Items tagged with esports
Though we may be on an upswing, the COVID-19 pandemic will have rippling effects across many industries in the coming months, and even years. One such effect is the loss of in-person events and shifts en masse to online interactions. It appears that Activision-Blizzard, however, sees this as the way forward rather than a stop-gap measure. As such, the company has laid off an estimated 190 employees, with 50 of them charged with handling live eSports events. While those employees get their severance, CEO Bobby Kotick is set to receive a $200 million payout. A company spokesperson explained the layoffs yesterday, stating, "Players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally...
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Competitive multiplayer games are growing in popularity more than ever, and players need every edge they can get over their competition. To help with this, NVIDIA created NVIDIA Reflex, which is a suite of technologies that optimizes gaming experiences to reduce system latency in games. Now, the tech is coming to Overwatch, with players able to take it for a spin on the Public Test Region today. As NVIDIA explains, Reflex is “a revolutionary suite of GPU, G-SYNC display, and software technologies that measure and reduce system latency in competitive games.” To boil that down, Reflex simply reduces "motion to photo" system latency (your interactions versus the time it takes your screen...
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Sport events in all sorts of genres have been canceled due to the coronavirus and the inability for large groups of people to gather. This has driven some sporting events to go the way of eSports and be held online, particularly in the basketball and motorsports world. Porsche Motorsport is currently holding its PMSC Virtual Edition racing event that’s being live-streamed from the Circuit De Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The event is underway right now and has more than 32 professional drivers participating in the event. The announcers are calling Porsche's virtual race just as they would in the real world and talking about the interesting mashup of virtual racing and professional...
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The coronavirus (COVID-19) has really done a number on the United States, disrupting how we work, learn, and even shop. And even our areas of leisure haven't been spared, as MLB spring training, NBA, and NHL games have been canceled for obvious reasons -- thousands of people meandering in close quarters isn't a good idea these days. NASCAR has also had to cancel races due to the coronavirus, but the racing body has come up with a rather inventive solution. NASCAR, Fox Sports, and iRacing have announced the launch of the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. Rather than duking it out on a real-life track -- one left turn at a time -- drivers will be taking part in virtual races...
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MSI is expanding its range of eSports monitors with the addition of the Optix MAG273 and Optix MAG273R. Surprisingly, both of the displays are incredibly similar with respect to specifications, with a few exceptions. Both the Optix MAG273 and Optix MAG273R feature 27-inch Full HD IPS panels that are rated at a low 1ms response time. Up to a 144Hz refresh rate is supported along with AMD FreeSync adaptive refresh rate technology. Both monitors support 98 percent of the DCI-P3 and 139 percent of the sRGB color spaces. Likewise, MSI lists a brightness rating of just 250 nits with a contrast ratio of 1000:1. Given the specs, it's clear that these monitors are aimed at the lower end of the spectrum...
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Razer has debuted a new gaming mouse called the Viper that it is aiming directly at the world of eSports. The big claim to fame for the Razer Viper is the use of new Optical Mouse Switches described as the company's fastest switches yet. Razer says that the Optical Mouse Switches have three times the actuation speed of traditional mechanical mouse switches. Razer says that while traditional mouse switches send signals when a metallic contact is made, with it's new Optical Mouse Switch no physical contact is required to send a signal. These switches use an infrared light beam that passes through a shutter to fire an electrical signal to the computer. The switches promise to respond instantly to...
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Fortnite is one of the biggest games in the world with massive Hollywood movie crossover events and special edition Xbox consoles to underscore its popularity. The game also has a dark underbelly with over 1,000 cheaters banned during the Fortnite World Cup alone. Furthering that drama, Fortnite also has one of its top streamers fighting a very public battle against his team over an allegedly oppressive contract. The world of eSports is likened to the "Wild West" by many, as there are no rules and regulations covering players and teams. Some compare the current environment between players and teams to the way Baseball was before players unionized. Many are waiting to see what happened between...
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Griffin Spikoski of Long Island, New York at first glance appears to be your typical 14 year-old teen. Spikoski recently started high school and loves playing the popular game Fortnite. However, there is more to Spikoski than meets the eye. The 14 year-old gamer rakes in $200,000 USD a year by streaming Fortnite on YouTube and Twitch. Spikoski, who is better known by his online persona “Sceptic”, first started playing Fortnite for fun. This all changed this past summer when he uploaded a YouTube video of him beating professional eSports player Tfue in Fortnite. The video received over 7.5 million views and quickly launched Spikoski’s career. He began receiving money from YouTube...
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The field of eSports has simply exploded in size over the last decade. Many corporations are throwing a lot of money at training facilities, tournament stadiums, and professional gaming teams. GameStop recently announced that it plans to sponsor an eSports training facility in cooperation with Complexity Gaming. Frank Hamlin, the Chief Marketing Officer for GameStop, remarked, “We are aiming to become the official minor leagues of eSports where GameStop provides fun and unique cultural experiences for player development while preparing the next generation of professional gamers.” Jason Lake, CEO of Complexity Gaming, stated that he hopes the new facility will further “professionalize”...
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Comcast Spectacor is a big name in the sports world, and it owns the Philadelphia Flyers. The company is set to expand in a major way into gaming with a new stadium that will be the very first meant specifically for eSports gaming. The investment into the stadium, called Fusion Arena, for now, is said to be $50 million. The stadium will break ground this summer and will sit on a 47-acre stadium complex site that Comcast Spectacor currently leases in South Philadelphia. The arena will be smaller than a football or basketball stadium, seating 3,500 people and will be placed on a parking lot next to Xfinity Live! and will be within walking distance of Linc, Citizens Bank Park, and the Wells Fargo...
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The Overwatch community has been shaken by a controversial “social experiment”. “Ellie”, the first female North American Overwatch Contenders player, was actually an imposter. Both Blizzard and Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind have confirmed the sad truth. Overwatch Contenders is a tournament for potential pro players. Twelve teams in each of the seven Contender regions battle it out multiple times a year, and the winners have a chance of joining the Overwatch League. Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind signed on a player only known as Ellie at the last minute. Every other player has listed their full name and gaming handle, but Ellie reportedly did not want...
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Fortnite has grown to become one of the popular games of the day, and is the top battle royale shooter in terms of concurrent players, having surpassed PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) earlier this year. In a relatively short period of time, Fortnite has grown to 125 million players overall. The fast success is not lost on Epic Games, which is celebrating the monumental growth with a $100 million prize pool for Fortnite competitions during the 2018-2019 season. That is a massive prize pool and speaks to both the growing popularity of esports and the widespread interest in Fortnite. The $100 million pool will be split between a bunch of events at different levels of competition around the...
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Listen up, Fortnite fans! Fortnite players could potentially rake in some serious dough this year, as Epic Games just announced that it will be providing $100 million to fund competitive prize pools. Epic Games’ promise is due to the overwhelmingly positive response it has received from Fortnite players since the game's release. Epic Games remarked, “Since the launch of Fortnite Battle Royale we’ve watched the passion for community competition grow and can’t wait to empower you to battle with the best.” The devs also noted that they plan “...to be more inclusive, and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game during this competition season." Fortnite...
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Your Fortnite: Battle Royale skills could get you a lot more than an umbrella. Ashland University is offering esports scholarships up to $4,000 USD to Fortnite: Battle Royale players. Ashland University is the first college to add Fortnite to its program. Head coach Josh Buchanan remarked, “Fortnite appeals to both the core and casual gaming audience. We're excited to provide this platform for gamers who want to showcase their skills in a more competitive space. Fortnite facilitates an environment that allows players to get creative, innovate and show off their mastery of their skills.” The program will organize Fortnite four-player teams that will practice and compete together....
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Overwatch is one of the most popular shooters on the planet, and has had some cool Halloween content for fans recently. It is also the basis for some of the biggest eSports tournaments out there. The game currently has about 35 million monthly players and thanks to its popularity, the Blizzard Entertainment Overwatch League has landed two major sponsors that have the pockets deep enough to offer up prize money to the gamers fighting for the win: HP and Intel. HP has said that its Omen by HP gamer-centric brand will be a multi-year sponsor for the Overwatch League. The official announcement of the sponsorship was made at the BlizzCon 2017 event in California. With a brand like HP sponsoring...
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The world of competitive esports is exploding in popularity right now, with huge number of players and fans flocking to events all around the world. Blizzard wants to have an official stadium for esports events to take place, so it has acquired the former home of "The Tonight Show: in Burbank Studios. The stadium will be called Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, and it will be used as a place for both pro and amateur gamers to hold events. The facility is said to have multiple sound stages and control rooms that will support a range of live events. All of these events will have the capability of being streamed live as the event happens. Blizzard and Twitch have a streaming agreement in place, so...
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Earlier this month we talked about the folks working to organize the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games wanting to add eSports games. Ratings for the Olympics have been on the decline as it appears fewer people care to watch most of the sports that the games highlight each year. This led the Paris Olympics committee to decide that adding in eSports might be a good thing to boost ratings and viewership. As you are likely aware, eSports draw huge crowds and have very avid supporters that could help turn the Olympic ratings slump around and get younger people interested in the games again. Most would assume from the willingness to consider eSports that it could mean shooters like DOTA 2, Counter-Strike,...
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The official announcement that Paris will hold the 2024 Summer Olympic Games is expected to be made next month. The only two cities vying to host the 2024 Olympic games were Paris and Los Angeles, and when LA agreed to take the 2028 games, 2024 went to Paris by default. When it comes to the Summer Olympics, big sports like gymnastics, swimming and track and field remain popular and highly watched, but organizers are looking to reach out to a younger audience when it comes to viewership. The younger generation of people out there are finding little that appeals to them during the Olympics, but that may be changing. Tony Estanguet, the co-president of the Paris Olympic Bid Committee, has recently...
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If you thought the esports phenomenon would eventually fizzle, think again. Esports is as popular as ever, and just as importantly, it continues to grow and attract major participants. To keep the good times growing, game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment announced today a two-year deal with Twitch that gives Amazon's streaming service live-streaming rights to select esport content. The deal gives Twitch third-party streaming rights for many of Blizzard's most popular esports events and games, including Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Overwatch. There will be over 20 major individual events that get live-streamed through Twitch, including the...
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ESports is becoming a big business in the gaming world, and players are looking for every possible edge to become the next megastar. Buying the most expensive peripherals isn’t going to automatically make you a better player (you're going to need some natural talent for starters), but obtaining quality hardware could help to improve your gaming experience. Enter Logitech, one of the most successful peripheral makers ever, and a huge supporter of eSports worldwide. It's been no stranger to releasing gaming-targeted peripherals that promise to make you a better player, and its latest extension of that looks awesome: a tenkeyless Logitech G Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, using the company's...
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Call of Duty might not be the biggest name in eSports, but its popularity is nonetheless huge and it has the potential to become even bigger. Will Infinite Warfare help that? It's really hard to say at this point, but Sony and Infinity Ward seem very keen on pushing it as hard as they can. At PlayStation Experience, which takes place on December 3rd and 4th, eight teams will compete in an invitational using Infinite Warfare. Those teams include Splyce, Team Elevate, Rise Nation, Faze Clan, Luminosity Gaming, Orbit, Renegades, and Evil Geniuses. And as you'd expect, if you can't watch the action in person, you can tune in through MLG's website or CoD's Twitch channel. This year's event is sure...
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We’ve seen some pretty interesting themed gaming PCs over the years, but this has to be one of the most “refreshing” that has come across the news desk in recent memory. Maingear has just announced a partnership with Coca-Cola, and the result is the Rush 1ofONE Coke eSports custom gaming PC. On the outside, the case is painted in Coca-Cola’s iconic red (Maingear says that it is using automotive quality paint) and has the soft drink company’s logo front and center. But perhaps the coolest modification made to the case is the fully functional coolant reservoir, which is shaped exactly like a Coke bottle and incorporates the company’s signature markings. Inside, you’ll also find custom Crystal Hardline...
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