"The International" Dota 2 Tournament

Last week, Valve officially opened "The International" Dota2 Tournament. It is the very first event giving millions of gamers worldwide the first look at Valve's newest game, Dota 2, which  is based on Defense of the Ancients a.k.a DoTA,  a custom real-time strategy map created for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. I'm sure some of you are familiar and addicted (just like me) with this game. The tournament took place on Cologne, Germany, during the Gamescom 2011 and formatted as group-stage double elimination.

Geeks everywhere. (image source)

During the five-day event, the tournament has been witnessed with over tens of millions of fans and viewers worldwide since it was streamed online in four different languages (English, German, Chinese and Russian). Sixteen (16) teams from different parts of the world took part on the tourney and a whooping prize pool of USD $1 MILLION.

Teams in four groups (image source)

One of the best highlight of the game, besides the game itself and the teams, is the Player Excitement Level, which measures players' excitement periodically. It is displayed in a small graph in-game.

(image source)

You may have seen graphs displaying the players’ excitement levels displayed periodically during The International tournament matches. This biofeedback data is collected using a wristband with custom hardware and works by measuring the electrical conductivity of the skin and sending signals to the player’s PC. The game collects this data continuously and plots the last two minutes of the player’s biofeedback history. Swings in a player’s emotional state, both positively and negatively, are represented by spikes in the graph. --via Dota2 Blog

And after a five-day battle, Na'Vi (Natus Vincera) from Ukraine, took all the loot, a head-smashing one million dollars and the first Dota 2 champion. They beat EHOME from China, via 3 wins on a best-of-five elimination series. Fortunately, EHOME took $250,000 as second prize, not bad right?

Oh! Virgins. Kidding. :D (image source)

Anyway, Valve will release the Open Beta for Dota 2 this fall or sooner (fingers crossed), everyone (especially me) is so excited than a horny camel. Let's all hope Valve uses Reverse Valve Time instead of Valve Time.

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Why I love Source Code?

Yesterday, I watched Source Code again, for the second time. I'm not sure if you're all familiar with movie, but for those who don't, Source Code is a sci-fi techno-thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan. Jake Gyllenhaal (what a funky last name, spelling it correctly is like eating lobster) stars as Capt. Colter Stevens/Sean Fentress. I believe it was Jake's second best work since Donnie Darko. 

Awwwww. That's so catchy. 

The movie's plot  is close to De Javu and Avatar, since it uses time-travel paradoxes and taking over on someone's body. What it made more interesting is the scenes are looped back every eight minutes, but with variations on Jake's character since he  knows what will happen within and after eight minutes which the bomb explodes killing everyone aboard the train. His character is supported by Capt. Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) who explained to him how he got involved in the Source Code and how it works. She also revealed that Stevens is half-dead and only the life-support system is what keeps him alive. Also, the character of Dr. Ruthledge (Jeffrey Wright), is what I felt as the villain of the film other than bomber and it's really good to see how the characters of Stevens and Ruthledge collide because of Stevens' constant questions and requests. I even got more delighted when they talked about parabolic physics and quantum mechanics, which gave the film a semi-realistic look. 

Meanwhile, Michelle Monaghan stars as Christina Warren, she's one of the reasons why Stevens keep going back to the Source Code, he wants to save her. Later on the film, Stevens discovered how alternate realities work. On the original reality, Stevens prevented the second attack from happening. It was a bit emotional in the near-end of the film when Stevens found that he was already dead. Goodwin was tasked to erase Stevens' memory but she was forced to end his life as they have deal that she will let him die peacefully. 

On the alternate universe, using the information he gathered during his previous trips to the Source Code, Stevens defused the bomb and caught the bomber. In the last seconds of his eight-minute mark, Colter and Christina kissed. He was surprised that his consciousness was transferred to Sean Fentress' body. An alternate version of Goodwin receives an email from Stevens explaining what has happened and how powerful the Source Code can be as it can change the target alternate reality. The movie ends, as Stevens now as Fentress asks Goodwin to help Capt. Colter Stevens on his future Source Code missions. 

To sum it all up, Source Code is not just a typical science fiction thriller, it's much more exciting. Watching the movie is like completing a puzzle since every scene makes the viewer guess that will happen next. 

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Google+ Invites

Five days ago, I was invited by a friend to try Google+ and so far, I can say this is the next big thing. Seriously, the interface is so intuitive and so easy to understand. The page loads so fast and inviting other people is easy as eating french fries. Anyway, I'm giving out free invites so you people can experience the next big thing in social networking. Just leave your email address in comment box and I'll give your invite immediately. Ja mata!

The features, ain't it cool?

P.S. This is not SPAM. Seriously, this is legit. :)

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What to Expect on Dexter's Season 6

Eleven more weeks to go and the loooong wait will be over, Dexter's Season 6 will premier on September 25, 2011. Lots of fan boys and girls are so overwhelmed and shrieking with excitement that some of them can't even go to sleep *kidding*. Anyway, lots of things are to be expected on this new season, six new characters (yeah, you heard that right. SIX!) are to be added with the recent casts and executive producer Sara Colleton revealed that the new season is indeed a time jump. Meaning, the story will start one year after the events of Season 5, so it is to expected that Dexter is back from being "normal" but still up with his Dark Passenger. And speaking of the Dark Passenger, what will happen to Harrison?  It was shown on Season 5 how Harrison scratched other babies' faces (first blood, eh?). Will he grow up like Dexter? I hope not, because I love Harrison, everybody loves Harrison. 

Dexter's first victim? Sure. LOL.

And I'm wondering, who's blood will be drawn first on Season 6?

SPOILER ALERT!

- Lumen will not be on Season 6, sorry Lumen fans.

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Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad a kick-ass drama series about a chemistry professor who "cooks" meth after he learns that he has lung cancer. Walter White is kick-ass Chemistry teacher, husband and father, he was a graduate of Cal Tech and a Nobel prize awardee. In Season 1, Walter learns about his lung cancer but decided to keep it a secret from his pregnant wife Skyler and son Walter Jr. He then realized that "cooking" meth can secure his family's future once he's gone.

Hazmat suit plus guns equals awesome!

With the help of his former student Jesse Pinkman, a drug junkie slash meth dealer slash gangster-wannabe. Walter made a deal with Jesse that he'll be in-charge in dealing and selling those meth and Walter in manufacturing or else Walter will bust Jesse with the DEA. And to quote Walter and Jesse's conversation from the Pilot episode:

Walter: Short speech. You lost your partner today. What's his name - Emilio? Emilio is going to prison. The DEA took all your money, your lab. You got nothing. Square one. But you know the business and I know the chemistry. I'm thinking...maybe you and I could partner up.

Jesse: You want to cook crystal meth? You and, uh...and me?

Walter: That's right...or I turn you in.

Anyway, I'm still in Season 2, and things are really getting crazy and exciting, with Walter going bald and the series' new villain, Tuco Salamanca. I'm really expecting lots of thrilling and awesome things with this series. I'll post updates soon.

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Rylai Crestfall the Crystal Maiden

Freezing hot!

Crystal Maiden or CM (in-game name) is recently my favorite DoTA hero. But first, please read her background story.

Adept in the manipulation of frost and ice, Rylai is the very image of elegeance and grace. Trained by a renegade wizard deep in the heart of Winterspring, Rylai brings to the Sentinel her prowess in the arts of magic. With a vast arsenal of spells, she wreaks havoc upon her foes - be it with powerful blasts of frost to send them fleeing in panic, or be it by rendering them immobile in ice. Her foes tremble in fear as the ground beneath implodes in mighty novas of frost in a dazzling array, obliterating all who dare oppose her.

Considered an intelligence spellcaster and disabler support hero, meaning she's in-charge in taking care of her teammates especially the Carry/MVP heroes.  Anyway, Crystal Maiden's skills include Crystal Nova, allows her to blast multiple enemies with a chilling damage. Frostbite freezes a single enemy target disabling them for several seconds. Brilliance Aura, the best passive skill (which I believe) of all heroes in DoTA, talk about global fast mana regeneration so your teammates can spam their active skills. Lastly, Freezing Field, it causes random icy explosion on Crystal Maiden's surrounding area, all enemy units affected by Freezing Field are slowed down and damaged. Although she tends to be not the game's superstar, but still she's the most-sought, most valuable and hottest (the racks and curves, of course) hero in any team. 

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