Tag Archives: eSports

Train2Game News Huge eSports prize at EGX

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The biggest eSports prize fund in EGX’s history will be up for grabs this September in Birmingham.

EGX, the UK’s biggest games event, and Gfinity, the leading eSports organisation formed by gamers and with the backing of successful investors, is thrilled to announce they will be hosting two tournaments for more than $100,000 at this year’s EGX, running at the NEC, Birmingham from 24th to 27th September 2015.
 
The Gfinity stand will give EGX attendees a comprehensive eSports experience, allowing them to meet some of the top pro-gamers in the world, plus see them in action competing for more than $100,000 in prize money across Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and StarCraft 2, the largest prize pot in EGX history.
 
The $100,000 Gfinity Champion of Champions event will see the top four teams from previous Gfinity events – fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team EnvyUs and Virtus Pro – compete on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th for the coveted title of Gfinity CS:GO Champions 2015. Prior to the weekend, the final Gfinity Summer Masters for StarCraft 2 will see eight of the world’s best players compete live from the show floor.

“We are very excited to announce that we’ll be partnering with EGX to bring elite level eSports to the event for the first time”. Said Martin Wyatt, Head of Partnerships at Gfinity. “Following our successful debut at the show in 2014 we have decided to bring the culmination of our CS:GO and Starcraft 2 seasons to the NEC and 80,000 people. With over $100,000 to play for and the very best playing talent in the world in attendance this is an amazing opportunity for the EGX crowd to witness world class eSports live and in person”.

David Lilley, Managing Director of Gamer Events, added, “eSports is exploding worldwide and we’re delighted to be working more closely with Gfinity to bring the UK’s premier eSports experience to EGX. Visitors will see the world’s finest gaming stars compete at the highest level and may even pick up a trick or two to help them win next year’s prize pot”.

For more information about Gfinity Champion of Champions, Gfinity CS:GO Champions 2015, Gfinity Summer Masters and the full schedule of events please visit www.gfinity.net .
 
EGX will take place at the NEC, Birmingham from 24th to 27th September 2015. For more information about all the activity at the event, including eSports, hundreds of playable games and dozens of exclusive developer announcements, please visit www.egx.net/egx .

Train2Game News Unikrn upgrade

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The company behind safe and legal wagering on eSports has had an upgrade, adding several new ways of betting on competitive gaming.

Unikrn, a gaming and eSports company bringing safe and legal wagering to competitive videogame matches and tournaments around the world, is launching version 2.0 of its platform, Unikrn.com.

Unikrn 2.0 isn’t just a visual overhaul, however.  Along with all the new buttons, Unikrn has added a whole slew of content (articles, interviews, insights, tips, etc.) and new betting options! 

In addition to their traditional match and tournament betting, it now offers the following bets:

Multi Bets :
Multi bets pay out based on the results of multiple events.  On Unikrn 2.0, users can now create a multi bet that pays out if every team they have selected wins.  Multi bets can greatly increase the payout of betting on favorite teams, even if they individually have low odds.

Exotics :
Users will be able to bet not just on the result of a match, but on what happens within those matches.  In the coming days and weeks, Unikrn will start to offer odds on:  “First Dragon/Baron” (League of Legends), “First Blood” (all games), “Highest Currency” (all games), “Knife Kills” (Counter Strike: Global Offensive) and many more in-game events.

Handicaps :
Low odds on a favorite team?  Bet with a handicap to increase the payout!  If a user’s favorite team is on a big win streak, they can now handicap them to get better odds.  In best of 3s or more, users will be able to bet as if the team with low odds has already lost the first round, significantly increasing the odds (and payout) if they manage to win the remaining matches.

To celebrate the new version of their platform, Unikrn is proud to announce a new partnership with mousesports, one of the world’s most decorated professional gaming teams.  

The deal covers the CS:GO section of the mousesports brand, and together, mousesports and Unikrn will offer eSports fans an even more exciting look into the world of pro gaming, pro gamers and the games they play.  For more info on the announcement, please see  http://mousesports.com/

Train2Game News World Cyber Arena brings eSports to Europe

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The World Cyber Arena, an international organizer of eSports tournaments, today announces their entry into the European market aiming to strengthen eSports as a global industry.

Aside from the European qualifier, the WCA tournament is also holding qualifiers in the United States and China, with the finals held in the Chinese city of Yinchuan.

Top European teams and pro gamers will compete in Heroes of the Storm, Warcraft III, Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Crossfire to fight for an overall prize money of sixteen million US Dollars.

The players will kick-off the tournament on July 21 in the online Pro Qualifiers to land a spot in the next tournament phase at this year’s gamescom in Cologne. At gamescom they will not only fight for the European prize money but also for their invitation to the finals in China.

The European Pro Qualifiers in Dota 2 and Crossfire will be held after gamescom. All matches of the EU qualifier phase will be broadcasted live from the Berlin-based studios of Freaks 4U Gaming.

Prominent commentators and analysts for all games, including Thomas “Khaldor” Kilian, Jökull “Kaldi” Jóhannsson, and Jannes “Neo” Tjarks will be part of the production.

Gamers and fans can follow the matches on their home screens via Twitch TV or in person at the official gamescom WCA booth in hall 5.2, booth A-019.

Train2Game News Live eSports on TV

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For the very first time, GINX brings live eSport to TV with ESL, the world’s largest eSports brand, at MCM Comic Con for the UK Premiership Grand Final in London this weekend.

Watch GINX TV Saturday 23rd of May, 9AM to 2PM on Virgin Media channel 286 in the UK for live coverage from the MCM eSports Arena during the League of Legends Grand Final of the ESL UK Premiership, including commentary, interviews with pro players, and expert analysis of the best moments from the event.

ESL UK’s hotly anticipated League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Grand Final Premiership will take place during MCM London Comic Con from the 22nd of May, with the UK’s best LoL and CSGO teams. The MCM London Comic Con eSports arena boasts 800 seats and two projector screens to watch the professional players in action, competing to dominate the arena for glory and £12,000 prize money.

The League of Legends Spring 2015 UK Semi-Finalists include Choke Gaming v. Rift Gaming and Team Infused versus FM-eSports; while Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Semi-Finalists include XENEX opposite FM-eSports, and EZskins v. Team Infused.

Further information about the event is available at http://pro.eslgaming.com/uk/, on MCM London Comic Con eSports page and https://ginx.tv.

Train2Game News Unikrn eSports wagers

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Unikrn (#unikrn), a gaming, eSports and entertainment company, today announced it has opened Unikrn Arena to UK-based consumers to watch and  wager on eSports matches and tournaments from around the world.

In conjunction with the UK launch, Unikrn is also announcing that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) is now part of its stable of games and that betting (in legal jurisdictions) is available on this title via the most popular CSGO tournaments run by the best European leagues, including the ESL Gaming Network and the ESEA.  Equally, and for the first time in eSports, Unikrn now allows consumers to place bets on the Overall Tournament Winner for games on its platform.

The Unikrn platform, which provides access to live viewing, live discussions and competitive odds to gaming fans globally, permits online betting on eSports through a strategic partnership with Tabcorp and its Luxbet platform, providing opportunities to bet on the outcomes of matches and tournaments through a range of bet types common in more traditional sports betting markets, including the aforementioned Overall Tournament Winner option. 

“The UK is one of the most sophisticated sports betting markets in the world and there has been tremendous demand for safe wagering on eSports from consumers in that part of the world,” said Rahul Sood, CEO and co-founder of Unikrn.  “To celebrate our UK opening we have decided to make things more interesting by introducing a new betting market for the overall tournament winner.”

UK Videogame Industry Stats:

                    I.            The UK is home to the fifth l argest video game market worldwide (by revenue: 3.2 billion British pounds in 2013).
                  II.            Total eSports viewership has surpassed 70 million in 2013; that’s more than the population of the UK.
                III.            The UK gamer audience reportedly stands at 33.5 million people – 69% of the population.

By visiting www.unikrn.com (on either mobile or desktop), Unikrn customers can watch the world’s best professional gamers participate in live gaming tournaments from around the world.  Unikrn, which now features tournaments for AAA titles such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, will be adding additional titles such as Dota 2, StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm and many more in the coming months.

Train2Game News Gfinity UK eSports Venue

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UK eSports company Gfinity has revealed the country’s first competitive gaming arena in West London.

A partnership with cinema chain Vue will turn the Fulham Broadway chain into the home of UK eSport competitions, with “three custom-built stages” that will house an audience of “over 600 gaming fanatics”.

The Vue deal also opens up the ability to host events around the country, making regional competitions a possibility in the future. Gfinity also says it will be able to host events in “cities across the world.”

On top of that the cinemas will be able to screen competitions from around the world. “We’ll also be bringing you the opportunity to watch major events from Activision, Blizzard, Valve, Riot, and others throughout the year,” they say in a statement.

The Gfinity Arena will open in March for the start of the 2015 Gfinity Championships, which comprises of 25 events running through until September. Events will take place each weekend and on some week days, and will also be streamed online.

Gfinity co-founder and CEO Neville Upton said: “This is a pivotal moment for Gfinity and an exciting time for everyone involved in eSports in the UK. We are delighted to have signed this exclusive agreement with Vue, a well established international brand, to develop and launch the UK’s first and only dedicated eSports arena.

“Gfinity has proven it can organise and deliver world class events and this agreement allows us to satisfy the booming popularity in eSports as a spectator sport. Furthermore, the deal highlights the growing interest from leading brands here in the UK in the eSports market.”

In recent years eSports have continued to grow as a global phenomenon, with millions of pounds now riding on competitions involving games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter Strike.

For a sign of how far things have come look no further than the European Call of Duty championships being held later this month at London’s Royal Opera House – which recently hosted the Bafta film awards.

Gfinity – founded five years ago – plan on being at the centre of eSports growth in the UK, and this deal is a big sign that they’re doing exactly that.

Kevin Styles, managing director for Vue in the UK and Ireland said: “Vue prides itself on being at the forefront of cinema ensuring that we are an exciting and dynamic entertainment destination. This collaboration with Gfinity underlines this and heralds a new era for eSports in the UK.”

Train2Game News eSports app on Xbox One

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ESL, the world’s largest independent eSports brand, today announced the release of its ESL app on Xbox One, which enables competitive console players – initially from Europe and North America – to connect directly through Xbox Live.

Launching on Oct. 21, the application will allow gamers to compete across an expansive list of game titles in a variety of ESL cups and tournaments. With matchmaking acting as the core feature, the ESL app on Xbox One eliminates the need for extra devices and browser windows, thereby streamlining the gaming experience for users.

“ESL stands for the best eSports experience in the world and our goal is to deliver that experience on all platforms. By launching our own app, we want to bring that unique experience to the Xbox One and its lineup of multiplayer games. The app will allow players of all skill levels to easily participate in our tournaments. This is just the start for us – we are working hard to bring major eSports tournaments to consoles and integrate them flawlessly into our app so everyone can get involved.” said Marcel Menge, Managing Director at Turtle eSports Technology.

“At Xbox, we’re dedicated to providing gamers with the experiences they ask for and we know competitive gaming is a growing category,” said Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live’s Major Nelson. “With the addition of the ESL app on Xbox One, we can deliver a wide range of tournaments for some of the best games on the platform all with the functionality our community craves.” The main feature of the application is to enable users to find, sign up and submit results for ESL cups and matches on Xbox itself. An extension of this allows the gamer to stay on top of the competition and track his/her progress within both past and present ESL competitions. Additionally, opponents can be found, viewed and challenged (via gamertags) with the latest eSports news available from eslgaming.com.

For more information click here.

Train2Game News World Series of Video Games relaunched

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World Series of Video GamesThe World Series of Video Games (WSVG), an internationally recognized gaming and electronic sports name, has announced its official comeback with the release of their new website (www.wsvg.net), software (WSVG BattleRoom) and mission.

Gaming is now a global phenomenon, and this new platform expects to improve the gaming experience of both casual and hardcore gamers around the world.

The WSVG was initially released in 2006 by Games Media Properties Inc. and achieved amazing success over the course of two seasons, with a special highlight being the main event held in China with more than 100.000 visitors. WSVG was also featured on the CBS network with its own TV show for four seasons, with each episode having 1 hour of broadcasting.

Luis Prata was recently appointed as CEO of the World Series of Video Games, Inc. He has been an influential entrepreneur in gaming and electronic sports since 1998, leading some of the first professional eSports teams, and organizing gaming events since 2006. Besides his position at WSVG, he is also a consultant to several sports organizations around the world.

Message from the CEO, Luis Prata:

“It has been a privilege to lead many young men and women throughout the years in the gaming industry, creating along the way the foundations for gaming as a competitive sport, available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of any physical disabilities, color, race or beliefs and bringing together people that otherwise would never meet. I will continue to promote gaming as a social platform for youth development, to end racial or other forms of segregation and offer a new vision on the importance of video games to society. I am dedicated to these goals and I would like to thank you for your continuous support.”

Now, the waiting seems to be over and WSVG appears ready to show the world its new face. With the increasing importance of electronic sports today, the WSVG is invested in bringing something innovative to a market that has much untapped potential. A major part of that innovative side will be their brand new gaming software called WSVG BattleRoom, which features proprietary technology and a powerful multi-game anti-cheat system.

WSVG is making its message loud and clear: no cheating! As electronic sports expands quickly, with increasing audiences and professional players, WSVG feels the absolute need to run cheat-free online competitions, which is increasingly important as the prize moneys have grown exponentially over the past couple of years. That’s what WSVG is aiming to achieve with this brand new software; WSVG BattleRoom will bring equality and justice to every online competitions: not only on the WSVG website and championships. Another innovative goal that the WSVG is looking to achieve is to supply their software to everyone. The software will be made available for free, not only for gamers around the world but also for league and tournament organizers. WSVG recognizes that there are only a few reliable anti-cheat tools and that none of them is openly available to everyone.

Besides that, all players, whether hardcore or casual, can find a great competitive variety of tournaments and leagues. Moreover, by registering on the website and playing in the competitions, players will be able to request on demand, private gaming servers, in order to play friendly or official matches for free. Those servers are already safe to play on, with the WSVG BattleRoom installed and setup in all of them. As noted on the server page, the WSVG BattleRoom is required for players to be able to play on both the public and private WSVG servers.

WSVG also has a ranking system available for the teams who participate in the competitions, making it even more fun. It is well known that gamers, like any other athletes, want to be the best, and with the ranking system, teams have yet another reason to participate in the competitions.

Part of building a community means that all the players and fans need to know the history of electronic sports as well as all the facts, teams, players, events, and platforms that helped in making eSports a real sport. In order to introduce such a rich history, WSVG also presents an eSports Wiki that features a variety of content, which most importantly gives everyone the opportunity to participate and contribute in building the community.

The goal is simple: WSVG wants to once again become a reference in the world of electronic sports. As a start, they have already acquired many international partners that will feature WSVG BattleRoom as mandatory software in their competitions and events.

World Series of Video Games, Inc. is currently seeking other eSports organizations, such as Live Events and Online Championships, in order to provide support and sponsorship with equipment, know-how and software, empowering the development of this new sport, worldwide.

Train2Game News eSports at EGX

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EurogamerGamer Network is delighted to announce an agreement with Gfinity, the leaders in eSports, to provide an exciting competitive gaming feature at this year’s EGX London.

EGX London 2014 is set to become the UK’s largest ever dedicated gaming event with 80,000 attendees expected to fill two floors of London’s Earls Court.

The Gfinity stand will give EGX attendees a comprehensive eSports experience allowing them to meet pro-gamers, take part in mini tournaments with their friends and get tips on becoming a pro.

League of Legends fans are in for a treat and will be immersed in the full eSports experience across the four days as they get a chance to take part in mini competitions with plenty of great prizes up for grabs.

Also, with the release of FIFA 15 scheduled for the week of the event, Gfinity will stage a 4 person, FIFA 15 tournament featuring 4 of the UK’s biggest FIFA You-Tubers in a one-off exhibition match.

David Lilley, MD of Gamer Events, said: “We were impressed by the energy and enthusiasm that Gfinity bring to eSports. We’re excited by the prospect of working with them to provide a fantastic competitive gaming experience to our audience.”

Martin Wyatt, Head of Content & Partner Relations at Gfinity, said: ““We are going to provide some exciting and entertaining competition with the gaming community – everyone who visits EGX can come to our stand, game like a pro and talk to us about getting into eSports. We are excited to be a partner of this great event and look forward to helping others get involved.”

Train2Game News: Minecraft Expo

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MinecraftThe Minecraft Expo is heading to the UK this August and as many of the Train2Game students are Minecraft fans, it may be a good place to get together.

Taking place at the Insomnia 49 event between August 23 and 26, the event offers free to enter Minecraft game tournaments, Minecraft talks and presentations and an exhibition showcasing creations from the community.

There will also be costume competitions, creative build challenges for schools and a Minecraft Lounge.

Special guests currently include Youtube players – Yogscast and Mindcrack, Film makers – Hat Films and Minecraft builders – The NoxCrew.

“Each time we host an Insomnia event, the community amazes us with its passion, making each event bigger and better than the last,” said event organiser Multiplay CEO Craig Fletcher.

“With the runaway success of Minecraft, we’ve answered the call from devoted fans by creating the UK’s first Minecraft Expo, and we can think of no better place to host it, than the UK’s biggest gaming festival.”

The Insomnia event hosts a number of eSports tournaments, and to date organisers say more than 3,000 spaces have been reserved for ‘bring your own PC and Console’ tickets.

There will also be various development talks taking place at the event.

Up to 15,000 visitors are expected to attend, with over two million watching video streaming of the eSports events online.

Insomnia 49 and the Minecraft Expo will take place in Telford and the Telford International Centre, between August 23rd and 26th.

Visit the official website for more information.