Esports

Why Competitive Games Patch So Much

The Dueling Fates update hit Dota 2 last week after a long waiting period, bringing two new heroes, several new items, map changes, and new abilities and talents; in a week’s time, it’s already been updated, from 7.07 to 7.07b. Patches are nothing new in today’s landscape, but Dota 2 patches are particularly unique. While…

Korean Esports Association Staffers Arrested In Embezzlement Investigation

Three employees of the Korean Esports Association (KeSPA), including a former assistant to chief executive Jun Byung-hun, have been arrested on suspicion of bribe-taking and money-laundering, according to Seoul-Yonhap News. KeSPA, an organization formed by the South Korean government in 2000, oversees the country’s esports industry, which includes some of the world’s best pro gaming…

Fans Are Loving Overwatch‘s New Spectator Tools

With its colorful cast and proclivity for wild plays that are equal parts tactical and mechanical, Overwatch is brimming with esports potential. Problem is, it can be a mess of exploding mechs, screen-engulfing ghost dragons, and middle-aged men in Scream Halloween costumes—too much of a mess, sometimes, to actually sit down and watch. Thank goodness…

Esports Needs To Embrace Its Moments Of Honest-To-God Emotion

The most memorable image from this weekend’s League of Legends world championships wasn’t of the winner’s podium, the trophy, the stadium, or even the freaking dragon in the arena. It was of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, a godlike figure in League of Legends, brought to tears after a crushing 3-0 loss. Faker is one of the…

Tekken Player Flies Up European Rankings With Tournament Win

Adnan “Blackbeard” Zaman came into Paris Games Week as the 51st player on the Tekken 7 leaderboards in Europe. But a massive run through the Tekken World Tour event this weekend took him all the way up to the top, placing him in the top three of his region just ahead of the world tour…

New Character Contest For Upcoming SNK Game Won By Saudi Artist

Saudi Arabian artist Mashael Barrak has had her character design chosen to be included in an upcoming SNK game after winning a design contest. Put on by Manga Productions, her character “Najd” will make an appearance in an upcoming game, though details have not yet been released on what game that will be. Japanese studio…

Splatoon Player Runs The Wrong Way With Rainmaker In Tournament

This weekend’s Squidstorm 2017 in Boston hosted a number of Splatoon teams both amateur and pro, but few captured our hearts like Squidlife Crisis, whose player “moose” grabbed the Rainmaker and ran the wrong way with it. The objective of Rainmaker in Splatoon 2 is to grab the big golden gun and get it to…

Blizzard Announces New Details About Its Overwatch League

Following last night’s2017 Overwatch World Cup, Blizzard shared a bunch of details about how the game’s upcoming professional league will work, including scheduling, prize money, and how the teams will be split up to create separate divisions. The start date is January 10 of next year. Matches will take place four days a week, Wednesday…

Overwatch World Cup Comes Down To A Fight Over Meters

The 2017 Overwatch World Cup finals saw reigning champions South Korea take on Canada, the mighty titan versus the underdog. There were cheers, excitement, and one very polite signholder in the crowd. South Korea’s upcoming Overwatch League team is called the Seoul Dynasty for a reason: the region’s dominance in many esports also extends to…

A Look At Some Of The Upcoming Hearthstone Expansion’s Wilder Cards

Blizzard has revealed some new cards from the upcoming Kobolds and Catacombs expansion at BlizzCon, and they’re already looking pretty silly. While more will certainly trickle out over the coming days and weeks leading up to next month’s release, it’s fun to theorycraft how these could be used, even if they really have no practical…

Early Impressions Of Hanzo And Alexstrasza’s Heroes Of The Storm Debut

Two new heroes will join the Heroes of the Storm roster: Alexstrasza from World of Warcraft and Hanzo from Overwatch. They’re coming to Heroes of the Storm in the coming weeks, and both characters made their debut on the show floor at Blizzcon 2017. Hanzo didn’t feel hard to pick up and understand, so the…

League of Legends World Finals Had A Freaking Dragon

Last night was the final clash of the 2017 League of Legends World Championships, a climactic rematch between Samsung Galaxy and SKT T1. Before the games started, Riot Games put on a massive opening ceremony including a giant trophy, a live performance of Worlds theme “Legends Never Die,” and a freaking dragon. During the ceremony,…

The Weekend In Esports: BlizzCon, Tekken, And More

The top pros in all of Blizzard’s competitive games will face-off today in a bevy of tournaments. Plus if you’re in the U.S. it’s the end of daylight savings. Yay! Worlds 2017 has come and gone leaving the former champions in second place after Samsung Galaxy proved they wouldn’t settle for a repeat of last…

Sean “Day9”Plott holds court for a small but devoted audience at Blizzcon 2017’s “StarCraft 2 – What’s Next” panel. Day9 just compared the game’s new Protoss skins, to be included in the War Chest, to Overwatch. You know, Overwatch? That other game everyone’s playing downstairs in the expo hall, right now?

After leaving his home in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, Luis Galarza Figueroa made the cut for the Los Angeles Gladiators, one of the 12 teams competing in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. You can read about his journey in our article here

The next League of Legends champion will be Zoe, a manic youngster with cosmic powers. Looks like she’s got a sleep mechanic, as well as some other magical tricks up her metaphorical sleeves. Zoe will join the League with patch 7.23.

The Ups And Downs Of Teabagging In Pro Gaming

When the clock counted down the last 100 seconds, Injustice 2 Pro Series player Dominique “Sonic Fox” McLean knew he’d already won the match. His opponent’s health bar had been reduced to a sliver. All Sonic Fox had to do was kill time. So he started teabagging. As the enemy player cowered on the other…

Canada Cup has given lifetime bans to the players caught cheating in last weekend’s Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite tournament. The ensuing chaos caused by their actions ruined one player’s chances of qualifying for the official Battle for the Stones event in December.

Overwatch League Team Names, Ranked

The Overwatch League is gearing up for its inaugural season in 2018. All of the 12 teams competing in the new esports league have been announced, backed by familiar sports names like Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Mets owner Jeff Wilpon. Some of these names are fun and good; others less so. Here they are,…

Super Smash Bros. Melee Community Has It Tough In Japan 

It was 2am in early September. Yuichiro Takahashi was in his room eating a Crunky chocolate bar, listening to the RWBY soundtrack and staring at the English sentences on his monitor. If anything might help change the Super Smash Bros. Melee scene in Japan, perhaps this would. He pressed publish. The title of the blog…