As games like League of Legends succeed, developers and distributors look towards their success and analyze how it can be applied to their products. H1Z1 attracted a lot of recent attention for going back on their initial statement that in-game payments could not be applied to ammo or guns by implementing airdrops, a system that would allow players to pay a fee and have a plane drop off supplies that may contain weapons and ammo. The developers say that the possible consequences of these drops—attracting zombie attention, possible raiding by other players,and the rare drop rate of weapons—even out the potential for unbalancing the game. But players weren't satisfied, and many asked for refunds when the airdrops were announ

Each match is a best-of-5 series where both teams will submit their bans, pick their heroes, and attempt to destroy the Nexus at the opposing team's side. The winners from the first two matches then go head-to-head in the Grand Finals where they will be crowned the heroes of the d

Doomhammer is one of the most feared weapons in WoW history, but now everyone can wield one of their own with the World of Warcraft Doomhammer Toy . Designed for ages six and up, this collectible is great for play or display. While it may be just a toy, it features a Blizzard-approved design that captures all the little intricacies of the Doomhammer from the game (and the mov

Needless to say, Université Laval was a powerhouse after being undefeated throughout the 2018 Heroes of the Dorm National Championships. That doesn't mean that they didn't have a hard time with the series' underdogs, University at Buff

AHIII: Blizzard had contacted me last year about being a caster for Heroes of the Dorm and that was a dream come true. I like to think they were happy enough with my performance last year to invite me out this year (laughs) . I, very much, hope to be invited to do more things; I would love to. At this point, casting is in my DNA now. I got into it for personal reasons and now I can see an avenue where I potentially could see this more as an ongoing profess

For example, the semi-finals match: Laval vs. Kentucky. Laval, they love the concept of eSports but Laval as a school have yet to embrace it. They're trying to be that lightning rod that says, "This is a thing. This is something that a lot of students have the passion for." They want to be a spark to a legacy. Not only that, they are representing an entire country. Interviewing them yesterday, they said something like every Canadian team has reached out to them and congratulating t

Other developers try downloadable content. To combat profit loss from piracy, developers continue to work on a game after its release and provide extra content to those who are willing to pay. You can pay $60 upfront for a game and continue to pay later if you want more. Unfortunately, this draws a fair amount of criticism, especially when games started coming out with day-one DLC—if the content was ready at the time of release, gamers asked, why not just include it in the game? Further, what was to stop developers from holding back content gamers wanted so they could ask for more money later on? Out of this has come a new trend of free-to-play games, which on the surface seems greats, but whose implementation is proving aggravating and even alienating for gamers and developers al

The second match, set on Infernal Shrines, told a similar story but we saw a bit more coordination from both teams. UK started strong garnering the first Punisher, but that momentum quickly came to a halt when Laval won the team fight and got a Punisher of their own. From that point on, the French Canadian team steamrolled UK with ease and ended the match in just 14 minu

So what's the future business model for games? It depends on the individual company and the product they're producing. A single-player RPG seems like fixed price is the right model, but considering the popularity of online multiplayer, we're seeing fewer and fewer of them. As time goes on, the purely single-player experience may fall by the wayside—already, we're seeing more games implement multiplayer modes in previously single-player ga

Plain and simple, Laval are just the better team. Buffalo seemed like they would be on an even playing field with their performance but found themselves at a level disadvantage in the late moba game Walkthrough. In both matches, Laval was more coordinated in team fights; even when they looked like they were losing, they would come out with more experience with the opposition running away from t

The world of competitive gaming known as eSports is still in its infancy and has a ton of room to grow. Its popularity is climbing every year with seemingly larger production budgets, being held in arenas that seat thousands of people. A big component in creating such an excited and dedicated environment are the casters; they not only help hype people up for the event but also inform those who are watch