Esports

There will be a World Cup tournament with a prize pool of at least $500,000 for the mobile MOBA Arena of Valor in July. An insider at Tencent told Compete that this is the start of a larger roll-out of tournaments, and that teams like Liquid and Vitality will be in attendance.

The New Definition Of “Pro Gamer” In Japan

In Japanese, “pro gamer” previously had one definition: a gamer who got money to play. Hence, a professional. Today, the word was given a new definition by the newly established Japan Esports Union. The organization is supported by Japanese gaming’s biggest organizations (such as CESA and JAMMA) and will issue pro gamer licenses for a…

Overwatch League’s Dallas Fuel, In A Single Play

This Doomfist play, which Dallas Fuel star DPS player Hyeon “Effect” Hwang pulled off against Philadelphia Fusion in an Overwatch League match today, is nuts—the kind of thing regular players will be attempting for weeks to come. In the end, however, it failed spectacularly. At this point, Dallas Fuel’s out-of-the-arena troubles are well documented, but…

Multiple Fighting Game Tournaments Ban Competitor After Woman Says He Beat And Raped Her

Andre “OmGiTzAndre” Howard was banned from multiple FGC events following 2015 accusations

A Loser From The Anime Series Is Now One of Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s Biggest Badasses

Android 16 drew the short straw in the Dragon Ball Z anime series. A villain-turned-hero, he was designed to kill Goku, but he mostly just got wrecked by Cell for the better part of the show’s run. He ends up being a nice pal, but really, Android 16’s defining moments in the series combat-wise are…

There Are No Necessary Picks In Overwatch Anymore

“RIP Mercy,” Overwatch players mumbled after the game’s main healer suffered a big nerf on Tuesday. It was a long-coming but controversial change that made the game’s essential hero no longer so. It also sent a firm message to Overwatch’s players—one that the recently-launched Overwatch League is hammering in with each pro match: No hero…

The Houston Outlaws Lost Their Map Streak But Kept Winning

The Houston Outlaws extended their 16-map unbeaten streak to 18 before the San Francisco Shock finally snapped it in the third map, but that was just a blip en route to a fifth straight match win. Their 3-1 win moved them to 5-2 on the season and could give them a chance to move into…

The Counter-Strike Boston Major Is Fake War Presented By Real War

Watching Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in a 7,000-seat arena for 24 hours over the course of three days made me feel like I was 19 years old again. I don’t miss it, especially after being surrounded by fans around that age at Eleague’s CS:GO major in Boston. When my 19-year-old friends and I argued about the…

BlazBlue Comeback Reversed In Stunning Fashion At Evo Japan

The Evolution Championship Series (colloquially “Evo”) wrapped up its first trip to Japan last weekend. It was full of incredible moments highlighting the best of competitive fighting games, including a mind-blowing moment during the BlazBlue: Central Fiction tournament that saw one entrant completely reverse his fortunes in an extremely dire circumstance. As the BlazBlue bracket…

How Esports Broadcasters Decide What You See

Gunfire, spells, commentators talking a mile a minute, momentum shifts, plays you can literally miss by blinking: there’s so much going on during esports events that there’s hardly any time to spare a thought for what’s going on behind the scenes, let alone what’s happening right in front of your eyes. Observers aren’t as immediately…

I Think I Understand Sports Fans Now

Two winters ago, a high school pal whom I hadn’t seen in several years while he served in Afghanistan was back in New York, and, en route to a night of reconnecting over bowls of warm ramen, he abruptly ruined everything with a suggestion: Let’s go to a sports bar around the corner and watch…

Dragon Ball FighterZ Is Fantastic For Newcomers

Unlike team games like Dota 2 and Overwatch where losing is always someone else’s fault, fighting games can make you specifically feel like shit. I’ve picked up and put down so many fighting games over the years rather than pile up losses with no one else to blame. But Dragon Ball FighterZ is somehow different.…

Boston Counter-Strike Major Ends In Nail-Biting Double Overtime

After a hard-fought series that went into double overtime, the North American hopefuls Cloud9 have won the Eleague Counter-Strike Boston Major. Cloud9 came into the finals as the underdogs, having bounced back from an 0-2 in an earlier stage of the tournament to climbing the playoff bracket, picking off favorites like SK Gaming in the…

Rocket League Open Ends In Clutch Overtime Goal

Today’s grand finals between G2 and Paris Saint-Germain managed to go the full distance. It was the champs against the fresh-but-fierce PSG squad, and it all came down to a single goal in extra time. The DreamHack Open finals, held in Leipzig, were a back-and-forth affair, but momentum seemed in G2’s favor after two straight…

Majin Obama And Tasty Steve Deliver A Passionate Fighting Game Sermon

Last night’s Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 action at the inaugural Evo Japan was incredible, but it was the lead-up to the final match that really stuck with me. The commentators gave a surprisingly moving speech about the passion and dedication of the fighting game faithful, the culture of the community, and putting soul into…

The sparkling lights in the audience at Eleague’s CS:GO major in Boston come courtesy of light-up bracelets given to every attendee. The bracelets flash red at the same speed as the in-game bomb countdown, they light up white for explosions, and flicker either yellow or blue for a terrorist or counter-terrorist victory, respectively. Unlike the…

Overwatch Teams That Stick Together, Get Stuck Together

In today’s Overwatch League matches, the Dallas Fuel learned a hard lesson about everybody funneling through the same door. As the team backed up into a side area, the Boston Uprising’s Namju “Striker” Gwon was waiting on Tracer. With a sticky Pulse Bomb primed and ready, Gwon snuck in and stuck one, catching four members…

FIFA Pro Dribbles Circles Around The Defense

At today’s FIFA 18 Ultimate Team event in Barcelona, Kurt1 put a devastating game up on opponent MegaBit, highlighted best by this dribble around a buzzing hive of defenders that resulted in a goal. You can follow the rest of the games today and tomorrow on EA Sports’ Twitch channel

Guilty Gear Player Gets Emotional After Taking Down Evo Champ

It might have been intimidating for Mikado’s own Shodai to get into the top 64 of Evo Japan’s Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 tournament and find himself facing Omito. It was definitely an emotional moment for Shodai to beat him. Some of the world’s best have congregated in Japan for their respective games, and among…

The Weekend In Esports: Boston Counter-Strike Party

ELEAGUE’s Boston Major is almost over with only a few teams left while the Overwatch League continues to dish out some stellar matches. In addition, LCS continues into its second week of the 2018 spring season while DreamHack plays out in Europe, a Gears of War tournament continues in Mexico, and Dota 2 crowns a…