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EsportsIt’s A Very Fighting Game Weekend
It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means either chaining hot dogs, hamburgers and handfuls of chips or jab, jab, uppercut, jab, throw, special. Or both. Fighting game tournament Combo Breaker roils on all weekend in Illinois, where top competitors from titles ranging from Mortal Kombat 11 to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will vie to be their…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published May 24, 2019 -
EsportsThe Latest Test For Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s Captain Olimar
Are the glory days of Captain Olimar the proud, first of his name, numbered? Or are they just beginning? We’ll have a better idea after this weekend’s big Smash tournament. The Pikmin protagonist has some very powerful attacks while also being skilled at zoning out the competition, making him a frustrating character to face at…
By Ethan Gach Published May 17, 2019 -
EsportsThrilling Overwatch League Match Sees Only Undefeated Team Lose
For the San Francisco Shock, locking up the first perfect stage in Overwatch League history was a nice cherry, but the team always had their eyes on the sundae: victory in Sunday’s stage two playoffs. Yesterday they once again faced off against Vancouver Titans, running back the stage one match-up that they lost (in what…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 13, 2019 -
EsportsCompetitive Fortnite Is About To Experiment With Controlled Chaos
Last weekend, a vault opened beneath Loot Lake in Fortnite. Players were given the option of bringing back one of the game’s previously retired weapons. They chose the Drum Gun, one of the most overpowered weapons in the game’s history. Then, on Thursday, Epic announced the Drum Gun would be coming to the game’s tournament…
By Ethan Gach Published May 10, 2019 -
EsportsSan Francisco Shock Complete Overwatch League’s First-Ever Perfect Stage
Whether you’re a professional basketball player or whoever left that Starbucks cup on the Game of Thrones set, everybody has off nights. Well, everybody except the rejuvenated San Francisco Shock. After a messy first season, they’ve spent season two looking like an entirely different team. Yesterday, they achieved something no other team ever has: a…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 6, 2019 -
EsportsCall of Duty Esports Is Getting Ready To Change Again
The Call of Duty World League has only been around since 2016, but it’s already making an overhaul that could spell the end of its current format, which mixes weekly matches that have their own cash prizes with bigger bimonthly tournaments. Activision is planning for its blockbuster shooter series to follow in the wake of…
By Ethan Gach Published May 3, 2019 -
EsportsVideo Of Odd Behavior In Fortnite Match Leads To Accusations That Pro Was Cheating [Update]
Earlier this week, Fortnite pro Damion “XXiF” Cook was accused of colluding with other players during a World Cup open qualifier match in which he took second place, earning $4,000 in prize money and a spot in the eventual finals this summer in New York. In a statement, XXiF denied any wrongdoing, but that hasn’t…
By Ethan Gach Published May 1, 2019 -
EsportsThe Overwatch League Goes To Texas This Weekend
I normally try to zero in on one particular esports event or theme around it each weekend for this post, but this time there is just too much god damn high-level, mouse-clicking, button-mashing, card-dropping, play-calling competitive gaming action going on not to run through all of it. First up we have the Overwatch League. Week…
By Ethan Gach Published April 26, 2019 -
EsportsReport: Rick Fox Leaving Esports Organization Because Of Racist Comments By Shareholder [Update]
Retired NBA star turned esports entrepreneur Rick Fox is preparing to cut ties with Echo Fox, the competitive gaming organization he helped found, after another shareholder allegedly used racial slurs during an email exchange, according to a report by Richard Lewis for Dexerto According to Lewis, the racist remarks came from an investor at Vision…
By Ethan Gach Published April 25, 2019 -
EsportsArcade Setups Keep The Dream Of Competitive Darkstalkers 3 Alive
The fighting game extravaganza MIXUP returns for its third year this weekend in Lyon, France. While it’ll showcase tournaments in all the current major games like Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, it’ll also be home to a number of more niche side events, including one for the beloved Capcom arcade classic,…
By Ethan Gach Published April 19, 2019 -
EsportsOverwatch League Player Fined One Month’s Salary For Inappropriate Comment To Streamer
An Overwatch League player who told a 17-year-old streamer that she was his teammate’s “second wife” has been fined one month’s salary and denied a bonus payment, his team announced today. The streamer in question was Aspen, a successful Overwatch player who is partnered with esports organization Cloud 9. During a match streamed on Aspen’s…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 16, 2019 -
EsportsOne Of North America’s Best League Of Legends Teams Is Itching For A Comeback
Team SoloMid once again finds itself in the North America League of Legends finals, but its path to victory pits the team against the seemingly unstoppable Team Liquid, helmed by former Team SoloMid star Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. TSM was a league favorite for several seasons durings Doublelift’s tenure, but recently, the team has struggled. Team…
By Ethan Gach Published April 12, 2019 -
EsportsFour Players Have Quit Overwatch League In The Last Two Weeks
Expansion teams and new meta aside, Overwatch League season two has felt, for the most part, like business as usual. Behind the scenes, however, teams continue to practice, scrimmage, and prepare rigorously, all while planning for a third season in which they’ll move to their respective cities all across the world. It appears to be…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 9, 2019 -
EsportsEpic Games Is Spending $500,000 Just So Competitive Fortnite Players Can Practice
It’s a light weekend for esports, save for Epic Games’ Fortnite World Cup Warm Up. It’s a two-day mini-tournament which, because it’s Fortnite, will nevertheless include a $500,000 prize divided up among hundreds of winners. Competitive Fortnite’s World Cup event is slated to take place in July. Before that, teams will compete in a series…
By Ethan Gach Published April 5, 2019 -
EsportsEpic Bans Stretched Screen Resolutions From Fortnite Tournaments, Upsetting Pros
Fortnite, like life, is full of mysteries. Why do we build if we’re only going to destroy? Can taking countless lives to survive a bloodbath really be considered a victory or, indeed, royale? What’s the deal with this tomato guy? Why is he smiling? What does he know? Then there’s the biggest question of all:…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 3, 2019 -
EsportsNot Everyone Loved The Smash Balls In Nintendo’s Latest Smash Ultimate Tournament
Hundreds of PAX East attendees crowded around a small stage in the expo hall last Saturday afternoon to see if Seth, one of the top-ranked Smash players in Chicago, could keep his team alive in Nintendo’s North America Open against his opponent Poltergust. As both players deployed deadly items and Final Smash attacks, the hall…
By Ethan Gach Published April 1, 2019 -
Esports
Watch Out For Smash Balls In This Weekend’s Nintendo-Sanctioned Tournament
The finals for the Smash Ultimate North America Open kick off at 1 p.m. ET, live at PAX East in Boston and streaming on Nintendo’s YouTube. This is a Nintendo-sanctioned Smash tournament, so the rules are less strict than your typical competitive Smash tournament. Items will be on (albeit set to “low”), and so will…
By Maddy Myers Published March 29, 2019 -
Esports
Popular Overwatch League Player Quits After Just One Month To Resume Streaming Career
Overwatch League has plenty of astoundingly skilled players, but very few stars whose popularity transcends the game’s still relatively niche esports scene. Now it’s time to mark another burgeoning name off the list, because Atlanta Reign’s Daniel “Dafran” Francesca has quit after just one month of play during his debut season. Dafran, a controversy-prone player…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 28, 2019 -
Esports
Overwatch League’s Stage One Finals Gave Us The Wildest Game Of The Season So Far
Every now and then, in competitive games, there are matches where it feels like nobody lost. Yes, San Francisco Shock fell agonizingly short of dethroning the season two heirs apparent the Vancouver Titans. And yeah, they failed to snag $200,000 in bonus cash, having to settle for a second-place prize of half that. But both…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 25, 2019 -
EsportsDota 2 Now Lets You Bet In-Game Currency On Pro Tournaments
This week Valve rolled out a new smartphone companion app for Dota 2 that makes it easier for fans to keep track of big tournaments, follow the progress of their favorite teams, and get access to in-game stats in real-time. But that’s not all: the app also lets players gamble. Not with real world money,…
By Ethan Gach Published March 22, 2019