Anyone Still Watching League Esports? Cyberpunk Devs Finally Happy with the Game

Hello everyone!

If you are like me, and many other PC gamers out there, you have probably tried out League of Legends at some point. You also probably fully uninstalled the game from your computer and have tried to put those dark painful memories behind you forever, but even though the game and its community can be truly infuriating, it can be fun to check in on where things are from time to time.

This weekend I caught the LCS finals for the first time in a while, and while it was really awesome to see Team Liquid win, one of my favorite teams from when I was an active viewer, it was kind of depressing to see where the LCS is at this point. I remember watching LCS finals held at fully packed arenas with fans shouting so loud that it was hard to hear the announcers, but this year, the finals were held at the Riot Arena in LA, the same 210-seat studio players use for regular weekly matches, a far cry from a 20,000 seat arena.

The matches were good, but it was really weird watching my old favorite team lift a trophy to a semi-full 210 seat studio of people. It lacked that visceral feeling of thousands of people cheering and the teams being truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support. And, to make things even worse, after Team Liquid won, the production team dropped the confetti on the wrong side. WTF Riot? I’m not sure what the future of LoL esports looks like from here, but here’s to hoping either Riot or some other developer can find a game to reinvigorate the esports fan base in the US.

Is Cyberpunk 2077 finally good?

Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated video games in years ahead of its release in December 2020. The pre-release hype started with a gorgeous teaser trailer that was released in 2013, and from there CD Projekt Red continued to promise cutting-edge gameplay, never before seen features, and an open world so alive and gorgeous that you could get lost in it. Add in Keanu Reeves as the game’s key figure and you have a recipe for success, right?

Wrong. As soon as the game got into homes, people quickly realized that it was filled with bugs on any system that it was available on, and for the unfortunate ones playing on PS4 or Xbox One, they found out that the game was basically unplayable on those systems. Sony and Microsoft ended up offering refunds to anyone who bought the game on PS4/XB1 because it was so bad.

I played the release version of the game on PC, which was the best of all options at the time, and was still met with many bugs. Cars spawning from the sky and crushing bystanders, my player character popping into T pose while driving vehicles, environments and people taking a long time to load in as you traverse the world, and NPCs just peeing through their pants in the street. But, at least they got all of those different genital options into character creation…

It was truly a mess, but on PC it was still visually amazing, and there were very few issues with gameplay that I encountered. I finished the game, played through all 3 endings, and had a great time with it.

Cut to 3 years later, long after I have finished the game and uninstalled it, and now the devs are happy with the game.

It’s one thing for a live service game to finally hit its stride 3 years after its initial release, but for a single player RPG that was in development for close to 10 years to be ‘in a good state’ 3 years after release is crazy. I haven’t played the Phantom Liberty expansion, but now that things are all good, it might be time to try it out. Now I know when The Witcher 4 comes out to wait about 24-36 months before picking it up to give the devs time to really dial things in.

Game Recommendation - Pokemon Shining Pearl/Brilliant Diamond

Aside from continuing my Last Epoch playthrough, there is one game that I would definitely recommend to those who haven’t played it yet, and that is Pokemon Shining Pearl/Brilliant Diamond for Nintendo Switch. I am an old school Pokemon player. I played the originals on my brand new Gameboy Pocket and continued to play the different versions of the game on and off through most of my life.

I had taken a longer break from the series before diving back in recently, and Shining Pearl was the perfect place to start. The game serves as the perfect transition between the Pokemon games of old and new. While I did play newer games before it, Let’s Go and X/Y, Shining Pearl brought me back to the days of Red/Blue. If you have taken a break from the series for a while and are looking for a good entry point back in, this is the one for you.

This Week’s Cheat Code

The cheat code for this week applies to both online games and real life, and it is… Communication is key.

Communication always leads to success, whether you are trying to take down a raid boss, win a round of CounterStrike, or pick a place to eat with your significant other. Instead of flaming your partner for not wanting to eat Wingstop (again) talk it out and come to a compromise!