Fill Out Your March Mayhem: Developers' Showdown Bracket Today

[MrGalactus]

Why does everybody love Bioware so much?

 

[witness51]

This is like normal people and their Superbowl picks. Bioware FTW.

 

[Spinwhiz]

Fill Out Your March Mayhem: Developers' Showdown Bracket Today

[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/tournaments/mybracket/5]

March Mayhem: Developers' Showdown is back, so fill out your bracket for a chance at one of multiple gaming laptops thanks to our sponsor, Alienware!

March Mayhem: Developers' Showdown is an exclusive event on The Escapist where the top 64 game developers go head-to-head in an elimination style tournament to see who comes out on top. Who makes the call on which developers make it to the next round? People like you from around the world! Developers will be relying on your votes to progress through the tournament and take home the March Mayhem title. Last year, the Final Round brought Valve a victory over a very difficult match-up against BioWare. From upsets to blowouts, nobody knows what will happen this year, but we guarantee it will be fun to watch and participate!

This year, Alienware is our sponsor and they are giving out some amazing gaming laptops as prizes! There are multiple ways to enter but you get 25 entries just for filling out your own bracket. Don't worry, we have plenty of information to help you make your decision. To begin filling out your bracket register here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/tournaments/mybracket/5] or or [fblogin]Sign In with Facebook[/fblogin], then click the link above.

For all new members of The Escapist, there are current community members standing by in this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/539.262433-Welcome-to-The-Escapist-Community-Members-are-Standing-by-to-Help-You-Click-Here] to answer any questions you may have or show you what The Escapist has to offer. After all, March Mayhem is fun but only a small part of why current community members call The Escapist their online home.

For all of the rules of March Mayhem, visit the main March Mayhem: Developers' Showdown page by clicking here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/tournaments/rules/5]. Good luck!

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Some of these choices were really hard but I want to thank you and Alienware for finally making a contest that those of us outside of the US can enter.

You are welcome! We wanted to make sure an international event had international prizes and Alienware was all about it. We are also giving prizes out to the development studios who come in 1st through 4th as well. Those are directly through The Escapist though (free ad campaigns).

How do you pick a winner? Do you just select a name at random or do you pick the ones who have voted the most?

It's completely random BUT the more times you vote and tweet, the more entries you get. You get 25 entries just from filling out the bracket and then 10 more from liking out Facebook page. So, we throw all of those into pool and start picking winners.

Another question: How do you decide which developer will face off against which in the first round?
Is that also completely random or do you have some kind of seeding-system?

Oh, wait! You divide them into North, South, East and West right? But how do you determine which cardinal direction foreign developers have?

We have a seeding system. As for the division names, those are just placeholders. We thought they sounded better than 1, 2, 3 and 4.

 

[Triangulon]

I've gone Valve as the winner but I've backed Mojang and Popcap as far as possible.

 

[deathspa202]

Capcom or Valve... don't care if Valve is the favorite, Capcom has MvC:ftw, Okami, Final Fight, Re4, and Devil May Cry, Capcom it is.

 

[Virgil]

Another question: How do you decide which developer will face off against which in the first round?

Is that also completely random or do you have some kind of seeding-system?

It's a seeding system - actually, the same one that is used for the NCAA tournament. Within a division, each team is assigned a ranking of 1-16. Team n plays against Team (17-n). So it's 1v16, 2v15, 3v14, ... until you get to 7v8.

The order of the matches is similarly arranged in a way so that, assuming the favored team wins each match, the better ranked teams are more likely to play against each other at the end of the tournament instead of the beginning. The highest-ranked teams go against the lowest-ranked teams as often as possible, until you get to the point where there aren't any low-ranked teams left.

That also means that for someone like, for example, Mojang or Double Fine to win they have a tough match every single round, while Blizzard or BioWare are expected to steamroll right into the final 8 teams. Of course, an upset in the first round - like Mojang taking out Nintendo - could dramatically change what the rest of the tournament looks like.

 

[Rewdalf]

Blizzard v. Valve
My two favorite developers.
And Blizzard wins (I really enjoyed Starcraft II).

 

[Stabby Joe]

Some here are interesting choices while others are going to be a complete walk over in predictions.

Also, Zynga?

...

Why? Just why?

 

[Fiad]

Ended with Mojang and Bethesda. Hardest choice I have ever had to make.

 

[ila]

Why not consolidate developers who fly under one flag? Like Rockstar. Then you could get more variety in. Like Platinum Games or Atlus.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Nintendo vs. Blizzard... Yeah, I know that's a long shot, but hey, if it happens, I called it.

 

[Continuity]

seriously, who voted for Game Freak over cdprojekt?

Line up here please so I can administer some righteous bollock kickings.

 

[SarcasminBloom]

I ended up with Valve versus Bioware, but I ultimately had to throw it to Bioware. Dragon Age: Origins was a lot of fun, and Mass Effect is a bloody epic. Plus Valve has been letting me down with all these "HEY. PREORDER THIS GAME TO GET THIS TF2 HAT. OR YOU COULD BUY IT. OR YOU COULD GET REALLY LUCKY. OR YOU COULD IDLE." Aughhh.