And you think that because Blizzard declares that something is an e-sport, it is.

So you're telling me that a sport is defined by the money it makes? Is fashion a sport then? I also take it that slots machines are sports, because a lot of money go through those. No, a sport is a competitive activity defined by the winner being the most skillful. Hearthstone bases itself more than halfway on blind…

Have you considered, even for a second, that money and tournaments had absolutely zilch to do with whether a game is an eSport, but rather, a game being sporting is found in its nature? Blizzard may be pumping million into promoting the game as an eSport, but so long as pure blind luck remains a major determining…

Because luck is a more important factor in success than skill. It's not like Poker, where a weak hand can just be sat out or bluffed to become a strong hand. If you get weak cards into your hand, you're screwed. The viewers and competitions are a measure of how many resources are being pumped into the game as an…

That's why it will never ever be an E-sport, no matter how much money Blizzard funnels into it, but it's also why it's a wonderfully accessible casual game.

I just hope they'll open source some of their results. This is some expensive and publically valuable research getting done, and the things Riot learn could make all of gaming a better place.

I see where you're coming from, but i don't find DA:I particularly guilty of this. I was utterly flabbergasted about how i kept being able to find new stuff to do without running into something like Skyrim's utterly bullshit "Radiant quests" which are really just a fancy name for procedurally generated quests that the…

Kudos, sir.

Having $500 worth of cosmetics won't do you a lot of good when you're locked out of 98% of servers, and i imagine most traders are hesitant about dealing with confirmed cheaters, as their items could potentially be illegitimate.

I would definitely be interested in hearing Valve's rationale about why a VAC ban isn't Steam-wide.

Haven't you noticed that Valve ALWAYS fails in the communication department?

Sorry to rain on your parade there, but WB isn't doing pee-pee. All hail Monolith!

And it'll never stop. HA!

Yeah, the sneaking scene in the villa is genuinely enjoyed. At least until i realised it was just incredibly basic first person Assassin's Creed. A good game would have made more moments of freedom like that, but not CoD.

Of course, yes. You get to switch one monolithic corporation out for another, and as soon as they make themselves invaluable, your situation worsens. If the opportunity for local governments to throw out contractors actually matters, why is the article we're commenting on in existence? And why, for that matter, are…

Got me on a technicality there, sir. You're of course right.

Having a Hobson's choice is not having power. Saying no to letting an ISP do business, thereby cutting off infrastructure development and all hope of citizens getting a service that is increasingly necessary to function in the world, is not a choice: It's political suicide.

I somehow doubt that a small, local government has any semblance of power when faced with a colossal corporation.

So... Lucky you? Obviously not every one is that fortunate. From your perspective, wouldn't it be really freaking unfair if you had to pay 10x as much for the same connection? Or indeed, the same price for 1/10 the speed?

Free enterprise is wonderful... except when it leads to monopolies. The US government needs to get involved and ensure some fair competition in this field. The giant monpolic telecoms corporations have too much power, and only the state is powerful enough to spread that power out.