Esports

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Is Dead Simple By Design

Since its debut in 2008, the BlazBlue franchise has enjoyed a decade of serious growth, with four mainline installments, various revisions, and an expansive cast that rivals even its Arc System Works cousin Guilty Gear. The latest game, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, is a two-on-two crossover fighter that landed in North America today. With characters…

It’s A Good Time For A Street Fighter III Revival

The recently released Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection has led me to playing a lot more Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. I wasn’t expecting this. The new collection rounds up 12 Street Fighter games from the past three decades and allows ranked and casual online matches for four of them: Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Turbo,…

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…

Here’s A Textbook Wall Bang, Which Is Totally Not A Sex Thing

Call of Duty World League matches move fast, especially in a mode like Hardpoint, which involves instantaneous respawns for both teams. With waves of enemies pouring at each other in constant droves, it’s easy to blow past the more impressive shots that pros pull off—like wall bangs, which require some ingenuity and planning. Every Call…

Dragon Ball FighterZ Gave Us A Rare Look At What Neutral Play Feels Like

The biggest news in the Dragon Ball FighterZ world this weekend was Dominique “SonicFox” McLean finally defeating rival Goichi “GO1” Kishida, but the rest of Combo Breaker was pretty thrilling too. One tense standoff in particular served as a perfect example of a confusing fighting game concept known as ‘neutral.’ Neutral is hard to parse…

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…

Street Fighter Showcase Is A Trip Down Memory Lane

Last night, some of Street Fighter’s old guard assembled to play an exhibition tournament that took the players and viewers through the timeline of the series. It was both ridiculous and nostalgic, and a nice reminder of the legacy of these games and the people that play them. Five on-site auction entrants at Combo Breaker…

When You Find The Good Button

Fighters in games like Tekken 7 can have a wide arsenal of attacks, with different angles, weights, and recovery time. But when you get the chance to mash that good button, ol’ reliable, you make the most of it. At least, that’s what Mr. Whooppee did when he trapped Rickstah’s Akuma in a barrage of…

The Weekend In Esports: No Coast, No Kings

The Memorial Day slugfest is back for 2018, as Combo Breaker is underway in Illinois this weekend. This tournament, for me at least, marks the start of the big fighting game tournament rush leading up to Evo. Between this weekend and the big one in August, there are going to be plenty of majors with…