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MLG Pro Circuit Championship in Columbus drops StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 is no longer a featured game at Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit Championship event, planned for November 22 - 24 in Columbus, Ohio. MLG co-founder Sundance Giovanni took to Twitter to make the announcement, stating the game "just doesn't fit" into what MLG has planned for the show. Earlier this year, MLG hosted the first season of the StarCraft 2 World Championship Series, which spans 13 events across several regions, culminating in a final event at Blizzcon. Following the first season's conclusion, MLG handed duties over to North American Star League last June, in favor of producing its own eSports competitions. MLG, founded in 2002 by Sundance Giovanni and Mike Sepso, is the most widely recognized eSports league in the world. Supported games include Infinite Crisis, Halo 4, League of Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and more.
Breakfast Topic: Do you follow competitive WoW?
Just because World of Warcraft doesn't have its own tab on Major League Gaming (MLG) doesn't mean there's no such thing as competitive WoW. While relatively few WoW players crack into competitive arena PvP and the game's not currently part of the e-sports circuit, WoW Insider's interview with Venruki, a member of last year's Battle.net World Championship champion 3v3 team, reveals a world of devoted players with intense focus. But do other players care? A post about competitive gaming on Blizzard's official forums reveals that plenty of them do. The thread has become a highly rated post with enthusiastic player feedback. Whether or not the game will receive tweaks to help it become a compelling e-sport that attracts viewers, however, remains to be seen. Do you follow competitive WoW? Do you read with curiosity when you spot something about WoW as an e-sport, or does the topic leave you cold?
Free for All: You got your e-sport in my PlanetSide 2
I promised myself that I would not spend half of this column making silly jokes about e-sports. The simple truth is that I find e-sports about as exciting as collecting stamps. That might sound harsh, but remember how fanatical (and oblivious to my opinions) some people are for stamps. And that's just fine. What bothers me about e-sports is how the genre takes something that comes from a wonderfully chaotic place -- play time -- and wraps it in a set of rules and expectations. I used to say that humans could make a sport out of anything, and it turns out I was right. I joked that holding your arm into the air could be a game if they made rules concerning the activity. While it's not quite a spectator sport, I recently discovered that there are people in this world who literally hold an arm in the air -- sometimes for years -- to prove their dedication. All we need now is a bit of commentary and we'd have a sport. And now here we are with news that one of my favorite games, PlanetSide 2, is about to introduce major league gaming-styled instanced Battle Islands into a world that is unique because of its massive, open scale. This week I have heard the words "instanced" and "MOBA" and references to Team Fortress 2 enough to scare my pants off.
Infinite Crisis joins MLG as an official esport
Being in the middle of its first round of closed beta testing hasn't stopped Turbine Entertainment's DC Universe MOBA, Infinite Crisis, from making the grade as an official Major League Gaming selection, the developer announced today in a joint release with the esports organization. MLG will kick off the burgeoning relationship by streaming Infinite Crisis matches from Warner Brother's E3 booth, starting on the morning of Tuesday, June 11, and lasting through the rest of the conference. From there the game will be showcased at various events until it's fully released, at which point it will join the likes of League of Legends and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in MLG Pro Circuit tournaments. Warner's other competitive DC Universe property, Injustice: Gods Among Us, was recently revealed as an official selection for this year's EVO2k fighting game tournament series in Las Vegas. At this rate, we expect Arkham Origins' rumored multiplayer mode will soon be announced as an event in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
Infinite Crisis joins competitive arena with Major League Gaming
Some folks may wonder whether the upcoming superhero title Infinite Crisis can make it in the big leagues of MOBA gaming, but it is already assured a place in the majors. Major League Gaming has announced a partnership with Turbine's DC Comic-based game, one that will kick off at E3 with a live competition between two top teams. Fans wanting to check out the action can stop by the WB Games booth (South Hall 1637) beginning at 3 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. PDT) on Tuesday, June 11th, or watch it livestreamed on MLG's and Infinite Crisis' official sites. This collaboration will introduce Infinite Crisis to the e-sports community and ultimately lead to Infinite Crisis' inclusion at MLG Pro Circuit competitions. The game's executive producer, Jeffrey Steefel, is quoted as saying, "We look forward to working closely with MLG to introduce players to the DC Multiverse and building a world-class gaming community." [Source: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment press release]
Call of Duty Championship coming in April, promises $1 million purse
Despite all your mother's stern warnings, it looks like all that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 you've been playing just might pay off, as Activision has announced the Call of Duty Championship. Set to take place April 5-7 in Hollywood, the tournament will pit 32 teams against one another for a chance at the $1 million purse.Teams will be drawn from several areas, including Xbox Live, Major League Gaming and the Electronic Sports League. Those interested in competing for a spot on Xbox Live may do so by registering for Call of Duty Elite. Starting today, teams of four can then compete on Xbox Live in the February season of Black Ops 2 League Play.Meanwhile, the top 8 team from the MLG Winter Championship, taking place March 15-17 in Dallas, will also earn spots in the tournament, as will the top 8 teams from the ESL's European Finals, which take place March 16-17 in Cologne, Germany. The final 8 seats will go to international teams "across Asia, Australia, and Brazil." Details for international team entry will be revealed at a later time via the Call of Duty eSports website.
SOE's Smedley and Higby on PlanetSide 2's e-sports evolution
Yesterday we told you about SOE's new PlanetSide 2-focused partnership with Major League Gaming. Following the announcement, Joystiq scribe Mike Schramm managed to corner principals from both companies at Friday's PlanetSide 2 Ultimate Showdown event in LA to ask what, exactly, is in store for fans of Auraxian e-sports. Join us after the break as CEO John Smedley, creative director Matt Higby, and MLG's Sundance DiGiovanni give us an early look at PS2's competitive evolution.
SOE partners with Major League Gaming for PlanetSide 2 e-sports
SOE has partnered with Major League Gaming in order bring the world of competitive e-sports to PlanetSide 2. "Over the next few months, the PlanetSide 2 and MLG teams will work closely to develop ideal competitive gameplay features and settings to showcase the massively multiplayer online first-person shooter," according to a press release. Neither company has specified what those features and settings might be, but PS2 creative director Matt Higby and SOE CEO John Smedley have long maintained that the firm was developing its sci-fi shooter sequel with an eye on the competitive gaming arena. SOE and MLG will also collaborate to create original programming, with a broadcast schedule due "in the coming weeks."
The Summoner's Guidebook: League of Legends' Season 3 imbalances -- good or bad?
If you've played League of Legends for a while, you were probably shocked at the launch of all the new Season 3 changes. They're absolutely crazy! When I first saw them, I couldn't make heads or tails of them. What's the new best item builds? What's the best path to making them? I seriously had no idea. Things have settled down a little, but items are still a little chaotic, and MLG is already hosting Season 3 qualifiers. This can't be right! I've covered before why tossing around the metagame is bad, but hosting tournaments that will affect entry into the Season 3 Championships with the game in this state is outrageous. I'm sure LoL will recover and things will get iterated on, but what are things going to be like in the meantime?
Play Halo 4 before the rest of the world at the MLG Fall Championship
Halo 4 is entering the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit four days before its launch in the wider, unprofessional world on November 6. Halo 4 will be part of the Fall Championship running November 2 - 4 in Dallas, Texas, MLG announced today.MLG will announce details about the Halo 4 competition, including prize money, format, bracket size and schedule, in the coming weeks.
MLG League of Legends Summer Championship winners disqualified for 'collusion'
Major League Gaming announced late last night that the first and second place winners of the Summer Championship League of Legends Event have been disqualified for conspiring to not play a match to win."We have determined that there was collusion between the two final teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas," MLG wrote in a statement. "This is in clear violation of both the letter and spirit of MLG's Official Pro Circuit Conduct Rules: 'competitors may not intentionally Forfeit a Game or conspire to manipulate Rankings or Brackets.' As such, both teams have been disqualified, and no placements or prize money will be awarded."Curse NA put out a video stating the issue surrounds agreeing with Team Dignitas that the first round of the match should be an "ARAM," but that no other agreements were made. The acronym stands for "all random all middle," meaning both teams picked champions at random and played only the middle lane. It's a player-created match style, like if two major sports teams agreed to play baseball with one base or basketball using half the court.Senior Vice President Lee Chen of Major League Gaming denies the defense, writing on Twitter: "To be clear here folks, the collusion had nothing to do with the ARAM. CRS/DIG conspired to split prize money."The third and fourth place teams will receive the prize money for the event. MLG states although there is contention over the exact nature of the violation, that "both teams, as well as MLG and [League of Legends developer] Riot" agree that not playing a tournament match to win warrants disqualification.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Will Korea dominate League of Legends, too?
When I first started following the League of Legends pro scene, I was introduced to top teams like Team Solo Mid and SK Gaming. As I watched matches and player interviews, the first thing that came to my mind was this: If Korea fielded a LoL pro team, it would be incredibly scary. When Riot Games added support for Korean League of Legends and OnGameNet began running regular tournaments, I had to check it out. Sure enough, big pro-gaming teams like StarTale and MiG started fielding pro League teams, and most of the things I suspected were true. Korean teams have amazing coordination and incredible mechanics compared to their western counterparts. This was put to the test last weekend during Major League Gaming's LoL Summer Arena, where Korean qualifying team Azubu Blaze utterly destroyed the other teams, losing only once to Curse Gaming. Most of the matches weren't even close. What's the secret to Azubu Blaze's dominance? Can it be reproduced in the West, or is League of Legends going to end up like StarCraft -- dominated by the Korean scene?
League of Legends tourney to be streamed live, $10,000 prize at stake
If you've been curious about the competitive gaming scene in League of Legends, you'll want to mark your calendar for August 3rd. Major League Gaming is hosting a three-day event that features four of the planet's best teams. The stakes are pretty high too, as the first-place team will take home a $10,000 prize. All of the tournament matches will be streamed via MLG's website, which means you can watch over 20 hours' worth of pro LoL gameplay for free. You can also upgrade to a 1080p hi-def stream and get full DVR functionality if you like. The tourney concludes on August 5th, and you'll find a full broadcast schedule as well as all the event details at the Major League Gaming site.
SteelSeries shows off new WoW wireless mouse, cache of corded rodents and a headset at E3
This time last year, SteelSeries showed us a headset and mouse meant for Diablo III, but at E3 2012, the company showed us a bunch of goodies. The highlight is the inaugural SteelSeries cordless offering, aptly named the World of Warcraft wireless mouse, which sports a themed skin and glowing white runes and logo on the palmrest (at least that's the plan, the prototype unit we saw didn't light up). Similarly, the charging base is studded in true Azeroth style and ringed in blue runes to let you know when it's powered up, plus it can be connected to your computer via microUSB if you want to play and charge simultaneously. It's PC and Mac compatible, comes with 11 programmable buttons, and once you've given it 60 minutes to fill its tank, you'll get up to 16 hours of continuous, intensive game play. It's set for a release in the latter half of this year and will cost $129. Along with the WoW model, we also got to see the gunmetal grey MLG edition Sensei and a pair of special-edition Kana mice -- for Dota 2 and CounterStrike: Global Offensive -- each uniquely skinned in the style of their namesake games. To go along with the CS:GO rodent, there's an accompanying headset (a Siberia v2 with a camo paint job) as well. Rounding things out is a GuildWars 2 branded headset and Sensei mouse. The stereo headset is the on-ear variety, and its flexible white frame can be folded down during travel. A 3.5mm input resides at the base of each earcup, and the open jack can be used to connect another set of headphones to share your audio with a friend. The headset's priced at $100, while the mouse will retail for $70 and will land on store shelves when Guildwars 2 is released.%Gallery-157403%
SteelSeries announces Sensei Major League Gaming edition, keeps palms eager until August
For most of us, the humble mouse is but a tool for effective computer navigation, for gamers though, it's a matter of life and (virtual) death. SteelSeries knows this, and hopes its new Sensei Major League Gaming edition mouse will keep a few more of its faithful out of the MASH. It looks like much of the credentials of the original Sensei have been kept intact, the same 10.8-megapixel sensor, the 150 inches per second movement detection, 32-bit ARM processor, LCD display and so on. What's new then? For the main part, the CPI, which can now go from one to 8,200, or all the way to 16,400 if you use the double CPI feature. You'll have to wait until August to get your hand on it, with pre-orders (but no price as yet) set to open at the MLG Championship next week.
Turtle Beach partners with MLG, will unveil tournament-focused Ear Force Seven Series programmable headsets, TM1 audio mixer at E3 (update: photos)
If you're familiar with Major League Gaming tournaments, you're likely aware that Astro Gaming's Mixamp Pro has been the staple device for providing multi-platform surround sound and team chat to the headset-wearing pros. Things are set to change this fall, however, as Turtle Beach has announced its own partnership with MLG that'll usher in the release of its first ever tournament-focused gaming audio-wares. To start, the TM1 Tournament Mixer will be the "exclusive" sound hookup for MLG when it hits the streets, effectively replacing the Mixamp. The unit will provide virtual surround sound game sound chat functionality to any headset with a 3.5mm jack. One TM1 can provide six players with individual sound whether they are on the same team or playing 3 vs. 3, and two devices can be daisy chained to provide a whopping 12 channels of separate audio. Notably, the TM1 can also support a broadcast feed (details below). On the headset front, TB is blending its programmable audio know-how and recent foray into lifestyle headsets into what's dubbed as the Seven Series. Details are slim, but the first two models set to up the ante on the likes of Astro's A40 and the Sennheiser PC360 will be the Ear Force XP7 and Z7. Each headset features a portable design, detachable microphone and an optional inline remote / mic, so you won't be you stuck to only using 'em in your living room -- unlike pretty much of all the company's past headgear. You'll naturally be able to download your preferred audio settings using TB's Preset Community Portal, which will also include "presets customized for specific [MLG] tournament games." There's sadly little in the way of pictures at the moment (aside from the TM1), but we'll be getting some hands-on time with prototypes of all the goods at E3 next week. Hit up the press release past the break for further details in the meantime. %Gallery-157228% Update: We've been informed by a Turtle Beach rep that the TM1 does not provide virtual surround sound. Furthermore, it seems to be an actual mixer, rather than a Mixamp alternative for consumers. Update 2: We've just gotten a clarification from the company about how the TM1 will work with headsets: The TM1 provides a closed chat network, like the Mixamp does. It can also pass-through Dolby, but it doesn't process it for stereo headphones. The XP7 comes with a control unit (it has a four-pole headphone jack), which is what processes surround sound. We will be providing MLG with both TM1s and control units for all tourney players to use. You can output the TM1's chat feed [the broadcasting feature] and mix it into a livestream so viewers can hear what the players are saying. There's also an input so you can feed in whatever audio you choose for all players to hear that are hooked up to that TM1 unit, be it music or even a shoutcaster feed.
Major League Gaming takes smartphone games seriously, announces Xperia Mobile Gaming Arena
If OpenFeint's lightweight social connections and leaderboards lack the competitive edge your inner hardcore gamer craves, maybe Major League Gaming's latest mouthful will satiate your demands for satisfaction. The Xperia Mobile Gaming Arena presented by Sony Mobile (we told you it was a mouthful) hopes to give smartphone toting gamers a serious cross-platform battleground, offering iOS and Android users competitive leaderboards and up to $10,000 in prizes. Currently the smartphone gaming platform only supports Gameloft's Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, but MLG hopes to enlist more competitive titles in the coming months. "The MLG community thrives on competition," explains Major League Gaming CEO Sundance DiGiovanni, "with our new mobile platform, we are now enabling gamers to engage in competitive play no matter where they are." Ready to climb that leaderboard? Get your game on at the source link below, or read on for MLG's official press release.
MLG tinkering with streaming fees during Winter Arena tourny
Sometimes being successful at certain bits comes with a cost, and that's exactly what's happening over at MLG HQ. According to Forbes, the Major League Gaming circuit has seen tremendous demand for its streaming services during tournaments, which up until now could be enjoyed in low-res without taking a hit on your wallet. However, that success is pushing the org to experiment with a different, pricier content model. During the upcoming Winter Arena tourny, those of you who want to watch the Mad Catz-sporting pros will have to pay 20 bucks or $15 if you're already rockin' a gold membership. While the move won't be permanent, it could indeed be a sign of things to come. Do you plan to shell over some cash or sit this round out on the bench? Let us know in the comments below.
Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit controller review (PS3)
While most of us play games purely for their entertainment value, an elite few get their game on while calling themselves "professionals." These superstars of simulated battle make the rounds in various tournaments, including, most notably, Major League Gaming Pro Circuit championships. Now those digital athletes, as well as the masses of seasoned "amateurs," can compete with professional (or at least officially licensed) equipment -- we're talking about gear like Mad Catz' Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Controller for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This Major League gamepad promises to give competitive gamers a professional, customizable edge over their opponents with swappable "ProModule" thumbsticks and d-pads -- invoking the customizable spirit of Mad Catz' transforming RAT mouse. We gave the PlayStation 3 edition a chance to make its rodent cousin proud. Read on to see if it lives up to its professional branding.
Mad Catz shows off MLG Pro controller at CES, for the discerning button pusher
A controller is a controller is a controller. The most innovative additions to console controllers these days usually involve an extra turbo switch, or maybe a fan in the handles. Mad Catz' new MLG Pro Circuit Controller stands out, and was first shown off at CES 2012 last week. Mad Catz worked with Major League Gaming players and other gamers to figure out just what it is they wanted a controller to do, and rather than just add some new lights (or those fans), they took a few good steps forward. The analogue sticks and D-pads are fully removable and customizable, and the controller comes with all sorts of possibilities. With this controller, you can implement the layout you want.
