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Mercedes-EQ's Stoffel Vandoorne wins Formula E world championship
Stoffel Vandoorne make it two in a row in both drivers' and team championships for Mercedes-EQ in Formula E.
Valve wants cities to bid on hosting The International
Cities that have lost out on bids to host the Olympics or other big events may have another opportunity to shine. Valve Software is soliciting bids from "host cities" to put on The International -- the annual Dota 2 championship and one of the top esports tournaments. Today, Valve issued a request for proposal (RFP) document, shared by Polygon, that asks cities to throw their hats in the ring as potential hosts for next year's tournament.
'Starcraft II' finals will skip BlizzCon in favor of new ESL Pro Tour
Starcraft II matches at BlizzCon are no more. Thanks to a new three-year partnership between ESL, DreamHack and Blizzard, we'll now be getting brand new ESL Pro Tour formats for both Starcraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged, and it'll come with a hefty prize pool of over $4.6 million.
Twitch shows love for mobile eSports with 'Vainglory' deal
Twitch has made a deep foray into touchscreen eSports with a deal to broadcast and promote the Vainglory Championships. The streaming company partnered with the app's developer, Super Evil Megacorp, for three years, with each company investing multi-millions of dollars to support the tournament. As a reminder, Vainglory first appeared when Apple used the title to show the power of its A8 chip. It went on to become the fastest growing mobile Twitch game last year and is available on Android or iOS.
'Rocket League' has an official championship
Rocket League is practically tailor-made for tournaments (it's football/soccer with cars, after all), and Psyonix is determined to make the most of that fact. It's teaming up with Twitch to launch the Rocket League Championship Series, an official 3-vs-3 competition with real-world stakes. The two are running 3-month seasons that will offer a $75,000 prize pool to the top players -- peanuts next to some tourneys, but enough that it could be worth brushing up on your mid-air shots. Only PS4 and Windows PC players can qualify (at least at first) once the series begins this month, although every playoff match will be streamed over Twitch if you can't join in with your Xbox One.
Channel 5 steals Football League highlights away from the BBC
If you support a football team that's in the Championship, League One or League Two, watching match highlights in the UK is a real pain. The BBC's Football League Show starts at 11:55pm, which means staying up past midnight just to see 5 seconds of your favourite striker missing an open goal. Well, that's about to change. Channel 5 has stolen the rights to Football League highlights from the BBC, and next season it'll be launching a new 90-minute show on Saturdays at 9pm. That means it'll finish just in time for Match of the Day -- the perfect appetiser while you wait for Lineker and friends to recap the Premier League. Channel 5 is hardly known for its stellar sports coverage, but now that it's got Football League TV rights for three years, hopefully it'll learn to do a better job than the BBC.
Win part of a $50,000 pool at Guild Wars 2's PAX East tournament
Fancy yourself a not-half-bad PvP player? Are you keen on the notion of winning enough money to avoid work or school for a year so that you can concentrate on MMO gaming? Then step right up to Guild Wars 2's World Tournament Series Championship at PAX East next spring, where the winners will dip into a $50,000 prize pool. The tournament will take place on March 7th, 2015, at the gaming convention in Boston. Players from several countries are welcome to face off against each other, although teams will have to compete and win in earlier qualifiers to make it to the championship. You'll have to be at least 18 and from the US, Canada, Mexico, or the EU to participate. A cool perk of making it to the championship is that ArenaNet will foot the bill for teams' airfare, hotel, and a per diem.
SMITE tournament prize pool reaches $1M
When I was just a lad, my father sat me on his knee and said, "Son, there are big bucks in them MOBAs, so get a-playin'!" Unfortunately, I did not heed his advice, and as such I will not be eligable to win a chunk of the seven-digit prize pool that SMITE is offering. Hi-Rez announced yesterday that the SMITE World Championship prize pool is up to $1,000,000 thanks to community contributions. SMITE has been raising funds for the tournament by selling special Odyssey items in the game; the studio will continue to do so for the next 14 weeks, so the prize pool could potentially go even higher. The SMITE World Championship will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, from January 9th through the 11th, 2015.
Get Imagine Dragons' League of Legends song for free
League of Legends has an official song for its 2014 World Championship, and you can get it for free today. The song is "Warriors" by the band Imagine Dragons. "To kick off the start of the action, we set out to craft a war cry to rally behind in a creative collaboration with Imagine Dragons," Riot posted on its site. "Whether you're a solo queue warrior or fighting off the LCS jitters –- every moment counts." The MP3 is available for free on the site, but if you want the full animated music video, all you have to do is hit the jump below.
Dota 2 International playoffs are live today
The International Dota 2 championship kicks off today with phase one of the playoffs – matches are best of three, with the losing team eliminated. The International finals kick off in full July 18 - 21 at the Seattle Key Arena, but matches are also streamed online. This year's International has a prize pool of more than $10 million, with $4.8 million reserved for the winning team. Twitch has all of the live streams, or you can watch via the Dota 2 website. For uninitiated Dota 2 fans, there's a Newcomer's Broadcast that provides commentary aimed at helping new players and viewers understand what's going on. [Image: Valve]
SMITE announces world championships for 2015
Are you the best SMITE player in the world? Are you sure about that? If so, maybe you should go ahead and take part in the SMITE World Championships. The company has just announced that the championship tournament will take place January 9th to 11th, 2015, along with qualifier dates for North America and Europe, all of which can be found just past the break. Players will be competing for a grand prize of $600,000, a pool which is expected to grow over the next half-year in the lead-in to the event. You can check out the official e-sports site for the game to find out how to register your team and try to make it into the big leagues, or just check out the trailer below. Maybe you just like to spectate, after all. It's cool.
World of Tanks crowns new e-sports world champion
In the ultimate showdown between hulking metal death machines, World of Tanks has crowned one victorous team that emerged triumphant over the battlefield. Wargaming announced today that team Na'Vi won the world championship in the grand finals of its e-sports league. The new champions will take home $110,000 in prize money, with the runner-ups Virtus.Pro and The RED Rush: Unity receiving $100,000 and $40,000, respectively. The Wargaming.net League World Championship took place in Warsaw, Poland, as 14 teams battled over three days for the top spot. According to the studio, "millions" tuned in to watch the grand finals on Twitch. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Dota 2 International 2014 tickets sold out in less than an hour
Tickets for Valve's Dota 2 International 2014 Championship have sold out. Quickly. The event's roughly 10,000 tickets sold within an hour, according to what Valve's Doug Lombardi told Rod "Slasher" Breslau. Is it safe to say this game might be just a little popular? Those hoping to make a trip to Seattle for the competition aren't totally out of luck; general admission tickets can be found on eBay for as low as $200, though that's still twice as much as their initial, non-secondhand $99 price tag. Those looking for some price comparisons should know that floor seating tickets were originally sold for $199, while VIP tickets were priced at $499. The Dota 2 International 2014 will take place at the Key Arena in Seattle from July 18 to July 21. This is the International's fourth year in existence, with last year's International boasting a prize pool of more than $2.8 million, the largest in eSports history. The prize pool for this year's championship has not been finalized. [Image: Valve]
League of Legends semifinals crown Royal Club, SKTT1 as top two
The League of Legends semifinals concluded with two teams on top: Chinese team Royal Club and Korean team SK Telecom T1. Royal Club and SKTT1 will fight for the $1 million grand prize in a best-of-five match on October 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. This is the third season of the League of Legends Championship Series, and it's a sold-out event with 11,000 fans registered to attend. Last year, Taiwan team Taipei Assassins won the series trophy, amidst a few scandalous delays. In July, the US government recognized pro League of Legends players as professional athletes, granting visas to international players.
PSA: Halo 4 World Championship finals streaming live this weekend
The world's top Spartans will finish the fight for a grand prize of $200,000 this weekend at PAX Prime in the Halo 4 Global Championship Finals, Microsoft announced today. If you're at PAX Prime, Microsoft is hosting the event in Benaroya Hall from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST until Sunday. If you're unable to attend, the rounds leading up to the finals will be streamed on TwitchTV today from 11:30 to 4pm PST. Spectators eager for the the final rounds can watch tensions mount via a livestream on Xbox Live and HaloWaypoint.com starting at 4 p.m. PST. The stream will be hosted by Major Nelson, Blair Herter and Jessica Chobot.
Alliance wins The International 2013 Dota 2 tournament, earns over $1.4 million
The winner of The International 2013 Dota 2 Championship is Alliance, a group of five players from Sweden. Alliance beat out team Natus Vincere in a five-game match to earn the title and win more than $1.4 million. The five-day event was held in Seattle, Washington this year, and had a prize pool of over $2.8 million. Natus Vincere won the tournament in 2011, the first year it was held during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, and took home $1 million. Valve is offering replays of the event on the official Dota 2 site.
The International: A Primer on Dota 2 and the biggest single-game tournament in eSports history
Dota is a Big Deal. The original Defense of the Ancients, which was nothing more than a mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, became a core pillar of the competitive online gaming scene thanks to its tight balance and deep strategy. It was played by millions and showcased at tournaments across the globe. Dota is considered one of the primary influences on the now booming genre of games that we refer to as MOBAs; League of Legends is supposedly the biggest game in the world, but without Dota, it would have never existed. When Valve snagged the mod's developer, known as IceFrog, and charged him with making a sequel, expectations were high. Dota is a game celebrated for its intricate design, complex metagame, and robust character roster -- the pressure to improve on this formula without losing the basics was immense. It took over two years of somewhat closed beta testing to get everything right, and changes rolled out every week like Clockwerk. But that's all history. Dota 2 launched last month, finally. For better or worse, the game is considered complete (minus a few heroes). And what better way to celebrate the launch of a hotly anticipated title than by throwing one of the biggest tournaments in all of competitive gaming? Welcome to The International.
Riot Games' plan to standardize eSports
Ask a couple of Riot Games' employees what goes into choosing players for League of Legends' annual World Championships, and they'll rattle off a strange series of acronyms and words that represent tournaments from around the world: Major League Gaming, the IGN Pro League, ESL's Intel Extreme Masters Series, OGN, IPL, Dreamhack, Tales of the Lane, and so many more.The route from just playing for free online to the top of the World Championship ladders is so confusing and circuitous that most press outlets don't cover it, most players don't follow it, and even most eSports fans couldn't explain it all. There's a jargon to it (littered with player and team names full of weird capitalization and strange spellings) that's about as complicated to understand as the notoriously complex game itself.Riot's Vice President of eSports Dustin Beck even says that a recent tournament he attended was a big mess on its own: "The tournament kept pausing, it never started on time, you didn't have a schedule to know when your favorite teams were playing. It wasn't a fun experience, for me."Still, eSports is one of the biggest factors in League of Legends' overwhelming popularity, with thousands of people attending these tournaments, and millions (almost ten million, in fact) watching live online. So how does Riot plan to smooth out those wrinkles that keep an even larger audience out of the game? The company will take the game into Season 3 within the next few weeks, and with it begins Riot's eSports headliner, the League of Legends Championship Series.
League of Legend finals get some serious viewership
If you're a League of Legends fan, odds are good you know all about the championships that took place recently. If you're not, however, you might be wondering whether or not this was really a big deal or just something the fans are fixated on. Turns out that it was kind of a big deal after all, as Riot Games has revealed that the live coverage of the finals was watched by over 8 million individuals, including more than 2 million from Korea. Physical attendance for the tournament sat at roughly 8,000 people, with over 24 million hours of League of Legends watched during the playoffs and the finals. If you're trying to wrap your head around all of that, you can get some sense of what the tournament was like by checking out the recently released recap video just past the break. And if you're one of the people watching the whole way through, hey, you've clocked up enough hours watching the tournament. Five more minutes won't kill you.
Archlord hosts first combined server guild tournament
Plenty of guilds talk the big talk and DPS the raid meters, but when the chips are down and the final call is uttered, which one guild will stand on top of the mountain of geek corpses and be proclaimed "Champion?" In most MMOs, that would be rhetorical nonsense, but not in Archlord, where guilds will compete in the first World Guild Championship to earn a $10,000 prize and the recognition of their peers. The game's first combined server guild tournament kicks off on June 11th and features pitched PvP battles between guilds to climb the bracket and claim the big prize. All participants will be given a preset character with standard gear in order to minimize any in-game advantages. In order to preregister for the tournament, guilds will have to complete a special in-game quest. Registration for the World Guild Championship runs from now through May 30th, with the official brackets announced a few days later on June 4th. Archlord will be hosting special in-game events and handing out fun prizes for everyone during this time.
