Feature

Rocket League blasts into the world of esports

This article is part of a collaboration with iQ by Intel. The easy-to-learn “cars playing soccer” game brings the spectator-friendly accessibility of traditional sports to the technological world of competitive gaming. Anyone who’s had to suffer through watching a friend or significant other play “just one more round” of a videogame will readily admit that most titles aren’t such thrilling spectator sports. While slaying enemies in Halo 5 is exciting for the shooter, it’s a snooze-fest for any player without a controller in hand. One game, however, seems to have cracked that code. Psyonix’s Rocket League not only pulls spectators into the action, it achieves the sought-after…

Announcement

Announcing Play/Off, NYC’s first league of digital play

EDIT: Keep an eye out for Play/Off in 2016. We have decided to postpone it until then in order to do the best job possible on this event series. Games have been inherently social for most of our history, from basketball to chess. Why should videogames be any different? In our new event series, brought to you by Grind coworking spaces and arts and culture publication Kill Screen, we want to bring people together to play face-to-face in New York City’s first league of digital play. Over the course of six events, teams will face off in games plucked from…

News

Evo 2015’s comebacks, or the growing significance of the crowd in eSports

The latest Evolution Championship Series (Evo) had plenty of action and drama to fill the weekend. Intense fights were had, hugs were given, tears were shed, and some shirts even came off. One of the highlights of the event, though, was a particularly daring comeback during a Killer Instinct match between players Sleep NS and UA | My God. About 15 seconds into the video, Sleep’s fighter Kan-Ra is down to a pixel of health, up against My God’s Sabrewulf, with a full bar. Sleep manages to boldly shave down some of My God’s HP before they both settle into…