What exactly does it mean to be a fan? Is it buying apparel with your favorite’s team on it? Is it just screaming your heart out for your team at live or even online events? Or is it doing something as simple as turning off your ad blocker while watching your favorite player’s stream?

To me, more than anything, being a fan means supporting your team, no matter how well or how bad they are doing. This holds to be true not only in eSports, but other sports as well. Someone can buy all of the merchandise of a team and call themselves a fan, but ultimately you can’t buy those kinds of rights. The true test that really separates the bandwagons and the real fans is when a team that has been clearly dominating the scene starts to go into a slump. At that point, the bandwagons will simply jump ship and become a fan of whoever is doing well, while a true fan will stay with their favorite team, no matter the outcome.

Naturally it’s easier to just root for whoever everyone else is rooting for. That being said, it’s hard when others around you are constantly saying things like “X team just got stomped by Y team” or “X Team is such garbage, Y team is the best right now.” However, as demoralizing as it might be, if you’re a true fan it’s something that you can easily just shake off and not let it bother you. It’s in the nature of the competitive scene to take such a beating; you just have to be able to remain faithful to your team, whoever it may be, and not to stop believing in them as cheesy as it sounds.

That said, keep rooting for your favorite teams, support them to the best of your capabilities, and don’t let others get you down for the team or player you want to support!

Founded in August 2009, own3d was the very first company to pioneer live streaming online games. Following them, twitch.tv has always been their one and only competitor. Being located in Vienna, Austria, own3d was ideally positioned between the US and Asia. Big teams such as Curse Gaming and CLG.EU along with individual League of Legends players like TheRainMan, PhantomL0rd, and other favorites were loyal streamers to own3d until recent times in which they experienced some issues with money and contracts. One person, in particular, named Destiny, a Starcraft 2 professional player, had one of these contracts with own3d was (for a lack of a better term) screwed over. own3d promised him all of these bonuses and pay he would receive – but when it came down to it, he didn’t get any of the money promised even after threatening to migrate over to twitch. After this incident was made public on Destiny’s blog, own3d started to lose a lot of credibility as well as their most viewed streamers. Many started to “jump ship” and migrate to twitch, leaving own3d with no content and eventually concluding that they will no longer be in operation.

In their blog, they state that “As the first live streaming portal for gamers, own3D had a turbulent start with unexpected growth. We have tried to drive the company into profitability but due to the capital intensive nature of our industry and increasing competition, we have not been able to reach it despite our best efforts.” By reading this, it further confirms my personal speculations about own3d treating their streamers poorly and handling situations very unprofessionally in addition to reading Destiny’s recorded Skype chat logs with own3d and posting them on his blog.

So what’s next? Well, without any competition, twitch.tv is sure to do nothing but prosper. For the last year or two, they have shown dominance over viewers compared to own3d and no major complaints have been visible as far as we know. However, on January 16^th it was announced that Counter Logic Gaming and Azubu would partner up shown here. They announced that they are working together to develop a streaming/video platform that will of course complete against twitch. Both being huge organizations, I’m hoping that they will be able to provide for their streamers and not do what own3d did. I have no doubt about them succeeding in attracting viewers in North America, Europe, and Korea, as well as other parts of the world being such dominating companies in the eSports scene.

I can’t wait to see what else the world of eSports has in store for us in 2013!

- David Masanori Driessen, Staff Writer

According to the post, my impression of what happened is that for a while, Bigfatlp has been feeling as though his team has no faith in him. He specifically calls out Team Founder, HotshotGG, calling him “Rageshotgg” and “Argueshotgg” because he prolongs arguments and fights longer than needed, and then brings the issue back up again later. An outsider of the team obviously can’t tell if what he is saying is absolutely true, but, this decision seems like something HotshotGG would do. He has the mentality of “It’s my team, so you play by my rules” and if something was occurring that he didn’t like, he would change it. An example of this of course is benching Saintvicious and moving into the jungle. It wasn’t the best choice for the team but he did what he wanted.

Bigfatlp states that, “I have just tried to focus on my own game for a long time ignoring what they say, but when I go in scrims, I still end up focusing pretty hard on what people think rather than playing the game and making my own plays and coordinating with team.” It’s quite unfortunate that his head isn’t exactly in the game when it matters, and that dark thoughts are taking over and clouding his mind rather than focusing on the game. But hey, that’s the sad reality of it all. He was offered a chance to move in the house as Counter Logic Gaming’s coach, but he declined saying that it was too much at the moment. Counter Logic Gaming has been notorious for announcing crazy roster changes like this, and it really makes me wonder how they’ll ever get good as a team if they can’t play with a solid five.

Alas, I wish Bigfatlp as well as Counter Logic Gaming good luck for Season 3!

-David Masanori Driessen, Staff Writer

So many feelings are going on as I read the major changes that have occurred for one of the largest, well known gaming companies known as Counter Logic Gaming (CLG). Excitement. Curiosity. Sadness. Hope.  On December 28, 2012, CLG slapped us all in the face with MAJOR announcements regarding roster, management, and overall organizational changes. You can read the original post here, but in the meantime, I’ll summarize everything for you.

First of all, CLG announced their partnership with GGWP Apparel that will be the official distribution partner for all of the CLG clothing. They have plans in 2013 to launch a brand new clothing line. CLG’s main art director, MaTTcom, has many designs and will probably ask the community to help pick out the ones to be printed.

Secondly, CLG released the second trailer to their documentary film that will be free to anyone who wishes; donations are of course happily accepted. Ever since the end of Riot’s Season 2 World Championships, production for this documentary has been ongoing with lots of time, hard work, and dedication. The final, full length product is said to be released on January 13^th, 2013.

Next, CLG is proud to announce the CLG Premier Series, a North American tournament that was originally discussed by HotshotGG on Reddit but didn’t seem to have any movement. It was an idea but it’s great to see that it’s actually coming to life now. The details are as followed:

“The CLG Premier Series (CPS) will be a 16 team tournament with entrants decided by the North American 5v5 Premade Ladder. Teams have until Friday, January 18th at 11:59 PM PST to climb the ladder in order to qualify for the tournament. The tournament will begin with group stages on Monday, January 21st with matches continuing until the tournament concludes on Sunday, January 27th. CLG will be donating the initial prize pool of $10,000 but all future installments of the tournament series will be dependent on revenue generated through viewership and sponsorship revenue generated by each of the series respective previous installment. All revenues will be made public and all proceeds derived from the CPS will go towards funding future productions of the series so long as it continues. You can find more information about the tournament at its website, http://wellplayed.org/cps”

Unlike simple roster changes involving only a person or two, CLG announces that CLG.EU have agreed to not renew their contracts with CLG and will be leaving the organization. In the post, they stated that “While CLG gave its best efforts to retain the team, in the end, it was not able to compete with the offerings of other organizations.” I highly doubt that the team itself will stop playing League of Legends competitively and professionally, rather they will get picked up by another sponsor that has already given them a better, more financially sounding offer. CLG have had huge wins not only in Europe, but also in Korea at Azubu the Champions Summer 2012 where they took second place. CLG.EU has always been a top tier European force to be reckoned with so I’m really anticipating what company will pick them up.

Continuing the fact that CLG.EU will cease, CLG Black, their “B” team, has officially disbanded due to “differences in aspirations of members amongst the team.” That being said, CLG will now return to their original name of Counter Logic Gaming since it has no EU or B team. On the flip side, one of their members, Austin “Link115” Shin, will be joining the main team as their sub and has moved into the CLG gaming house.

Finally, CLG has announced that none-other than former AD carry of Team Fear, Aphromoo, will be filling the support role on the main roster! I had mentioned before in a previous article that CLG were holding tryouts for their newly vacant position and Aphromoo was the individual to excel from the rest. “Being given the opportunity to play support for CLG makes me a little giddy because I will be able to play a role I am most comfortable in, coming from a healer for seven years in World of Warcraft. I will be putting in hard work to master support coming from playing AD carry so much, but with being under CLG I will have the proper tools necessary in order to become the best support in the world. I am happy!” Aphromoo has always been known for his very aggressive play-style in the bot lane that moving to the support role was a huge shock to many, including myself. I had no idea that he was most comfortable playing support which now makes a lot of sense when looking at his World of Warcraft background. I definitely feel like this was the right move for him as an individual pro player. By combining Doublelift, arguably the best ad carry mechanically in the world, and Aphromoo, I predict many victories to come from Counter Logic Gaming.

Cheers to a new year and new changes!

- David Masanori Driessen
Staff Writer

I have been an avid fan of Lightning’s since the beginning so I am glad that they finally made a game specifically for her. With the last game being such a let down, I am hoping that Square Enix can get their vision for this game together and deliver it like they have been trying to.

As for the new battle system, there are now no role limitations. You are able to mix and match spells to your hearts content. I am very happy about that. I wasn’t a huge fan of the separate roles in this FFXIII installment only because it didn’t feel as useful or well thought out as the  games that came before it (FFX being a prime example of doing it RIGHT). Just something with the way you advance in the crystalariums that was annoying and the balance of the game made some characters useless. The main focus is now combining spells and juggling to inflict the most amount of damage as possible. It also seem they have gotten rid of the creatures as party members aspect that they used in the last game which makes me SO HAPPY. But from what I can tell, your main focus is Lightning and Lightning only and I haven’t seen any footage of actually having other party members. So I guess in this game you go it alone.

So onto the clocks, from what I gathered the clocks represent the doomsday clock. This means by the events that occur, time can either move forward or backwards and that 12 represents the end. They are also used to keep time in game. The producers have said that it is important to know what time it is when you are in different areas of the city. It is also useful for missions and completing objectives.

What in the world is Lightning wearing? I mean I am no fashionista but making her cape longer and putting random shoulder pads everywhere is just not working out for me. I feel like Square has been letting me down lately with their designs.

Does this trailer make me want to buy the game……no. I will strictly be buying Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 for the same reason I bought the last game, Lightning. The trailer has made this look more like Assassins Creed than a Final Fantasy game. Will I hear her whisper Odin for one last time, lets hope. Everyone has their own opinion about the game and what battle engine works best for them. So go check out the trailer for yourself and let me know what you think.

What’s next for him? According to the post, he has plans to go back to school and continue his career as a professional gamer simultaneously. Like a lot of players out there, he is a free agent and will look for a team that will most likely take him in on their main roster rather than another bench position. Hopefully he will find a team that really fits him and will help him grow.

For season 3, teams in the Championship circuit need to have a total of seven players – five on the main line up and two substitutes. So far, no teams (at least in North America) have had any success with this new policy. Curse almost had a full roster of seven, but after the departure of Westrice and the uncertainties with Rhux, they are in the same position as everyone else in NA – without any subs. I feel as though being benched and not on the main line up is demoralizing for most and that players in the NA scene are too big-headed to accept anything less than being a starter so they have their spotlight. Only time will tell, but it will be interesting to see who ends up on what team, benched or on the main line up for season 3.

Good luck Westrice, and may you find a team that will help you grow as a player so you can really show your stuff in season 3!

by David ‘Masanori’ Driessen, Staff Writer

Team captain Steven ‘Liquid112’ Arhancet, stated that they (Curse) would “operate a European team, but not in its current form”. So far, three members of the team have left: Aurimas ‘Angush’ Gedvilas, Jakub ‘Creation’ Grzegorzewski” and Tomislav ‘Flyy’ Mihailov, their team manager. Word on the street is that Angush and Creation have already joined another EU team known as Eclypsia but no proof has been released so far. This seems very unlikely, especially due to the fact that Eclypsia announced on December 12^th that all of their e-sports teams have been released so that the company could “focus on its media business.” The players on the team would then return to Team Millenium. The only two that remain on Curse.EU are Vytautas ‘extinkt’ Melinauskas and Tobias ‘Malunoo’ Magnusson. This means that instead of the team being released as whole, the only changes that seem to be happening are roster based.  Other than Liquid’s statement, official explanations and plans have yet to be revealed until early next year.

In other news, Monomaniac E-Sports announced today that they would be introducing their brand new League of Legends team, this time a European team. As you may or may not recall, Monomaniac used to have a North American team named Ferus that consisted of the current members of Team FeaR with the exception of one member. They were released only four months of joining because there contract was ending with them and Monomaniac had no plans to continue/renew it. It seems as though Monomaniac has high hopes and expectations for this new and upcoming team to fully represent the company and making a huge impact into the competitive scene. The line-up is as followed:

• Rasmus ‘MrRalleZ’ Skinneholm: AD Carry
• Stefan ‘Sixx’ Hack: Support
• Emil ‘Fruity’ Moselund: Jungler
• Oscar ‘LiquidLemon’ Wallin: Mid
• Morten ‘Zorozero’ Roseenquist: Top
• Marcel ‘Xupix’ Gisler: Manager

Personally, I’m pretty excited to see a new team form, even though it is in Europe. My only concern is that I really hope Monomaniac stays true to the scene and doesn’t back out this time; you know, go the whole nine-yards. While teams such as Quantic and Eclypsia have been released, Monomaniac is back, hopefully here to stay.

-David ‘Masanori’ Driessen

The new console is intended to be sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2013 in order to capitalize on holiday sales, according to the several undisclosed sources as aforementioned. These sources claim to be “familiar with the company’s plans” and chose to withhold their identities simply because “the product road map is confidential.” – Anonymous. It is still undetermined whether or not Microsoft will unveil their new product at next year’s E3 event or at an entirely different event dedicated solely to the Xbox 720 console, similar to that of the Xbox 360 announcement in 2005. Regardless, the new Xbox will be unveiled sometime next year at either of the two events.

Thanks to the leaked information of the anonymous sources, it is easy to assume that earlier rumors referring to the time frame of the next Xbox’s release are now seemingly more accurate. Although this intel hasn’t been verified by Microsoft themselves, it still seems as if a 2013 launch is possible, due to Xbox 720 development kits already being produced as well as Microsoft’s recent increase of security. Rumors also suggest two possible versions of the console may be in the works.

In the meantime, Microsoft is attempting to make as much sales as possible off of their Xbox 360 consoles. During the week of Thanksgiving, roughly 750,000 Xbox 360s were sold, thus surpassing the company’s marketing goals and expectations. Shockingly, these sales were also double the number of what Nintendo’s Wii U sold, which began its launch sales during that same week. It is speculated that these Xbox 360 console sales were boosted on behalf of the releases of Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Due to the secrecy of the Microsoft’s current project, information regarding the Xbox 720 is still scarce so be sure to stay tuned for more upcoming news and info regarding the new and upcoming console!

This article was written and edited by Hardwired Gaming’s junior contributing writer, Francis Wood. Sunday, December 9^th, 2012 2:15pm PST.

First off, Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, the jungler for Team Dignitas, has been permanently banned from competitive play for one whole year; effective immediately. According to “Bitingpig” of Riot:

“Recently, IWillDominate was brought before the Tribunal for consideration of a permanent ban. The majority of players voted to punish and today the Riot player behavior team has approved the ban after review of the case. IWillDominate has been in Tribunal nine times and punished eight times, including the most recent permanent ban. He has a persistent record of in-game harassment, verbal abuse, offensive language and negative attitude. Despite the punishments and official warnings, his harassment score has risen more than 30% from early August to the present date, placing him at the top of the list of North American pro players and among the worst 0.7% of all North American players. There also have been repeated incidents of similar behavior outside the game.”

Clearly, although never being a public matter, IWillDominate was quite the rager. The populations seems to be split whether or not this is a rightful ruling or not, but at this point, their opinions won’t change the ruling. The facts are this: He has been banned and Dignitas is now left without a jungler.

Event #2 has to deal with Orbit Gaming/Reddit Nation/Quantic Gaming. Unfortunately, “Nientonsoh,” “Hai,” “LemonNation,” “Wild Turtle,” and “Yazuki” are yet again left without sponsors. A tweet was posted by @Slasher (Rod Breslau) yesterday stating:

“Sources have confirmed that Quantic Gaming will be closing its doors for all games and teams, players looking for new teams.”

The once Quantic Gaming have only been sponsored for roughly a month. Before Quantic Gaming, members of Reddit chipped in money and sponsor them to compete in the “Lone Star Clash 2” in Texas since their previous owners, Orbit Gaming, left them in a very unfortunate position in terms of a financial stand point. Once again, history has repeated itself and these five members originally known as Orbit Gaming are left sponsor-less yet again. Hopefully a serious company will recognize their skill and potential in the near future and permanently pick them up, especially with season 3 already starting.

Finally, to further emphasize CLG’s roster change, they have announced that Yoonsup “Locodoco” Choi, their most recent support player, has left the team. Although the reason for his departure isn’t released, many have speculated that it was because he was unhappy with the role he was playing, as well as the North American competitive scene overall. In recent interviews from GGChronicle at IGN’s IPL5, he stated that:

“Coming to America was a mistake” and that I really wanted to win League of Legends The Champions in Korea. Also, the Support position doesn’t really fit my style. While I play the game because it’s fun, the real drive is my hunger for success. If my past self when I first started playing looked at the present, it would be disappointing sight.”

With that said, Locodoco has left back to Korea where he will continue his competitive League of Legends career. As for CLG.NA, they are left without a support yet again, but are taking a different approach and reaching out to the community in regards to filling this position. CLG is hosting an open tryout starting Thursday, December 6^th until Monday, January 7^th, 2013 that will be live-streamed as part of the process. The only requirements for filling this position are that you must be at least 17 years of age, have a minimum, current or season 2 ELO of 2000, and be willing into the CLG gaming house in California to play full time. With this new approach, who knows who we might be seeing in the support role come time for season 3 to really kick off!

David “Masanori” Driessen

Contributing Writer