gamer.pk

Gaming in modern day is something more than fast mouse clicks and good graphics. A gamer today earns and competes like a professional athlete and there is very less being said in against this. The demands off a modern day gamer are much, much more and there are things that need to be coached to a gamer – that they cannot learn on their own.

If I were to give a gamer 5 of my top tips, they would be:

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Moon of mYm Gaming might just be one of the few player that are going to be paid nearly as much in the future for their services to gaming companies. Gamers it seems, are going to be a hot entertainment commodity come next few decades. The way human technological evolution has taken place, it is worth to note that man has nearly accomplished it’s Sci-Fi dreams of 50 odd yesteryears. Mobile phones, internet, microwave, etc. Now is the time this technology is put to use for entertainment purposes and virtual coliseums be setup.

I think I have digressed a lot – coming back to where we were! MYM]Moon allegedly earns $7,000, which is separate from the money he earns in tournaments.

Signing Moon is a very difficult task for any team. Allegedly, the player earns over $7,000 in Meet Your Makers, which could make him the best paid WC3 player on the planet. The benefit of leaving MYM for him would be that he would no longer have to participate in team leagues. He has little to win in those, but regularly exposes his strategies to being studied.

The fact that Moon did not slow down and picked up $10,500 this year, winning both events he entered, can only encourage teams to try and sign him. (carmac / SK-Gaming)

It is being heard that he is now being asked by various gaming clans all over South Korea to play for them in their TV leagues.

A whole listing has been shared from the Chinese gaming news website ‘FighterForum’ by FoReVeR_ManUtd on SK’s website detail’s Moon’s winnings! Which easily tops the best paid StarCraft gamer in South Korea… And they say gaming is a bad hobby.

If not my encouragement, then this news should surely push people to take up gaming more seriously! Seriously!

This is not John Carmack of the id fame. But this is another known and informed naming in e-sports, a writer from SK-Gaming Website who talks about how gaming is about staying fit for the long haul. He talks how proper planning and foresight can help companies and teams last longer, and I couldn’t agree any more. Read on.

Many big names in e-sports are not doing so well these days. We talk in the past tense about others. It would be very easy to put various failures of teams, websites and tournaments down to the infertility of e-sports. E-sports is bad, it is business suicide, Ninjas in Pajamas and the World Series of Video Games would say.

But if this is so, how come companies like SK Gaming, Meet Your Makers and ESL are not dying with them? Why are yesterday’s kings today’s paupers? (carmac / SK-Gaming)

Read full post here.

Blizzard released two new screens for Starcraft 2 today. While neither show your traditional top-down RTS gameplay, they do show off the game’s adventure-styled hub setting. And how gorgeous it’s looking. They also give us a close-up of one of the game’s leading characters, rebel fighter Jim Raynor, who looks like he could do with more sleep.

Link: http://www.starcraft2.com/screenshots.xml

Source: http://kotaku.com/350458/starcraft-2-screens

One of my all time favorite multiplayer games, has just proved its quality when it came out as the Most sold game in 2007. The game, based on the Modern trends of warfare, which include UAV recons, Air-support, Brett 0.9 Caliber Rifles, the P9 smg and loads of other outclass weapons is a true gift for multiplayer fans, and only further establishes the series after the Call of Duty 2 took the world by storm.

In Pakistan, there is one Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer Server hosted by Worldcall, and open to non-wc users from 10pm-1am, while another is in the Testing phase, soon to be Launched by Micronet BroadBand, which will be a 24Hour free treat for all Pakistani Gamers! Below is the press release that delivers us the great news.

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When you spend more time at your computer than Big Bird spends in Sesame Street, you’re going to need to be comfortable. The Nex-Sys Corner V1 Desk tries to address the issue. You may mistake the luxury sit-up for another rock band peripheral kit, but don’t be fooled. The Corner V1 has support for 2.1 speakers, height adjustable flat screen monitor and comes with a custom car seat to suit your disposition on the day you spend 1700-freaking-dollars on a desk and chair.

Sure, it is available in a range of colors, is completely hand-crafted and offers levels of comfort you last experienced in your mother’s womb, but $1700? It seems a little steep for a desk and chair set only the 40-year old virgin would ever own. Mind you, as our lives are going that way anyhow, we might as well be cozy getting there. [Product Page via Mobilewhack]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/349344/nex+sys-corner-v1-desk-is-comfy-costly

In the recent major collapse of the famous Warcraft 3 gaming clan, 4Kings, FuRy happened to be one of the longest serving members of the team. A string of poor results and a lot of fan criticism saw team members Fov, ToD, Grubby leave the clan before they actually had to disband this already defunct group. FuRy and Zeus[19] were not the same as before, performance wise, and were not highly dependable. However, as things in gaming keep rolling, PGS acquired 4K.WC3 and FuRy with it too. Today we have an excerpt of the interview from the mYm website where he spills the beans!

When you knew that 4K will disband, did you know where you wanted to go?

I had no idea about where anyone would go or if we could stay together at all, everything was decided in a hurry, but I’m very very glad it ended up the way it did, staying with Zeus Trimble and LiiL is more than I could have hoped for.

Grubby and ToD left 4Kings. First let’s talk about ToD. What do you think about his move to mouz?

I think it was a smart move on his part, considering that SaSe is also in China, along with Fly etc. But nothing about 4K’s disbanding was planned on forehand or in any way, predictable.

But it was just a one player, not the whole team. Was ToD’s departure a reason to disband the legendary division?

No, thats completely wrong, the reason for the disbanding from the start was finacial problems, thats what caused everything to fall apart. Without money the team cannot continue to exist, sad but true. Right now I just wish that PGS.PS won’t meet the same fate as 4K did.

The biggest suprise however, was Grubby’s move to MYM. How do you feel about it?

I think it was a very good move for Grubby and I hope MYM will give him the chance to develop and grow even more as a player, I have no doubt he will.

The Vintage 4Kings (From Left): FuRy, LaWn, Myth, Grubby, Khaldor, KaJ, Zeus[19].

Image thanks to www.mymYm.com

Read the full interview here.

So last night I made up my mind as to how and when to take the next big step. Yes! I am going to try and move this baby to it’s own domain, and get some hosting package setup behind that. I am still working on the details as to how I will finance that. But sooner or later, we will be moving to a permanent place of our own. I know, we were formally at Blogspot, but their interface was way too simplistic for my liking. I was also having problems logging into Blogger, so much so that I couldn’t even post one post more, from there. *Sigh*

In the meanwhile, please visit the Contribute section of the blog and send in whatever you have your mind, while we prepare the good stuff for you!

gl hf till then

Once again, World of Warcraft has set another astounding record! The population of total WoW players has reached 10 Million, which excludes people that haven’t opened their WoW box sets (like me :/), says Yahoo! Games.

Which game boasts a population greater than Sweden, Israel or Haiti? Online role-playing phenomenon World of Warcraft is the answer: Blizzard Entertainment announced this week that subscriber counts for its smash hit fantasy RPG recently broke the 10 million mark. Warcraft players number more than 2.5m in North America, while Asian subscribers account for the majority of the remainder. (Mike Smith / Yahoo! Games)

I remember we discussed the same rise of number of WoW players a few months earlier where

Vivendi reported a 19% increase in their sales to to 216 million euros ($315.2 million). This phenomenal growth of sales has been attributed to their recent releases, the expansion to original World of Warcraft (WOW) called The Burning Crusade, and a new Real-Time Action Strategy brand called the World in Conflict. It was a well known fact that WoW had 9 million users as Blizzard announced late July 2007 that it had reached the 9 million user mark. (gamer.pk)

Where we also have happened to have said,

Which basically means that come maturity of The Burning Crusade expansion pack there will be more players playing WoW, than some of the smaller countries in the world. And there will be more revenue generated than GDPs of some of the third world countries. What if a country I ruled owned a company like Vivendi? (gamer.pk)

Soon enough, I will sit with a few Pakistani WoW’ers and ask them about their thoughts on such an astounding growth for such a product. This is really mind boggling!

Statistics gathered by The Entertainment Software Association and discussed at SK-Gaming show us that there has been an exceptional growth in the gaming market, and there were at least 9 games sold every second of every day last year. In comparison to the movie and music industry, the gaming industry grew, while the other two saw slow downs.

As discussed earlier here, the gaming industry grew to a whooping $17.9 Billion last year.

According to The Entertainment Software Association, the number of sales within the video game industry for 2007 totalled at around $18.5 billion; with $9.5 billion of that being spent on games alone, and the remaining $9.35 billion being spent on games consoles. That’s an increase of 28.4% since 2006.

The introduction of the Nintendo Wii last year gave a big boost to the console market, with sales of console games far outweighing the sales of PC games. Console game sales took up about 70% of the $9.5 billion market. Hand-held gaming devices also hit a record high last year, with $2.0 billion being spent on games for them.

The music and movie industries both saw very little, or even negative growth in sales last year, with the movie industry only growing by 1.8% on their $9.49 billion revenue in 2006. The music industry suffered in even worse fate still, with the sales revenue falling by an estimated 10% since 2006. (SK-Gaming News)

It would be unwise not to buy a stake in an industry so infant yet so promising!

We are really happy to bring to you another interview with a great name in the world of professional WarCraft 3 gaming, Ohjie. Ohjie is a charming person with a jovial demur. This Nightelf player hails from South Korea, and played with great gaming names such as NoA.

gamer.pk: Hi, Ohjie, it’s great to have you with us today for a short interview. Lets begin with favorite hero(s)?

Ohjie: Well it’s a tie between two of my favorites, I would say, Dark Ranger, or Demon Hunter.

gamer.pk: What kind of music inspires you?

Ohjie: Mostly ballads, and whatever that is popular. Contemporary pop you could say.

gamer.pk: What map happens to be your favorite, if there was any?

Ohjie: I don’t really have a favorite map : ) LOL

gamer.pk: Who is your favorite Nightelf player, since you are an Elf player yourself?

Ohjie: Haha, well, any player who has fun playing with Nightelf and wins in a skillful manner, is a good player and I would appreciate them. Mostly people are angry with us Elf players, but that’s the beauty of it, playing Elf is fun and winning is more fun. Playing for fun is what matters.

gamer.pk: Blizzard is about to launch it’s next big gaming title, StarCraft 2. What are your thoughts about StarCraft 2 and it’s release?

Ohjie: Well, honestly, I am too interested in WarCraft 3 right now to think about StarCraft 2. Even if it was a big thing already, I am not interested in it anyways.

gamer.pk: OK, one last question, who is better Moon or ReMind?

Ohjie: Haha, as I said earlier, any player who can win in a better way is the better player for me. I think they are really good players in themselves and they player really skillfully, so it’s hard to pin one greater than the other. According to my philosophy, any player who has fun playing is a better player.

gamer.pk: Thanks Ohjie, for being such a sport for giving us this interview, we wish you all the success, and glory!

Ohjie: No problem. The pleasure is all mine!

I would like again thank ‘Stud (aka Bilal Rasheed)’ who has become a regular contributor to gamer.pk, for his efforts in getting this interview done.

More news, reviews and interviews of pro-gamers from arount the world on their way, stay tuned.

A few of our interviewers including Stud of SPG, were able to conduct a landmark interview for gamer.pk to sit with the famous and prolific Nightelf player Park Chulwoo, also known more commonly as MYM]Shy, and ask him a few candid questions that revealed a lot about his simple and humble personality.

Shy hails from Korea and plays for the Danish gaming clan Meet Your Makers; an important WC3 wing member. In recent developments, MYM.WC3 acquired the services of the European Orc giant, Grubby, who left 4Kings saying he had made a wise and timely decision.

Without further ado, we give you MYM]Shy.

gamer.pk: Hi Shy, can you tell us, since how many years have you played that you have considered yourself a Professional Gamer?
MYM]Shy: Hmmm, 2 years I think.

gamer.pk: What is your favorite hero and why?
MYM]Shy: It’s Dark Ranger, because I like her final, Charm

gamer.pk: What changes do you want to see in next patch?
MYM]Shy: Towers! xD

gamer.pk: What is your favorite map?
MYM]Shy: It’s Echo Isles.

gamer.pk: Who is your favorite Player?
MYM]Shy: MYM]Moon ^^

gamer.pk: What kind of food do you like ?
MYM]Shy: I like chicken ~!

gamer.pk: Tell us about your choice of music.
MYM]Shy: There’s not only one particular band I like, but basically I like Korean music.

gamer.pk: Is your family OK with your Gaming Career?
MYM]Shy: Yeah, they’re OK with with me gaming.

gamer.pk: Many people are concerned about their APM, what do you have to say about it?
MYM]Shy: Well, skill matters, APM doesn’t!

gamer.pk: Recently, former 4K player Grubby joined Meet Your Makers, are you happy about this?
MYM]Shy: Definitely, yes!

gamer.pk: Thanks for the interview!
MYM]Shy: You’re Welcome!

Stay tuned for more cool interviews from around the world right here at gamer.pk.

If you have any comments or suggestions ,please leave them in the comments box below.

In a series of what I will term as a look on some talented Pakistani gamers, the first installment starts from a 19 year old Warcraft 3 player who calls himself Stud! Bilal Rasheed is no new name to the gaming scene in Pakistan, and has been gaming on one of the top levels for the past few years. His race of choice is Nightelf, and has a steady hand on other races too. I came across his name in a recent news report on a clan website, and man was it good to see the Pakistani flag!

It wouldn’t have been long before he was picked up the Warcraft 3 wing of a Greek gaming clan called SouthPark Gaming that boast a large squad to begin with. Visit his profile here.

He shares his replay with us as he plays a Human player online on Echo Isles. (Replay Link)

We wish Bilal all the success, with all his clans and matches, who also happens to be a great resource for us.

Any Pakistani gamer willing to volunteer for a profile post on this weblog, leave a comment with email address below, we will reach you on our earliest.

The video game industry saw dollar sales in the U.S. of $17.94 billion last year, an impressive increase of 43% over the previous year, when it sold $12.53 billion worth of video games, consoles, portables and accessories. Sales were up across the board, with the biggest boosts coming from console hardware sales ($5.12 billion in business, up 73%) and accessories ($2.26 billion in business, up 59%). December alone saw $4.82 billion worth of video game goods sold, with over $2 billion worth of video games sold bolstering those figures.

More expensive hardware on the market for the full year certainly contributed to those impressive console hardware sales, but the 8.5 million Nintendo DS portables sold in 2007 had a lot to do with that, too. Look, everyone just made tons of cash, okay? (Kotaku)

I wonder when Pakistanis see the reality behind this turn around in revenue, and make use of it… Read more here.

Kotaku has more,

It’s the stuff press releases are made of, but the story is great to boot. Paxton Galvanek never had medical training, but he’d gone through medic certification in the America’s Army video game. Then one November night as he drove down the highway with his family, he watched as an SUV flipped multiple times in the opposite lane.

As his wife called 911, Galvanek pulled two injured passengers from the truck, assessed their wounds, and properly prioritized/administered treatment (direct pressure and elevation) to one of the accident’s more brutal injuries, a mutilated hand. In short, he did things just as he should have in a circumstance that could have ended even worse. (Kotaku)

The gamer, Paxton Galvanek, also went on to say that this was all due to a training video he saw in the game and that without that, he would have been able to do nothing.