Eric Van Allen

Dragon Ball Player Microwaves His Cereal Milk, Shattering My View Of Breakfast Forever

While this weekend’s Summit of Power rages on at the Beyond the Summit house, one factoid has been haunting me. During Thursday’s events, Vineeth “ApologyMan” Meka was caught on camera, warming up his cereal milk in the microwave. Yes, that is correct. It’s hot cereal. The tech, according to ApologyMan, is to microwave your bowl…

The eight teams directly invited to this year’s Dota 2 International have been confirmed. The top eight of the Dota pro circuit move on with a guaranteed ticket to Vancouver. For everyone else, the open qualifiers kick off in just four days, leading into the regionals starting June 18.

EA Brings Back Command & Conquer… As A Mobile Game

A legendary real-time strategy game series is returning in a format you probably weren’t expecting. Shown today during the E3-adjacent EA Play press conference, Command & Conquer: Rivals is a strategy game for mobile devices that boasts “quick, competitive” matches. It looks a lot like Clash Royale or Clash of Clans, but in the C&C…

Sea of Solitude is a new indie game coming from Jo-Mei Games in early 2019. The game, shown during this year’s EA Play press conference, certainly has quite a look to it.

Lord Yamcha Proves Himself In Dragon Ball FighterZ Comeback

Yamcha has not had the best luck in Dragon Ball. He was once a lord and a threat, but by Super his lagging power level became a gag. You wouldn’t know it watching Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue play him in Dragon Ball FighterZ, though. During a match at this weekend’s Summit of Power, Kazunoko was reduced…

The Weekend In Esports: Rev Your Engines

Yes, it may be E3 weekend, but there are still some video game competitions going down. Esports rests for no press conferences! In London, the world championship for Rocket League is underway. Over in Los Angeles at the Beyond the Summit house, the best in the world at Dragon Ball FighterZ are competing in the…

Piccolo Is ‘Too Much Fun’ For This Dragon Ball FighterZ Star To Give Up

Four months ago, Eduardo “HookGangGod” Deno had never entered a tournament in person. He had been shooting up the leaderboards in Persona 4 Arena and Guilty Gear for years while preferring to risk frame delays and shaky network connections. But Dragon Ball FighterZ got the self-described “online monster” to see if tournament play was worth…

How The New York Excelsior Took Over The Overwatch League

The New York Excelsior is the best Overwatch team in the world. Despite an always-shifting metagame and one of its best players sitting out nearly a third of the season so far, they’ve won two Overwatch League stages and made the playoffs for the third. They rarely drop games and have swept every team in…

Major changes are coming to the Dota Pro Circuit next year, including no more hard roster lock periods during the season, owners can only field one team for The International, and majors and minors getting paired off. Valve says its goal is to “introduce a bit more structure to the year, increase team roster flexibility,…

Piano Man Makes Waves In Dragon Ball FighterZ Tournament

This is Greg. Greg plays Dragon Ball FighterZ, and he’s pretty damn good. Greg does this using a piano controller. And last night, at DreamHack Austin, he made it into the top 8 on loser’s side with his ivory keys of destruction. I first saw Greg through a Twitch clip simply entitled “Piano Man,” and…

Virtual Ronaldo Goal Is Impressive, Even By Video Game Standards

Sports commentators will sometimes refer to athletes having “video game stats,” numbers so impressive they seem to be produced in a virtual realm rather than the mortal. But even inside the polygon-and-pixel world of FIFA 18, some goals are purely transcendent. In this morning’s round of 16 matches at the FIFA 18 Global Series for…

Giant PUBG Stage Looks Like Battle Royale Meets Hollywood Squares

This weekend at DreamHack Austin, many squads will face off in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. And they’ll be doing it on a fantastically massive stage that highlights the theatrics and action of a 64-player, 16-team battle royale. Yesterday was an exhibition, where challengers could take on noted PUBG streamers Dr. Disrespect and Shroud. Today and tomorrow, 16…

The World Next Door Turns Magical Brawls Into Puzzles

The match-3 puzzle concept seems simple enough, but its a foundation that can build into a lot of different ideas, even a cooking competition or a fighting game. It’s that malleable mold that forms Rose City Games’ The World Next Door, an upcoming indie puzzle-battle game that looks pretty friggin’ sweet. Part narrative visual novel,…

The Weekend In Esports: Texas Flood

The gamers are floodin’ down to Texas, and hopefully the power lines don’t go down (again). DreamHack Austin is this weekend, where a number of tournaments including Rainbow Six Siege, Counter-Strike, StarCraft II, and several fighting games are taking place. Yours truly is down there just for today, so if you see a haggard old…

DragonBall FighterZ Adds A God And A Goku, And Gets Even Better

Two new fighters joined the Dragon Ball FighterZ cast this week, and both are fusions of characters already in the game. Vegito and Zamasu clearly indicate that the gameplay and design in DBFZ is getting more elaborate; they’re both hard to play and fun as hell. (Some spoilers follow for Dragon Ball Super. If you…

Dragon Ball FighterZ Star Finally Beats His Longtime Rival

Dominique “SonicFox” McLean has won titles in a number of games, but in Dragon Ball FighterZ, he found his challenge in Goichi “Go1″ Kishida. After losing to Goichi in several tournament and exhibition sets, McLean finally got his tournament win last night in a heated grand finals at Combo Breaker 2018. Taking the stage in…

Super Street Fighter II Turbo player “Killer Miller” proposed to the tournament’s winner “eltrouble,” only to discover that the latter had been carrying around a ring in his backpack for the same purpose. Our congratulations to the happy couple.

Dallas Fuel Is Playing Its Best Overwatch Yet, Despite No Hope For Playoffs

The Dallas Fuel cannot, mathematically, make the playoffs of the Overwatch League’s inaugural season. After three stages of disappointing placements, it just isn’t in the cards. Despite that, a new coach and a newfound team confidence are putting them over top competitors. The Fuel can’t make the playoffs, but they’re kicking ass anyways. We’re two…

Dynamic Tekken Rematch Proves That Adaptability Is Key

One of the best parts about a series of bouts between two talented fighters is seeing how they adapt. When a player has to scrap it and step outside their comfort zone, that’s where contenders are made. And it’s exactly what Hoa “Anakin” Luu did in a tense Tekken 7 loser’s bracket match-up today. Jeannail…

Dragon Ball FighterZ Player Stages Comeback From Sliver Of Health

You can have a sliver of health, but it’s landing that final blow that matters most. In the winner’s side of phase 2 pools for Dragon Ball FighterZ at Combo Breaker 2018, Dawn “Yohosie” Hosie was tied 1-1 in rounds against SQ. Her signature Gotenks had done some real damage to SQ’s lineup, with the…