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Esports‘Salty’ Was One Of 2014’s Best Words
And that’s not according to me, that’s according to the American Dialect Society, who earlier this month held their 25th Word of the Year awards. As the Wall Street Journal (via Daily Dot) report, “salty” was named as one of the winners of “Most Likely to Succeed”, a kind of heads-up award for a word…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 22, 2015 -
EsportsOne Of The Best Counter-Strike Teams Practices In A Spooky Mansion
Ninjas in Pyjamas—aka NiP—came so close to pulling off a massive upset and winning last year’s Dream Hack Winter finals that it hurt. But the stinging taste of defeat eventually fades, and I imagine having a rad (though weirdly spooky) mansion to train out of doesn’t hurt. Pro Counter-Strike teams like NiP pretty much have…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 22, 2015 -
EsportsThe Best StarCraft II Moments from Last Year
Even though we still have to wait for the second expansion, Legacy of the Void, the competitive StarCraft II scene is well and alive and had a great 2014. SC2HL‘s compilation is proof of that, showing the highlights of some incredible games from last year. Goosebumps/10 edit from beginning to end thanks to the commentary…
By Gergo Vas Published January 21, 2015 -
EsportsThe 2014 Hearthstone Championship Trophy Is An Egg
Hearthstone is a game of ups and downs, where anything can happen at the drop of a card. That sentiment is even more true at competition level. This past weekend, China’s Blizzard operator, NetEase, held the quarterfinals to their new Gold League e-sports event, and the HearthStone competition was fierce. Announced and launched last year,…
By Eric Jou Published January 19, 2015 -
Esports
Pro StarCraft Player Suspended After Longest Match Ever
There are many ways to win a StarCraft II match. Countless tactics, schemes, and ways of naming each of your beautiful baby zerglings that you love dearly I mean what no that’s crazy nobody does that. This, however, is probably not a strategy you should ever employ. No, that time stamp is not wrong. The…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 14, 2015 -
EsportsThe Final Exciting Match In The Smite World Championship
In which a team of five video game players wind up with a giant check for $1.3 million dollars and some lovely trophies. I spent the weekend at theSmite World Championshipsin Atlanta, watching live as eight teams from around the world were whittled down to two — Cognitive Prime from the U.S. and Team Titan…
By Mike Fahey Published January 12, 2015 -
Esports
Watch The Million Dollar Smite Final Between Two Unlikely Competitors
The Grand Finals of the Smite World Championships kicks off at 2:30 PM Eastern time today, as a U.S. team expected to be knocked out by its sister squad and a European open invitational underdog that made it to the competition by the skin of their teeth battle for a $1.3 million grand prize. Hi-Rez…
By Mike Fahey Published January 11, 2015 -
Esports
Watch the First-Ever Smite Tournament Right Here, Live
2.5 million dollars is on the line this weekend, as players from all over the world face off against each other in Hi-Rez’s online arena game Smite. You can watch the god battles go down in real time. The actual team-vs-team action starts at noon today (Friday), preceded by a preshow at 11 A.M. The…
By Evan Narcisse Published January 10, 2015 -
Esports
Seinfeld Characters Would Do The Silliest Things in eSports
The formula is given, and it’s worked before: Plot lines from Seinfeld with Kramer the visionary, George who just can’t pull it together, Jerry and Elaine whining about everything, and Newman plotting something evil in his apartment, all squeezed into short tweets with something extra added. This time it’s eSports. Esports Seinfeld’s twitter is full…
By Gergo Vas Published December 30, 2014 -
EsportsHow A First-Year eSports Championship Got A $2 Million Prize Pool
Early next month the top eight Smite teams in the world will converge on Atlanta to battle it out over a massive $2 million prize pool. How did a first-year MOBA get a pot so big? The same way DOTA 2 did it — crowdfunding. As Valve used the DOTA 2 Compendium to raise this…
By Mike Fahey Published December 20, 2014 -
Esports
The Year In eSports
In 2014, eSports and competitive video games were everywhere. Some games and their finals invaded regular sports channels on TV, filled huge stadiums, and the streams pulled hundreds of thousands of viewers. At this point, it doesn’t look like the eSports craze will end anytime soon. From January to December, here are the best eSports-related…
By Gergo Vas Published December 18, 2014 -
Esports
Cheating eSports Team Now Officially Called “We Are Sorry”
An esports team formerly known as Arrow Gaming, successful in South-East Asian DOTA 2 tournaments before a match-fixing and betting scandal undid them in October, is returning to competition. Only with a more repentant name. Having left Arrow Gaming behind – who are now reforming with an all-new roster – the five busted competitors are…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2014 -
EsportsSome Of The Best Counter-Strike Moments Of 2014
It’s been one hell of a year for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive This video by Peter Vallsten highlights ten of the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro plays of the year. There is, needless to say, some crazy stuff in there. It’s a great watch even if you’re not into Counter-Strike, simply because these players pull of…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 16, 2014 -
Esports
Watch Top Street Fighter IV Players Battle For The Capcom Cup
Technically they’re battling for a portion of the $50,000 pot up for grabs in the grand finals of the Capcom Pro Tour circuit, but I’m sure the cup is lovely. Let’s see which of the 16 competitors takes it home. The show’s already started, with a demonstration of the wacky changes coming in the Omega…
By Mike Fahey Published December 13, 2014 -
Esports
Counter-Strike Instructional Maps Are Works of Art
Here’s a really cool new perspective on DustII (or de_dust2), one of the most popular maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. NinjaFish on Tumblr chopped up and transformed the multiplayer map from 3D to 2.5D and labeled each part their respective names. This is something I’d decorate my wall with and it’s also helpful if you’re…
By Gergo Vas Published December 9, 2014 -
EsportsSmash Bros.’ Most Famous Moment, Explained
Six years ago, a clip of a Smash Bros. match titled “WOMBO COMBO!!!!” was uploaded to YouTube. It showed three Fox characters and one Captain Falcon in Melee—nothing that sounds out of the ordinary. Except the clip has been watched over five million times. Watching it, even if you don’t know what’s going on, it’s…
By Patricia Hernandez Published December 8, 2014 -
EsportsChaos Ensues When Six LoL Commentators Talk At Once
The West is definitely catching up to Korea not just in terms of gameplay skills and popularity, but casting, too. A fun exhibition League of Legends match between two pros at this weekend’s IEM tournament in San Jose were casted by no less than six commentators. And, as you can see and hear above, this…
By Gergo Vas Published December 8, 2014 -
Esports
YouPorn Now Has An eSports Team
Spanish eSports team Play2Win, who play DOTA 2, League of Legends and Hearthstone, will no longer be known as Play2Win. Instead, they’ll be known as Team YP. Or, Team YouPorn. The online porn giant has been trying to get into the eSports business for a while now, but was having trouble with the fact its…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2014 -
EsportsPro Cheating Fiasco Leads To Incredible Counter-Strike Final Match
After a huge cheating scandal that sent allegations—as opposed to Counter-Strike‘s normal weapon of choice, bullets—flying, this weekend’s DreamHack 2014 pro finals produced one of the best matches Global Offensive has seen. It nearly didn’t happen, however, thanks to, yep, more cheating. In the wake of Valve’s discovery that three high-profile pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 1, 2014 -
EsportsOne Of The Greatest Rivalries In StarCraft History
You can’t talk about competitive StarCraft: Brood War without two names coming up: Jaedong the Tyrant and Flash, aka The God of StarCraft TodayRazer launched Team Razer: Great Games, a video series that aims to be the definitive eSports documentary, and no definitive eSports documentary would be complete without the story of how Lee “Jaedong”…
By Mike Fahey Published November 29, 2014