Esports

My Quest To Push Everyone Off A Ledge In For Honor

Ubisoft advertised For Honor, released yesterday, as a game about skewering enemies with medieval weaponry. Man, did they bury the lede on this one. A few days in, I’ve discovered what For Honor really is, and it is undoubtedly a game about pushing people off ledges and laughing. I actually learned this last night, when…

Fire Emblem Heroes Has A Takumi Problem

Players of Nintendo’s newest mobile game love to hate and hate to love one specific unit, the mere presence of which has been defining the endgame experience. Fire Emblem Heroes boils Nintendo’s handheld strategy series down to its barest bones, a four-on-four deathmatch that plays out like medieval fantasy chess. Though a large amount of…

New Hearthstone Patch Nerfs Pirates And Shamans

A new patch for Hearthstone will make it easier to climb the ranks, and allow for a little more variety in the ladder. As announced today on Blizzard’s forums, there will now be floors to ranked play in Hearthstone. Once a player has reached certain milestones—at ranks 15, 10 and 5—they can no longer fall…

For Honor‘s Tutorial Is Very Good

For Honor is a satisfying, layered fighting game that relies on “feel.” You’re fundamentally not going to get good at it unless you successfully program reactions to quick animation cues into your fingers. Without practicing the basics, you’ll be blocking and dodging like an idiot, totally unprepared for whatever this game’s meta will become. Developing…

Smash Bros. Mod Will Satisfy The Most Hardcore Of Players

An anticipated mod for Super Smash Bros. Melee is slated to streamline the 15-year-old game’s tournaments. 20XXTE, in beta now and released in full early March, sews the Melee community’s specific play preferences into the fiber of the game. 20XX “Tournament Edition” is a Melee mod for GameCube and Wii that players can download for…

Pokken Tournament is getting a 2017 World Championship Series. The announcement was made by the game’s producer, Masaaki Hoshino, at the conclusion of the Tokaigi 2017 two-on-two Pokken tournament. A new patch was also revealed for the Japanese arcade version of the game. The news comes after the game failed to qualify for EVO 2017.

Dota 2 Hero Getting Killed By Her Own Dagger Is A Perfect Example Of How The Game Keeps Changing

Reddit user OraCLesofFire submitted an extended GIF of the above documenting just how devastating the recent additions to Dota 2 have made certain heroes’ abilities. One of the biggest changes brought about in the game’s 7.00 patch was introduction of new Talent Trees It shows Phantom Assassin (left) hurling a dagger at Nyx Assassin (right).…

American Takes First Place At DDR World Championship

Chris “iamchris4life” Chike was one of a handful of Americans invited to Japan to compete in the DDR World Championship. It was the first time players from the States had ever been asked to attend, and Chike wasted no time in winning the whole thing. Included as part of the 6th Konami Arcade Championship, itself…

EA Takes $3,000 Back From Madden NFL Pro After ‘Inappropriate’ Tweets

Chris “Dubby” McFarland proved himself the best Madden NFL 17 player in the country after defeating Eric “Problem” Wright in the grand finals of the Madden Bowl just over a week ago. Less than a week later he was forced to give back $3,000 of his $75,000 prize winnings after violating EA’s Code of Conduct.…

The Weekend In Esports: Call Of Duty World League Open Comes To Atlanta 

After last weekend’s Rainbow Six Siege Invitational and lots of recent action in the world of CS:GO, it’s back to the land of MOBAs with big games across League of Legends, Dota 2, and Heroes of the Storm, but with one minor exception: the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Atlanta Open. Below you’ll find where…

The 11 Most Popular Monsters Tearing Up Competitive Pokémon

Out of hundreds of potential choices, competitive Pokémon players can only bring six Alolan monsters into a battleground. Three months in, despite the uncertainty of the overall metagame, some picks are turning up more often than others. In an effort to illuminate the current state of VGC, below are 12 of the most popular monster…

Why Some People Love Playing As Smash Bros.‘ Bayonetta, And Why Some Hate It

On Wednesday, Super Smash Bros. 4 legend Gonzalo Barrios (“ZeRo”) declared that Bayonetta is the best character in the game right now. Since early last year, Bayonetta has gone from a despised, over-powered monster to a big question mark and, now, apparently, a balanced but elite pick. Following her February, 2016 release, maining Bayonetta could…

Riot Bans Huge Portion Of Oceanic Competitive League Players

Today, Riot banned 16 Oceanic League of Legends players for infractions ranging from toxicity to account sharing. That’s 40% of the Oceanic Challenger Series’ eight-team league. In a statement today, Riot says they’ll work with the compromised teams “to ensure they can continue to compete in the OCS.” With three players banned for the full…

D.va From Overwatch Has Become A Symbol of Hope In Real Life

According to Overwatch lore, D.va is a pro gamer who serves and inspires her country. In real life, D.va’s role is starting to mirror her in-game persona, as she becomes a symbol of hope for women in South Korea. While millions protested and gathered worldwide for the Women’s March on January 20th, sharp-eyed fans such…

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Pulls Through For 9th EVO 2017 Slot

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Pokken Tournament fans just closed out a weeks-long, neck-and-neck donation competition over a primetime spot at the prestigious Evolution Championship Series tournament. It seems that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will make an appearance at EVO 2017, having raised over $71,000 of the total $150,000 for the Make-A-Wish foundation. But Marvel’s…

British Father Visits Korean Net Cafe, Plays Overwatch For The First Time 

Henry is “hopeless” at games. So YouTuber Josh decided to take this English gentleman to an internet cafe and have him play Overwatch Even if he’s not too keen about killing people and worries about spilling food on the keyboard, Henry is a great sport and better than you’d expect. It’s fun to see Henry…

Counter-Strike Player Banned For 1000 Years For Allegedly Harassing A 15 Year-Old Girl

In a ban spanning several lifetimes and then some, third-party Counter-Strike tournament service ESEA has banned a user until 3016 for allegedly harassing a minor. This story originally appeared on Kotaku Australia The ban was dolled out to Reece “bloominator” Bloom, whose ESEA account will remain banned until June 6 in 3016, or 365,000 days…

Fighting Game Competitor Urges Tournaments To Do More About Stalkers 

Sherry Nhan, better known in the fighting game community as Sherryjenix,recently shared an unsettling story in a video posted to her YouTube channel. She claims she has been relentlessly contacted for almost two years by a man obsessed with her, behavior that has since materialized in the real world. And now she wants to know…

Marvel vs. Capcom Tournament Player Checks His Phone During Infinite Combo

The combos in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 can be so long that a player who got hit by one at the Undefeated of the Southwest tournament this past weekend did some multi-tasking and took out his phone. It happened in a match between Louis “Readman” Millan and Abraham “Neo” Sotelo. Ahead by a score…

League of Legends Pro Faker Signs Up For Twitch, Immediately Breaks Streaming Record

If you have even a cursory awareness of esports, you’ve almost certainly heard of Lee Sang-hyeok, aka Faker. Blending sublime skill and unpredictability, he’s perhaps the best League of Legends player on earth, and definitely among the most exciting. Today, he finally started streaming on Twitch, quickly shattering viewership records despite a stream that was,…