In The News
Someone get the defibrillators! CLEAR! Xbox Live crashed last night for some 5 hours. “According to the Xbox Live status page, affected services include the ability to simply login to Xbox Live, play multiplayer games, access the store, download games, and even log in to play single-player games (unless you switch to offline mode.)” Forbes’ Erik Kain writes.
Alan “Nahaz” Bester, a former economics professor, wrote an interesting piece for ESPN on things that helped and hindered games like Dota 2, League of Legends, CS:GO and Overwatch become as big as they are. Here’s a snippet:
“We examine lessons from each of four major PC titles with substantial presence in esports. In each case, we discuss one positive aspect that helped (or will help) the title gain a following in esports, as well as one negative factor with the potential to limit its longevity or appeal to players and fans.”
Nintendo Switch now has PayPal as a payment option. Note that this is only an option on the Switch, not Nintendo’s other platforms.
Man, that has GOT to be annoying. NBA 2K18’s cover man, Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is now more of a Celtics guy. Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics for “Isiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and some draft picks,” Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett reports. The trade was completed yesterday afternoon. “It’s a fun trade for basketball fans, but a nightmare for 2K, who not only have Irving as their cover star for this year’s game, but obviously have him up there (and have been publicising this since a July 1 announcement) in his Cavs uniform.”
Gwent already has a $850,000 esports scene. “Developer CD Projekt RED has announced Gwent Masters, an official esports tournament series for players around the world,” Dot Esports’ Nicole Carpenter writes. “Gwent Masters will include a series of tournaments that lead into the Gwent World Masters tournament. There are three tiers of tournaments—Gwent Open, Gwent Challenger, and Gwent World Masters.”
Madden now has the backing of all of the NFL’s 32 clubs for “the Madden NFL Club Championship this year. It’s part of the Madden NFL Championship Series (MCS), which EA launched last year,” AListDaily’s John Gaudiosi reports. Online qualifiers start today “on Madden NFL 18 in the Madden Ultimate Team Champions mode. After registering online, gamers across the country can compete for a chance to represent their local NFL team in a competition that will fly out the top 32 players (one per team) to compete in the Madden NFL Club Championship Live Finals.”
Feel like playing God? State of Decay 2 is going to give “The Walking Dead” fans some serious flashbacks. You’ll have to decide who lives and who dies, Engadget’s Mat Smith explains, “and deal with whatever happens next” because each playable character has strengths and weaknesses that help and hinder the whole. Happy choosing!
Hearthstone’s first multiplayer raid Tavern Brawl is upon us (well, those at Gamescom.) PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk reports that “The brawl is an all-against-one attack against Arthas, who in this particular incarnation brings a whooping one million—that’s right, one million—hit points to the table. The object isn’t to defeat him—not individually, at least—but to do as much damage as possible before he pounds you out.”