In The News
Much excite, very wow. GameSpot’s Eddie Makuch is reporting Xbox One X pre-order details could be out today. Xbox’s Phil Spencer said on Twitter they plan to share “more info” on pre-orders today.
Tespa University went live yesterday. Blizzard Entertainment and Tespa announced in a press release that they are “leading the greatest year in collegiate esports yet with a robust lineup of competitive leagues and more scholarships and prize money than ever before.”
Tespa University is described as “a one-stop online resource dedicated to helping users create or participate in their local college gaming community, or become a competitor and vie for more than $1 million USD in scholarships and prizes.” Six esports will receive leagues during the upcoming school year: Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, World of Warcraft and Rocket League.
Additionally, Georgia State University has announced it will join the National Association of Collegiate Esports and the Georgia Esports League, Forbes’ Heather Newman reports.
TheDW is doing a giveaway! Enter and you have a chance at winning a $100 Blizzard Balance Card.
Team SoloMid and Cloud9 are both partnering with T-Mobile.
“TSM is delighted to announce that T-Mobile, America’s fastest growing wireless provider, will officially be one of our sponsors for the remainder of this year … We’ll work together on a number of moments throughout the year to give esports fan more access to the sport they love.”
“Cloud9, the Santa Monica-based, world-famous competitive esports organization, is thrilled to announce T-Mobile as the official wireless, mobile, and cellular data partner of Cloud9!”
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds News:
The patch schedule is being altered. “Today we are changing our patch and update schedule to improve how we work on the game, as well as set realistic expectations for players. Until the official release of the game, we will not have our scheduled weekly or monthly patches rolling out as often as before,” according to a Steam blog post. “Although we may not release a weekly patch, we will utilize the test servers for significantly longer periods of time and deploy patches and hotfixes when necessary.”
Tempo Storm signed PUBG team Pure RNG, according to their website. “Pure RNG is first in North America for all-time points on the Showdown Series leaderboard. They are also individually talented, with most of the team being top 10 in the North American leaderboards for Squads at one point or another.”
A huge Gundam store is opening on Odaiba island in Tokyo, Japan. It’s called The Gundam Base Tokyo, Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft reports, and “will have over 2,000 types of Gundam goods for sale and another 1,500 on display.”
Can has in America? Pokéball Terrariums are apparently a thing, and they look awesome. “A series of officially licensed “Terrarium Collection” Pokémon toys goes on sale in Japan” this month, Ashcraft also writes. Each one is $6.80.
Nielsen is opening an esports division, Dot Esports’ Thiemo Brautigam reports. Most know Nielsen from its ratings, but the company said it will provide “sponsorship valuation, fan insights, custom industry research and consulting services.”
“‘There’s a high demand for reliable, independent measurement of value in esports,’ says Howard Appelbaum, Nielsen Entertainment President. ‘We’re excited to enhance our client offerings and provide the industry with solutions that will help guide and optimize investment decisions in this exciting, growing space.’”
Dungeons & Dragons’ D&D Beyond site is back up and better than ever. It’s goal is to help players avoid “the agony of paperwork in the pen-and-paper game,” Engadget’s David Lumb explains. D&D Beyond has both a free and paid version.
SteelSeries’ newest mechanical keyboard incorporates Discord notifications, PC Gamer’s Paul Lilly reports. The Apex M750 has customizable notifications “that indicate new messages, mute status and more,” according to SteelSeries. A highlight of the keyboard is its QX2 mechanical key switches, which have “4mm travel distance and 2mm actuation point. They’re rated for 50 million keystrokes.” It’ll cost you $140.