Esports

Why Is Nobody On The Payload

Former Overwatch Pro Continues To Be A Self-Own Machine

Former Overwatch League problem child Félix “xQc” Lengyel was streaming last night when he ended up in the same match as a frighteningly skilled Widowmaker player going by the handle “Kannagang.” When players on the other team suggested that he might be cheating, xQc investigated by looking at his player profile. “Yeah, he’s a hacker,”…

What Stops Women From Going Pro In Esports

Cecilia D’Anastasio: So Nintendo invited a bunch of Super Smash Bros. pros to showcase Smash 5 at E3 this year! And among some of my favorites—Armada, Zero and Hungrybox—are exactly no women. I didn’t notice an outcry. Frankly, it was about as surprising as walking outside and noticing the sky, which was very much not…

Overwatch Pocket Healing Explained In Two Minutes

Overwatch League matches move fast, and one key aspect of clutch plays often stays off-screen and unacknowledged: the support players who heal up the pros pulling off those killstreaks. Most of those successful takedowns happen while the damage-dealing player is in the pocket—that is to say, getting healed continuously by a support player. When that…

Two Guys Reenact Street Fighter II Match With Their Mouths

The sounds of Street Fighter II are as iconic as anything else in the game, as shown by this incredible reenactment of the game by the two members of No Motion posted on Twitter. Watching two video-game sound impersonators re-enact a bout between E. Honda and Ryu took me right back to those days spent…

Report: Philly’s Overwatch Contenders Jerseys Banned Because Of ‘FU’

The Philadelphia Fusion’s Overwatch Contenders team, University, is playing without jerseys in today’s season one finals, not due to a laundry mishap or lost luggage but apparently the giant “FU” emblazoned on their game wear. The University, which competes in Contenders—essentially the Overwatch League’s minor league—announced on Twitter that their “FU jerseys” had been banned…

Team Secret are the third team to qualify for The International 2018, a multi-million dollar Dota 2 world championship. The team joins the Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid in having secured a direct invite to the event, thanks to their placing in this weekend’s GESC Thailand tournament.

Overwatch Pro’s Husband-And-Wife Streams Are A Bright Light In A Dim World

2018 is not a grand year. Every day there’s some new catastrophe. Fans are rioting, Kanye is tweeting, and we’re all drinking shitty cocktails. But there is one beacon of hope: an Overwatch pro and his wife, and their too-wholesome-for-this-world streams. Park “Saebyeolbe” Jong-yeol is a member of the New York Excelsior, the current top…

Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s Best Player Keeps Getting Better

Fighters are gearing up for the coming season of major Dragon Ball FighterZ events, and few look as fearsome as Goichi “Go1″ Kishida. The season of fighting game majors is almost upon us, and FighterZ competitors will go through the gauntlet, from Combo Breaker and the Summit of Power through to CEO and Evo 2018.…

The Weekend In Esports: Midseason Madness

The group stage for the League of Legends Midseason Invitational is underway, and the international showcase of talent is already heating up. MSI, as it’s called, is always an interesting test of mettle between regions to see who might be looking for a possible world championship run. And while European hopeful Fnatic has had varying…

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Character Provides Bootleg Training Mode In Limited Beta

The fighting game community is currently exploring BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle via a beta test to uncover its secrets before the official May 31 release date. But as is often the case, this demo is limited to a handful of modes and doesn’t include a built-in place to practice solo, forcing players to use one…

Apparently You Can Just Murder Pitchers In This Baseball Video Game

Look. Pitchers getting hit in the head by batted balls happens all the time, and is no joke. But I dare you to watch this Super Mega Baseball 2 clip from Giant Bomb producer and Mario Maker nightmare creator Dan Ryckert and not laugh: The pitcher’s apparent death is incredibly satisfying, from the ball hitting…

Nintendo Doesn’t Want The Best Smash Bros. Melee Player In The World At Its Big Tournament

Nintendo didn’t invite the top player of its longest-running esports title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, to its biggest (and likely only) tournament of the year. Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma isn’t exactly salty that he won’t be playing at the E3 Invitational next month; he’s more disbelieving. “It’s not as outlandish as flat earth,” said Debiedma over…

Shanghai Dragons just lost their second coach this season. Wang “RUI” Xingrui, who came aboard after Chen Congshan stepped down last March, will exit due to “health issues.” Shanghai remains Overwatch League’s only winless team

Overwatch League’s Next Stage Won’t Have New Hanzo Or Nerfed Brigitte

There’s a push and pull between pro players and “regular folks” underlying every major esports game, a delicate dance of priorities. And when that balance gets knocked askew as it’s been in the case of Overwatch League Stage 4? Then nobody’s happy. After last weekend’s stage-closing showdown between Boston Uprising and New York Excelsior, Overwatch…

After spending the entire regular season in the 450-seat Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, the Overwatch League grand finals will be in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in July. The playoffs through the semifinals will be in L.A., and the two finalists meet in Brooklyn on July 27-28.

Overwatch Pro Gets Two Reinhardt Ults In Six Seconds

HAMMER. DOWN. In case you needed any more evidence that LA Gladiators player Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek is one of the best Overwatch tanks in the world, here he is playing Whac-A-Mole with an enemy team, then getting into an 18-wheeler and running over the Whac-A-Mole machine. Fissure approaches the other team’s frontline with his shield…

‘C9ing’ Is The Bottom Of The Overwatch Toilet

A few weeks ago, at the end of a hard-fought game of Overwatch, my team was diligently wrecking the enemy team outside their spawn point when we suddenly realized that nobody was actually playing the objective. It was completely uncontested. In a moment, the words “DEFEAT” appeared on screen. Fuck. Chat exploded: “C9 nooo” “C99999”…

Coach Crusty Switches Overwatch League Teams After Ten-Match Winning Streak

Head coach Da-hee “Crusty” Park just left the Boston Uprising for the same job with the San Francisco Shock, one day after the team narrowly missed out on winning every single game in the Overwatch League’s third stage. Yesterday, New York Excelsior won the title and put a stop to Boston’s undefeated streak. Even with…

Mew2King Wins Smash Invitational, Can’t Believe It

Jason “Mew2King” is a legendary Super Smash Bros. Melee player with not one but two eras of dominance. His competitive results in 2007-2008 and 2013-2014 are a litany of first-place finishes, with some streaks stretching for months at a time. And while he has continued to be a regular sight in tournament play, these kinds…