eSports

A new eSports streaming platform like Twitch has been announced by two Counter Strike veterans that could potentially change the way we all watch eSports matches online. Traditionally, eSports fans will need to visit Twitch to watch a game live, but with the new platform, named Znipe, fans may have the option to watch an eSports match the way they'd like to.

With Znipe, viewers are given the option to view multiple stream sources at once. However, these multiple sources will usually come from one match.

Take this as an example - viewers on Znipe will be able to set up their own personal overlay, which could include a few POV streams of their favorite players, a stream that shows the view the commentators are seeing and additional widgets for the map or the radar. With this amount of control, players will be able to have their own interactive viewing experience. To really work, Znipe will need the support of tournament hosts to set up multiple streams and POVs for the viewers

We recently posted about the upcoming BioShock collection being released in September and today we have some more news to get you excited for the 9th month of the year. The next COD World Championship will be taking place from September 2 to September 4 during CODXP 2016.

For those unaware, the CODXP event will be held in Los Angeles. On top of the eSports championship, the three day event will be home to a number of other activities and happenings, including Call of Duty VR, real life Nuketown paintball, and a closer look at Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered. As far as we're aware, those who purchase tickets should be able to take part in the VR events. We're not so sure about how the paintball event will work but we should hear more from the CODXP event hosts about that soon.

As for the eSports tournament, the event will see 32 teams battle it out for a huge prize pool. The prize pool will see some funds from the CWL 2016. The prize pool will sit at $2 million,

A brand new update for Overwatch has been making ripples through the internet this week. The update, which has already seen a release on PC, has now made it's way to the Xbox One. So far the PlayStation 4 update has not been released but we expect to see it soon.

The biggest addition to the new Overwatch update for the Xbox One is competitive mode. Competitive mode is open to all players over level 25. If you're not level 25 yet, you'll need to reach that level before you can take part in the new game mode.

The new competitive mode will use a player skill rating, a new penalty system to punish quitters and rewards for winning games. Before a player is shown their skill rating they will need to take part in 10 qualifier games. Once the 10 games are finished, a skill rating will be assigned to your account.

The skill rating in Overwatch competitive ranges from 1 to 100. 1 is the absolute lowest rating, whilst 100 is the highest. Players will see their skill rating adjust

Arman "Phenom" Hanjani has taken his first Street Fighter V Premier win at the Dreamhack Summer event earlier this month by pulling in an impressive 3-1 victory against Ai "Fuudo" Keita in the grand finals.

Whilst Fuudo did a good job at winning himself into second place on the Winner's Finals, the Grand Final saw Fuudo at a loss. Even with Fuudo's hard pressed attempts, Phenom outplayed Fuudo with an impressive showcase of skill and unpredictability.

Phenom's victory was fast paced and filled with constant, non-stop attacks. It's almost as if you could feel everything Phenom had worked so long for all come out at the perfect time. Phenom managed to take a few other top ranking Japanese players down with him as he climbed the tournament rankings too. This included Mago and Reiketsu.

Remaining almost entirely in the winner's bracket, Phenom managed to pull off the first European Premier victory since EVO 2014, where Luffy won with a hard earned victory whilst playing

Previously it was announced that a Mortal Kombat XL tournament will take place at EVO 2016, but before today the prize pool sat at $60,000. Today, Netherrealm and Warner Bros. have teamed up to offer an additional $50,000 for the prize pool.

Going forward, the EVO 2016 Mortal Kombat XL tournament will now have a $110,000 total prize pool. Neither Netherrealm, EVO or Warner Bros. have announced exactly how the tournament winnings will be split, but the first place winner is definitely going to go home with a considerable chunk of money.

It wasn't long ago that the ESL Pro League Finals paid out big time to SonicFox for taking the winning spot. We can't wait to see how big Mortal Kombat will grow with thanks to the added financial support of the developer and the publisher.

The fighting game community has been lagging behind MOBAs and FPS title when it comes to eSports winnings, but with hundreds of thousands going to Mortal Kombat X alone in 2016 so far, it's clear to

The Call of Duty World League (or CWL) tournament will be taking place again this year with Gfinity as the event organizer. The Gfinity CWL Summer Masters will offer a similar event format to last year, although some changes will be made.

Perhaps the biggest change to this year's event is the prize pool - unfortunately it's not for the better. Whilst the 2015 SWL Summer Masters event boasted a $100,000 prize pool, the event for this year's CWL will sit at $20,000.

Any team can sign up to the online qualifiers - if a team manages to place well in the qualifiers they will have a chance to attend the offline event at the Gfinity Arena in Fulham Broadway between July 1 and July 3.

Unfortunately this event will only be applicable to European teams with players over the age of 18 but we think it's good to see Gfinity are still supporting the Call of Duty scene. The drop in prize pool funding is unfortunate, but we'd expect North American and International events to have much

It may be shocking for fans, but the Copenhagen Wolves eSports organization will be ceasing their operations across all games. Copenhagen Wolves started in a small internet cafe in Copenhagen back in 2009 and it has grown phenomenally since then. Whilst the name may not be equally as popular Ninjas in Pyjamas, FaZe or Fnatic, it's certainly among one of the best known names in eSports today.

Whilst the owners of Copenhagen Wolves will be moving on, and players within their team houses may have to look for other housing options, the guys behind the organization aren't completely willing to bury the Copenhagen name. In their latest statement, Jakob Lund Kristensen mentioned that if there were to "be someone out there willing and able to take over this project the right way, we would definitely love to hear from you as we still believe in the brand and the story of Copenhagen Wolves."

The main reason for this apparently sudden change in operations is due to the co-owners moving

For the first time ever, Capcom has stepped in to resolve an issue within the Capcom Pro Tour and it has ended with a player being banned temporarily from the event.

Whilst the altercation has nothing to do with Street Fighter at all, the problem was due to something that happened at an event. It was right for Capcom to act upon it and make a necessary statement instead of sweeping it under the rug.

The altercation involved Noel Brown, who many of us will admit is one of the top players within the competitive Street Fighter scene. Noel Brown did play Street Fighter V competitively but his best performance was with Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, which saw him sit among the top 10 players in the world.

According to Capcom, Noel Brown will be banned from future events due to his actions during Combo Breaker 2016. Below, part of the statement from Capcom has been provided.

"Over the past weekend, we were notified that an unfortunate case of sexual harassment occurred

The new 3.9 patch notes for Smite have now been released. The patch includes a rework to Ratatoskr, adds some new God skins and adds a new event called the Viking Invasion. There are also a number of other changes including a range of bug fixes. The Xbox One and PS4 3.9 patch will be released soon. Unfortunately a definite release date has not yet been given.

The Ratatoskr re-work includes changes to the Dash ability - when Ratatoskr uses Dash, he will stop moving immediately after hitting into an enemy god. However, the Dash cooldown is now reduced for each each time the other basic abilities are used on an enemy god.

The Viking Invasion event will also be added in patch 3.9. The new content will cost 900 gems to gain access. Once you've paid the price, you'll get new skins for Chaac and Kali. The Viking Invasion expansion includes a number of quests that can be completed to unlock new content. This content includes extra wards, a pedestal, a loading frame, an announcer pack

Whilst Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a PC-only title, we have some news about the game that should be heard by eSports fans alike. Recently a new TV show started on TBS called E-League. Supported by the same guys who give Shaq airtime, the E-League is perhaps the biggest thing that has happened to Counter Strike eSports yet.

The new show has put some of the biggest teams in the Counter Strike scene onto live television for the first time in years. By doing so, new attention has been brought to the world of eSports and people are finally seeing how big the world of competitive gaming has become.

Whilst Turner has chosen Counter Strike as it's focus game on E-League, it's clear that they are working hard to make something out of the eSports scene and they truly believe that it has a space alongside traditional sports. Whatever eSports games you enjoy to watch or play, the
E-League is big news for your own community because it shows that there's still room for even