Kotaku: Draft

Grade the Draft!

ogood — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:00:00 MDT

Alright, the draft is over, and you are bitching about the picks and touting your own, which is what I had in mind all along. But now we're going to Grade the Draft, as the NFL analysts like to do.

I think a 32-item poll is a little long, so I've winnowed it down to these nine, who made solid, defensible picks for great value at their draft positions. And now I put it to you, Kotakopolis: Who had the best draft?

Draft Update: Picks 21-32

ogood — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:00:00 MDT

And now we're into the final grouping of the draft, picks 21 to 32. Max Payne, Solid Snake and Quake Guy boosted the firepower of the draft considerably. How will the rest of the picks shape up?

21) ManjiKengo selects GUTS from Berserk Millenium Falcon Arc "Guts wields a giant slab of iron he calls a sword and goes against all insurmountable odds, including his own limitations to continue his cause of revenge and justice in his own way against his former friend, leader and current God-hand, Griffith. He loses himself to his rage during his battles against demons and human foes alike. But he shows the best and worst parts of what makes us all what we are, Human.

22. Owen Good, Kotaku.com selects SPY HUNTER "First, it's a bad-ass Porsche 911. With machine guns standard. And smokescreen, oil slick and missiles as options with approved credit. Oil slick especially, since you can control how much it spits out, and a little dab will do the Switchblades every time. And if that's not good enough, Spy Hunter turn into a boat which I guarantee blew your mind the first time you did it too. The only question is whether Spy Hunter or Weapons Van is the true MVP here."

23. enewtabie selects: NATHAN DRAKE from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune "He's the best character to come out in years.I mean, really where can you find a guy wearing a wrinkled t-shirt,who is a good shot and can find more treasure than Indiana Jones. I wish I had his hair, but not his luck for getting shot at. Pretty much the best character from the best game on Playstation 3."

24. NeoAkira selects VECTORMAN "Vectorman can use his body to transform into a number of tools, including a drill, a bomb, an aquatic form and much more. With those kinds of abilities he can just about maneuver around any obstacle you put in front if him. With more plasticity than Silly Putty and the power of a tank, Vectorman gets my pick for the Greatest Video Game Character of All Time."

25. Gambia selects MANNY CALAVERA from Grim Fandango "Critically acclaimed travel agent, nightclub owner, ship captain, revolutionary. Excellent puzzle solver and one half of the greatest gaming love story ever told.The fact that this suave and sophisticated character is already dead also makes him that much better. He's invincible, provided he doesn't get too close to your green house. And, what could make him that much more badass? He's death, the coolest of all personifications, that and an obsession with jazz music, gambling and racketeering."

26. Adam S. (Owen's co-worker) selects JUMPMAN (Commodore 64) "My introduction to video games, plus the guy is amazing versatile. He can shoot, has 10 speed settings (the highest being insanely fast) and comes up with neat tricks in a pinch (like the Hot Foot level). Also, unlike Mario, Jumpman could pull himself up, jump directly on and from ladders, and didn't die if he fell 0.5 inches."

27. Mr.SithNinja selects RYU HYABUSA from Ninja Gaiden "Ryu Hayabusa has outlived most of the consoles that he has appeared in games for, going back to his arcade debut in 1988. Ryu's moves are swift and impressive while difficult to master. His arsenal of weapons are both impressive and effective. In the right hands, he is the deadliest character ever, finishing his opponents with the style and grace that only a true ninja could posses. Ryu Hayabusa is such as bad ass that other bad asses stalk him and want to be him. (Yeah, I am looking at you again Master Chief!)"

28. Maldron selects HIGH OVERLORD SAURFANG from World of Warcraft "High Overlord Saurfang is generally considered to be one of the most fearsome characters on either the Horde or Alliance. Considering he auto-counterattacks critical hits for 12,000 damage in a game where it's difficult to get over 10,000 HP, he's somebody I'd want on my team. High Overlord Saurfang is a serious bad ass, a well known powerhouse, and therefore a logical choice for a draft."

29. aethyr selects ARTHAS from Warcraft III "Former paladin of the Light turned Death Knight, servant of Ner'zhul, Lich King. At the conclusion of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, ascended to a higher existence when he merged with Ner'zhul to become the lord of Northrend and possibly the most powerful being in Azeroth."

30. Ra on the A-Team selects MILES EDGEWORTH from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney "Edgeworth has proven himself to be one who believes in justice. While his co- workers and mentors may choose to not see the truth in favor of getting the verdict they want, Edgeworth has gone against the grain and even worked with the defense to see those responsible put away. He fears no one in the court room and has saved more than one person's life."

31. Atheist Jew selects SHODAN in System Shock 2 "Her ineffable malice towards organic life, her total insanity, and her disturbingly cold plans for the universe in general make her one of most malevolent and purely evil villains in gaming history. SHODAN believes herself to be a machine goddess, destined to reformat reality in her image. Her madness is a threat to every organic race in the entire universe, and she will kick your ass."

32) Fletch Good (illustrator of the epic Pac-Man dookie post) selects ASSHOLE DOG from Duck Hunt. "You know, seeing that Super Mario, Pac-Man, Lara Croft, Master Chief, Samus Aran, Link, Pitfall Harry, Kyle Katarn, Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson and Pengo are all available here doesn't change my mind at all. Because when you add it all up, all the shots fired at this dog — from the Zapper in the home version, from the pistol in the arcade — millions of millions of rounds, some of them aimed between this son of a bitch's eyes with the barrel 1 mm from the screen, and he never got so much as a scratch — this is the most fired-upon indestructible motherfucker ever. More bulletproof than 50 Cent. Would laugh at Dick Cheney." (picture)

Next: Grade the Draft!

Draft Update: Picks 11-20

ogood — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:00:00 MDT

So the first 10 picks have gone by and, amazingly, Master Chief, Claude from GTA and the entire cast of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are still sitting by the phone, unselected. Let's get to picks 11 to 20.

11. Pezdispenser selects PYRO from Team Fortress 2 "Criminally underplayed and under-ubered class. Well balanced character class with good speed, adequate to medium range and unparalleled close range weapons, and a personality that can't be beat. Strong sense of team work, and can sniff out spies like nobody's business. Ballsy enough to dive into a room full of medi-heavies, charge straight into sentry fire, and to bring an axe to a rocket launcher fight. Also comfortable enough with himself to carry a purse. Hudda Hudda Hudda!"

12: Balance_in_life selects KEFKA from Final Fantasy VI. "Best villain ever. Kefka goes from just kinda nuts to bat shit insane by the end of the game. With some villains you sometimes feel sorry for them depending on how well they are written, however Kefka is so perfect you hate him for the entire game. He would never stay and fight until the VERY last battle. He kill his own emperor, plus, he even had a cult following in the game. What else do you need?"

13: Spoony Bard selects THE COLUMN BLOCK from Tetris "The greatest piece in the Tetris family, the one that allows you to score a perfect 4-row Tetris. Likes long walks on the beach and portable gaming devices."

14: Richard Tysinger, Owen's best friend from NC, selects GABE LOGAN from the Syphon Filter series.
"While everyone was going apeshit over the first Metal Gear Solid game back in the day, I thought the original Syphon Filter was a helluva lot more fun. Gabe Logan don't need to sneak around in cardboard boxes being all weird 'n Japanese. If Gabe don't wanna take shit from you, he can taser you till your ass catches on fire for like 10 minutes. Don't tase me, bro!"

15. InsidiousTuna selects FATHER GREGORY from Half Life 2 "Devout member of the faith, and a crack shot with a 12-gauge. Father Gregory is an excellent leader, he's resourceful in times of crisis, and he is devoted to tending to his local parish."

16. iamcool388 selects SOLID SNAKE from the Metal Gear series
"Comfortable with, or without, any weapon, fluent in six languages and proficient at parachuting, scuba diving, mountain climbing and flirting. An IQ of 180 helps him put together pieces of one of the most convoluted story lines ever written. Career highlights include:
• Killed his father (or his 'genetic' father, if you insist).
• Killed his best friend when needed.
• Kills arguably the greatest team of villains ever assembled at Shadow Moses, and ...
• Tops it off by killing his brother... thrice.
• Gets the job done even after being misinformed, misled and betrayed... because when you are Solid Snake, you don't need help.
• Killed the second greatest video game character ever with lighter and a can or aerosol.

"If that is not the life of a legend, I don't know what is. I do not think anyone else has gone through more emotional and physical trauma and come out looking this handsome.

"Oh, and he banged Meryl."

17. excel_excel selects GOOMBA from Super Mario Brothers "I guarantee you, all time, goombas have killed Mario far more times than Mario has killed goombas."

18. dead_red_eyes selects MAX PAYNE
"Fugitive undercover cop with nothing to lose, Max has an arsenal of weapons that would make the United States Army blush. With a pocket full of painkillers and a bullet time meter, he can easily work his way through an entire mob of vile gangsters and afterwards take on an evil organization for desert. Clearly, this is a man that is not to be messed with."

19. Sander Dennis (Owen's Co-worker) selects QUAKE GUY from Quake "Could outrun, outrank and outrocketjump any FPS character created since his inception in 1997."

20. Archaotic selects LUCA BLIGHT from Suikoden 2
"It's really hard to compare to a villain who is so batshit insane that one of the first times he appears in the game, he slices one of your allies' heads off while a six-year-old girl watches. Everything he does is deliciously insane, from feeding entire cities to giant demon wolves, to torching every hideout the heroes manage to shack up in, to the insanely difficult three-tier boss fight against him that serves as the game's midpoint. He's truly one of the best villains in RPG history."

Next: Picks 21 to 32.

The Inaugural All-Time Video Game Character Draft

ogood — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:00:00 MDT

Today is the NFL Draft. Yep, right, I don't care either, and I am a sports fan. Instead, we're going to hold the inaugural Kotaku Video Game Draft. Because if you're going to spend three hours indoors today looking at a screen and pondering a trivial event for a shoulder-shrugging, what-did-that-prove result, you might as well do it up right.

So the NFL has 32 teams, and we have 32 pickers. Twenty-four are commenters (this is what that announcement earlier in the week was all about). Eight others, myself included, are random people I selected (OK — my friends) to spread out the variety of picks. Drafters could select any character from any game, any platform, any era, all time.

The only limitation was that you could not draft a character created by a player in an MMO. I made an exemption for Leeroy Jenkins but no one took him. The characters did not have to be human or even organic. NPCs were also permissible.

We randomized the draft order and ran our picks in the middle of the week. The draft follows in three groupings, Picks 1 to 10, 11 to 20, and 21 to 32.

First up, picks 1 to 10. Drafters are commenters unless otherwise noted. I let the #1 pick have more space to write seeing as how this is the declared best video game character, at least according to the draft.

1. PQ Crash selects MEGA MAN
"Mega Man is worthy of the number one pick because of two words: unlimited upside. With enough time, opponents and experience, Mega Man's acquired powers and abilities would overshadow every other video game character.

"Dr. Light's Variable Weapons System gives Mega Man his greatest skill: the ability to copy the powers of his defeated enemies. Yes, Mega Man needs to destroy his opponent first in order to gain a new skill, but his laser rocket arm — known as the "Buster Cannon" — serves him well as his default (and initial) weapon.

"Mega Man is also highly coachable — namely because he's a robot. His synthetic structure also negates any possibilities of "character issues." Granted, Mega Man might revel in the fact that he uses Dr. Wiley's own weapon designs against him, but who wouldn't love to use irony as an offensive tool?"

2. Cruithne selects ZOMBIE from Resident Evil and others
"Appearing in countless video games, this guy just never quits. His slow head turn appearance in the first Resident Evil is one of the greatest moments in video game history. There's few action adventure games this guy can't find some excuse to be in, whether it's turning up unexpectedly in Uncharted, or bringing along a few hundred thousand of his mates in Dead Rising, Zombie is the broken backbone of games as we've come to love them."

3. Lon Lopez, Moronlife.com selects MIKE TYSON from Mike Tyson's Punch Out!
"One of the baddest bosses in Video Game History, Mike Tyson could devastate any opponent with just one of his Super Uppercuts, putting any foe permanently down for the count."
[Note: Check the link for a hilarious way to take pictures of friends while making it look like a giant ass is squatting on their head. — Owen ]

4. Gundam-RX-78-2 selects ELHAYM VAN HOUTEN from Xenogears "She was the first real Human Character that I was introduced to in a game, Human in the sense that, even though just being a sprite, there was emotion. This was surreal to me as I played the game. Elly (to me) seemed to have to go through the most dramatic emotions, such as struggling whether or not to fight Fei who she has grown feelings for or listen to her orders as a soldier."

5. Shindokie: Read My Messages selects OTACON from Metal Gear "At the beginning of the serious he wets his pants. He then is able to turn invisible with the item he invented. Having him being the genius that he is, he helps Solid Snake throughout all his battle with items. Otacon's intelligence is his power and that alone can be very powerful. With the right tools he can disappear and kill (even if he probably won't kill and leave the job to Snake)"

6. Chris Ballard, sports writer, selects TOMMY EULER, pitcher from Hardball! (Apple ][) "Chosen for purely selfish reasons (and a close call over the backboard-shattering Celtic from 'Larry Bird vs. Dr.J'). Over hours upon days upon an adolescence of playing this game, often compiling entire 162-game seasons (complete, I'm embarassed to say, with pencil-etched stats), I made sure the All-Stars (my team) faced off against Tommy Euler as often as possible. Say 92% of the time. The reason? That big, fat, slow, wheelhouse-inhabiting curveball he tossed up there. It looked like your kid brother's weakass wiffle hook, like Barry Zito's junk this season, like sunshine-and-lollipops wrapped up into an interminably slow, eminently-timeable gopher ball. So I'll go with my boy Euler. Not because he's a badass but for the exact opposite reason. He was the Stuart Smalley of sports video games. He made you feel good abot yourself. "

7. ShaggE selects CALEB from the Blood series "He's an undead gunslinger that quotes Raimi movies and showtunes. He is the very definition of `original character design,' and one of the few protagonists in gaming who is just as evil as his foes."

8: Hawaiian Actor selects ABE from Oddworld "Abe has many qualities that led me to pick him, from his overbearing sense of morality, to his sheer dumb luck. He's got his fellow Mudokons there to help him out, and from time to time, can even turn invisible for a while. But most important is his power of possession. Not only can he possess his own natural gasses to attack and spy on his enemies, but he can possess his enemies themselves and use them to his own will, essentially giving him the same powers that anyone else has. Once he is done controlling them, he can either leave them to use at another time, or cause them to be torn limb from limb killing them, effectively making him a prime (although clumsy) choice. for the best video game character."

9. Scazza selects AFRO THUNDER from Ready 2 Rumble (Dreamcast) "Easily one of the most charismatic characters to ever grace the squared circle. From his agile movements to his witty verbal jabs, he could give you a whooping before he even throws a single punch. His trademark afro and smiley-faced boxing gloves really show just how much a manly-man he is. Just remember, if he hits you, 'Somebody better call the doctorrr!'"

10. Michael Fahey, Kotaku.com selects THE FUCKING BIRDS FROM NINJA GAIDEN (NES) "Every time you want to jump, there they are. Jump. *BIRD* *die*"

Next: Picks 11 to 20.

Live... From Playboy

Brian Crecente — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:30:02 MDT

So far the Championship Gaming Series' first ever draft is every bit as surreal as I had hoped it would be.

Mike McWhertor and I caught up at a parking lot outside of some shopping center in Beverly Hills where we boarded a bus that took us to the Playboy Mansion.

Once inside we were elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of other "VIPs", media, competitors and women that I wasn't thoroughly convinced were really playmates. Mike assured me they were, adding that he knew most of their names.

After an hour or so of standing around, eating, drinking and talking, the whole mass of people were rushed into an outdoor tape where a draft stage had been set up. On the stage were six desk manned by the managers for the new league's six teams. Facing the stage were the finalists for the draft. Mostly men, though I did count about a dozen female gamers who made the cut.

Right now I'm sitting at the table waiting for the draft to get under way. We are, I'm told, about five minutes out. They're streaming the draft live over on www.thecgs.com. You can go there to check it out or hang here and follow along with me as I sorta live blog it. I suspect I'll mostly be making smart-ass comments. Hit the jump to sing along. Brian Crecente

They just introduced the six team managers for the league and showed a short clip on the managers.

Now they've got Fatal1ty and some other talking heads yapping away like we're watching football. I like video games and they've lost me.

The first selection for the first pro-gaming draft ever is.. a woman. DOA gamer Vanessa Arteaga, 20, who hails from Clan PMS. Now she's playing for the San Francisco OPTX. Second choice is Counter-Strike team compLexity who will now be playing for... LA Complexity. At least they won't have trouble remembering their new team name. Pick number three is Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez for DOA 4 who will now be playing with the Dallas Venom.

I spotted Master earlier this evening grooming himself near the bar talking to Arteaga about which one of them would be picked first. He does have a nice hat. Pick number four for this draft is Team 3D who will, oddly enough be playing for 3DNY. Again, easy name to remember for them.

That's funny. I just noticed that there are a bunch of strobe lights attached to the frame holding the tent up. When a draft select takes the stage they all fire off randomly as if hundreds of photographers are taking their pictures. Trust me... they aren't.

The fifth pick in the draft is PGR 3 gamer Wesley "ch0mpr" Cwiklo for the Chicaco Chimera. And the final pick for the first round for this first draft ever is DOA 4 gamer Ryan "OffBeatNinja" Ward for the Carolina Core.

We're into the second round now, but I'm not going to track every selection. I think it's not going to get interesting until the last round when there's a whole bunch of people out in the competitor pool who realize they may not become a salaried pro-gamer afterall.

I happen to be sitting at a table that is right next to where the men, women and teams that are selected walk past right after finding out that they are now officially pro-gamers. It's kind of interesting to see their reactions. Vanessa, for instance, was visibly shaking when she came off the stage, but Master seemed as cool as a cucumber, a cool cucumber. It is obvious that no matter what this draft means to those outside of pro-gaming, to those in the league it means everything, which is certainly a good start.

Alright two rounds down, FOUR MORE TO GO.

Whoops sorry for that sudden ending. The press WiFi just died on the vine in the middle of the event.

CGS Announces Draft

Brian Crecente — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:14:00 MDT

The Championship Gaming Series is getting its own draft and it's going to be held at the Playboy Mansion in L.A.

The new series, which has bonuses and salaries of $5 million for the 2007 season, will kick off with the draft on June 12.

"This is the moment the gaming world has been waiting for," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. "We will be paying salaries and bonuses to our players in excess of $5 million dollars during the 2007 season. The time has come for a new era of professional gaming as sports entertainment. Your chance to be a part of history starts on April 28."

Counter-Strike: Source and FIFA 2007 will be official PC games for 2007 while Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3 will be the Xbox 360 titles for the DirecTV backed league.

Hit the jump for a run down of qualifiers and team make up. Brian Crecente

Los Angeles, CA - The Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the first global professional gaming
league, today announced that worldwide salaries and bonuses for the 2007 season will exceed $5 million,
a new benchmark for professional gaming. CGS has also announced the official games and schedule in
its North American region for 2007. Qualifying for North American league play will begin April 28 and the
first draft in history will take place on June 12 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
"This is the moment the gaming world has been waiting for," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. "We will
be paying salaries and bonuses to our players in excess of $5 million dollars during the 2007 season. The
time has come for a new era of professional gaming as sports entertainment. Your chance to be a part of
history starts on April 28."
Valve's Counter-Strike : Source and EA's FIFA 2007 will be official PC games for 2007. For the Xbox
360, CGS will feature Tecmo's Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) and Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) from
Microsoft Game Studios.
The official CGS 2007 event schedule will feature online and live qualifiers where players will battle to
reach the Regional Combine, scheduled to take place at the legendary Fox Studios in Los Angeles from
June 8-10. Players from the Regional Combine will then be drafted onto one of six city-based teams at
the 2007 CGS Draft on June 12 at the Playboy Mansion. CGS online qualifiers for the North American
region begin on April 28, 2007 with the first live qualifier to be held at The Bridge Cinema de Lux in Los
Angeles on May 11-12.
Each CGS team will feature a total of ten athletes per team, each of whom is a specialist in one of the
official league games. Five of the ten players will comprise a Counter-Strike: Source squad who will
compete in five-on-five matches. The soccer title FIFA 07 will be played one-on-one. Each team will have
a mixed-double team of two DOA4 players, one man and one woman, who will play against other teams
in one-on-one matches on Xbox 360. The racing game PGR3 will be represented by two players on each
team and matches will be played in a two-versus-two format.
Soon-to-be announced dates for the full global slate of 2007 CGS events in the UK, Europe, Asia,
Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East will yield regional representatives for the CGS Grand Slam
and World Championships, to be held in Los Angeles this October.
CGS events will be broadcast in North America on DIRECTV's The 101. For more information, please go
to www.thecgs.com.