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Racism accusations rock esports team Echo Fox
Former NBA star Rick Fox is leaving the esports team he owns, Echo Fox, after accusing a shareholder of an "abhorrent display of pure racism" and making threats to his family, according to an email obtained by Dexerto. Echo Fox has confirmed the incidents of racism, verifying the account in Fox's email, and the authoritative body behind North American League of Legends esports is investigating the allegations.
Nike embraces esports with 'League of Legends' sponsorship deal
What was once a rumor is now official: Nike is moving into esports. The apparel giant has signed a four-year deal with the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) in China, a massive competition with 16 professional teams. Nike will supply every squad with sneakers, casual clothing and eventually professional jerseys. In a tweet, the LPL confirmed that Nike-produced garments will be available to purchase at the Mid-Season Invitational in May. The first Nike-produced jerseys will then be revealed during the all-important League of Legends World Championship in Paris later this year.
How artificial intelligence can be corrupted to repress free speech
The internet was supposed to become an overwhelming democratizing force against illiberal administrations. It didn't. It was supposed to open repressed citizens' eyes, expose them to new democratic ideals and help them rise up against their authoritarian governments in declaring their basic human rights. It hasn't. It was supposed to be inherently resistant to centralized control. It isn't.
Will Ferrell will bring eSports to the silver screen
According to Variety, Will Ferrell has reportedly signed on to star in an upcoming film about eSports. The as-of-yet untitled movie will feature Ferrell as a member of a pro gaming team with the twist being he's super old for an industry where most people retire in their mid-20s. The film will also include appearances by the Evil Geniuses and Fnatic, two actual professional teams.
The Philadelphia 76ers just bought a pair of eSports teams
The Philadelphia 76ers' ownership group announced on Monday that it has acquired two eSports teams, Team Apex and Team Dignatas, and will merge them into a single organization under the Dignatas banner. The team will compete in League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm while the 76ers will handle the day-to-day operations including player recruitment, marketing and sales.
ESPN will air 18 hours of eSports coverage on July 17th
ESPN is increasing its eSports coverage in a big way. The network will be airing 18 hours of eSports programming on ESPN2 and ESPNU on Sunday, July 17th. This will mark the first time ESPN will air an entire eSports block on its major networks, a far cry from the days when it relegated League of Legends matches to streams on the web.
Twitch bans streamer who faked his own swatting
There are a couple things you probably shouldn't do to celebrate acquiring 800,000 followers on Twitch. Faking your own swatting at the end of a 24-hour live event, as streamer Trick2g recently did, is at the top of the list. Trick2g, who focused primarily on League of Legends during his broadcasts, can be seen casually chatting with viewers when two "police officers" bust in and haul him away.
Lizard Squad member pleads guilty to harassing women gamers
The co-called Lizard Squad have established that they're pretty terrible people, but one of the members has hit a sad new low. A 17-year old Canadian has pleaded guilty to 23 separate offenses against mostly young, female gamers, including extortion and criminal harassment, according to the Tri-City News. The teenager (who can't be named because of his age) outed victims' financial information online, placed false orders for services and repeatedly swatted victims, among other crimes. He reportedly targeted most of his victims on Twitter and while playing League of Legends.
Get your free League of Legends soundtrack now
You know what's awesome? Free stuff. Free stuff is awesome. And League of Legends is notable for giving away free goodies over the years, so we're not surprised to see that Riot's put the game's brand-new soundtrack album up on the site as a free download -- before it's going to be sold elsewhere. So if you want to get 15 generally excellent tracks (we know; we've listened to it), then head on over and snag it now!
League of Legends studio CEO headlines DICE summit
Riot Games CEO Brandon Beck is the opening keynote speaker at the 2015 DICE summit in Las Vegas, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced in a press release this week. Beck founded Riot, the studio behind League of Legends, in 2006. He's poised to take the DICE stage on Wednesday, February 4. Also scheduled to talk at DICE is Monolith Design Director Michael de Plater, CastAR co-founder Jeri Ellsworth, Ubisoft's New IP Editorial Director Tommy Francois, Funomena CEO Robin Hunicke, and Twitch COO Kevin Lin, among others. See the full lineup in the below press release. DICE runs from February 3 - 5 at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas. The talks and 2015 DICE Awards will be streamed on twitch.tv/dice from February 4 - 5. [Image: Riot]
League of Legends hikes across Europe for 2015 Worlds
The 2015 League of Legends World Championships will again span multiple cities and multiple countries, though this year it will all be in Europe. The 2014 World Championships spanned Taipei, Singapore and Korea, and Korean team Samsung White took home the trophy. Riot Games has yet to announce which European cities will host Worlds this year, but it should release details in "the coming months," the company says in a blog post. "Europe has been a home for LoL esports since the very first steps in our journey," the post reads. "It's the setting for the EU LCS, the host for many memorable esports tournaments and events, (including our inaugural World Championship in 2011, IEM, Dreamhack, and last year's All Star tournament) and the home of some of the most talented players to dominate the game. It feels great to bring the 2015 Championship back to players and fans who have played such a big part in our story." Even if you're not a pro League of Legends player, you can get in on the eSports action with some fantasy gaming. The EU LCS Spring tournament kicks off today; watch it here.
Former pro League of Legends team opens wallets to fantasy eSports
Former League of Legends team Vulcun started a new fantasy eSports website, offering a $250,000 prize pool for League of Legends spectators. Much like other fantasy sports such as baseball and football, players participate in daily challenges by selecting a team of competitors during the upcoming 2015 League of Legends Championship Series. Also like other daily fantasy sports challenges, both of Vulcun's free and paid leagues work on a salary cap basis; the best League of Legends players in the LCS will be more expensive to roster, so fantasy players will need to be discerning about the athletes they add to their teams. Founded by Ali Moiz and Murtaza Hussain, Vulcun earned $1.3 million in funding from investors such as eVentures, Battery Ventures and 500Startups, and the team plans to "re-invest every single dollar we make at increasing the prize pool for League fans." While this season's fantasy League of Legends prize pool is $250,000, Vulcun's next goal is to reach $1 million. The next LCS season begins on January 22, so those interested in Vulcun's fantasy challenges will need to request an invite to its closed beta. As League of Legends continues to grow in popularity as a competitive sport, universities are awarding scholarships to student eSports athletes. [Image: Riot Games]
Another university is adding League of Legends scholarships
Robert Morris University made waves last summer when it announced its intention to add e-sports -- and more specifically, League of Legends scholarships -- to its athletic department. This week Kentucky's University of Pikeville followed suit when it publicized its offering of "at least 20 scholarships" to LoL players who will be treated like the school's other student-athletes. "There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions," said the university's new media director Bruce Parsons.
Second US university extends League of Legends scholarships
A second school, Kentucky's University of Pikeville, has decided to join Illinois' Robert Morris University in offering scholarships to talented League of Legends players. This fall, the University of Pikeville will offer "at least 20 scholarships" to League of Legends players who will be treated much like other student athletes. "They'll have to have a certain GPA," said University of Pikeville new media director Bruce Parsons. "We'll look at them like student athletes. There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions." According to Parsons, the University of Pikeville League of Legends team will begin official tournament competition shortly after the start of the fall term. Despite NPR's flippancy, this makes a lot of sense, both for the students and the schools. While nowhere near as popular as the NFL or NBA, eSports has been growing exponentially of late - the Dota 2 International 2014 tournament was recently televised on one of the lesser ESPNs - which both affords gamers a scholarship opportunity and offers a new potential revenue stream for the increasingly large number of universities in danger of losing control over their other revenue-generating sports programs. [Image: Riot Games]
Riot is building a dedicated network for League of Legends
How important is ping disparity to the makers of the world's biggest MOBA? Well, Riot is currently building a dedicated network specifically for League of Legends, so it must be pretty important. The firm explains why in a Q&A posted this week, and the short version is that your ISP is focused primarily on moving large amounts of data in seconds or minutes, which is fine for streaming video but not so fine for real-time gaming. To make matters worse, your internet connection "might bounce all over the country instead of running directly to where it needs to go," Riot says, "which can impact your network quality and ping whether the game server is across the country or right down the street." The solution is a direct network for LoL traffic as well as some sort of partnership with US and Canadian ISPs to facilitate player access.
WoW and FFXIV see boosted playtime on Raptr; ArcheAge playtime 'cratered'
Another month, another Raptr report. Yesterday Raptr.com posted its most played PC games list for November, and MMOs did rather well. Unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft surged up the list to #2 thanks to the Warlords of Draenor expansion. "The MMO's monthly play time was up 71.3% versus October," Raptr's press release says. And though WoW "likely" drew from League of Legends' numbers, it couldn't quite usurp the MOBA's #1 seat. Among other MMOs, ArcheAge playtime "cratered by 39.97%," but World of Tanks and Final Fantasy XIV both saw rises in theirs. Guild Wars 2 rose in rank, Raptr says, but lost playtime in November vs. October. SWTOR fell two places since October. As always, Raptr roundups come with the caveat that they represent Raptr users on PC, not all gamers; some MMO studios are also known to boost their Raptr numbers with in-game incentives. But since some of these games refuse to release population data, you might call this the next best snapshot of popularity outside of touring the servers yourself.
CBS looks at the rise of spectator e-sports
In a "Game On" segment, CBS Sunday Morning featured an in-depth look at e-sports and the spectator community that has grown up around them. It showed how games like StarCraft II and League of Legends have packed stadiums full of people who watch and cheer on their favorite teams of gamers. "I think I'm too old to understand what's going on in online gaming now," the reporter comments at one point. Our dear friend Research Analyst Michael Pachter replies, "You probably are." You can watch the entire eight-minute segment after the jump. [Thanks to Sorenthaz for the tip!]
27 million people watched League of Legends' world finals
Riot has posted the viewership numbers from League of Legends' 2014 world championship, and they're pretty impressive. That said, the total unique viewer count for the finals (27 million) dipped by five million from the 2013. Riot says that this year's viewers tended to watch for longer periods of time for an average of 67 minutes as opposed to 42 minutes the previous year. You can soak up the rest of the numbers at Riot's official website.
Ask Massively: Ridiculing e-sports is bad for MMOs
I don't love e-sports. I've never really been a fan. I used to enjoy spectating Guild Wars matches, but only in short bursts. Truth is, I prefer playing in PvP to watching it. I feel that way about real sports too; the ones I like, I'd rather play than watch. (Except tennis. I have no idea why, but I could watch that all day.) And if the MMORPG community's comments are any judge, I am not alone in my indifference to e-sports. Actually, "indifference" is probably too tame a word; some MMO gamers are outright hostile to e-sports, be those e-sports jammed into proper MMORPGs or waaaaay out on the fringes of the online gamosphere. That hostile ridicule of e-sports, however, degrades online gaming, our corner of it as much as anyone's.
Riot will pay you cash to find League of Legends bugs
A discovered vulnerability in League of Legends led Riot Games to the conclusion that it not only needed to react to such issues when they arise, but to be more proactive in discovering these weak spots in the game. To wit, the studio has implemented a bug bounty program that will reward players who find vulnerabilities in LoL's code. The studio has been testing out the program with a smaller group and has given $100,000 in rewards so far: "Currently in closed beta, the Riot bug bounty program is only available to a few security professionals who we've already identified. These professionals have helped us squish more than 75 bugs, vulnerabilities, and exploits, including client crash exploits, vision related exploits, and vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to player impersonation on forums."