“That’ll do fine.”
IN THE NEWS
Weekend in review:
Twitch is facing technical difficulties at quite the inopportune time. Livestreaming was down for swaths of people over the weekend — right at the same time as the Evo 2017 tournament. Broadcasters couldn’t publish new streams, GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb reports, and viewers couldn’t watch. Sunday evening, Twitch tweeted out that “We are investigating sitewide loading issues. ^DM.”
Congratulations to Evo 2017 winners:
- Adam “Armada” Lindgren, who won his second Evo Super Smash Bros. Melee championship.
- Ryan “RyanLV” Romero, who won Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.
- Ryusei Ito, who won BlazBlue: Central Fiction.
- Chia-hung “E.T.” Lin, who won King of Fighters XIV.
- Taniguchi “Tokido” Hajime, who won Street Fighter V.
- Saleem “Salem” Young, who won Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
- Kim “JDCR” Hyun Jin, who won Tekken 7.
- Ryan “Dragon” Walker, who won Injustice 2.
- Omito Hashimoto, who won Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2.
The DDoS attack that never ends is still plaguing poor Final Fantasy XIV. It has actually escalated, too, according to a Lodestone forum post. “Because we can no longer combat the situation on our own, we have been in contact with the upper-tier ISPs, who have then been taking defensive measures sequentially on their end,” the post states. “Attacks have shifted away from the FINAL FANTASY XIV game servers and the target has changed to focus on the upper-tier internet service providers (ISPs) that are required to connect to the data center. These attacks to the upper-tier ISP network are causing lapses in communication to the game servers, giving rise to instant disconnects during logins.”
It’s all about the personality. MTGx CEO Arnd Benninghoff told Dot Esports’ Nicole Carpenter he believes “Human stories are what drives fans to engagement,” and said “MTGx will begin to integrate more personality-driven content to its broadcasts.” Fans are clamoring for behind-the-scenes access to the lives of players, coaches, casters and more. The people who can tap into that desire — a ravenous curiosity for what happens when players aren’t in the middle of an arena — will be able to shape and move forward esports culture as a whole.
Pixelmon is no more. The Minecraft mod “is going offline,” according to Polygon’s Allegra Frank, because the team behind the mod was contacted by The Pokemon Company. Here’s what administrator MrMasochism wrote: “With much sadness, but keeping all our fond memories, we must announce that Pixelmon is ending its development. We have had a great time making this mod and creating such a wonderful community but after a request from the Pokémon company we will be shutting our doors.”
Ubisoft community developer Eric Pop took a somewhat President Donald Trump-inspired shot at For Honor critics during a livestream, saying, “We have a lot of players in For Honor – believe it or not, fake news people, we have a lot of players in For Honor – to roll it out to.” There’s news the game has lost “50% of its Steam player base,” Game Rant’s Maxwell Jeffrey writes, due to “a range of issues such as poor server stability, lack of balance, and unfair in-game prices.”
There’s a lot of news out about Call of Duty: WWII. Actor David Tennant and actress Elodie Yung were announced as voice actors for the game’s Zombies mode. Eddie Makuch at GameSpot writes.
What would good news be without bad, though? A portion of Activision’s reveal trailer for its Zombies mode was leaked — Activision plans on releasing the full trailer at San Diego Comic-Con. “The official Sledgehammer account and co-founder Michael Condrey responded to the leak, saying they are disappointed that fans might see an unfinished version of the trailer instead of the real deal,” Makuch writes. “Condrey went further and said the industry needs a ‘full force rejection of leaks at scale.’ The executive added that it’s ‘hard for everyone on the team not to have the final version be the 1st one seen.'”
Voting is now open for Esports Industry Awards 2017. The 3 categories include Industry Awards, Player Awards and the Play of the Month Award. Voting is open for Industry and Play of the Month Awards, while nominations are ongoing for Player Awards.
Tekken 7’s newest playable character is Geese Howard from Fatal Fury.
Nintendo is releasing another DS, the 2DS XL. “Two years ago Nintendo released two revised 3DS models (in both standard and XL sizes) with Amiibo support, a faster processor, a second analog input and face tracking features to help stabilize and improve the 3D effect,” Engadget’s Sean Buckley reports. “The New Nintendo 2DS is basically a revised version of that handheld with one primary, obvious difference: it doesn’t play games in 3D.”
Teehee, don’t mind me. Zynga is apologizing for testing car pricing in CSR Racing 2 on players. Price differences ranged from $5 to $35 for a “Fast and Furious” car, Games Industry’s Brendan Sinclair writes. “‘We apologise for any frustration this test may have caused and want to assure you it was done at random and not based on player history. Testing features is an important part of game development but we’re sorry this test missed the mark and disrupted your game experience.'” The company is also giving anyone who bought the car at the maximum price some in-game compensation.
Hitman’s July update is out, and it includes more than a few laughs. Here’s the most important bug fix of the day: “‘We’ve fixed an issue that could cause the toilet in the Marrakesh school to behave erratically after 47 kicks it onto Zaydan,’ the post reads. ‘This could occasionally result in 47’s death. Seriously,'” PC Gamer’s Mat Paget reports. There are other, more serious updates as well.
CNBC is catching flak for the headline of a recent gaming article: “With the rise of a new esports league, the next Tom Brady could be more couch potato than chiseled athlete.” The story itself is pretty tame. It talks about the rise of esports as an industry, the growing amount of money involved and Blizzard’s steps to create city-based teams like traditional sports with its new Overwatch League.
The issue is this line, “the next Tom Brady could be more couch potato than chiseled athlete.” Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey called it “a stupid comment by CNBC.” Bryce Blum, a prominent esports lawyer and founder of ESG Law, was the first to tweet out the article with a picture of an annoyed esports player underneath. ESPN esports general editor Darin Kwilinski tweeted, “Tell us how you really feel CNBC.” Check out the full conversation below:
LEAGUE LAND
Tim Sevenhuysen likes numbers. He also likes LoL, and everyone loves him. Through his website, Oracle’s Elixir, he provides statistics for professional play, Blitz Esports’ Sharon Coone writes. “By providing in-depth numbers like jungle control, first tower rate, and gold percent rating, he’s revolutionized the way in which people study the game. Tim says he just counts stuff.”
Interviews: Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong.
The European Challenger Series’ 5th week came to a close Sunday. Giants Gaming, Schalke 04, Team RB, and Wind and Rain are moving on to the EU CS Summer Playoffs, Dot Esports’ Adam Newell reports. They “will battle for a shot at playing against the lowest placed EU LCS teams to potentially gain promotion into the EU LCS.”
Origen posted a touching and heartfelt message to Facebook Sunday afternoon about the disappointment they’re feeling as a team, and the appreciation they have for their fans sticking with them. They are no longer in the Series after losing their first game of the 2-game series to Team RB; they needed to win the first game to keep things alive. Paris Saint-Germain has also been relegated.
OUT: Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun is no longer with Team Dignitas.
The 2017 EU and NA LCS Summer Splits are ongoing.
Tickets are on sale for the EU LCS Finals. Get them here.
Return of the Legends starts Aug. 4.
Champion and skin sale July 14-17: Woad Ashe, Dragonslayer Jarvan IV, Koi Nami and Cottontail Teemo. Bard, Darius, Cho’Gath and Kalista.
Weekly free champions: Dr. Mundo, Ezreal, Janna, Kindred, Lucian, Lulu, Malzahar, Sejuani, Sion and Syndra.
OVER/UNDER WATCH
A ton of Reinhardt’s bug issues have been resolved in a new PTR patch. There’s still a bug related to Earthshatter missing certain targets that has not yet been fixed.
PSA: Doomfist cannot ultimate out of Zarya’s Graviton Surge.
Drama llamas aren’t going extinct over here, no sir. LW Blue and Red coach WizardHyeong is accusing multiple teams of not paying their players, according to translations by Reddit user GrapeSwisher.
OUT: Silkthread has left Counter Logic Gaming to focus on college.
Overwatch Chicago Season 3 League will be Aug. 10-Aug. 31. The entry fee is $25.
The TESPA Summer Series is ongoing through Aug. 20.
The Collegiate Star League is ongoing through Aug. 26.
Overwatch World Cup tickets are on sale for Australia (7/21-7/23) and Poland (8/4-8/6), but not America (8/11-8/13).
Shanghai Group Stage results: China, Thailand, France and Norway all advanced out of the first round by defeating Hong Kong, Argentina, Norway and Romania, respectively. In the playoffs, China and France advanced by defeating Thailand and Norway, respectively.
OGN Overwatch APEX Challengers Season 3’s Grand Final will be held in Busan Haeundae Beach, South Korea, July 29, between Lunatic-Hai and Kongdoo Panthera.
DOTA-THON
Immortals CEO Noah Whinston has more than a few thoughts about the overhaul Valve is performing on Dota 2’s competitive scene. He shared his thoughts with Dot Esports’ Will Partin. Here’s a portion:
“We need to see how things actually go with implementing this new system before we can see how good or bad its impact on the game will be. But I think it’s a step in the right direction … Does this change by Valve only impact individual tournaments throughout the year, or will it allow the opportunity for tournaments to build out consistent, year-round leagues?”
Dota had a main client update Saturday. Reddit user Magesunite compiled the changes below:
DreamHack Atlanta 2017 is July 21-23.
The Battle Pass is at $21.5 million for The International 2017.
Dota 2 is hosting a short film competition. Submissions are open through July 25.
There are 7 matches today.
Yesterday’s match results can be found here.
WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU CS:GO
Congratulations to Ninjas in Pyjamas on winning DreamHack Valencia 2017!
Interviews: Mike “shroud” Grzesiek.
DreamHack Atlanta is July 21.
BLAST Pro Series is a new competition hosted by RFRSH Entertainment starting Nov. 24 in Copenhagen. The prize pool is $250,000.
PGL Major Krakow 2017 is July 21-23. The Group Stage started over the weekend. Reddit has an overview thread here.
Gambit, BIG, Fnatic, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, G2 Esports, SK Gaming and Astralis all won their matches Sunday.
As of the writing of this newsletter, North and Mousesports have won their Monday matches against Penta Sports and FaZe Clan, respectively.
Players are less than pleased with the PCs they have to use, reports Dot Esports’ Jamie Villanueva. “‘PC’s are so shit here, step up [PGL],’ said Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač of FaZe Clan … Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David of SK Gaming believes that the problem is due to PGL’s use of old Intel i5 processors … ‘I’ll make it work,’ Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek of Cloud9 optimistically said.” There are now murmurs of potentially starting a players’ union to avoid problems like this in the future.
DreamHack Masters Malmo 2017 is Aug. 30-Sept. 3.
ESL One New York 2017 is Sept. 15-16.
Intel Extreme Masters World Champions is Nov. 18-19 in Oakland, Calif.
Mapcore and FACEIT have $10,000 for the top 4 bomb defusal and hostage-rescue maps CS:GO players can create. The contest entry deadline is Oct. 31, 2017, and winners will be chosen in December.
There is 1 match today.
Yesterday’s match results can be found here.
WINS AND FAILS
It’s important to laugh. That’s why TheDW has compiled some of the best wins and fails of the last 24 hours, delivered to you in a convenient gif package.
Did you see something better? Shoot TheDW an email at katie@thedailywalkthrough.com with the subject line GIF. If we like it, we’ll throw it in tomorrow’s walkthrough!
SECRET UNLOCKED
The Evil Within 2 and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus will both be available in 4K on the Xbox One X.
Put your wallet away, you won’t need it. Runbow, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and Grow Up are free on Xbox One.
UPCOMING RELEASES AND EVENTS
RELEASES
Kingdom Hearts III’s Toy Story trailer is out. This is the YouTube description: “Don’t assume your dreams are just fantasy. If you can imagine a world, believe in it…and dive in.”
Star Wars: Jedi Challenges is a short little teaser Lenovo put on YouTube Saturday for “a new app‑enabled augmented reality experience.”
Star Wars: Battlefront II has a new story trailer on YouTube that goes behind the scenes with some of the developers.
Spider-Man has a new “inside look” video up on YouTube. “Go behind the scenes at Insomniac Games as they create an all-new, original Spider-Man story with a more experienced Peter Parker. See how the team at Insomniac Games, in collaboration with Marvel Games and PlayStation, is building a blockbuster action experience where Peter Parker and Spider-Man’s worlds collide,” the description reads.
Check out Icons: Combat Arena, a new “free-to-play platform fighter” whose open beta will be on Steam in the fall. “At its core, Icons is about introducing core platform fighting tenets (emergent combat, off-stage scrambles, combo creativity, etc.) while maximizing their value for players who may not be familiar with the high-level techniques that have become synonymous with the genre,” Kotaku’s Ian Walker explains.
Beyond Skyrim: Roscrea has a new teaser trailer up. It’s developed by a Skyrim modding group, and looks pretty impressive.
MARVEL Powers United VR is a new game exclusively for Oculus. Here’s the description of the YouTube video uploaded over the weekend: “Suit up, power up, and team up with friends to engage in immersive, explosive co-op fights from across the Marvel Universe. Be the hero and unleash your powers now!”
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has a new exhibition match video up featuring game play for both Jedah and Gamora. The game is out Sept. 19.
Dragon Ball FighterZ’s Trunks finally has his official reveal trailer. Check it out here.
Street Fighter V is adding new costumes for Ibuki, Alex and Juri and is introducing Suzaku Castle as the new stage.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2018’s online beta starts July 20 for PlayStation 4 and goes through the 31st.
Orcs Must Die! Unchanged is out on PlayStation 4 tomorrow and is free to play.
What Remains of Edith Finch is out on Xbox One July 19 for $20.
Gigantic will be available on Steam. It’s out July 20.
Destiny 2’s open beta is July 21-23 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Those who preordered will be able to play starting July 18 on PS4 and July 19 on Xbox.
Fable Fortune has been delayed until July 25 for Xbox One and PC.
Namco Museum is out July 28 for $29.99 on the Nintendo Switch.
Secret World Legends is out July 31 on Steam.
StarCraft Remastered releases Aug. 14 for $15.
EVENTS
July 20: San Diego Comic-Con International.
Niantic is hosting Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago July 22.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Hearthstone game director Ben Brode held an AMA.
If you’re the type to enjoy Dark Souls, there’s a new mod out that allows you to face every major boss all in a row.
COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Whether you hate it, love it, miss it or want it, send TheDW an email at katie@thedailywalkthrough.com.
Thanks for reading!