Maddy Myers

Street Fighter V‘s ‘Alpha Of Teabagging’ Still Winning, But More Politely

Victor “Punk” Woodley, the self-proclaimed “alpha of teabagging,” climbed ever higher up the world rankings in Street Fighter V by placing first last night at Dreamhack Austin. But despite his wins, Punk’s “alpha” side was nowhere to be seen in his final matches. Punk is known for taunting opponents, both in matches and during post-game…

Deaf Gamer Founds A Fighting Games Team For Players Like Him

Learning fighting games is hard enough, even with YouTube tutorials, commentators’ insight during pro tournaments, and local meet-ups. But what if you literally could not hear any of those things? That’s the case for Chris “Phoenix” Robinson, a deaf fighting game player whose most recent Twitch streams feature him fighting opponents online at Guilty Gear…

Blizzard has announced Overwatch’s D.Va will join Heroes of the Storm, and she’ll be a Warrior class. Here’s the new cinematic featuring D.Va fighting alongside fellow Overwatch fighter Genji. Both appear as part of the Heroes of the Storm 2.0 update rolling out today and tomorrow.

Women’s College Launches Varsity Esports Program For Student Overwatch Team

Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, is the first all-women’s school to announce a varsity esports program, supported with scholarships. According to ESPN, the program will begin in fall of 2017, and the team will compete in the Tespa Collegiate Series for Overwatch. According to the Stephens College website, Overwatch was “selected because of its diverse…

Heroes of the Storm Turns Overwatch‘s Genji into a Lovable Goofball

The addition of Overwatch favorite Genji to Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm this week has revealed yet another big, important fact about him: this guy loves memes. The cyborg ninja has remained relatively mysterious since the game’s release last year. Every time Blizzard ekes out another clue about his past, the Overwatch fandom analyzes it…

Street Fighter Pro Calls Himself The ‘Alpha’ Of Teabagging

Victor “PG Punk” Woodley took first place in Street Fighter V last Sunday night at the NorCal Regionals. Between that and his first place finish at West Coast Warzone the week prior, he’s all but guaranteed himself a top slot in the 2017 Capcom Cup. But the main reason why Punk’s become the talk of…

Esports Will Become A Medal Event At The 2022 Asian Games

Competitive video games will become a medal sport for the first time ever at the 2022 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia announced. They will appear as a demonstration event at the 2018 edition of the next Asian Games, held in Indonesia, as part of the run-up to esports’ official inclusion as a medal…

Fighting Game Pro Has A Habit Of Taking Off His Shirt And Losing

Eliver “KillerKai” Ling keeps taking off his shirt during fighting game tournaments. Last night, KillerKai dramatically removed his shirt at the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 NorCal Regionals, right before his final match in a best of three against ApologyMan. The shirt removal has become a notorious intimidation technique for him. It doesn’t always psych out…

Genji has just joined the Heroes of the Storm roster, so let’s hope you wanted yet another Assassin type. With the addition of Genji comes the game’s first Overwatch-themed map, Hanamura. This is a two-lane payload map with a whole lot of beautiful cherry blossoms.

The Best Taunt In Fighting Games Involves Tricky Musical Combos

Of all the ways players taunt each other in fighting games, there’s no taunt as stylish as the trumpet solos that players can pull off in Skullgirls Players can perform as police-officer-turned-brass-instrument “Big Band” and have used him to play an impressive array of songs, from James Bond’s theme to “Song of Storms” from The…

Fighting Game Community Falls In Love With Street Fighter Veteran’s New Look

Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez lost every single one of his Street Fighter V matches during Eleague’s invitational last week. But, somehow, he emerged from that seven-string loss looking cool as heck. A full week later, Street Fighter fans still can’t stop talking about his sunglasses. The former Street Fighter veteran turned YouTube star has not been…

Why Kirby Is Low-Tier in Super Smash Brothers

Kirby is a controversial character, especially among competitive Super Smash Brothers players. Even if you don’t play games, you probably know who Kirby is. You know his deal. He’s cute. He’s pink. He says “hiiiii” in falsetto. He looks like a marshmallow. And he swallows his enemies whole, which is weird and humiliating and would…

Street Fighter V‘s Most Heated Rivalry Intensified Last Night

There’s nothing fake about the rivalry between Street Fighter V pros Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley and Joshua “Wolfkrone” Philpot, but last night, Eleague gave the pair a chance to play it up for the cameras. It’s not exactly a years-long feud, but it’s already a popular one. The first notable stand-off between the pair happened last…

TBS’s Eleague Takes the Life Out of Fighting Games

The third season of TBS’ esports tournament is the first to feature a fighting game. Judging by yesterday’s premiere online broadcast, which will lead into televised episodes, it’s got problems. So far, it’s too quiet, too subdued, and too weirdly structured to work well as a fighting game event. The first two seasons of Eleague…

Tournament Trolls Competitors By Making Them Dance To Smash Mouth

Dance Dance Revolution and its many copycats (Pump It Up, In the Groove, etc) already feel like a blast from the past. So why not lean into that? Tournament organizers at Rumble in the Prairie 9 yesterday decided to re-live 1999 and troll their competitors in the process. These competitors played on In the Groove…

Competitive Overwatch‘s Inconsistent Rules Are Screwing Over Players

In any competitive game or sport, the rules can change, and competitors have to adjust their strategies. But usually, rules change between seasons – not in the middle of one. Blizzard’s Overwatch changes a lot, even by video game standards. The patches hit every few weeks or so. Sometimes it’s a little balance tweak, sometimes…

You Can Watch Esports In VR Now, But Why Would You?

Here are two questions an annoying friend or relative might ask you: “Does anyone actually watch esports tournaments?” and “Does anyone actually own a VR headset?” A startup called SLIVER.tv has decided to combine these two head-scratchers into one bizarre business plan, which can be best summarized in one question: “Would anyone watch esports tournaments…

Inside The Unregulated And Scam-Filled World Of Video Game Betting

Gambling on esports matches is, right now, unsafe and unfair for bettors, just as gambling on traditional sports is. As you’d expect, people are still doing it anyway; and as you’d expect, laws and regulations have struggled to keep up. The facts, neutrally stated, are simple: In the United States, esports betting—as with sports betting…

Meet the Street Fighter Pro Who Intentionally Picks Underrated Characters

When Xian placed first in Street Fighter V in the Capcom Pro Tour’s Final Round 20 tournament, his fans were happy but confused. Xian had won the tournament by playing as Ibuki the entire time, a shocking departure from his typical pick, F.A.N.G. Xian’s wins as Ibuki, in contrast to the “low-tier” characters he tends…

I Took Gamer Drugs For A Week And This Is What They Did To My Body

Is there a drug I can take, Limitless-style, that will make me better at video games? Ideally, it would be something legal. And something that wouldn’t put me in any medical danger. There are a lot of drugs on the market that claim to boost gaming prowess. This week, I tried two. I don’t recommend…