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SMITE world champions receive million dollar prize, new character revealed
Tempted to proclaim yourself the best SMITE player in the world? Unless you are one of these five people, there is now demonstrable evidence that you are not on top. The first World Championship for SMITE is over, and the team known as Cognitive Prime has taken home the title and half of the $2.6 million prize pool. Worldwide viewers for the stream over the weekend came out to 78,000 people, which doesn't quite compare to the turnouts at better-known competitive gaming championships like League of Legends. But SMITE's prize pool was larger than the pools for any LoL tournament; in fact, it's the third largest e-sports prize pool ever, behind Dota 2's The International tourney's 2013 and 2014 pools. Coinciding with tournament was the reveal of SMITE's newest god, Hou Yi, Defender of the Earth. He justifies this lofty title with a variety of ranged attacks, movement tricks, and a high resistance to critical hits. Check him out in action just past the break. [Thanks to Sorenthaz for the tip!]
Samsung White wins League 2014 World Championship
Korean pro-gaming team Samsung Galaxy White has taken home the championship title and $1 million prize from the 2014 League of Legends World Championship, developer Riot Games announced today. The team went 3-1 against Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club, dominating their rivals in the first two matches, faltering on the third, and finally sealing the tournament on the fourth. Samsung White's Mata, who functions as the team's support role, won the title of 2014 World Championship MVP, finishing the tournament with 18 kills, 27 deaths and 253 assists. Samsung White lost only two games throughout the entire 2014 tournament, one less than 2013 champions SK Telecom T1. This is the second year in a row that Star Horn Royal Club has taken runner-up. Last year's World Championship totaled 32 million viewers, the highest number in eSports recorded history. Riot has not yet released the numbers for the 2014 World Championship. [Image: Riot Games]
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.
SMITE raises money for world championship pot by selling items
SMITE has a new plan to raise money for its World Championship prize pool called The Odyssey. Basically, the Odyssey program allows players a limited-time window to purchase exclusive items and sets for the game that will never be sold again. Part of the proceeds from those sales will go into the prize pool for the championship. In other SMITE news, the game has added a new Mayan god. Cabrakan is a "destroyer of mountains," which is a good thing if you have a mountain coming at you down a lane. He's good at crowd control, protecting allies, and blocking enemy progress. We've got videos on both Cabrakan and the Odyssey program for you to watch after the break.
Tickets for Battle.net World Championship on sale soon
This year's Battle.net World Championship will be held Nov. 17 and 18 in Shanghai, China. If you're looking to go, the tickets will be on sale via Blizzard's Chinese website. If you have difficulty paying through that site for whatever reason, Blizzard has also given tickets to various fansites listed here. So if you're interested in attending the event to watch some of the best StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft players in the world compete, hopefully you can find a way to do so. You can read the Blizzard post above or head to their Battle.net World Championship page for more details. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
League of Legends' World Championship is worth a cool three million bucks
League of Legends' hold on the e-sports community appears to be going strong, especially if we're judging based on the sheer size of the prize pool up for grabs in this season's World Championships. How much money will players be competing for this time around? Something to the tune of three million bucks. The folks over at PC Gamer got the opportunity to sit down with Riot Games' Vice President of e-sports, Dustin Beck, to have a chat about the upcoming League of Legends World Championships and the competitive gaming scene as a whole. The interview includes some insight into the game's success in the e-sports circuit as well as some discussion on the various teams and strategies we can expect to see on the tournament level at this year's championships. For all of the sweet, juicy information, just head on over and check out the full article.
