Learning to program at a 10 year old level. It works.
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Learning to program at a 10 year old level. It works.

A friend of mine, Steve, has been travelling the world for quite some time. He’s good at it, he loves it, and he writes a fairly amazing blog about it. His parents are embarrassed that at 25 he doesn’t have a solid desk job. If my kid can work up the money, will and general wherewithal to trek through places like Kashmir (he’s currently hopping around Pakistan while being mistaken for an Afghan refuge) and Nepal (one of the many places through he’s guided his friends), I’m not sure I’d be embarrassed. Jealous, yes. The guy’s a hero. (via To Go the Other Way «)
Pop-upView Separately

A friend of mine, Steve, has been travelling the world for quite some time. He’s good at it, he loves it, and he writes a fairly amazing blog about it.

His parents are embarrassed that at 25 he doesn’t have a solid desk job. If my kid can work up the money, will and general wherewithal to trek through places like Kashmir (he’s currently hopping around Pakistan while being mistaken for an Afghan refuge) and Nepal (one of the many places through he’s guided his friends), I’m not sure I’d be embarrassed. Jealous, yes.

The guy’s a hero.

(via To Go the Other Way «)

Source: backpackology.org

A friend of mine recommended I start learning to program with Python. python is like an automatic car that you can push a button to make manual when you get to the point where you can use a stick to get more control out of it, c is like the space shuttle where it can take you to space but if you jump in on day 1 and try to go there it will explode and kill you. and you’ll be on the news. Okay. I don’t want to die yet, not this young and fresh faced. This book is how 10 yr olds (and me) learn Python. Perfect. Oh and it’s free. (via Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python)
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A friend of mine recommended I start learning to program with Python.

python is like an automatic car that you can push a button to make manual when you get to the point where you can use a stick to get more control out of it, c is like the space shuttle where it can take you to space but if you jump in on day 1 and try to go there it will explode and kill you. and you’ll be on the news.

Okay. I don’t want to die yet, not this young and fresh faced.

This book is how 10 yr olds (and me) learn Python. Perfect. Oh and it’s free.

(via Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python)

Source: inventwithpython.com

Learning to program

Recently, I started learning how to program - specifically, how to make games.

I just made Tic Tac Toe: The Video Game. So far, I’m terrible at this.

Still, it’s been really fun. Learning something completely new and being able to get creative has been a blast. One of the reasons I’ve been able to be creative despite a serious lack of knowledge is the awesome learning tools I’ve found online.

I’m going to be investing a lot of time into learning and I’ll be blogging about what I find while I do it. I’ll be posting the resources that I find as well as anything else that might be relevant.

On a related note, I’ll also just be blogging here more in general. Not so much to make this blog more popular but for my own purposes. It’s simply a good way to save my thoughts and whatever else I find interesting on the many internets.

The Executives #11: Obtaining Sponsorships (by compLexityINSIDER)

Source: youtube.com

Don’t get sold on “advance esports” bullshit

re: Destiny being removed from the GIGABYTE event

There’s a debate going on about whether or not it is okay to complain to sponsors if you do not like what you see from someone they sponsor — for instance, if you do not like seeing words like nigger, gook and faggot tossed around ad nauseum. 

One particularly vocal side has said that emailing the sponsors hurts esports overall. You shouldn’t do that. Esports needs that money and by complaining, you take the money away from esports. This side places the blame largely on the complainers

This is indicative of a warped set of priorities from certain parts of the esports community and industry.

It is to be expected from the industry. Expect individuals with a financial stake to say ‘no, you shouldn’t contact the sponsors’ because they’d be the first feel the hurt. It’s dirty and it makes my skin crawl but it’s something that we easily can see through.

We do not need to expect this from the community. The community has bought, hook, line and sinker, the idea that we must advance esports above all else, the idea that esports is this intrinsically benevolent force in the world.

Esports is not intrinsically good or bad, that comes from the environment it produces. If it becomes an environment where people toss nigger, faggot and gook around on a regular basis then I don’t want it to advance on its current path. Send out the emails, put on the pressure and make it known that we need to change. 

Stopping hateful language is so, so much more important than advancing esports. How did we lose sight of that?

I didn’t send those emails but so what if I did? I’ve made known that I am thoroughly repulsed by the casual use of that language in corners of this community and that I think it is incredibly destructive on a much wider scale than esports touches.

I didn’t send those emails but to those who did, good for you. We should make the moneyed interests aware that we won’t put up with hate in our community. No matter how agile the verbal acrobatics to get out of it, that’s what it comes down to. Hateful language begets hate. If that’s what esports is about, it’s not worth advancing an inch.

A quick blurb as to why the language is harmful

The Executives #10: Business in the FGC (by compLexityINSIDER)

Source: youtube.com

The Executives #9: ROI from Sponsorships (by compLexityINSIDER)

Source: youtube.com

  1. Blizzard-KeSPA-OGN - Gretech, Starcraft II eSports Vision Announcement  http://sports.media.daum.net/general/news/esports/breaking/view.html?cateid=1079&newsid=20120426123408646&p=fomos Coming on May 2, StarCraft 2 e Sports Vision Declaration Ceremony with Starcraft 2 presented a vision of e-sports to the core principals of e-sports industry gathered in one place. // http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/ss9s8/kt_rolster_sc2_pics/
  2. Torbull: january largest month for esea in terms of subscribers and minutes played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhnRk1_FNeU “id do cgs again” - torbull. esea plans: csgo and europe expansion
  3. tsl4 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=332295
  4. http://esfiworld.com/news/mig-blaze-burns-down-clgs-korean-hopes Top NA LoL Team CLG Defeated By MiG Blaze(Their B-Team, MiG Frost is the main team) Signals the arrival of the korean scene in LoL, considering Blaze isn’t even considered a top 3-4 Korean team. Happened in the Quarterfinals of LoL The Champions, ait was 2-0, with game 1 being a stomp, and game 2 being a bit more contentious until CLG made a few ill advised aggressive ganks, giving MiG Blaze the advantage. http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/srkip/were_playing_vs_migblaze_wish_us_luck/
  5. “I intend to change direction a little as we go,” Sakurai said, indicating his desire to possbily find a new mechanic or idea to drive two new entries in the series. “The key to that’s going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U.” http://wii.ign.com/articles/122/1223770p1.html ”Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS will ‘change direction’, dual support is key” - Sakurai
  6. Spotlight: Project M -  http://smashmods.com/index.php/projectm.html  - tweaks brawl, moves it toward melee (a more competitively accepted game http://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/sialx/why_does_the_competitive_scene_seem_to_prefer/
  7. http://www.reddit.com/r/Tribes/comments/sstg0/hirezstew_admits_plasma_gun_is_a_little_op_right/
  8. http://www.reddit.com/r/Tribes/comments/sroes/egs_tribes_ascend_invitational_quarter_finals_vods/ Here are the VODs of the first two matches of the EGS Tribes: Ascend Invitational tournament. Be sure to watch the semi finals tonight at 20:00 CEST on [1] www.twitch.tv/egslive!
  9. new history of esports episode on monday (CS, CPL, 3D, SK and more)
  10. new dota2 ui http://www.joindota.com/en/news/2941-dota-2-test-build-new-item-and-hud-design-by-rss-feed

  1. Dota2 free with a twist http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/4/20/2961883/dota-2-will-be-free-to-play-with-a-twist / Tobi Q&A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n44_YBRW3v8&feature=g-u-u&context=G228e3f0FUAAAAAAABAA (20:00)
  2. http://crosscounter.tv/  $20,000 pot bonus for MK9 sponsered by WB. so far registration numbers go SF4, MvC3, and then KoF before SFxT
  3. CSGO visuals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXyH0_JqxbI http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2661793 
  4. CSGO - Valve talking to MLG https://imgur.com/2sTrm
  5. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/21/counter-striking-up-a-conversation-with-minh-le/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29&utm_content=Google+Reader Minh Le
  6. http://leaguepedia.absolutelegends.net/wiki/Main_Page
  7. http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/22/kickstarter-alternative-gambitious-coming-to-europe-this-summe/
  8. The Executives with craig levine
  9. http://www.twitch.tv/livevvvgaming id like to bring up the loser’s bracket, a very good talk show (tuesday 9pm eastern).
  10. IPL5 LoL announced http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/53089-IPL_5_qualifiers_announced

THE ESPORTS REPORTER 4/20/2012

  1. PC Market Returns To Positive Growth, Though Gains Remain Small, According to IDC http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/19/pc-market-refuses-to-die-rises-again-in-q1-2012/
  2. http://kotaku.com/5903404/people-like-you++yes-you++gave-9-million-to-kickstarter-video-game-campaigns-last-month where are the esports kickstarter projects?
  3. http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/shxmt/dreamhack_summer_to_be_broadcasted_on_swedish/ So it has been confirmed that Dreamhack Summer will be broadcasted on Swedish television, not only on the website but on the actual channel aswell! This is pretty amazing news and hopefully it will get a lot of eyes on the e-sports scene. Twitter post from SVT employee: https://twitter.com/#!/maria_s/status/192996175480229888
  4. stephano stays in SC2 , going to korea https://twitter.com/#!/MillStephano/status/193077613235945472
  5. chinatown fair reopens http://shoryuken.com/2012/04/19/chinatown-fair-reportedly-reopening-on-may-5th-as-family-friendly-destination/
  6. http://kotaku.com/5903329/let-the-worlds-best-street-fighter-player-teach-you-aboutlife Kotaku Previews Daigo’s Book With Choice Translated Passages\
  7. blizz na quali emails confirms that NA qualifiers are in anaheimhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/teamliquidNYC/440588449300448/?notif_t=group_activity Congratulations! Your performance on the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit has earned you an invitation to compete in the StarCraft II World Championship Series. You are invited to compete in the United States of America National Championship in June.
  8. dreamhon http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?413155-Announcing-DreamHoN-at-DHS-2012! over $60,000 in prize money at 
  9. dreamhack summer 2012 - They will join the winners of the Swedish national tournament (BYOC) and the champions of last year’s Dreamhack - Fnatic.RaidCall. 
  10.  mym-mvp - why? mym has almost no one playing at top tournaments, definitely no one on the top tier of sc2 and is nowhere near the level of complexity, who  http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=330617
  11. r/ tribes audience: 10k subscribers and over 600k unique viewers per month (compared to r/dota2 on pace for 350,000 visitors this month) http://i.imgur.com/n0MPB.png
  12. On r/dota2, reaver has put out a great primer on getting into the Dota 2 competitive scene http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/sgyuq/looking_to_follow_the_competitive_scene_where_to/

The Executives #7: Video Game Streaming (by compLexityINSIDER)

Source: youtube.com

THE ESPORTS REPORTER 4/19/2012
  1. Kevin Lin, COO, Twitchtv on The Executives. Lin wants to get into esports start up funding, start up help a la Y Combinator http://ycombinator.com/ 12.5 % monthly growth for twitch (125% annual growth), the company has been profitable for 2 years
  2. brood war pro league rumors: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=323013 http://isplus.joinsmsn.com/article/255/7907255.html?cloc
  3. esports journalist employment news: https://twitter.com/#!/thooorin/status/192688269887143936 ”I’ve quit SK, so as of May 7th I’ll be seeking paid esports work” check out his latest post ///// https://twitter.com/#!/Slasher/status/192770310204948481 I will now be working full time for @GameSpotesports! (@GS_esports). Really excited for coverage all year long. ALL leagues and events!
  4. Benito Gonzalez is head of esports at CBS interactive on lo3. the big news there was that he said we can expect partnerships with Own3d as well. http://onemoregame.tv/
  5. http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4882104/StarCraft_II_World_Championship_Series_Italian_Nationals-4_17_2012#blog  The road to the Blizzard World Championship 2012 has begun in earnest. Detailed schedules for national qualifiers and finals have started to be released by Blizzard, with Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Poland among the countries now open for sign-ups. In the case of Italy, the National Championship has already been confirmed for May 1st, at Napoli Gamecon. Make sure to check your country’s section to see if there’s a qualifier that interests you, as a viewer or participant! http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=330391&currentpage=last
  6.  https://twitter.com/#!/GuildWars2/statuses/192670553436467200 Good news!First Beta Weekend Event will be from April 27-29. We will let you know once the client is ready for download. ^MK
  7. http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/mlg-and-dreamhack-announce-collaboration-tied-to-sc2-tournaments-this-weekend/ MLG/Dreamhack collaboration
  8. http://www.cstarleague.com/news/2500/announcement-csl-scholarships $2k/yr esports scholarship from Xeris
  9. gootecks hosting at mlg fighting arena next weekend, “not related to why he’s not on CC live” ( https://twitter.com/#!/gootecks/status/192446358546939905)
  10. Halo 4 on Conan http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-halo-remote discussion - also, check out The Halo Council at  http://www.twitch.tv/thegamingcouncil/b/315437066 - if you’re interested in Halo or the console FPS esports community, this a great primer episode. 

THE ESPORTS REPORTER, 4/18/12

  1. 1. The lead story today, CBS interactive has announced partnerships with Twitch TV, MLG and the NASL. ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=329968)
  2. CBSi will exclusively sell advertising, promotions and sponsorships for Twitch which is a huge deal for Twitch. One of the major issues for that company has been that its fill rates are relatively bad - which is to say twitch simply did not have enough ads to serve all of their streamers and viewers. this is nothing new, partners have aired their complaints about twitch’s fill rate in the past but with CBSi behind them, Twitch will almost certainly be able to provide better advertising for their partners and that bodes well for the overall strength of the company. 
  3. Last night on VVV’s the loser bracket, MLG Adam, the VP of operations, said that we’re going to have double the seats for SC2 at future events. There is a new game for MLG that is also going to have a huge spectator presence as well and an open qualification component - will it be LoL? he’s been hinting heavily at it by saying that there will be 200+ comptuer set ups, something that leans toward lol and not dota2. makes sense, lol is huge in california and riot is in los angeles. theres a new hero coming out and riot’s ceo made a recent trip to NYC. it all makes sense, huh? Adam says MLG will announce it next week. As Adam has said, the lead up to Anaheim is going to have a ton of announcements and plenty of hype. Adam said, again on VvV’s Loser Brackets, this will be the largest event in MLG history. Slasher says, “MLG’s Adam Apicella says MLG and CBSi will share a booth at E3, hints heavily at Heart of the Swarm being playable and BW pros in Anaheim (https://twitter.com/#!/Slasher/status/192426319995342848)
  4. The final piece of this puzzle is the NASL. When you look at the headlines about the story anywhere from Forbes to Team Liquid, the headline said MLG, Twitch and CBSi are partnering. NASL was not mentioned until later when adweek.com noted it. CBSi themselves did put out a press release but instead retweeted the release that left out NASL. Why was NASL omitted in the press release that was widely distributed to sites like forbes and thenextweb.com and then if they were added in - and they werent everywhere, forbes still doesnt mention them - they were added was as a footnote, as on thenextweb, where it was one sentence at the end that said nasl was “accidentally omitted”. The question is, why was NASL omitted from the release?
  5.  IPL4’s numbers: More than 6 million hours of video content was viewed online over the course of the 3-day event. The event sold out its physical venue, bringing more than 10,000 spectators to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas - the first time eSports favorites StarCraft II and League of Legends have hit the Las Vegas strip.  (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ign-pro-league-now-biggest-esports-league-delivers-largest-single-event-in-north-american-esports-history-2012-04-17)
  6. League of Legends Supremacy game mode is likely on its way 
  7.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmQZ7GyM1q0&feature=player_embedded  Counter-Strike: Global Offensive review by professional gamers
  8. http://www.destructoid.com/halo-4-coming-out-on-november-6-2012-226000.phtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Destructoid+%28Destructoid%29 Halo 4 coming out on November 6, 2012, info on conan tonight
  9. http://blog.counter-strike.net/science/maps.html  Mining the data of 6.5 million shots fired so far in the CS:GO version of de_train, Valve’s output is a heat map that’s filterable based on team and two weapon types.
  10. Fnatic Raidcall (dota2) picks up H4nni
  11. William ‘reaverxai’ Burden: The Dota 2 subreddit is on course to double it’s unique vistors this month - estimated 350,000 visitors

The ESPORTS REPORTER 4/17/2012

  1. Team XOXO’s 19 year old captain stabbed to death over Dota in the Philippines. http://pacificph.com/news.php?id=58
  2. CBSi to establish deals with Twitch and MLG.  https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/04/16/Media/CBS-Interactive.aspx
  3. ECAL (recently saw 1.4m viewers in their Dota2 showmatch) wants to have an offline tournament final in the Anaheim Convention Center. “Someone has to nurture the scene,” says Orrin Xu, cofounder. Update: The plan is in “pre-alpha” - ECAL is still deciding on sponsorships, funding and the tournament format. 
  4. It’s Gosu signs new Dota 2 team Captain Planet (winners of the ECAL match over World Elite). The signing has provoked ambivalence from multiple parties including individuals directly involved in the situation. http://www.itsgosu.com/game/dota2/articles/it-s-gosu-parts-ways-with-current-dota-2-squad-acquires-captain-planet_478
  5. Scarlett Joins Eclypsia, the salary is quite competitive http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=329727
  6. Scarlett and Eclypsia aim to go to Korea after NASL to compete in the GSTL. The team plans to have its own house (as opposed to the Gom foreigner house).
  7. MLG Anaheim Rumor Roundup: Heart of the Swarm playable in Anaheim, Blizz championships NA qualifier at the event, Brood War pros (Jaedong and Flash?) in attendance.
  8. Moletrap leaves Gom to cast LOL for OGN  https://twitter.com/?iid=am-130280753913345286949367653&nid=4+sender&uid=452403609&utm_content=profile#!/Khaldor/status/191779819091005441
  9. Rapha streams Quake Live  http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/52973-Rapha_brings_Quakelive_Streaming_to_SK
  10. Halo 4 on Conan O’Brien tomorrow night  https://twitter.com/#!/HaloWaypoint/status/192063294549393409
  11. Boxer forfeits Code A Match due to shoulder injury. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=329531