Category: eSports

Neon is Valorant’s speedy new agent

Gotta go fast.

Riot Games is about to shake up Valorant  in a big way with Neon, the electrifying new speed demon agent.

The official announcement for Neon came Wednesday with a dazzling trailer that already has fans stoked beyond measure. While Riot Games has yet to outline Neon’s abilities, we can glean some details from the trailer. She appears to have a dash-slide ability similar to how movement works  in Apex Legends. Furthermore, Neon has a double smoke wall, which will undoubtedly come in handy while breaching choke points. 

Check out the Neon reveal trailer for yourself below. Personally, Neon’s character design and toolkit look interesting enough to get me  playing Valorant  again.

Additional details regarding Neon are sure to drop soon, as the current season of Valorant  ends on Jan. 10, so information on the following competitive arc can’t be far off at all.

It might be a bit soon to call Valorant  one of the  best first-person shooters of all time, but it’s getting there. Heck, most esports pros think calling anyone  the best player  is even a little too soon. However, with how monstrously huge the game is getting, it shouldn’t be long until it’s heralded as one of the greats. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Call of Duty: Warzone players are turning invisible

Glitches galore.

Anyone that’s knee-deep in the current season of Call of Duty: Warzone should be wary of invisible players running around like an alien hunter in a 1980s  Arnold Schwarzenegger  flick.

An unintentionally hilarious glitch is granting invisibility for anyone that owns the awoken operator outfit for Francis, which is a max-level battle pass reward for Call of Duty Warzone’s  Pacific Season. Apparently, this bug has been in the game for a couple of weeks now, but it’s only recently become a problem as more people are maxing out the battle pass and getting the skin in question. 

Take a look at the videos below to see some examples. There are conflicting accounts on how the glitch works, but most agree that character models disappear around 35 meters away from you (thanks, PC Gamer).

Call of Duty Warzone studio  Raven Software  is aware of the issue and is looking into a fix. However, there’s no ETA on when a hotfix might arrive as of Tuesday.

Quite a number of funny glitches have cropped up lately. From nude villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons  to just about  everything in the GTA Trilogy.

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Splitgate soars in popularity on Playstation thanks to Halo Infinite’s success

1047 Games co-founder doesn’t fear the competition.

Last year, one of the break-out esports hits was Splitgate, the high-flying arena shooter from 1047 Games. Many thought Halo Infinite  would steal Spligate’s  momentum heading into 2022, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case at all.

In an interview with The Loadout, 1047 Games president Ian Proulx claims that Splitage’s popularity  has risen since Halo Infinite  came out — particularly on Playstation consoles since, well, Halo Infinite isn’t on  PS4 or PS5.

“I’m actually glad [Halo Infinite] is out,” Proulx said via  The Loadout. “I honestly think that, in the long run, Halo Infinite  and Splitgate  will help each other. I think that there’s just so much noise and so many battle royales right now, and [these two games] are bringing people over to the arena shooter genre. 

Proulx continues: “There’s a lot of kids who have never played Halo, right? There’s a lot of kids who have never played Quake  or Unreal Tournament. They’ve never played this kind of game. And getting them exposure to that I think is just a good thing for the genre as a whole.”

Regardless of whichever title you prefer, a healthy bit of competition never hurts anybody. So here’s to hoping that both Halo Infinite  and Splitgate  are better off tussling with each other. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Valorant director is working on a secret new project at Riot Games

Joe Ziegler is moving on.

Joe Ziegler, game director on Valorant, has left the development team to work on a different project at Riot Games.

Over on Valorant’s official website, Ziegler shared a heartfelt goodbye while also detailing who’s taking over as lead on the free-to-play first-person shooter phenomenon in his stead.

“After eight years of working on Valorant, building it from the ground up with a team of dedicated and passionate developers who’ve worked tirelessly to serve you all with the respect and admiration that you deserve,” Ziegler said. “I am giving up the mantle of game director of the Valorant tac-shooter to my good friend, Andy Ho.”

However, Ziegler is not leaving  Riot Games — far from it. He isn’t going to start working on League of Legends  or any other game at the company that’s publically known either. Instead, it seems he’s taking over a new yet-to-be-announced title. 

“As for me, I’ll be starting something new (*wink, secrets…) in the hopes that we can even scratch the surface of the amazing impact Valorant has already had so far,” Ziegler continues. “Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support Valorant, and a special shout out to all who’ve supported me and my work. You’ve made my time as your game director a truly joyous and memorable experience.”

We can only speculate about this new project, but given how Riot Games seems to be working on titles in  just about every genre these days, it’ll likely be something we’re not expecting. 

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Here are Steam’s most popular games of 2021

The numbers don’t lie.

Another year, another massive year for Steam. Despite some  distribution issues in certain regions, Valve’s PC gaming platform  set multiple records in 2021 — with no signs of slowing down, if the numbers are any indication.

On Monday, Valve released its annual  Best Of  statistics for Steam, highlighting some of the biggest winners in 2021. The list contains several games you would expect to be there, along with some that are a smidge surprising.

The most popular games on Steam in 2021 were:

Valve doesn’t specify the actual order of these titles, only stating that each broke over 200,000 concurrent players. Many of which made it onto the list of the best-selling titles as well.

The top-selling games on Steam in 2021 were:

Again, Valve doesn’t establish many rules on its categories, as these are the top-selling games by copies sold and the ones that made the most through microtransactions.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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¿Cuál era la maldición Madden y cuándo desapareció?

Desde 1988, John Madden trabajó de la mano con el mundo del gaming al crear junto a EA Sports la franquicia Madden NFL, esta es la historia

El mundo de la NFL se conmocionó ayer con la noticia del fallecimiento de John Madden, leyenda del deporte de las tacleadas que perdió la vida de forma inesperada a los 85 años de edad.

El legado de ‘Coach’ no solo se remite al terreno de juego donde le dio el primer Super bowl de la historia a los Oakland Raiders en 1977, su impacto continuó a través de los micrófonos y en los videojuegos, donde es más fácil que las nuevas generaciones lo identifiquen por darle nombre al juego más importante de futbol americano, el Madden NFL.

¿Qué es la ‘Maldición Madden’?

Desde 1988, John Madden trabajó de la mano con el mundo del gaming al crear junto a EA Sports la franquicia Madden NFL y aportar su experiencia y conocimientos para enriquecer el videojuego que año con año ha sido de los más vendidos desde hace tres décadas.

Foto ESPECIAL

Hasta 1999 el legendario coach fue la portada del videojuego, pero en el año 2000, ya con pleno uso de derechos oficiales de la NFL, EA empezó a colocar jugadores como lo hizo con FIFA en el videojuego de futbol.

Fue ahí cuando durante 17 ediciones, el jugador que aparecía en la portada tenía una mala temporada ya sea por bajo rendimiento o por lesiones, por lo que se empezó a nombrar la ‘Maldición Madden’.

Jugadores como Michael Vick, Rob Gronkowsky o Brett Favre estuvieron en la lista de lesionados luego de aparecer en la portada del popular videojuego. Pero fue hasta la edición 18, desde que Tom Brady fue elegido para aparecer en la portada que la maldición se rompió pues ‘The Goat’ consiguió el Super Bowl ese año.

Desde que Brady salió la maldición se rompió, un año después Antonio Brown corrió más de mil 500 yardas y 15 touchdowns en la temporada y luego Patrick Mahomes ganó el Super bowl y fue elegido el MVP de la temporada. Para la edición 2022, Mahomes y Brady comparten la portada y parece que la ‘Maldición Madden’ por fin se rompió. Q.D.E.P.

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Riot Games to settle gender discrimination lawsuit for $100 million

League of Legends studio reaches settlement.

Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, will settle a 2018 gender discrimination lawsuit with California state agencies and several private plaintiffs for $100 million, The Washington Post reported Monday.

In August 2018, Kotaku published a report on Riot Games and its allegedly toxic workplace. A class-action lawsuit was filed by former employees in November 2018 alleging sexual misconduct and gender discrimination. The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) followed up with their own inquires.

Riot Games agreed to settle the lawsuit Monday by paying $80 million to all former and current women employees from November 2014 and onward. The remaining $20 million will go toward legal fees.

“This historic agreement reflects California’s commitment to strategic and effective government enforcement of the State’s robust equal-pay, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment laws,” Kevin Kish, DFEH director, said in a press release. “If entered by the court, this decree will compensate employees and contractors affected by sex discrimination and harassment, ensure lasting change in this workplace, and send the message that all industries in California, including the gaming industry, must provide equal pay and workplaces free from discrimination and harassment.”

In addition to the settlement, Riot Games has agreed to a gender-equity analysis of employee pay, job assignments, and promotions by a third-party company approved by the DFEH for the next three years. The settlement still needs court approval, though a hearing is expected to take place in the coming months.

“Three years ago, Riot was at the heart of what became a reckoning in our industry,” Riot Games said via The Washington Post. “We had to face the fact that despite our best intentions, we hadn’t always lived up to our values. As a company we stood at a crossroads; we could deny the shortcomings of our culture, or we could apologize, correct course, and build a better Riot. We chose the latter. While we’re proud of how far we’ve come since 2018, we must also take responsibility for the past. We hope that this settlement properly acknowledges those who had negative experiences at Riot.”

This settlement comes mere months after Overwatch and Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, another California-based video game company, received similar workplace misconduct reports.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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2021’s best moments in esports

These moments helped shape the biggest year in esports history to date.

After the global pandemic put many gaming events on hold, the world bounced back into esports with a bang in 2021. This year, leading players faced both professional and personal challenges to rise to the top of their games. Here, we’ve highlighted some of 2021’s most memorable esports moments. Together, they helped shape the biggest year in esports history to date.

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These Halo players took part in a legendary sword duel

A tale of swords and souls, eternally retold.

Every so often, there are those rare moments in video games that remind everyone how exciting locking-horns can be — or rather, clashing energy swords as some Halo  fans recently did.

Over on Reddit, user Ali_Auditorie bore witness to a thrilling one-on-one sword duel during a custom game of Halo Reach. Both players don fan-favorite Elite skins while slowly circling each other until one chooses to strike. They fly through the air, ripping into each other’s shields as if the fate of the world was at stake. It was a hard-fought battle, and the victor clearly earned their place in the spotlight.

Check it out for yourself in the video below. I’d be curious to find out if this is the original version of Halo Reach  or The Master Chief Collection  port. Probably the latter, given you can’t play the former online for much longer.

I was on a custom social game and witnessed this epic 1v1 sword duel from halo

It reminds me of that time  someone bowed post-energy sword fight. took bad they didn’t do that here!

Halo’s  unique combat sandbox  always makes for fun stuff like this duel. Recently, a group of Halo Infinite fans  worked together to see if one person could take out 23 opponents at once with the sniper rifle.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Evolution Championship Series announces Rick ‘TheHadou’ Thiher as its new GM

EVO has a new general manager.

The Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s biggest fighting game tournament, went ahead with appointing Rick “TheHadou” Thiher as its new general manager.

Thiher brings with him loads of experience from within fighting games. Specifically, as Combo Breaker’s event organizer,  which recently held a tournament.

“The fighting game community has had an idyllic vision of what EVO could be. As part of EVO’s team, I’m looking forward to realizing that aspiration while delivering memorable experiences for our players and fans in the process,” said Thiher in a press release. “The fighting game genre has attracted new fans across generations. We want to continue celebrating that legacy through Evo by introducing our community to undiscovered audiences for generations to come.”

RTS, the esports and content creator consulting firm by Twitch star Pokimane, along with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), purchased EVO from its previous owners, Triple Perfect. Hiring Thiher is only the beginning of a bold new horizon for EVO from the sound of things.

“We have full trust and faith in Rick to propel EVO even further as the premier fighting game tournament while remaining true to its roots,” said Steven Roberts, VP of Global Competitive Gaming for SIE, said in a press release. “Together with RTS and our valued publishing partners, we are excited to add Rick to the team that is working to bring Evo 2022 to the FGC!”

The organization is also gearing up for another live event sometime in 2022, but there are no concrete details at this time.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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