Blog: 1500 Hours and Counting

I am Brant Yamamoto, and after over 1500 hours (not counting the time spent on console and hand-held devices) of playing video games on the PC, I believe that it is finally time to put my passion to good use.

The primary game I am currently playing is Defense of the Ancients 2 (aka DOTA), on which I have logged over 770 hours. Though this blog is mostly gonna be on the DOTA game, I will talk about the latest news and events that take place in the competitive gaming world, relating to games like DOTA, Starcraft, League, and Hearthstone. Many people don’t consider video games, or e-sports, as real competition. In this blog, I hope will change the way people see e-sports and find out that it is more than just a game.

Recently In The News

Village in the Philippines bans DOTA and League of Legends (LoL)

I think we all saw this coming some time, but not in this fashion. A village in the Philippines has banned DOTA and LoL, because the kids who play the game in the village have gotten angrier, and even gone as far as murdering over the game. I gotta say I know some people get really mad over competitive games like LoL and DOTA because it is team based and it is sometimes hard to work with random people you get matched with. But murdering people over it is taking it to an extreme. I personally have learned to stay calm, and just try to have fun because the person you get mad at really just doesn’t care about your opinion. You’re better off just suffering and playing through the game.

How Much Does the Top Pro-Gamer Make?

Next, we all know that pro athletes make a ton of money, but how about e-sports players? According to esportsearnings.com, a website that tracks e-sport player earnings, the current top player makes more than US$1 million from prize money. This may not account for sponsorships and royalties from streaming channels.

Now that is some money, but I hope that money doesn’t take importance over the game. It’s great when there’s money to be won but you don’t want it to become just about winning; at the end of the day we all started off as gamers in our living rooms, playing simply for fun.