Eric Van Allen

Injustice 2 Comeback “Worse Than Golden State Blowing A 3-1 Lead”

It can often seem like you’re out of your league in online games like Injustice 2. With their back against the wall and a sliver of health left, Flash player Honey Bee CMNDR looked all but out of it, until they flipped the switch and ran it all the way back on a very unsuspecting…

Smash Pro Wins Tournament Just In Time To Make His Flight

Yesterday’s single-day Greninja Saga Super Smash Bros. For Wii U tournament ran late, leaving one pro in a predicament after qualifying for the finals. Elliot Bastien “Ally” Carroza-Oyarce was leaving on a jet plane at 11:45 p.m., and the tournament kept going later and later. Ally had scheduled his flight in advance, as any savvy…

FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Decided On 90th-Minute Set Piece

After two days of play in Berlin, the grand finals for the FIFA Ultimate Team Championship came down to the wire between Chevrey “Vitality_Rocky” Corentin and Shaun “xShellzz” Springette. Despite losing the lead on his home turf, a last-minute rally helped Corentin barely scrape by and secure his spot as the 2017 Ultimate Team champion.…

17 NBA Teams Are Investing In 2K Esports, But There Might Not Be A Scene

The announcement of the NBA 2K league was huge—17 NBA teams will be investing in esports teams which will be contracted to compete in a regular season running concurrent with the NBA season. It was enough to pique many people’s curiosity, including our own, but when we went looking for references to any existing 2K…

Portal’s Companion Cube joins the Dota 2 roster in the form of a new Arcana cosmetic for Io, available for all TI7 Battle Pass owners level 245 and above. For those doing the math at home, that’s about $109 if you don’t want to level up to earn this adorable wisp.

Smash Players Can’t Agree Whether Coaching Is Okay Or Not

The debate over coaching in competitions ebbs and flows like the tide. After a flurry of tweets from pros and personalities alike on the subject, it seems like the question of whether coaching should be allowed in competitive Super Smash Bros. For Wii U is being raised again. The inception point of all the debate…

The Wildest Matches From Compete‘s Street Fighter Pro Challenge

This past Saturday, we opened the doors to the Gizmodo Media Group offices and welcomed any and all challengers to try their hand at beating a Street Fighter V champion. From young newcomers to surprise upstarts, and even other pros lurking in the waters, here are some of our favorite moments from an incredible night.…

Dota 2 Patch Makes Death More Punishing

The next mainline Dota 2 patch hit the game’s servers today, and with it came a litany of balance changes meant to address the most pressing concerns in the wake of the Kiev Major. With The International 7 looming on the horizon, it’s time to fine-tune the game that will be played for millions in…

Street Fighter Pro Brings Down The Champ At Compete Event

In the last block of the night at our “Can You Beat An Esports Champion?” event, Du “NuckleDu” Dang was the first pro to drop all day. Kevin “Die3mini0n” Landon, a professional Street Fighter player himself, took down NuckleDu in a tense mirror match-up. Both players were on Guile, exchanging blows and projectiles in a…

Watch Street Fighter Pros V. Jamokes At Our NYC Event

Starting now and going into the night, Street Fighter V pros Bryant “Smug” Huggins, Justin Wong and Du “NuckleDu” Dang will take on a crowd of challengers live from our New York offices. Throughout the day, visitors can stop by to play the pros, and after they fail (or succeed), they can stop by the…

Dota Pro Counters Time Travel With Map-Wide Grappling Hook

In today’s qualifier matches for Dota’s The Summit 7, Natus Vincere’s Danil “Dendi” Ishutin found himself warped away from a fight by Vega Squadron’s Disruptor. With seconds to save himself, Dendi landed a chain onto a nearby tree and took a journey through space and time. Disruptor’s “Glimpse” ability warps an enemy hero back to…

Ex-WWE Announcer Emcees Video Game Wrestling League Finale

Wrestling fans might be used to hearing Justin Roberts introduce names like John Cena, Daniel Bryan or The Undertaker. But for the finale of the Video Game Championship Wrestling series, Roberts himself took to the mic to announce the entrance of rejected Street Fighter concept Zubaz and the dark lord of Hyrule himself, Ganondorf. The…

M. Bison clone “Ed” will be the next combatant to enter the ring in Street Fighter V. The psychokinetic teen is the first character inSFV to not require motions for special moves, and will be playable in the upcoming CFN Beta on May 11 through 14.

Smash 4‘s Competitive Scene Is Thriving, But Can It Take The Next Big Step?

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U often toils in the shadow of its predecessor, the GameCube classic Melee. Yet in the backyard of the live music capitol of the world, surrounded by more established games, DreamHack Austin showcased a $10,000 Smash 4 tournament that was electric to watch. It seemed a premonition of greater things…

Top Smash Player Lands Perfect Donkey Kong Combo

At this past weekend’s Umebura Japan Major, Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman clinically executed a “ding-dong,” a combo that has elevated DK into the competitive meta-game. A play on words that references Diddy Kong’s “hoo-hah” combo, “ding-dong” is jargon for a combination where Donkey Kong players use his throw to launch someone up in the air, then…

Smash Pro Wins Japan Major By Going Back To His Roots

At the Umebura Japan Major, Kengo “Ken” Suzuki was on a tear through the winner’s bracket. MkLeo, his opponent, was down one elimination and needed a new plan to take the grand finals, and he found a winning strategy in the strangest of places: his old main. Leonardo “MkLeo” Perez was the banner carrier for…

Demolition Paves Way For Rocket League Team’s Clean Sweep

Among the similarities between Rocket League and soccer is the physicality of the game, though rather than red cards, Rocket League opts to simply have cars explode when they collide with enough velocity. Today was Selfless’ first time competing in the North American Rocket League Championship playoffs, and coming in as the no. 5 seed,…

PlayStation Player Finally Wins A FIFA Regional

In Madrid today, some of Europe’s best virtual footballers gathered to determine who would move on to Berlin for FIFA 17 championship and for once, a PlayStation player pulled out the win. The bracket of each regional is divided by platform, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Once a champion for each has been determined, they…

DreamHack Hosts ‘Seniors’ Competition For Counter-Strike Players Over 30

If you’re over 30, DreamHack considers you to be a senior, at least in the world of competitive Counter-Strike The tournament organizer has announced that DreamHack Summer 2017, held June 17 through 20 in Jönköping, Sweden, will host four special Counter-Strike tournaments for juniors, seniors, women and free-for-all players. These BYOC (bring your own computer)…

Kiev Major Concludes With Weird Montage Of Women; Production Company Later Deletes Video

Last weekend’s Kiev Major crowned OG as a four-time Majors winner and celebrated the CIS region’s Dota 2 history. After the closing ceremony, however, the last thing viewers saw was an unexplained montage of women simply watching the matches. Since then, that footage has been critiqued by some of the community for making women feel like…