Eric Van Allen

Counter-Strike Team Seems To Thrive In Overtime

Overtime can be stressful for any team. That is unless you’re SK Gaming, who in today’s Epicenter grand finals manage to clutch out two wins in extra rounds to take home the big prize. After going an even 1-1 in the first two rounds, SK Gaming and Virtus.Pro were tied and vying on Train in…

Even Game Day Is Tired Of Jigglypuff Mains

Saquon Barkley, running back for the Penn State Nittany Lions, seems to also find time to play some Melee on the side.

Big Buck Hunter Interview Goes About How You’d Expect

Say hello to Jerad, one of the Big Buck HD players from last night’s Big Buck World Championship. The self-proclaimed “messiah of Big Buck Hunter,” he gave quite an interview during last night’s festivities. Though Jerad didn’t make it to the finals, those who did put on a good show of arcade accuracy and speed,…

The Moment You Realize You Qualified For Capcom Cup

This weekend’s Canada Cup is stacked with talent, as players on the bubble fight for the last possible points they can get to make the cut for the upcoming Capcom Cup. Here’s Gustavo Romero, or “801 Strider,” landing the last grab he needed to make this tournament’s top 8 and qualify for the big event…

Dota Tournament Rolls Teams Out In Mercedes-Benz Sedans

This weekend’s ESL One Hamburg is the first major of the 2018 Dota 2 season, which makes it crucial for getting some early points on the circuit. Outside the points and $1 million prize pool, there’s also another prize: a pretty sweet car. Mercedes-Benz is one of the sponsors of the tournament, and part of…

Faker Never Seemed To Doubt His Galio In Close Semifinals Match

In last night’s League of Legends world championship matches, SKT T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok seemed hell-bent on proving how good his Galio was. In a series that went to game five against home-crowd team Royal Never Give Up, Faker played only Galio, all five games. This isn’t an outlandish strategy in the grand scheme of…

Pro Gamer Loses Contract After He Livestreams Domestic Violence Incident [Update]

Chinese League of Legends team Newbee has cut ties with pro Li “Vasilii” Wei Jun after he livestreamed a domestic abuse incident with his girlfriend, and was reportedly called in by the police. During Li’s stream session, according to a translation via Reddit, his girlfriend points out that he is too serious when he plays,…

The Zelda Ghost Story That Helped Define Creepypasta

The back page of Alex Hall’s economics textbook was filled with scribbles. Diagrams, notes, story beats, a web that formed an outline for his next update. By day, Hall was a student at St. Louis University, but after class he was writing what would become one of the most infamous internet ghost stories: Ben Drowned,…

Sources: Amazon’s Breakaway Is Basically Canceled [Update]

Amazon Game Studios’ hero sports brawler Breakaway is essentially canceled but may reemerge in some form later, two people familiar with plans for the game tell Kotaku No layoffs are planned at the moment for the internet shipping giant’s gaming arm, but the game is on “indefinite hiatus,” a source said. UPDATE (1:51pm): In a…

Gran Turismo Sport Will Turn You Into A Ghost Car If You Aren’t A Polite Driver

Gran Turismo has always skewed more towards the realistic simulation end of the spectrum in order to provide an accurate experience for virtual racers. This year’s version adds another layer to that, in the form of a certification and enforcement of proper “sportsmanship.” Most of Gran Turismo Sport’s content is dependent on online access, but before you…

12-Year-Old Magic Player Sets Sights On Hearthstone

During yesterday’s Hearthstone matches at DreamHack Denver, the commentators mentioned a player called “MTGKid” between matches. A young kid, MTGKid is actually Quinn Kiefer—a 12-year-old Magic: The Gathering player. Quinn is part of the Kiefer family, one of several young Magic-playing siblings that have made waves in the past year. With brothers Lukas and Jack,…

Luigi Taunt Catches Smash Player Off-Guard

In a match last night at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, one Luigi player pulled out a move that few would ever expect in a competitive setting: the taunt. According to SmashWiki, Luigi’s taunt is the only taunt in the game that does damage, dealing a measly 1 percent. It’s the knock-up that’s useful, and…

360 Dribble In Rocket League Is A Thing Of Beauty

Despite very few radical changes over the last couple years, Rocket League always seems to have something new to teach me. Case in point: today, while browsing the community’s subreddit, I found this clip from user Whiffmiester It’s a 360 dribble sometimes called the Paschy Twirl, named after Rocket League pro Philip “paschy90″ Paschmeyer, who…

League of Legends Team Parts Ways With Its Unicorn

Unicorns of Love announced today that Roman Bigeard, the team’s manager most well-known for donning the horn and regalia of the team at many events, will part ways with the organization. In the announcement, Bigeard was said to have received “one of those typical offers ‘which you cannot refuse.’” Over the course of his time…

Team Fortress 2‘s Pyro Has A Jetpack Now

After over a year’s wait, the Pyro is getting a new set of tools. The biggest update for Team Fortress 2 in some time, the Jungle Inferno update not only adds new maps, taunts, campaign contracts, and balance changes, but a new suite of class weapons for everyone’s favorite firebug. In 2016’s Meet Your Match,…

SKT T1’s Faker reacts to a phenomenal hook from Misfits’ IgNar. Misfits, in their first year in the LCS, took three-time world champions SKT all the way to game five, in one of the most exciting series at Worlds so far

Puerto Rican Overwatch Player Isn’t Letting Hurricane Irma Derail His Career

It was the day after hurricane Irma had hit Puerto Rico, and Luis Galarza Figueroa was left without options. Walking outside of his family’s home in Barceloneta after the storm subsided, he could see trees and cables on the ground. The power, something Figueora needed for many things including his burgeoning competitive gaming career, was…

Surprise Shulk Pick Turns Around Match For Smash Player

Though Shuto “Shuton” Moriya is known for his play as Pikmin protagonist Captain Olimar, he has a backup character, or pocket pick, in Shulk. During a tense match with Dacota “Ryuga” James in the winner’s bracket of the 2GG Fire Emblem Saga tournament, Moriya was failing to find success with his main against James, and…

Report: Riot Games Denies Dignitas’ Application For 2018 North American LCS

A League of Legends pro team that has played since 2011 will reportedly not participate in the coming competitive season. According to a report from ESPN’s Jacob Wolf, Riot Games has declined Team Dignitas’ application to compete in the 2018 North American League of Legends Championship Series. The new North American LCS will host 10…

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle will come to the Nintendo Switch in 2018. A Switch launch version was quietly revealed in a trailer featuring a few more roster reveals, including RWBY’s Weiss and BlazBlue’s own Rachel and Hazama.