Esports

EA Says It’s Fixing Formation That Baffles Madden‘s AI

Madden 18’s artificial intelligence is designed to react to every play, simulating live football right down to the human error. One formation, however, has puzzled the computer-controlled defense, and players are using that mismatch for easy, consistent yardage. The “Gun Monster” formation is a bastardized shotgun formation that puts only three offensive linemen—the center and…

Check out this year’s Persona-styled promotional video for anime-centric fighting game tournament CEOtaku. Matches kicked off today in Orlando, Florida, and you can follow all the action on CEO’s Twitch channel

Pro Overwatch Players Use Wall Of Tanks To Overwhelm Enemy Team

A good Overwatch team composition requires balance, offense and defense, light and shadow, yin and yang. Or you can just smother your problems by throwing a bunch of meat at them. That’s what Chinese Overwatch team Miracle Team 1 decided to do against FTD Club in an Overwatch Premier Series match, and it worked shockingly…

Overwatch League has finalized all 12 teams and announced the start-date for its inaugural season: January 10, 2018. We’ll get to see the teams in action before then. Starting on December 6, the Blizzard Arena in LA will host a series of preseason exhibition matches.

Official Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Tournament Will Give Six Players Special Powers

Timed with the release of the game, Capcom has announced theirfirst high-profile tournament series for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Unlike the currently Street Fighter-exclusive Capcom Cup, however, Battle for the Stones introduces some quirks to the traditional competitive environment in the hopes of making real-world decisions as crazy as what players can pull off in-game.…

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s Collector’s Edition Is Disappointing

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite releases tomorrow and has a sizable collector’s edition. The package includes a number of goodies, including statues and replicas, but some fans are rethinking the $200 price point after seeing early images of its questionable Infinity Stones. In addition to a copy of the game, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite’s Collector Edition…

Dominique “SonicFox” McLean is rapidly approaching half a million dollars in total tournament winnings after collecting $120,000 at the Injustice 2 Pro Series Grand Finals this weekend. At just 19-years-old, McLean is the world’s highest-paid fighting game competitor in terms of event money.

European Counter-Strike Team Dashes North American Hopes In Brutal Three Game Sweep

Fans were excited about the prospect of a Team Liquid upset on home soil after the squad’s triumphant run leading up to the ESL One New York grand finals, but Europe’s FaZe Clan had other plans. For a game dominated so consistently by teams abroad, seeing Team Liquid rally to win the $250,000 prize pool…

Two Commentators Fall For Oldest Donation Prank In The Book

Like Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons, two commentators at this weekend’s Smash The Record bit down hard on some wordplay bait from donors. Phil “EE” Visu and Daniel “DC” Coke were on desk duty last night for Smash The Record, a multi-game charity event raising funds for St. Jude Play Live. Much like Games Done…

Street Fighter Pro Goes Looking For An Energy Drink Mid-Match To Keep Corporate Overlords Happy 

Daigo “The Beast” Umehara is a legendary Street Fighter player, but even legends need to eat, which is why the pro dropped everything in the middle of a match to find a can of Red Bull. Red Bull is one of his sponsors. And since those in the fighting game community don’t get rich off…

New Hearthstone Strategy Relies On Running Out The Clock

Not many know this, but Hearthstone matches are programmed to end in a draw after 90 turns, which typically amounts to about two hours of gameplay. Since each player takes increasing “fatigue” damage after running out of cards, no deck has ever had the resources to last that long. As a result, tournament organizers haven’t…

The Weekend In Esports: Counter-Strike Descends on Barclays

In an otherwise quieter weekend, four elite CS:GO teams will be lighting up the Barclays Center for ESL One New York. The big story so far is that both Cloud9 and Team Liquid managed to eek out spots in the semifinals despite the best efforts of European powerhouses Astralis and Na’Vi. That the unlikely triumphs…

The First Japanese Evo Will Be A Bit Different

Despite a long history spanning back to 1996, the Evolution Championship Series has never held an event outside the United States. That’s all going to change come January 2018, as the organization plans to host the inaugural Evo Japan in Tokyo, with a few notable changes that set it apart from the main tournament series.…

Pro Overwatch Team Starts Cooking Show

Team EnvyUs is a major esports organization whose Overwatch team is like a circling bird of prey. Other teams might be flying high, but Envy’s shadow always looms heavy. So anyway, they’ve started a cooking show. The first episode of EnvyUs’ YouTube show “Envy Eats” stars Overwatch aim god Timo “Taimou” Kettunen and follows him…

The Immortals esports franchise has signed their debut Dota 2 team made up of the five newly reunited members of the MVP Phoenix team, which was the first Korean team to advance to The International in 2016. Now that the band’s back together, they’ll be competing in North America under the Immortals team name.

Two more Overwatch League team buyers have emerged from the world of traditional sports. ESPN reports that Neil Leibman, co-owner of the Texas Rangers, has purchased the Houston Overwatch League slot. Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers, has staked its claim on Philadelphia.

Veteran fighting game competitor Justin Wong has decided to forgo competing in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite until October. Wong is one of many players to receive early access to the game, and feels having an extra week to practice before Infinite’s official September 19 launch is unfair to the rest of the community.

Smash 4 Pro Survives Tournament Elimination With Clutch Off-Screen Play

Last weekend’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U competition at DreamHack Montreal came down to a nail-biting grand finals match between Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland and Eric “ESAM” Lew. With his tournament hopes on the line, Holland scored a clutch counter against Lew to reset the bracket, which was made only more impressive by the…

Counter-Strike Team Blows $70,000 Championship Match After Being Penalized For Showing Up Late

Prominent esports organization Immortals suffered a major misfire over the weekend when three members of its Counter-Strike team showed up late to a $70,000 Dreamhack Montreal finals match, forcing them to forfeit the first map in a best of three set, per the tournament’s rules This put Immortals at a serious disadvantage against opposing team…

Melee Champ Resigns From Competition Committee Because It’s All-Male

Super Smash Brothers: Melee pro Adam “Armada” Lindgren has stepped down from his position as a panelist for the game’s rules committee to open it up for more female representation. The committee, spearheaded by the community platform Melee It On Me, aims to standardize all Melee tournament guidelines On September 6, Melee It On Me…