Eric Van Allen's saved articles

ericvanallen
Eric Van Allen
ericvanallen
Freelance writer, Dota enthusiast, Texan.

Think one of the big hurdles was getting out of Melee’s shadow. Melee is just crazy, counter-strike level awesome. Smash 3 was going to be a letdown, so there was a big time gap between Melee and Smash 4.
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I suspect that the reason why Nintendo isn’t more closely involved is because it’s clear that Capcom’s support can make or break the competitive environment in Street Fighter. I would be willing to bet that Nintendo is most concerned about the “...or break” part of that. They’ve made it very clear that they want to Read more

Serious question re: Nintendo support. What’s the benefit to Nintendo? I understand that there’s a publicity/marketing benefit but at the end of the day that benefit extends only to the people who attend or participate in the tournament (and would likely purchase the game regardless of Nintendo’s involvement in the Read more

There is something about Pikachus and pocketing DK. A couple of our local Pikachus pocket or switched to DK, but probably because of Stockholm syndrome. Konga is in our region, and he annihilates all Pikachus. Read more

I can attest to the power of the dong. I main pikachu who is countered by mario, but I’m getting the hang of DK who counters mario. Read more

Actually most major Smash 4 tourneys are in the US, and they happen throughout the year. EVO, SmashCon, CEO, and 2GGT are some popular ones.

Melee players are just evangelically dedicated to their game.
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I casually play Rocket League, and it’s always satisfying to pull off a contact like that. Read more

Just a reminder that contact in Rocket League is a viable option. So many mid-level players can forget this or frown upon it.
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I mean...Look, I’m 35, and I can tell you right now if I had the opportunity to flip a button and only battle other people in muh online gamez who were my age or older? I’d flip that bitch in a second.

Wouldn’t you?

30 IS senior for CS Pros. I’ve seen the videos. I’ve got a job and a wife, man. Ain’t nobody but Read more

If given the chance I would play only against people above a certain age. Hopefully the chat dialogue wouldn’t be as terrible as it is with younger people Read more

Well the removal of the video from the youtube channel certainly doesn’t paint a good picture of whatever their intentions were. Read more

Let’s remember everyone to not reply to or ungrey bigots and trolls. Even if you’re comment is well intentioned, all you’ll be doing is giving them the attention that they so desperately crave. Instead, dismiss their comments and report them to Kinja’s helpdesk. Be sure to include a link to the troll’s comment in your Read more

Every Chinese Dota player has to retire at least 3 times. It’s like pro wrestling.
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I would say that they weren’t necessarily the best team all year. That is still OG. But that Wings run at TI6 was straight up magical. They picked the weirdest, most off the wall shit, and essentially created the meta in their own image. Read more

A lot of people are pointing to a rule from the APEX 2015 Smash Tournament Rulebook. Again, people are referencing a rulebook from a different tournament from 2 years ago. The rule for that tournament goes as such: Read more

This is a fascinating contrast to HBox’s win at Evo... Whereas he had to scratch and crawl his way back to the top to defeat Melee’s Number 1 God in Evo, here he had to defend his place and cheese his way to victory by timing out one of the Old Gods. Him breaking down and crying at his Evo win and him looking so Read more