eSports Weekly Update – Stories you may have missed!
The news this week proves that eSports is continuing to expand all over the world. The Downtown Grand Casino in Las Vegas announced their plans to become an eSports destination for players 365 days a year. In France, Axelle Lemaire, the Minister in charge of the Numeric Law, officially stated the launch of the “France eSports” association.
Bud Light broadcast that they are moving beyond traditional sports and will be sponsoring a new eSports program. The roster will be made up of players from titles such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota2, Hearthstone and Heroes of the storm. The players that they’ve selected will be unveiled at Dreamhack Austin on May 7.
Read on to catch up on this week’s biggest eSports news from around the web.
The Downtown Grand wants to become a year-round destination for esports players.
The casino floor of the Downtown Grand Las Vegas, in what used to be the high limit room, two men face off in Mortal Kombat XL. It’s the final round of the night’s contest, called “Finish Him! Friday.” A $250 prize is at stake.
The two men sit on the edge of their chairs, custom fight sticks in hand, eyes fixed on the screen. Behind them, at least 20 people watch, drink and chat about video games. Just feet away, a pair of slightly inebriated women loudly cheers and claps at the roulette table, but the atmosphere inside the lounge is laid back, a refuge from the noise and neon lights of the casino. It’s a typical Friday night for the Downtown Grand, a hotel that recently went all in on esports by hosting weekly contests, watch parties and competitive events.
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All you need to know about France’s new esports federation, “France eSports”
Axelle Lemaire, the Minister in charge of the Numeric Law, officially announced the “France eSports” association. Unfortunately, it’s pretty far from being an actual federation.
This new organization, sponsored by the French government, will have the duty to be a “representative body” towards the government as it regulates esports. It will also serve as a “partner of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee for all matters relating to the recognition of electronic sports as sport in itself.”
“The association ‘France eSports’ is to represent the common interests of economic agents, professional or amateur, of the electronic sports sector, and to develop, promote, supervise the practice of e-sports in a spirit of fairness and human development, as part of the values and fundamental principles of Olympism.”
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The world’s first 24/7 esports TV channel is here!
ESL is happy to announce the launch of the world’s first 24/7 esports TV channel: esportsTV! With the aim of bringing the very best of esports to fans around the world, the launch of esportsTV represents ESL’s ongoing commitment to increasing content accessibility for the esports community worldwide, and will operate alongside existing ESL partnerships with Twitch, Azubu, Hitbox and Yahoo.
The channel is set to launch in May 2016 followed by the broadcast of ESL’s competitions and tournaments on parent company MTG’s Viasat platforms, and ESL and MTG are already in talks with other TV distributors and platform operators around the world. With this, ESL’s current audience of over 100 million digital viewers will soon expand even further, and each year’s over 2,000 hours of live gaming and esports content will be able to reach more territories than ever before in order to accommodate the 2 billion gamers and 250 million esports fans that the industry will have by the end of next year.
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What is VREAL?
WHAT IS VREAL?
VREAL is the first platform for Virtual Reality game streaming and discovery. VREAL are creators, gamers, and innovators, building the future of social VR platforms for the gaming generation.
- Gamers literally drop into the live play (right next to their favorite streamer) and they can make themselves big and look down into the game or small and be in the weeds, or regular height.
- Gamers watch and are in the native stream with full three-dimensional freedom – from hovering over the game play arena to standing right next to Player 1.
- Hardware-agnostic (Vive to Oculus Rift to Samsung Gear VR); 360-degree and 2D video viewing.
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Social network GAMURS has acquired eSports Nation, GoldPer10, and eSports Guru
GAMURS, the self-proclaimed ‘Facebook for Gamers,’ today announced the acquisition of esports news companies eSports Nation and eSports Guru. GAMURS, founded by Riad Chikhani and Halim Yoo on Apr. 15, 2015, with a$350,000 seed funding, aims to “collate all relevant content into one page” and offers “social connectivity features specifically catered to the gaming industry.” GAMURS has acquired eSports Nation and eSports Guru for an undisclosed price. Earlier this month, it had already integrated the popular website GoldPer10 into its portfolio.
“eSports Nation’s efforts to provide hundreds of thousands of fans live tournament updates was compelling enough for us to align our visions together. On the other side of the spectrum, individuals are also playing an integral role in disseminating eSports analysis across the community – eSports.guru breathes this,” stated GAMURS founder and CEO Riad Chikhani on the acquision.
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Esports Pros Wouldn’t Be Caught Dead Without a Mechanical Keyboard
They call it “peeking.”
The name Alexander Deily may not ring a bell, but you might recognize his handle, LeX, if you’re among the estimated 134 million people worldwide who regularly watch e-sports, the fast-growing world of competitive gaming where players face off against each other in online titles like League of Legends, Dota 2, and Hearthstone.
Deily’s game is Counter-Strike, the notoriously difficult first-person shooter in which two teams, terrorists and counter-terrorists, take and rescue hostages, set and defuse bombs, and perform other acts of digital derring-do.
As your avatar is moving throughout the game you’re making these very minute, detailed movements,” Deily recently told Motherboard, explaining the concept of “peeking,” or making tight, controlled movements to sneak up on your opponent (as seen above). “So if you’re having to exert a lot of force on your key to make that movement, you’re spending not only time doing that but it’s not going to be anywhere near as precise as it would be with a mechanical keyboard.”
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How esports can learn from its traditional sports teams and broadcasters
As esports continues to grow, it will undoubtedly elicit the interest of brands longing to engage with our harder-to-reach demographic. We’ve already seen earlier this year industry heavyweights Activision Blizzard acquiring Major League Gaming, promising visions of the “ESPN of gaming” for the esports channel. I’m also expecting more noise from Twitch before the end of the year as it looks to market itself as a media owner for millennials, following its acquisition by Amazon.
It’s a growing trend in my generation, and it’s not hard to see why. How can the likes of Chelsea or Arsenal, soccer teams that play once or twice in a week, compete with their online incarnations in the latest FIFA game that are being watched or played whenever the user demands?
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Bud Light to Help Select NA’s Best Players
Bud Light has announced a new initiative called the ‘Bud Light All-Stars’. On May 7, at Dreamhack Austin, they will unveil a list of top players from across North America. From there, fans will be able to vote for their favorite players – and on June 14, the first Bud Light All-Stars will be named.
Games included in this initiative are CS:GO, Dota 2, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. Notable by its absence is League of Legends – though this could be down to scheduling, as the Summer Split will be in full swing by this point.
These selected All-Stars will be delivering exclusive content on Twitch, and Bud Light says that they will be present at several top esports events throughout the summer.
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