, ranked DK online as the third in PC games and the sixth in the latest games of PC online, video, console and mobile games. The reason why DK Online gets popular in North America is due to qualified localization and stable service, customized quests and contents and intriguing characters etc… DK Online is a well-crafted game and the UI is very easy to navigate and is similar to TERA. It’s full of color and creativity in its design. When players log right into the game, met by flashy character creation and colorful artwork.
Games | 2013. 3. 19
by KHgames Sophie
DK online is aiming at entering Europe and Thailand in the first half of 2013.
They also conducted a survey through their website about user preference of game characters: The results show that users like most of characters evenly with figures like Warrior(31.9%), Shadowmage(28.3%), Paladin(22.7%) and Sorceress(17.1%). SG Internet in charge of game business said that it’s meaningful for us to enter North American market for the first time and we try to our best to continue popularity of our games.
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GAME LIFE Mobile Game Zone
Sonic Dash, How far can the world’s fastest hedgehog run? by Pocketgamer.co.uk
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odern Sonic games have never been big on player agency. Sonic Adventure, often heralded as the last great escapade of the spiky speed freak, was to all intents and purposes a game about pushing 'up' on a joypad for five hours before helping a cat catch some fish. The precision platforming of the classic 16-bit games has long since been abandoned for the illusion of speed, and Sonic Dash is the ultimate outcome of that shift. Here's a game where you don't even have to push forwards any more. The result is an endless-runner with some of the charm of early Sonic titles and a handful of fondly remembered tunes. It won't change anyone's opinion of Sega's fading mascot, but will probably keep you entertained anyway.
Ring it through The rings you collect are no longer for extra lives, although they do still act as a barrier against death from enemies and spikes. Instead, they're used to purchase boosts and bonuses from an in-game store. Bumpers at the end of each section of the game bounce you into the air, letting you either bank the rings you've already collected or perform a series of quick swipes to shift to a different part of the world. Red rings, which are collected for completing challenges or beating friends, can be spent on revival pills and new characters, but they're given out rarely in the game, so if you're desperate to play as Tails or Knuckles you'll have to spend some cash.
Green spinning hills Sonic Dash eschews the tilting formula of Temple Run and opts for a three lane track which you swipe yourself across. Swiping 'down' puts Sonic in one of his trademark buzzing spins, and swiping 'up' makes him leap over obstacles. Advertisement
The monetisation is a little uncomfortable, mainly because this is a game with a ÂŁ1.49 price tag already. You can play without spending anything extra, but in a game that focuses on one-upping friends on the leaderboard the purchases do feel a bit pay-to-win. Ever moving forward
You'll pelt along runways made up of familiar Sonic-themed sights. The green rolling hills, crab-shaped enemies, heavenly blue skies, and massive number of gold rings are all here. There's no room for innovation in the landscape - you're sprinting across childhood memories like Sonic 4 never happened. And as you sprint, spinning into enemies, grabbing handfuls of rings, and leaping over the various spikes and pits, you're building up your 'Dash Meter'. This sits at the bottom right of the screen and when it's full you can unleash a burst of speed.
This isn't Sonic at his finest, then, but it's by no means Sonic at his most dismal either. There's fun to be had creeping up the leaderboard, and the speed the game plays at means it's a more trying test than a lot of other endless-runners out there. While Sonic Dash might represent another nail in the coffin of the inspired platforming of the Mega Drive days, for most that isn't going to matter. Nowadays, Sonic is all about speeding forwards, even if that means leaving his best years behind.
Once you do that you don't even have to steer for a bit. Sonic will zoom off in a blur of podgy spikes, smashing through anything that gets in his way, until the bar is empty, the screen flashes, and you're back making sure he doesn't run into walls.
Games | 2013. 3. 19
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WORLD REPORT South Africa & Turkey
StarCraft II®: Heart of the Swarm Invitational Tournament Proudly Hosted: Including an IeSF Accredited Test Match featuring South Africa vs. Romania By Colin Webster/ the president of Mind Sports South Africa
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ohannesburg, South Africa Wednesday, 27 February 2013 - Megarom Interactive (Pty) Ltd., South Africa's leading importer and distributor of interactive video games, today announced that together with Internet Solutions will be hosting a StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Invitational Tournament on the 16th of March, 2013. Following the success of Megarom’s previous StarCraft II®: Wings of Liberty event held at The Sound Room in 2011, Megarom hopes to double its effort for this year’s StarCraft II®: Heart of the Swarm event. The tournament itself will play host to 12 of South Africa’s best players to compete for a share in R35,000 in cash prizes. Also entering the tournament is Silviu “NightEnD” Lazar from Romania who plays for Fnatic. Lazar has proven his skill at StarCraft II again and again. All the competitions are accredited by Mind Sports South Africa. Included in the day's event will be an official test match between South Africa and Romania. Spectators will get to watch Rob "PandaTank" Botha (South Africa) take on Silviu "NightEnD" Lazar (Romania) in the first-ever such test match to take place on South African soil. The event will be held at The Forum, Bryanston, in Johannesburg courtesy of Internet Solutions. The Forum features a 500-seat auditorium fitted with 3 HD projectors for all to see every move the players make. Additionally, Internet Solutions is providing a solid fibre optic connection to the venue, guaranteeing speeds of 92-95Mbps and average latency of 2 milliseconds local. “Internet Solutions has a proven track record as a leading broadband partner and have gone above and beyond expectations at previous events. “IS is a highly valued partner as its network is respected by the gaming community. This network quality has allowed us to elevate these events to an international level, making them attractive to top South African gamers. We’re privileged to have a broadband partner of Internet Solutions calibre and we’re extremely excited to be working alongside them in this epic event,” says Jason Borea, Marketing Director at Megarom Interactive.
Sameer Parker, programme manager at IS Gaming, says Internet Solutions is committed to making a tangible difference to the South African gaming community. “Of all the obstacles influencing our gamers, access to reliable, robust, low-latency bandwidth is the most pressing. Internet Solutions understands that gamers are the least forgiving and most sensitive consumers of bandwidth. By providing a service that allows them to be globally competitive, we will be assured that our networks have been given the thumbs up by the industry’s harshest critics.” The current line-up of players includes the following: •Dean “=ASF=Nibby” Loots •Travis “bvd.Shase” Weedon •Duncan “bvd.Skiblet” Frickel •Magiel “DvG.enjoy” de Lange •Radhe “DvG.MorningSTAR” Stringer •Silviu “NightEnD” Lazar •Rob “PandaTank” Botha •Mark “VnR|Gummie” Reynolds •Nathan “VnR|StatiC” Anderson
Additionally a Wild Card tournament will be held by PolarFluke (www.polarfluke. co.za) to determine the final three placements for players still wanting a chance to compete in the Invitational. AMD has supplied PCs for the players to play on during the day and will have PCs available for the public to test out on the day. “Players require reliable equipment and AMD is here to provide them with that performance” said Jaco Laubscher, Channel Manager AMD. The event will be one of the biggest held for a game launch in South Africa, and we invite the public to register to attend the event on the 16th March 2013. Details can be found at the following address – www.megarom.co.za/SC2HOTS.
February’s Turkish eSports Highlight By Furkan Faruk AKINCI
League of Legends Saturday Night Tournaments Conventional Tournament format repeats itself every 15 days on Saturdays. In February only one has been held on the 16th of February. Point Blank Turkey 1st National Tournament Finals The final has taken place on the 3rd of March. The Winner, Dark Passage Group, has been awarded 2.000 TL anf gaming peripherals. The group will represent Turkey at the PBIC as well. Counter-Strike 14. Traditional 4Fun Cs Tournament Held on 24th February at Gameekstra. The winning team was Destiny Reach. 8.Traditional Bronze Soldiers Tournament Held on 17 February at Gameekstra. The wining team was Kentacdiz! The team received some gifts from Razer.
News | 2013. 3. 19
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WORLD REPORT Finland & Romania
ASSEMBLY Winter 2013 is about Getting Together By Teemu Hiilinen
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s the winter continues here in Finland (-25o C, 1-1.5m of snow) and there was nothing else to do than sit inside with our computers. At that point we knew it was time for other LAN event – ASSEMBLY Winter 2013. ASSEMBLY Winter is the second largest LAN event in Finland, which is held every year in Helsinki. ASSEMBLY isn’t just gaming. It is coming together with friends and spending time with them. As Finland is a really big country, it can take over 16 hours to drive from southern end to northern end. For this reason, it is not so common to meet your online friends in real life. ASSEMBLY is an answer for this.
The results from the tournament: StarCraft II 1. Vesa “Welmu” Hovinen (750 €) 2. Santeri “Naama” Lahtinen (500 €) 3. Samuli “elfi” Sihvonen (250 €) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 1. TOOMUCHVIDEOGAMES (1500 €) 2. from roihuvuori hoods (1000 €) 3. partyastronauts (Norway) (500 €)
This year the gaming competition has taken a small step backward as there wasn’t any major international tournament. Last year we had a luxury to host the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament with over 1.5 million people watching the show from various streams. This year we ended up streaming from four streams in Finnish.
Tekken Tag Tournament II 1. The_Emperor (600 €) 2. killerdoll (300 €)
While the tournament itself was a little bit smaller this year, the atmosphere inside the LAN was superb. We made our very own Harlem Shake. The Internet police Marko “Fobba” Forss also attended the LAN and spent time with the visitors. We also had a luxury to watch the best Finnish movie ever made, Iron Sky, from the big screen. Overall ASSEMBLY Winter was success for us all.
League of Legends 1. Negative Attitude (1200 €) 2. one for one v2 (800 €) 3. 64 North (500 €)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Starts Off Strong in the Romanian eSport Championship Season 3 Vlad Rosca / Editor at Professional Gamers League Romania
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espite some talks that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was “too young” to replace the venerable Counter-Strike 1.6 in the Romanian eSport scene, the third season of the Romanian eSport Championship has proven without a doubt that professional players can adapt very quickly to change. Over forty teams wanted to participate in the inaugural stage of the CS: GO Championship, with only 32 making the cut. That didn’t stem the tide of new teams who expressed their interest in the new season, though, and PGL ultimately had to raise the maximum number of teams to 48 for the fourth stage.
News | 2013. 3. 19
However, even this might prove to be insufficient as over 30 teams enlisted in just the first two days of open registration, leaving many to wonder what the final tally will be at the end of the week. The same situation applies for Dota 2 as well, where the number of teams that registered for a stage has become almost twice as big as the number of available slots. Naturally, with all the newcomers wanting to prove their worth, the established hierarchies from Season 2 have been shaken quite a bit. Nevertheless, the established names in the Romanian Counter-Strike scene—EQ, IGG or neXt Please—have no intention of riding off into the sunset and have already started to recruit new blood into their lineups to give their opponents a good run for their money. 10
WORLD REPORT Vietnam
VEC – The Most Professional eSport Tournament in Vietnam VEC 2012 was seen as an illustration of the success and impression VTC Game is making in eSports, which is currently a rapidly developing field in Vietnam. By Vietnam Recreational eSport Association
Focus on Strengths VEC, which stands for the Vietnam eSport Championship, has certainly made itself known in the four years since 2008. Aiming at organizing the largest-scale tournament in Southeast Asia, VTC Game made use of all of their human resources and previous experience in organizing for the VEC 2012. Poster of VEC Tournament 2012 Along with two other mainstreams in game, VEC 2012, on the basis of VTC Game’s understanding about taste and community, consists of seven competitive titles: FIFA Online 2, Crossfire, Space Cowboy Online, Age of Empires, DotA, and the newest, World of Tanks, which has been released for more than five months. The Basis of Arbitration and Community A training plan for arbitration has been set in order to prepare for the tournament. With two experts from the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) and the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA), masters from VIRESA have employed more than 100 participants who have had significant contributions to national eSport tournaments. Forty referees, who met the requirements for the tournament, were finally selected through the training course. National referee training course Simultaneously, VEC 2012 was seen as the first tournament that the issue of health care and fitness for participants was addressed. In the final round, apart from being subsidized for T-shirts and living costs, taking the health check was compulsory for each eSport competitor. In so doing, the participants could have their own health guides during the competition, which they seemed quite impressed about. Success in both scale and internationality With more than ten thousand registrations and more than three thousand official participants, VEC 2012 took place at an arena with 200 modern computers and live streaming systems in order to serve thousands of domestic viewers. The success of the tournament is apparent when examining these figures. VEC 2012 has been successful In order to fulfill their mission, the VEC 2012 became the bridge that connected the most worldwide prestigious eSport competition–World Cyber Game (WCG) 2012. The winners in the WCG qualifying round in Vietnam had to take play-off matches against the champions of VEC 2012 in order to select the team to compete in the WCG Finals held in China.
News | 2013. 3. 19
That could have been a second chance for those who desired to compete in the international round, as the qualifying round for WCG in Vietnam was held in only two days, whereas the VEC 2012 was held over eight months. A glorious return As a result of VTC Game’s efforts and the expectation of millions of eSport followers, two Vietnamese national teams have won the most glorious ever achievements in the history of Vietnamese eSports. The World of Tanks team, Anubis Empire, reached the semi-final round and was deeply impressed by the organizers as well as the audience. Moreover, Freedom, the Crossfire team, won runner-up and a prize of $10,000. Crossfire team Freedom returning home gloriously. Apart from WCG 2012, VTC Game also took the responsibility to take other teams to compete in One Asia Cup 2012 (OAC) and Game and Game World Championship (GNGWC) 2012. In OAC, the national Fifa Online 2 teams not only successful in defending the championship but also had an absolutely victorious tournament with three of the highest ranks in OAC 2012. For Space Cowboy Online competition, three members of the Vietnamese national team who had advanced from VEC 2012 also achieved the runner-up title and a $3,000 awards. Overwhelmingly, VTC Game has shown their capability in the orientation, organization and raising of homegrown talent which are seen as the most crucial issues in any sport, particularly eSports.
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INTERVIEW e-Sports Star of March
e-Sports Star of March Finnish SC2 Specialist, Samuli “Elfi” Sihvonen Interviewed by Jarmo Keto / Chairman of Finnish e-Sports Federation
O
ne location in Finland is renowned above any others when it comes to eSports and especially StarCraft 2. You’d expect this to be a place of bustling high tech industry or something similar, but in this place you are more likely to run into a cow than a PC. Of course we are talking about the village of Teuroinen in the municipality of Kouvola, which is the hometown of StarCraft 2 (SC2) player Samuli “Elfi” Sihvonen, who is often referred to as the “knight of Teuroinen” after his childhood home village. This SC2 specialist is widely known as being a very difficult person to interview. Setting up an interview was relatively easy, but getting thorough answers was not. The interior of Elfi's current flat in Helsinki tells all about the person living here: the walls are covered with certificates and prizes from different tournaments. This is definitely the home to a very successful professional player. How does a person grow up to become a professional player in Finland? I try to dig up as many details as possible from Elfi's childhood and youth back in rural Teuroinen. As Elfi is obviously more interested in talking about the game than himself, this turns out to be quite difficult—as I had expected. Being blessed with a competitive mindset, Elfi spent his youth playing football for nearly six years. Slowly but surely, he managed a swift and smooth transition from regular sports to electronic ones. First, casual gaming with PlayStation and then a slow shift to gaming as a Warcraft 3 semi-pro. His good start was interrupted by a diminishing Warcraft 3 scene and the beginning of compulsory civilian service. That civilian service duty ended one evening as Elfi's car made a close encounter with a truck, resulting in an impact that hospitalized the champion for over a month.
Interview | 2013. 3. 19
A crash that usually ends in a loss of life was not enough to stop this determined young man. During a long recovery period, a new title was released: StarCraft 2 came out and both Elfi and the real time strategy (RTS) scene started to show signs of life once again. The rest is history. Elfi is of course known for his quiet nature and modesty, but above all for his love of cats. So we end up talking about cats. Do you know any player who prepares for a tough match by doing something completely irrelevant just seconds before the big moment? Because Elfi does that: he watches videos of cats even on stage. I suspect this has something to do with mind games, which Elfi denies: he just happens to be fond of cats.
Despite this handicap, he won one of the favourites in the group phase, lost to a nearly unknown player and was forced to drop out by map score. After this huge disappointment, he went back home only to find an invasion of cockroaches in his luggage. DH Bucharest is only few months back but in a short time there has been a collapse in tournament success. The reason seems quite obvious: lack of training. Elfi does not deny his loss of motivation but does not see it as an issue. “Motivation comes and goes,” he notes. Currently, he’s waiting for the Heart of Swarm expansion and wants to take it easy for a while. He is very determined in continuing as a professional player for at least one more year and does not hide his enthusiasm.
As if by fate something black rushes through the room —a cat! Being badly allergic to cats, I’m somewhat happy that this one, called Pekka, does not seem to love me too much. There are still a lot more interesting topics I want to bring up, but Pekka—the cat—has stolen the attention for the moment. Pekka was salvaged from an animal shelter and Samuli does not even himself know very much about the cat. I don’t want to bug Elfi about his personal life too much, so I’ll give him a break and get back to eSports. I ask for his most memorable eSports event ever—either good or bad.
In the past few months Elfi has dropped out from all the major tournaments and is far from being the top player in Finland at the moment. However, Elfi’s long career, past achievements, natural mind game capability and unique character have made him an icon in the Finnish eSports scene.
Surprisingly, the same tournament takes the top podium in both categories: Dreamhack Bucharest 2012. Elfi arrived with a bad flu and pumped up with painkillers. Despite this handicap, he won one of the favourites in the group phase, lost to a nearly unknown player and was forced to drop out by map score. After this huge disappointment, he went back home only to find an invasion of cockroaches in his luggage.
I think about all the strange habits I’ve witnessed: drinking cognac with pancakes, steaming everyone else out of a sauna by excessive water tossing—and the cats: don’t get me started. At least he is exotic: a true character and no one else but himself.
Surprisingly, the same tournament takes the top podium in both categories: Dreamhack Bucharest 2012. Elfi arrived with a bad flu and pumped up with painkillers.
Upon leaving the interview Samuli wants to show me some more pictures of cats. This one has a towel on its head. I leave the flat with mixed feelings. I’m not sure whether I’ve been trolled for the whole time or if Elfi really is as bizarre as he seems.
It is a common practice in Finland that the hope city will donate a house to a successful athlete to thank them for their contribution to the city’s image and prestige. The coming years will tell if we see the municipality of Kouvola do the same for Elfi. Or they can always just build a statue.
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INTERVIEW Zoom In e-Sports
Visited World Cyber Games
Beyond the Game, World Cyber Games By Matthew Byun / Manager at IeSF
F
or March’s Zoom-in interview, we have visited World Cyber Games (WCG) who has been walking over the same eSports road for more than ten years.
the nuclear attack to Bertrand provided fans somewhat catharsis, which is still recorded as the best match in the history.
After its foundation in 2000, with its motto “Beyond the Game,” WCG started Grand Finals with 37 nations participating in Korea in 2001.
In the history of WCG for over 13 years, many things remains in the memory of fans, but the most memorable thing may be the players.
As it moved around to the USA in 2004, Singapore in 2005, Italy in 2006, Germany in 2008, and China in 2009, it has been giving strong impressions to eSports fans in Asia, Europe and North America.
For these players, WCG prepared the ‘Hall of Fame”. (http://www.wcg.com/renew/history/halloffame/ hall_main.asp) We can easily find the names of Manuel Schenkhuizen (Grubby) and Xiao Feng Li (Sky) for Warcraft, and Yohwan Lim (Slayers_BoxeR) for Starcraft, which fans are familiar with.
Especially, in 2008, as 800 players from 78 nations participating in the Grand Finals, it recorded as the biggest eSports event. Also, during 2007, as 1.5 million players from 74 nations participated in its Grand Final and national qualifiers, it is listed in the Guinness Book as the “World Biggest Video Game Tournament.”
In 2001, since it was the initial tournament, both domestic and international attention was focused on the even. Reflecting this enthusiasm, VIPs from in and out of the country attended the event, and it came to the staff as a somewhat heavy responsibility due to lack of experience and knowledge at the beginning. The part of the WCG 2001 Grand Finals that is stamped on fans’ memories is perhaps the final match between Bertrand and Yohwan Lim (Slayers_BoxeR) who were the greatest players of the time. Then, Bertrand was bringing up the rage of Korean fans with his ridiculing other players.
2012 may be the unforgettable year for WCG. According the manager of WCG, 110 thousands of people visited the venue of WCG event in Kunshan, which is a small city 50 km from Shanghai. Nobody ever expected it could gather that many people in such small city.
Especially, for WarCraft III, the match between Chinese WarCraft III hero Xiao Fend Li (Sky) and Jae Ho Jang (Moon) from Korea aroused the enthusiastic pep rallies of fans. For the fans in the world who could not visit the venue, WCG 2012 provided live streaming on its website as well as Ongamenet, Twitch.tv, Daum TV, Gom TV, Neo TV and others, and the matches were broadcasted in Korean and English as well as Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
For example, he tended to do an ‘SCV Rush’ or ‘Nuclear Attack’ in the matches almost over to humiliate the losing player.
WCG is planning to establish a broadcasting system in which broadcasters, casters and users can shape it as they want by operating an International Broadcasting Center, the broadcasting format of mega sports event such as the Olympic Games, in the future.
Then, at the Final match, Yohwan Lim beat Bertrand with the score of 2:0 with great control and performance, and the scene that Yohwan pour down
Perhaps it is the reason why world eSports fans love WCG that they keep showing efforts to create and develop new and better things.
Interview | 2013. 3. 19
Every year, WCG has invited promotional booths in which fans can directly participate and enjoy matches. In 2012, Publisher Booths such as Nexon, Valve, Wargaming and QQ Speed were presented as well as IT Company Booths such as Samsung, NVIDIA, Razor, DX racer and Seagate. Moreover, F&B booths such as Burger King and Paris Baguette were built to feed visitors. The Companies newly participated in the event mentioned that they were satisfied with the results of promotion and would like to participate in 2013 again. WCG 2013 is planned to be held on 28th of November. The manager of WCG, Brian So says, “Currently, global eSports tournaments are being restructured as game company-driven. In this moment, existing organizers and game companies need to cooperate closely. Since they are events for eSports fans, we need to think in a user-focused manner, and to endeavor to provide more various attractions.”
Many people predict that mobile will dominate in the future eSports. It is because that it is easy to access and performance of its hardware and software is improved as PC level. Also, unified operating systems such as Android and iOS support mobile companies to develop smartphone games more easily. WCG has also put much interest and investment in mobile titles since 2008. Through the WCG Samsung Mobile Challenge, they attempt to provide opportunities to mobile game users to participate in the tournament events. Starting with the announcement of official titles this April, WCG national qualifier will start again until October. It is expected that many gamers will participate in the event just as last year. Brian added, “We really appreciate all the support and cherish our fans, and will keep endeavoring to develop new things for making the events better. We can’t wait till 28 November, and hope to see all of you at the Grand Final in Kunshan, China.”
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IeSF NEWS International e-Sports Federation
2013 IeSF News
Election of New President of IeSF by Alex Lim / Editor at International e-Sports Federation
A
s the former President of International e-Sports Federation, Mr. Hyung Hee Lee, has resigned from his position due to personal issue, Mr. Won Suk Oh, the Secretary General currently has performed as the acting President. In order to execute voting for electing new president without any delay, according to IeSF Statutes, Article 36, Mr. Oh convened Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and sent out Notification of Convocation to all respectful members of IeSF on 15 February. As responding to the convocation, recommendations from 16 member nations of IeSF which is over onethirds of its 42 members have been sent to IeSF Secretariat. With those recommendations from the member countries (Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, France, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Switzerland), Mr. Byung Hun Jun, the president of Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) was nominated as the candidate for new president. On 19th of March, with the general consent of attendees to the EGM, Mr. Byung Hun Jun was elected as the president of IeSF.
Besides, for efficient operation of 5 committees (Competition, Certification, Player, Referee and Title), election of the chairs of the committees was added to the agenda of EGM. Mr. Colin Andrew Webster, the president of Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) was elected as the chairman of Player Committee. Also, Mr. Silviu Stroie, the President of Professional Gamers League Romania (PGL) was elected as the chairman of Referee Committee, and Mr. Constantine Surkont, the General Secretary of Russian e-Sports Federation (RESF) was elected as the chairman of Competition Committee. For the Certification Committee, Mr. Herman NG was elected as the chairman. Hereafter, these chairmen of committees will lead the Board of IeSF as the Board Members as supporting the new President. With the new leadership, it is expected that IeSF may take new leap forward to driving e-sports field into the international sports society. Also, as starting full throttle for operation of IeSF’s sub committees, the result of researches which IeSF has been endeavoring is expected to be applied to the reality including IeSF World Championship and other e-sports tournament within mega-sport event hosted by Olympic Committees.
IeSF opinion /\" "New Era for Korean eSports by Alex Lim / Editor at International e-Sports Federation The Korean eSports market has seized an opportunity for a new leap forward as well as the momentum to burst negative perception toward games. It is a change derived from an organic connection between the gaming and eSports markets. Last month, Mr. Byung Hun Jun, a member of the Korean National Assembly, was assigned to the position as the 5th president of the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA). Since the foundation of KeSPA, businessmen have taken the presidency (HanbitSoft took the 1st presidency, and SK telecom took 2nd to 4th presidency), and it is unprecedented to invite a politician to the presidency. In the case of other sports governing bodies, many of congressmen have been assigned to the presidency, but it is unheard in the eSports field. It is an indication that the status of eSports has increased so much. As a reflection of the prestige eSports is gaining in Korea, at the presidential inauguration the Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the President of the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) and many other members of the National Assembly attended and delivered congratulatory messages. It is also the first time that VIPs from the government and the political world attend KeSPA’s presidential inauguration. In particular, attendance of the KOC’s president connotes significant meaning as eSports is in the process of being an official KOC sport discipline. Of course, having a president from the political world still contains several risk components with regard to stability. However, it is time for a political person who can play a role in communicating with government and influencing legislative activities for the game industry. Moreover, Mr. Jun, as a congressman running for a third term, has been an opinion leader who has been key in promoting game and eSports industries as standing for increase of eSports budget, revocation of a ‘shutdown’ system, etc. Mr. Jun says, “The game industry is driven into a corner of unilateral setdown even beyond prejudice. Now, we need the support of the government and political worlds. I will work as a bridge between the industry and government.” News | 2013. 3. 19
Also, he claims, “It is time to change the structure of Korean eSports which fell into crisis. We need to restructure it, and support systematically. We will carry on good things, and break down negative old customs.” As his new motto, “Next eSports,” it is time for Korean eSports to create its own ecosystem. First of all, communication with fans and the market in general should be vitalized. Thus, a consultative body which can collect opinions from diverse parties should be established. Second, in order to develop eSports as an official sports discipline, the amateur realm of eSports should be developed to extend its influence to the general public. Mr. Jun also announced that KeSPA will take over the authority of “Presidential National eSports Tournament” from the government, and based on this business, they will achieve a foundation of branches in cities nationwide. So far, KeSPA has successfully been controlling the professional dimension of eSports, but has shown limitation for supporting the amateur dimension. This is why Mr. Jun has set forth a balanced development between amateur and pro as the core task. Stable securement of resources is also an essential task. Operation of eSports teams or sponsorship should be perceived not as a somewhat simple return to society but as a long-term reinvestment into the industry. This kind of virtuous circle is necessary. Mr. Yong-Sung Park, the President of KOC states, “eSports is being operated within Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games as an official sport discipline. If KeSPA can maintain the competitiveness of eSports, a fine sport discipline which can represent Korea will step forward to the people of the world.” During this upcoming new era of Korean eSports with the new president of KeSPA, I hope that KeSPA can position gaming as a sport culture content that all generations can enjoy.
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OPINION e-Sports & Games
eSports, From the Eyes of a Game Publisher (Part 2) I hope our readers might find something interesting from my previous column about content production for PLC extension. To continue, I would like to talk about the global market in this part of the column. As the current game market is gradually globalized, cases where global publishers service local games are increasing.
Therefore, global eSports tournaments that influence marketing activities in each country are beneficial. Even if hosting a global eSports tournament does not immediately impact on sales, they are providing the global publisher additional content for the game as well as marketing value.
In these cases, global publishers directly control the businesses in the countries where they publish games. Since the local game companies hand over the authority for global publication, they cannot intervene in the global business but only support game content and technical knowhow for successful publication of global editions.
Likewise, eSports becomes an effective marketing tool in the online game market. Also, for the future of relations between online game publishers and eSports, which is different from packaged games, eSports in the online game scene should involve the online game publisher as well as the eSports organizer.
It is because each country has a different game consumption culture that it is hard to advise on marketing. Also, it is not easy to handle global marketing when each country is so different in business practices.
Game publishers are beginning to take a stake in eSports. League of Legends publisher Riot Games is deeply concerned with eSports, and Blizzard jumped into the eSports scene with StarCraft 2 although they had not been involved in the StarCraft: Brood War eSports scene.
However, global eSports tournaments are one good solution for this difficulty of globally integrated marketing. By being involved in an international eSports tournament, a game company often has the opportunity to have national qualifiers in many different countries, which is an effective marketing opportunity. This allows game companies to provide users uniform content throughout the international eSports tournament.
Most global publishers understand the importance of eSports: Riot, Blizzard and even Tencent have task force teams for eSports. By the way, it is a pity that Korean game companies do not perceive the importance of it. For most of them, game marketers operate eSports businesses, and it seems that they do not really care about it. I do not mean to slight them, but it is still sad that they do not have much of understand on of eSports, and it as simple offline promotion or marketing.
Furthermore, since the international tournament is one activity where only a game company with main publication rights can operate, it is very important in the manner of right and authority. Global publishers only focus on sales within the countries relevant to their business since sales in unrelated countries does not impact at all on the success of their businesses. However, for the companies with main publication rights, it is best that the game succeeds in all countries since they receive the royalty from each country’s sales return.
Byoung-Ho Yeo / eBy Byoung Ho Yeo e-Sports Team Manager at Smilegate
Nevertheless, it is a positive sign that the number of people with eSports experience increases within game companies, and that their perception toward eSports evolves. There are many global game companies in Korea and many of them insist that the root of eSports was born out of Korea. I hope that they may put more effort into eSports, and that it may take more roles in this market.
THE BEAUTIFUL GAMING PLAGUE Someone will wonder how a plague can be beautiful, but we have all heard of beautiful disaster monsters among other weird things. I will tell you how a plague can be beautiful and still earn the name plague. This is my third article in the Opinion column of G&E, and for the last two articles, I greatly despised the situation at hand within my region; however, the situation has intensified to Category 7. Yes, that is always the worst category in any disastrous scenario; however, it is a good Category 7. Oddly, it is and here is how. By Joe Kratos / Kampala, Uganda / Sales Executive at Cybernet Computer Systems
We have five to ten Game Parlors, Shops or Stations in my neighborhood alone. These are for only PlayStation 2 games being played on 14-, 19- and rarely 21-inch TV screens. This has driven out the few PC Gaming and Internet cafes out of business as the young and teen customers have resorted to video games other than Facebook.
Opinion | 2013. 3. 19
You see, the PlayStation 2 console is popular mainly because it is easy for owners to access the accessories here. Memory cards, controllers and games are easily accessible anywhere at decent prices. But I have actually noticed that the higher demand gets the higher prices for consoles. This does not affect the gamers directly but rather hit hard at the Game Station owners and proprietors (US). The demand for PlayStation 2 and gaming services is high, and so is the rent. Electricity bills among other fluctuating factors within the local economy. I hate this part where I have to wish upon a better tomorrow, and also hope for the government and ICT sector to acknowledge what is going on in the local Gamers community. But until this is cleared, we can say everything is up and running. Then, I will claim satisfaction for the whole gamer community in Uganda.
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OPINION e-Sports & Games
Woman power
By Kim Dong-wook khgames Chief Editor
“Woman holds up the half of the world” as the world starts, women and men have played their role in the society. But I think women are less likely to show off their achievements in front of others and in the history even though there were lots of great women in our history. Women tend to do their best and sacrifice herself for someone of her family and it’s because of warm motherhood every woman has. Every woman is a living heroine throughout our history whether she left a big achievement or not as she tries her best to fulfill her responsibility.
Gabrielle Toledano, a vice president of EA, said "Sexism is an unfortunate reality of our times, but as women we must seek the power and ability in ourselves to change the dynamic. According to Toledano, blaming men for "not creating an attractive work environment" for women is a "cop-out." Instead, she put the onus on women to be proactive about recognizing their place in the industry and forging a path for themselves. She emphasizes these three things as below.
In 2000, NewYork Times chose Queen ElizabethⅠas the greatest leader over 1000years on behalf of great men leaders. It’s kind of proof that women have a higher status and respect. UK has been a leading country with remarkable development since ElizabethⅠdominated. She repelled The Spanish Armada and ruled the sea in Europe and established a new route to the New World. She improved the confused situation to make religion and the council stable based on The Church of England. Especially, many artists and writers appeared in the UK and led renaissance period for England Culture. Once she told that she wouldn’t replace Shakespeare with India, William Shakespeare was also one of writers in this period. ElizabethⅠliving alone all her life sacrificed herself for her country with continuous self-examination and careful policies, developing UK as one of rich countries. Likewise, Womanpower is quite strong. However, what’s the reason that we hardly find womanpower in our game industry? Some companies in North America complained that there is lots of sexual discrimination toward women in the company and most games are male-oriented etc.
First, "Nearly half of all gamers are female and yet I still continue to hear on a weekly basis that 'the only people playing games are boys in their basements.' It's just not true," she said Second, game industry needs to hire women to maintain its innovation and development and is seeking women to hire Third, In our industry and the technology world at large, we need to support educational institutions that are working so aggressively to encourage women to pursue STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] careers. Part of Toledano's job as EA's executive vice president and chief talent officer involves serving as the company's head of human resources over 15 years. She said “Entertainment and game is the most rewarding area and Game is in the historic turnaround. "We'd love to hire more women but we can't find enough of them to hire and Game jobs are perfectly suitable for women" Sooner or later, we are looking forward to seeing the great woman in our game industry like Elizabeth.
#902, 9th Floor, 250-15, Sangamdong-Gil, Mapo-Gu, Seoul, Korea Representative Phone : +82-2-3153-2690 FAX : +82-2-3153-2696 COPYRIGHT ⓒ 2009 International e-Sports Federation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Opinion | 2013. 3. 19
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