eSports News
Feature Is Pokémon Unite Ready For Its Moment At The Pokémon World Championships?
The Pokémon MOBA showcases its competitive chops in August
Before last year, a Pokémon spin-off in the style of League Of Legends felt like an obscure offshoot, even for a franchise that’s pitched Pikachu as a coffee-swilling detective. In many ways, a Pokémon MOBA makes considerable sense – as a world filled with hundreds of unique monsters...
Random France Bans Gaming Terms Like 'eSports' To Maintain Language Purity
Mon Dieu!
In an effort to maintain the purity of the French language, officials in France have banned popular gaming terms such as 'pro-gamer' and 'streamer'. Going forwards, official government communications will use more traditional terms such as 'joueur-animateur en direct' in place of 'streamer', which literally translates to 'live...
"I wanted to get Nintendo's permission"
The Super Smash Bros. competitive scene has a huge following, but Nintendo's relationship with this part of the community and fighting game tournaments, in general, hasn't always been the best. Now adding to this bumpy history is a new story this time from the famous Twitch Streamer and Fortnite player Ni
News Nintendo Slammed For Its Stance On Super Smash Bros. At 2022 Streamer Awards
Publisher called out for EVO withdrawal
Nintendo's stance on its involvement with events like EVO has been a source of much conversation over the past few months. Most recently, ex-Nintendo employees Kit and Krysta hypothesised about the potential reasons for the company pulling out of EVO 2022. Now, Super Smash Bros. streamer Hungrybox has called...
News Nintendo's Bringing Mario Kart Junior Esports Tournaments To UK Primary Schools
"We have seen first-hand the positive impact this has had on pupils"
Digital Schoolhouse, a UK-based initiative from Ukie which introduces play-based learning to the school curriculum, has teamed up with Nintendo UK and Outright Games to expand its primary school Esports program. After a successful pilot scheme last year, a new nationwide...
News Eight-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Ever Pro Fortnite Player
He plays 2-3 hours a day, and got a $33k signing bonus
Isn't it fun when you find out that there's some preteen out there who makes more money than you? Maybe "fun" isn't quite the word. There are kids out there making millions from their toy review YouTube channels, or from the sheer luck of being born into the right family. Still, we're satisfied...
News Psyonix And X Games Announce Rocket League Collaboration
Regional Championship Series event is coming with it
Psyonix has brought us many strange crossovers within Rocket League these past five years – sometimes quite literally – but an extreme sports organisation wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind. Having worked with the Summer X Games back in 2017, that collabora
News Top Smash Melee Player Unsure About Future Involvement In Competitive Scene
"the game does not bring me the happiness that it used to"
The top Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive player, Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, (who has been terrorising the scene with Jigglypuff for the past decade) is questioning his future commitment to the 2001 GameCube title. In a recently published video on his YouTube channel, Debiedma said he...
News Smash World Tour 2020 Will Have Ultimate And Melee Players Fighting Over $250,000 Prize
Doing what Ninten-won't?
As we've discussed several times before on this very site, competitive Super Smash Bros. fans haven't exactly been happy with Nintendo's lack of funding for eSports events surrounding the franchise. Indeed, just last month, one leading player used his winning speech at an event as an
News Nintendo's President Explains "Embarrassing" Lack Of Financial Support For Smash Bros. eSports
"It’s not that we’re opposed to it"
Gaming isn't just about having a bit of fun for some players – those who have chosen eSports as their profession also make their livelihoods out of interactive entertainment. The only way they can do that is by attending tournaments and events which offer a pool of prize money to participants, and that's why...
Random Spectator Throws Dead Crab At Professional Smash Bros. Melee Player
Poor form
The Super Smash Bros. Melee community continues to embarrass itself, following the latest incident taking place at the "Pound 2019 tournament" in the United States last weekend. After Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma won against Joseph “Mango” Marquez in the final, a spectator decided to throw a dead crab at him. After registering what...
Random Competitive Melee Player Walks Off Stage In Match-Up Against Jigglypuff
A new low
Over the weekend, there was a mid-fight walk-off at 'Battle of BC 3' in Vancouver during the Super Smash Bros. Melee finals, when Alejandro "Chango" Gastelum took on Chaucer "Fauxebro" Gilson. Gastelum reportedly played to Jigglypuff's strengths by avoiding his opponent's character (Ice Climbers) as much as possible during the fight. When...
Ninterview Meet The Nintendo Life Splatoon 2 UK Championship Team
EGX 2017 FTW!
EGX - the UK's biggest games event - gets under way today at the NEC in Birmingham. The four-day event gives UK gamers the chance to get their hands on the latest games due for release this holiday season including our favourite, Super Mario Odyssey. On Saturday the show will host Nintendo UK's Splatoon 2 UK Championship Grand...
News Smash Melee Champ Resigns from All-Male Rules Committee To Encourage Broader Representation
"It’s good for our community"
The Super Smash Bros. Melee fighting scene has grown considerably since the GameCube game launched back in 2001. One of its biggest assets is the community behind it, with plenty of enthusiasm for the long-established brawler. With the official ruleset ever changing, it was announced on 6th September by Melee...
News HyperX Announces Smash Bros., ARMS And Street Fighter eSports Event
Takes place July 18th
HyperX - the gaming division of Kingston Technology - has announced that it is holding a special eSports tournament later this month at its headquarters in Orange County, and Nintendo titles will feature prominently. The event will bring together the best Street Fighter V, ARMS and Super Smash Bros...
News Reggie Fils-Aime Sets Out Nintendo's Stance On eSports
"We've been in the space for a long time"
As E3 progresses we're seeing lots of interviews with Nintendo's top brass. Of course NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime has been doing the rounds and in speaking to Glixel, we get to learn a little bit more about Nintendo's ambitions for eSports with the Nintendo Switch. In response to a question about...
News ARMS Producer Would Love To See The Game Embraced As An eSport
"It's not a certainty yet that Arms will be a huge hit with people"
Nintendo has never seriously courted the eSports community but it has made some encouraging noises of late; the Nintendo Switch reveal famously showed Splatoon 2 being played in a tournament environment, and with the soon-to-be-released ARMS the company has another competitive title...
News Super Smash Bros. Melee Match Touted as One of Greatest Ever
"Wow, incredible!"
Having only just entered the year, tournament season is very much underway with the annual GENESIS 4 event taking place last weekend. The highly regarded tournament gathered fighters from around the globe to San Jose, California to prove who really is the best. With events setup for Street Fighter V, Towerfall Ascension and of...
News SSBMRANK joins with Red Bull eSports to announce Melee Rankings 2016
This game's winner is...
There's big news for fans of the competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee scene,with SSBMRANK announcing that it will be partnering with Red Bull eSports to reveal the world's greatest players from the past year. For those of you that don't know, SSBMRANK is a community-driven ranking of the top 100 players in Super Smash Bros...
Feature Nintendo Switch and eSports - Targeting A Lucrative but Tricky Market
Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise - "This could be a big step forward"
You don't have to look far to get a sense of the incredible growth in eSports; with bigger crowds and online stream audiences have come more money and mainstream attention. There are some that argue that eSports should be recognised more fully, with appeals for a potential Olympics role...
News Super Smash Bros. Was the 7th Most Watched eSport in August
In your face, Call of Duty: Black Ops III...
The growth of eSports remains a major talking point in the games industry. When the Rio Olympics rolled around it was an opportunity to debate where eSports stand in the broader picture, and it's not hard to find eye-watering viewing figures and revenues from the global industry, with full stadiums in...
News ESPN Plans On Broadcasting Super Smash Bros. Events
Milestone reached
Some of you may be aware that major sports network ESPN has added eSports to its catalogue of broadcast types. In fact, it's created a site dedicated to the new initiative, accompanied by a Twitter account under the handle of @ESPN_Esports. Its "popular" games of coverage choice are League of Legends, Dota 2, and Hearthstone, which...
Feature The Poor Career Choice of Super Smash Bros. Professionals
"A game like this can't survive forever with no institutional support"
From now until the start of the new year we're going to be republishing some of what we feel are our best features of 2015. Hopefully this will offer the chance for newer readers to catch up on content they might have missed and allow long-time fans to reacquaint themselves with...
News Splatoon eSports Tournament Series To Be Launched In Japan
Over $1 million in prize money
It seems like only yesterday that we learnt that North America would be getting a Transformers themed Splatfest in the ever-popular Splatoon. The Splatoon hype train waits for no man however and it's been revealed today that a Splatoon eSports tournament series will be launched in Japan with over $1 million in prize...
News Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Included in 'Hexathlon' to Find eSports UK Champion
Winner of gaming Hexathlon to be crowned at EGX
If you're a regular reader of the site, you'll probably know we really love EGX (formally Eurogamer Expo). This year's expo has moved from its old location at Earls Court, London, which has sadly been demolished to make way for residential apartments; this year from 24th-27th September EGX will be in...
News Super Smash Bros. Evo 2015 Champ ZeRo Is Joining Team SoloMid
"I had a lot of very interesting offers from a wide selection of teams"
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U champ Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios has been signed to eSports organisation Team SoloMid, it has been confirmed today. The Chilean player has a winning streak of 39 tournaments and recently emerged victorious at this year's EVO event. He was previously...
News ESL Announces Tentative Move Into Competitive Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Tournaments
eSports for EU, initially
ESL - Electronic Sports League - is undoubtedly a big deal in the world of eSports, serving as a major global hub for online and venue events. Its most popular events are typically based around franchises such as Call of Duty and League of Legends, but it's now dipping its toes into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. We are...
Talking Point Competitive Gaming With Super Smash Bros. and More Can Be Vital for Nintendo
New audiences and more headlines
It's been Evo weekend in Las Vegas, arguably the most notable fighting game tournament in the world. Super Smash Bros. Melee and the Wii U entry are two of the biggest titles of the event, with recognisable competitors and a lot of press coverage revolving around the series. If Masahiro Sakurai takes personal...
Interview Lilian "Milktea" Chen Talks Smash Bros., Sexism and a Brighter Future
"Strides regarding social inclusion in Smash can be seen for themselves"
An inescapable reality within the eSports world, regardless of the game in question, is the stark contrast between male and female participants. Whatever the culprit, the stories of many female professionals are often squashed, missed or, even worse, stunted before they even...
Feature Nintendo's Smash Bros. Invitational Could Be Just The Beginning For Contests and eSports
Isaiah TriForce Johnson tells us about Nintendo's competitive thinking
When Nintendo revealed its plans for E3 2014, much attention was unsurprisingly paid to its decision — for the second year running — to forego a live presentation in favour of a "Digital Event". Yet only a narrow focus would lead to a conclusion that Nintendo won't be running...
Ninterview Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman on Mastering Super Smash Bros.
The King of Smash
Not long ago we conducted a Ninterview with TriForce Johnson, who told us about his journey from being a passionate gamer in the Bronx, New York, to a gaming celebrity famous for being first-in-line for a record number of Nintendo launches. He's far more than a keen video game shopper, however, with multiple world record scores and...
