Eric Van Allen

Rocket League Pro Dekes His Way Into World Championship Finals

Even in an arena with rocket-powered cars, players find ways to pull off incredible football-like maneuvers. Of the teams attending the Rocket League Season 3 World Championship Series this weekend, NRG has been one to watch. The top seed from North America, NRG executes full-on plays and works really well together, like in yesterday’s game…

French Commentator Gets Hyped Up Over Trackmania Run

Take one part time-trial racing, two parts technical mastery and a pinch of puzzle solving, and you’re close to encapsulating Trackmania. This weekend, qualifiers for the 2017 Trackmania Cup are taking place, and it’s like watching Formula 1 racers attempt to solve a physics-based Rubik’s cube with their cars. Right now, some of the best…

The FIFA Goal That Just Wouldn’t Go In

Some days, it can seem like every force in the universe is against you. This FIFA player must have done something in a past life, as for thirty straight seconds, as he lands the most improbable non-goal possible in FIFA 17 MrMaskTV, a FIFA Twitch streamer, posted this clip earlier today, where a simple kick…

Spammers Beat Hammers In Overwatch At TaKeOver 2

Pocket strategies can come in handy when you’re in a situation like Misfits, who in yesterday’s TaKeOver 2 matches needed a win against Hammers Esports. When the Misfits came out of the Hollywood spawn on offense with a wall of shields and explosives, it certainly caught Hammers by surprise. Sometimes referred to as a “spam”…

Riot Games Is Franchising Its North American League At $10 Million A Spot

The North American League Championship Series is restructuring to become more like the NFL or NBA with 10 established teams locked into place rather than an ever-shifting lineup of teams each season. Riot Games announced all of this today, and in an interview with Yahoo Esports confirmed that the buy-in for a spot in the…

SonicFox Wins Inaugural Injustice 2 Premier Event At Combo Breaker

At the end of an intense top eight, Dominic “SonicFox” McLean secured a 3-1 win in the first Injustice 2 Pro Series event at Combo Breaker 2017 on the PlayStation 4. SonicFox made a dominant run through the winner’s bracket on both his Deadshot and Black Adam play, including a 3-0 win over to-be grand…

Last-Second Comeback Highlights USA Vs UK Killer Instinct Finals

At Combo Breaker in St. Charles, Illinois, two countries clashed to prove who was the best in the tournament’s own namesake. Valoraxe, a player from the United Kingdom, had stormed through the upper bracket with his Cinder, while Wheels, the home-crowd favorite, was in his first-ever Combo Breaker grand finals. What resulted when these two…

Sumail Makes The Great Escape In Victory At Manila

Some days, you just can’t catch a good Puck. The Manila Masters concluded today with a grand finals between Newbee and Evil Geniuses, a rematch of the winner’s finals. In a 3-1 win for EG, one player showed up time and time again: Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, the 18-year-old mid-lane master. Whether on Outworld Devourer or…

Tekken 7 Player Adjusts Resolution On PlayStation 4 After Loss [Corrected]

At Combo Breaker 2017 in Illinois today, KoDee, a Kazuya player who had just been on the wrong end of a perfect round against Tanukana’s Xiaoyu, was quick to hit the PlayStation guide button and check the resolution, to the crowd’s, commentators’, and his opponent’s surprise. After changing the resolution and moving on to the…

These Five Americans Moved To Japan For Street Fighter 3, Which Is 20 Years Old

Street Fighter is one of the most prominent fighting game series in the world, but it can be hard to track down competitive arcade scenes for some of the older games, like Street Fighter 3. Earlier this week, YouTube user Phil H. uploaded a short doc where he interviewed five Americans who moved to Japan…

Double KO Leads To Do-Over In Tekken 7 Match 

Tekken 7 won’t hit home consoles in the US for a few more days, but competition in the game is already heated. At Combo Breaker 2017, a multi-fighting-game tournament taking place this weekend in Illinois, the winner’s finals of one pool essentially went to overtime after a double knockout. As Mateo on Jack-7 went in…

FMV Mystery Doctor Dekker Is Messy, But Campy Fun

Lovecraftian horror is a tricky genre to nail down. The creeping sense of dread, of being locked in the throes of insanity, has to have some basis in your own imagination—giving it form or name often softens the scares. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, which hit Steam last week, is a slow burn. It’s…

Punk Wins Street Fighter V Eleague Invitational In Climactic Runback

After falling to Arman “Phenom” Hanjani in the winner’s finals, Victor “Punk” Woodley ran it back through the loser’s bracket to win the Eleague Street Fighter V Invitational 4-2. When Punk and Phenom met in the winner’s bracket, Punk seemed to have no answer for Phenom’s air game as Necalli. Constant jumps and dive-kicks, coupled…

Report: Korean League Players Say Team Isn’t Paying Them

According to a report from Inven Global, players and staff members say that for several years, Longzhu Gaming has not been paying them on time. A member of a Korean League of Legends circuit called the LCK, or League Champions Korea, the Longzhu Gaming organization has, players and staff claim, held back tens of thousands…

Dota 2 Tournament Holds Rage-Quit Competition For Fans

The Dota 2 community owns its memes. Players have long histories within the scenes, and few are as infamous as Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, whose rage was honored in a competition during last night’s Manila Masters matches. Dubbed the Battle Of The Rages, three fans were invited on-stage to show off their best rage-quits, inspired by…

Golden Tee World Champion Claims $10,000 Prize, Good For 234th Place On PGA Tour

In the cavalcade of esports that can and will continue until the inevitable heat death of the universe, some events can get overlooked. Amidst the hubbub of last weekend’s games, a Golden Tee world championship was held in Las Vegas, with winner Mark Stenmark of Houston, TX earning $10,000 and his likeness in next year’s…

Bandai Namco is partnering with Twitch to host the Tekken World Tour. Starting with CEO 2017 on June 16, the $200,000 prize pool tournament circuit will run through November, culminating in the 16-player world finals.

Dota 2 Pro Loses Game And Balance

Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao, captain of Team NP, was coming off a loss in the team’s first game at the Dota 2 Manila Masters when even gravity seemed to let him down. During a break between games one and two, as both teams went over strategy and drafts for the coming, likely decisive contest, Mao got…

Infamous Invisible Ceiling Glitch Resurfaces At Melee Tournament

At 16 years old, Super Smash Bros. Melee has no shortage of unique glitches and mechanics hidden in its GameCube-era code. At this past weekend’s Runback 2017, Justin “Plup” McGrath went hurtling into one of those glitches during a doubles match: an invisible ceiling that spiked him back down to the ground. The invisible ceiling…

Reigning League Champs SKT Scrape Past Challengers To Win Mid-Season Invitational

SKT T1 has long been the most dominant force in League of Legends, winning three Worlds championships. Given the results of today’s Mid-Season Invitational finals, it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon, as SKT T1 beat G2 for the MSI title, 3-1. The South Korean team as the top seed from their region, after…