The eXaminer by hdouglasg

THE UK'S BEST ESPORTS MAGAZINE

EXAMINER THE

ESPORTS. GAMING. ANALYSIS.

TRON ESPORTS AN INTERVIEW

WITH A PROFESSIONAL FIFA PLAYER

COUNTER -STRIKE ESL LEAGUE

ESPORTS AND VR

ISSUE #1

EDITOR'S LETTER

elcome to the first edition of The eXaminer (“ee-zaminer”, to clear up any confusion).

Competitive gaming has seen a burst in popularity in recent years, but in the UK we’re still falling behind countries like Germany and Japan. That’s something that needs to change. We’re a small team of Leeds-based journalists who have noticed a gap in the market when it comes to the reporting of national eSports - particularly grassroots eSports - and we want to show that competitive gaming can be just as entertaining as conventional professional sports. Whether it’s news about local tournaments, or even home-grown players winning globally, we want to keep you up-to-date with everything you need to know about the world of eSports. Thanks for joining the team. Harry Douglas-Gratton Editor in Chief

OUR TEAM

JOE COOK I’m Joe, I’m features editor here at The eXaminer. I’m passionate about games like Overwatch and FIFA. I’m also a big science and technology fan boy! I hope you enjoy my features!

OWEN TYRIE I’m Owen, a journalist who specialises in eSports analysis. I am an ex professional Destiny PvP’er but now focus on Rocket League and Titanfall 2. I hope to see you all online, either fighting with me or in the sights of my gun.

CONTENTS

FEATURES AND ARTICLES

4 The Rise of British eSports How a neglected industry is growing across the UK alongside successful teams and businesses

6 Confetti Arrows

A grassroots team from Nottingham make their mark

9 Rainbow Six Siege

Highlights from the Rainbow Six Siege US Nationals plus thoughts from the analysists

10 Tron Esports We follow a professional grassroots player from Leeds and the team he represents

12 CSGO Finals

Analysis and thoughts on the ESL Counter Strike Pro League finals

15 Rocket League

Match report and analysis of the Rocket League World Championship

16 VR and eSports What is the future of eSports? Will virtual reality technology impact how games are played competitively?

The Rise of Brit

eSports is one of the fastest growing glob entertainment sectors - and Britain is cat on quick By Harry Douglas-Gratton You’ve probably heard the shocked remarks of family as they scroll down their social media feed to see that a teenager has won an enormous cash prize for competitive gaming. “A million pounds”, they’ll blurt between sips of their morning coffee, “for playing Xbox? What is the world coming to?”

we’re attracting big tournaments like the ESL, one in Birmingham, and CSGO in Wembley.

Of course, to those familiar with video games, it’s not shocking. It’s deserved. Although older generations have grown alongside the games industry, to many it’s been seen as a silly pastime to be enjoyed while you’re young.

“You’ve also got big teams like Fnatic based here,” he adds. “You’ve got what Gfinity are doing with F1, the EA premiership FIFA league - it’s really starting to take off in the UK.

And, because of these attitudes often expressed by babyboomers, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the first ever gaming tournament was held in 1972 at Stanford University. The game played was Spacewar - and the reward? A year’s subscription to Rolling Stones magazine. It’s not quite the grand prize everyone is used to in the modern day of eSports. Today, the largest prize pool is upwards of $30 million (£22.8m). And, according to The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie), the largest prize pool event in the United Kingdom to date is $1 million (£842,748). It’s an eye-watering figure by all means, but compared to other countries the UK has fallen behind in the industry… however, it’s starting to catch up. “It’s one of the fastest growing entertainment sectors in the world,” says Ukie’s strategic projects director and eSports lead Daniel Wood. “The UK haven’t really started to shine in that space, so 6

The UK isn’t just attracting tournaments, though. There’s also a number of start up companies and teams centred around eSports.

“We’ve also seen more start up businesses and teams appear so it’s a real opportunity for the UK to be a leader in eSports.” Ukie is the the only trade body for the UK’s games industry, and one of their goals is to further promote eSports as a rising sector. In fact, last year they held the first ever eSports event in parliament. “We want the government to recognise that it’s the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world and see the opportunities that esports presents to the UK generally,” Mr Wood added. “We held the first ever eSports event to be held in parliament, and that had about 100 people from the eSports industry, about 20 or so policy makers, MPs, peers and so on and it was just an informal chance to get together.

“We want the government to recognise that it’s the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world.”

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obal atching

eSports

The event was an opportunity to speak to and educate politicians on how the industry works and what can be done to promote growth. “There were a few speeches, a very short panel and then a chance for people to meet each other and find out more. “Then we had a more focused round table which went into some of the areas we think MPs should be aware of - around where the growth is, what eSports brings to people in the digital community and some of the things it needs to do to potentially grow that sector in the UK.” Sadly, there was no parliament-wide eSports tournament; Labour and Conservative politicians didn’t face-off in CSGO or Fortnite. As any seasoned gamer will know, it’s not always as simple as putting a controller in someone’s hand and telling them to shoot (especially when the average age of MPs is 50…)

“It’s a real opportunity for the UK to be a leader in eSports.” It’s no wonder the UK has lagged behind other countries in Europe. Germany, for example, have approved a $50m funding boost for local game studios. In comparison, the UK Games Fund is just $4m with no plans for a major increase in 2020.

While this is a problem primarily affecting the games industry as a whole, eSports is inevitably caught in the consequences. With such little government funding, how can the country encourage grassroots eSports? How can the country establish and promote global tournaments held locally? For the most part, the private sector has picked up the slack. Gfinity is one such company; founded in 2013, its goal is to provide advisory eSports services and “design, develop and deliver experiences and strategies for game publishers, sports rights holders, commercial partners and media companies.” Gfinity has also hosted local and global tournaments. Although it was only formed eight years ago, Gfinity is worth millions, having doubled its revenue this year alone to £7.9m. Britain has also made its mark with the teams it produces; Fnatic, Endpoint and Team Dignitas as well as players like Joshh, iRaffer and A F0xy Grampa. This year alone, UK eSports players have been predicted to win a total of £3m in prize winnings. By 2023, that number is expected to rise up to nearly £5m. It’s national success stories like these which demonstrate the bright future of the industry. UK eSports is growing rapidly, and there has never been a better time to be a fan.

By Joe Cook

What happens when an educational institution decides to branch out its resources and create a highly competitive team of students? You get the Confetti Arrows. This eSports team are based in Nottingham and are the eSports team of the Confetti institute of creative technologies (connected to Nottingham Trent University). They predominantly play Overwatch and have done so very successfully over the last couple of years playing against numerous teams across the UK in a number of tournaments. Oliver Morley runs the teams; he, along with another teacher at the college, created it and started it from scratch (and who says teachers can’t be cool) and since then the sky has been the limit for the young side. “WE JUMPED AT THE OPPORTUNITY” Oli, as the players know him spoke to us about the Arrows and where he sees the team in an ever growing world of eSports gaming: “It all started when we saw that a league for college students was being organised in the UK, we jumped at the opportunity to organise a team.” The team has only gone from strength to strength since. With the captain Jacob at the helm the team saw instant success in their first game that ended up playing out a David and Goliath match against British Esports Overwatch Champions Sunderland Seers. The odds looked stacked against the eSports newbies, but the match had a few surprises in store. Upon their competitive debut the Arrows would have seemed like fresh meat for the experienced members of the British Championship regulars, waiting to pounce like a pack of wolves, though this wasn’t to be.

“WE GAVE THEM A WAKEUP CALL!” “Looking back, it was probably our very first game at the beginning of the Autumn 2018 season beating Sunderland Seers, who have won all three British Esports Championship Overwatch seasons so far. “I think we gave them a wakeup call and it raised the level of competition in the league significantly… we are still the only team to have won a map from them which we’ve done 3 times! The season 2 final, the season 3 semi-final and in our first match.”

“LIKE A BOSS BATTLE” The Arrows deserve the credit and plaudits for bursting onto the scene and making a name for themselves in the British Esports League against strong opposition. Though despite the strong results against Sunderland Seers, Mr Morley doesn’t see this as the highest moment in the teams brief history - more like the tip of the iceberg, or somewhat like a “boss battle.”

“We made comeback after comeback, I was proud of the boys” “To be honest, speaking for myself, seeing the way the team performed in the final group stage match of Autumn 2019 was a real highlight since the team started. Even though the match result didn’t go the way we wanted, the players kept re-grouping and making comeback after comeback, It was such a close game and both teams put in strong performances but we showed a high level of determination and maturity that even I did not expect. We’ve had to be flexible around our responsibilities and schedules, but we always pull it together in the end.” Mr Morley added he is thrilled with the ongoing success of the Arrows and hopes the success translates into to the academia at the college as well. “We haven’t done a study between academic success and eSports so I can’t say for sure, but anecdotally we have seen big improvements in the students’ communication and teamwork skills as they progress through the seasons which we hope stays with them into academia and beyond.” “I don’t think any experience could have been better for teaching me coordination, teamwork, and leadership. It’s similar to playing a physical sport like football – there is a level of discipline involved that you need the experience to gain. We’ll all definitely have gained some useful skills by the end of this.”

Mr Morley added he is thrilled with the ongoing success of the Arrows and hopes the success translates into to the academia at the college as well. Jacob (TheNotSoPro) the captain of the side has seen the eSport new kids on the block go from college kids to British eSports League challengers since its recent birth in 2018. He said values the experience that the team founders have given him and his visions of the Arrows as the players continue their quest through college and gaming. “I don’t think any experience could have been better for teaching me coordination, teamwork, and leadership. It’s similar to playing a physical sport like football – there is a level of discipline involved that you need the experience to gain. We’ll all definitely have gained some useful skills by the end of this.” “Well, we’ve already confirmed our place within the playoffs, so by our understanding, a good placement in that will give us the chance to compete for tickets to Insomnia, the UK’s largest gaming convention. However, outside of college and the British Esports Association, we plan to compete in the official open division for Overwatch, with the same team and strategies. We would not only be playing for a part of the prize pool but for a place in “Contenders”

ROCKET LEAGUE ROCKET LEAGUEWORLD WORLD

CHAMPIONSHIP 8 Madrid was to host the 8th Rocket League World Championship (RLCS) from 13th December to the 15th and the hype around it couldn’t have been greater. Many big roster changes had been made prior to the tournament as well as new teams taking over old ones allowing for new and upcoming players to shine on the biggest Rocket League stage in the world. Renault Vitality won RLCS 7 earlier this year and since accomplishing this, it has looked likely that they could come back and win a second title. Scrub Killa has showed his confidence on his Twitch stream claiming “We’ve got this one, two in a row is no problem.” 3 new teams appeared at the tournament after qualifying from the Rocket League Rival Series, the league below the RLCS. This included eUnited, The Three Sins and Canberra Havoc. Whilst none of them won in this tournament, all of the teams showed promise and likely will come back stronger next year. Group A was almost decided before it began. NRG and Renault Vitality took the top spots to no real surprise. Turbopulsa seemed to just fit into NRG like the last piece of the jigsaw, playing beautifully off GarretG and allowing JSTN to pop off as he does. Renault Vitality, the defending champions, looked strong on their return to RLCS with the French dynamic duo of FairyPeak and Kaydop playing beautifully together with the young Scotsman Scrub Killa. Veloce Esports qualified through the losers bracket therefore knocking out Renegades, eUnited and LowKey Esports.

Upside down cross map redirect? No problem? Group B made way for many up and coming teams who have been struggling to break through over the past year and they all showed what they were capable of in front of a large audience. However, one big problem stood in their way. Dignitas. Aztral, Yukeo and ViolentPanda were all on form for the whole weekend with some astonishing displays of mechanics and passing plays. Despite falling into the losers’ bracket, The Pittsburgh Knights looked exceptionally strong with RETALS playing like never before. SpaceStation Gaming qualified with Dignitas and The Pittsburgh Knights leaving Team Reciprocity, Three Sins and Canberra Havoc high and dry.

bY oWEN tYRIE

With all the teams qualified and the fans ready for more action, the play offs got underway. The first game to be played was SpaceStation Gaming vs Veloce Esports which was thought to be a brilliant match up according to Randy Gibbons, the RLCS analysist. “These are two teams who fought hard get into this match. Veloce came through the losers bracket, Space(station) were on a hot streak before Dignitas demolished them. Everything was the play for here.” Perhaps it was the commentators curse that made this game so one sided as it ended up 4-1 to SpaceStation Gaming. Renault Vitality beat the Pittsburgh Knights 4-2 in a convincing fashion meaning they faced Dignitas in the semi final’s and what a game it was. A 1-nil win decided it in game 7. NRG wiped SpaceStation 4-1 in what felt like a harsh end to their tournament.

Turbopulsa, JSTN and GarretG celebtraing their first ever RLCS Championship. All that remained was for the grand finale. NRG vs Renault Vitality. The series was a thriller with both teams trading montage goals back and forth but the teams could not be separated. Game 7 came and everything was on the line. Overtime came and the score remained at 1-1. Next goal wins. A misplay from Renault Vitality on the attack allows for a big clear upfield and who else but JSTN was on the end of it to redirect it into the back of the net in a somewhat similar shot to his famous “THIS IS ROCKET LEAGUE” moment back in London last year. NRG take their first ever RLCS in Madrid and it was deserved. The $200,000 prize goes to them and Turbopulsa even bagged himself MVP of the tournament netting him an extra $5000. Congratulations to all the players for putting on a great show. We can’t wait for next years season to start in April.

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RON ESPORTS An interview with grassroots FIFA player Daniel Hall, part of Leeds-based team Tron Esports By Harry Douglas-Gratton A lot of us have played FIFA for years. While some don’t get much better than button-mashing, others are considerably better.

Daniel is also a fan of professional football, and says watching the game helps him improve his techniques while playing.

Even so, there’s a large skill gap between being good at a game and playing it competitively.

“I’m a Manchester city fan. It sounds weird to say, but watching the tactics on the pitch, I adapt those to my FIFA game.

Daniel Hall is a 16 year old college student from Leeds who does just that, and was approached by local eSports team Tron Esports who recognised his talent. “Every weekend there’s something on FIFA called weekend league,” says Daniel. “So we play 30 games, trying to see how many wins you can get out of those 30. “Every week last year I was getting 27, 28 wins, doing very well for myself. Then I got approached by Tron Esports who offered me a contract to go and play for them.”

“You do custom tactics on FIFA, like pass after possession, and I’ll see Manchester City do that and I’ll adapt it to my game. As well as that I watch a lot of the pros who play FIFA who go to all the tournaments. “That’s where I want to be,” he adds. Daniel is signed to Leeds-based company Tron Esports, which was set up in 2018 to capitalise on the rising trend of competitive gaming. CEO of Tron Esports Hatim Hassan says the company’s gaming centres are a major focus, however has started to promote the eSports side even more: “I think we’ve been stretched a bit more with gaming centres, but I’ve taken the focus off of that and more onto esports and the competitive side of things. I think that has gotten more traction now with the likes of Fortnite and other competitive games.”

“Watching the tactics on the pitch, I adapt those to my FIFA game.”

Tron Esports plays a number of games other than FIFA and Mr Hassan says they also have players around the world. They’ve also had success in global tournaments. “We’ve got players across the UK and globally as well. We’ve got players in Germany and the US… in New York, Miami. “One of our Fortnite players, they did a tournament in Germany last year and he finished really well - in the top 20.”

“Every week last year I was getting 27, 28 wins.” Although Tron Esports is a team, Daniel has taken part in tournaments on his own as well. “There’s loads of ESL tournaments,” he says. “That’s where you play against loads of people around the world who maybe don’t have an eSports team but are trying to prove themselves.” “There’s a tournament I’m doing at the moment called ePremiere League and that was very popular on Twitch last year.” Grassroots eSports in the UK is a rapidly growing area. The National University Esports League, for example, consists of over 3000 players from 110 universities. Additionally, eSports is popular amongst the younger generation. According to Newzoo, in 2016 63% of the 6.5m UK eSports fans were aged between 21-35. But compared to other countries, says Mr Hassan, the UK is “lagging behind”. “If you look at European countries or the US, eSports is a lot bigger. I know in the UK it’s still not so well recognised. A lot of parents will question it and say it’s a waste of time. “It’s something that you’ve got to get over and say, look, it’s a new market, a new industry and traditional sports is still there - there’s just a big shift towards esports.”

Tron Esports’ gaming setups. The Leeds-based company is currently moving its gaming centre to another local location. Newzoo’s figures also point to something that those who are cynical about eSports might be surprised by: 65% of eSports enthusiasts are active in team sports, compared to 21% of the general online population. This is true for Daniel, who enjoys playing football both on the pitch and with a controller. “I’m trying to get into semi-professional football. As well as that I’m doing my BTEC football level 3. “I can go onto other things with that, like sport psychology. As long as it’s football related - that’s what I enjoy doing.” With the growing market and public interest, Daniel Hall and Tron Esports will be ones to watch out for.

Fnatic vs Season 10 ESL Pro Season 10 of the ESL Pro League did just about everything a fan could hope for; clutches, aces, chokes and the lot. However, a damn good season needed a damn good ending and the grand finals brought us just that. Fnatic vs mousesports. The Swedish beasts vs the multicultural monsters. Raw reflexes vs insane mechanics. The decider. Both rosters were looking very confident coming into this game. Fnatic faced Natus Vincere in the semi-finals and the Ukrainians wouldn’t be toppled so easily. Despite Navi taking it to the 3rd and final map, Fnatic’s T side was just too strong on Overpass leaving Navi high and dry. Mouz on the other hand had the colossal task of taking down Australis, arguably one of the best teams in recent history; and what a game it was. In an astonishingly close series, Mouz managed to stay calm under the immense pressure applied by Australis and when all the (de_) dust settled, Mouz emerged victorious. The stage was all set for an exciting game. All that remained was to get the pistol round underway.

GAME ONE - INFERNO

Game one got off to a fast and exciting start. The first pistol round was taken by Fnatic which was no surprise considering this was their map pick and they were starting on their favoured T side. Fnatics famous Inferno T side would show itself in the first half of this game with Mouz starting to crumble. Despite going into the second half behind, Mouz had still looked strong with some great defence and solo plays. In the second half, the roles reversed and Mouz came alive and took control of the game. Fnatic didn’t seem prepared to defend against such solid T side and in the end, Mouz took the game 16 rounds to 11.

Boom, headshot.

Chad Burchill, and ex Counter Strike professional gave his thoughts on why Fnatic struggled in the second half. He believed that a very cheeky boost in round 20 gave Mouz the confidence to try things outside of the box which caught Fnatic off guard. “ChrisJ got a good boost to see over the smoke and you don’t expect a kill to come but it does and Flusha is taken out of the game. Golden is left in an unusual angle because of this where he can’t rotate away or fall back. After that round, there was a string of wins from Mouz which gave them the confidence to take home the win.”

PLAY OF THE GAME WOXIC ACE

Not only was the ace here an impressive show of mechanics but the timing of it couldn’t be any more perfect. Woxix recognised that Fnatic had to rush and knew that holding down an angle with an automatic weapon (in this case, the FAMAS) would give him an extreme advantage against Fnatic’s eco round. After taking down three players with the FAMAS, Woxic knew that switching to his pistol would be faster than reloading.

But when you’re as confident with a pistol as Woxic is, there’s never any doubt.

GAME TWO - TRAIN

After a solid win on Inferno, Mouz had their map pick next and it was to be Train. Starting on the T side, Mouz had been looking exceptionally strong all season long on this map so Fnatic were bound to be feeling the pressure. However, Fnatic came flying out of the gates in the pistol round and took the first 3 rounds. After getting off to a good start, Fnatic employed a double AWP setup which worked wonders due to Train having lots of hard scoping angles. After going into the half time switch confident, Fnatic cracked in the second half and Mouz took advantage of this. Fnatic only took one round in the second half and Mouz, looking stronger than ever on their map pick went full steam ahead and took game two. Jacob Winneche, a professional CSGO player for Dignitas, believed that this game was “the same game all over again; Fnatic got off to a somewhat decent start

b h t g

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but they were unable to get anything done in the second half. Mousesports once again showed that they are a great team. Almost everyone on a positive K/D apart from Karrigan but he got a brilliant ace to give his team momentum.”

PLAY OF THE GAME KARRIGAN ACE

Another game, another ace except this time it came from the Great Dane; Karrigan. Fnatic had just taken a time out after losing 6 rounds in a row and losing the lead in the game. Fnatic come at Mouz with a rush through main but Karrigan gatekeeps. A smoke from Fnatic is used but it’s too late; Karrigan spots the players before the smoke pops and even through the smoke, Karrigan takes down both Krimz and JW. After retreating to cover to reload, Karrigan comes back towards the smoke and sprays again towards the back of the room, catching Brollan with his pants down. Golden survived the initial spree but a clever flash assist from Woxic allows Karrigan to clean up Golden too. All that remains is for Karrigan to hunt down Flusha who gives away his position too early making life too easy for Karrigan.

GAME THREE MiRAGE

After losing two games in a row and being on the verge of a 3-0 washout, things were not looking good for Fnatic. But Mirage was Fnatic’s pick and the map suits their fast-Swedish style of Counter Strike so it was still anyone’s game. Once again, Fnatic took the pistol round and started off strong but failed to keep the momentum going their way as Mouz came back at them and took the lead going into half time. Fnatic didn’t go down without a fight in the second half however, taking 6 rounds for themselves; more than they got in the first half. But alas, Mouz were once again in control and had all the utility to play around with making life ever so difficult for the Swedes. In the end, Mouz comfortably swept Fnatic and became the Sesaon 10 Pro League Champions.

PLAY OF THE GAME BROLLAN ACE

Despite the rest of Fnatic not playing as well as we’re used to seeing, Brollan was having a blast throughout all three games and this ace was one he deserved. Mouz rushed T ramp towards the A bomb site but was met with a shower of lead from Brollan as he takes out 3 with his M4A1 and a fouth with a very slick USP headshot. After slaughtering the Mouz rush he turns his attention to Ropz, the last man standing for Mouz. Picking up an AUG from the floor, he spots Ropz on the bomb site and dispatches him quickly giving Fnatic some confidence and Brollan a montage play to remember.

Conclusion

A 3-0 sweep for Mouz wasn’t what anyone was expecting as many thought Fnatic would come and at least take one game. Mouz in the end were just too strong and consistent in every gun fight, whereas Fnatic could not seem to get any momentum going and when they did, Mouz shut it down. An excellent performance from Mouz as they showed the world that they deserve the title of champions. By Owen Tyrie

MVP – Karrigan

The leader of the team who has been in plenty of grand finals before took charge today and ran riot. Despite ending up on a negative K/D, he remained a pillar of excellence all game long acting as a true leader to the squad. Wherever he was, he was confident in his mechanics and to top it off, the nutty ace to demoralise Fnatic in game two was the icing on the cake.

All Photo Credit - ESL

RAINBOW 6 SIEGE BY OWEN TYRIE US NATIONALS Rainbow 6 Siege, whilst not the biggest e-sport around, is definitely one that requires an insane amount of skill to play. Small highly focused map design with the added mechanics of destructible environments and an extremely quick time to kill make it one of the most difficult games to truly master. More importantly for us, it also makes for an excellent and exciting e-sport to watch. The Rainbow 6 Siege US Nationals was being held in Las Vegas from 13th December to the 15th and after only starting for the first-time last year, there was a brilliant crowd turnout who came to see some truly high-level Siege action. The format was a single elimination bracket starting straight away with quarter-finals. The stage was all set and the first games got underway. Kicking off Day 1 was the Susquehanna Soniqs vs Tempo Storm which was especially hyped up due to some beef between players Filthy and Super. Tempo Storm had been strong in the qualifying season whereas Soniqs had been mostly weak but have since acquired two new players, Slebben and Gomfi who were crowd favourites. To everyone’s surprise, Soniqs took the series 2-0 despite being the underdogs. Loviel Cardwell, ex Gears of War professional and Rainbow 6 Siege analysist said “The way Soniqs adapted to Tempo Storm’s aggression in game one was brilliant and Tempo Storm were left with no answer for the rest of the series.” Soniqs would qualify for the semi-finals and destroy Tempo Storm’s chance for a title. Joining Soniqs in qualifying was TSM, Team Reciprocity who were all playing in absolute brilliant form whereas all the teams who were knocked out from the quarter-finals didn’t live up to the expectations most people had. The semi finals would prove to be more exciting games as the pressure piled on but two clear winners emerged. Despite Soniqs adapting brilliantly in the previous match, SpaceStation Gaming’s methodical style of play and brilliant fragging was too much for them and SpaceStation won 2 games to zero. The other semi-final was between TSM and Reciprocity, a match with very high expectations as these two titans were both known for relying on aggressive tactics. It was definitely what the fans wanted to see with lots of fragging

but Loviel Cardwell believed that TSM’s lack of composure when closing out rounds lost them the series. “When Verticl got that clutch, TSM were scared when they actually had the advantage. They just needed to make a simple pinch play but instead they backed off and allowed Verticl time. At that level of Siege, you can’t back off when you have the man advantage.” Reciprocity took the series 2-0 and faced SpaceStation in the grand finale.

SpaceStation Gaming celebrate a hard fought win. The grand final between SpaceStation and Reciprocity was a highly anticipated one and there was more than just money on the line. The title of US Champion. Both teams wanted it and with the crowd chanting wildly, the game begun. SpaceStation got off to a decimating start in the first game on their map pick. Reciprocity were playing scared and SpaceStation took advantage of that, cutting out all rotating options never allowing an enemy to escape. This would go on throughout the game with SpaceStation gaming seemingly on a war path. Rampy was playing the best the world of Siege has ever seen him play with the pressure seemingly unaffecting him and thanks to some brilliant support from his teammates ThinkingNade and Bosco, SpaceStation would clean sweep Reciprocity 3-0. SpaceStation Gaming had been dominant all weekend long and they truly earned the US National Champions. Not only do they now have that award but now they will represent USA in the Siege World Cup, the biggest Siege tournament in the world. It was brilliant weekend full of exciting aggressive Siege gameplay which only left everyone excited for the World Cup next year.

THE FUTURE OF ESPORTS What exactly does the future hold for eSports? Well, for one company that have recently opened in Leeds the future is from a slightly different perspective. Why play a game when you can put yourself in the game? The future is in virtual reality. VR Simulators in Leeds are passionate about the future of competitive gaming and hope to be at the forefront of a new gaming revolution which will force players to play competitively in a more “immersive” environment. Karl Lee, manager at VR simulators, said “The product is very real, it replicates driving a super car, rally car, f1 car. We have fans that emulate wind in your face! Its unbelievable immersion” The most ultimate virtual reality experience possible we provide an immersion level that is unrivalled in any other way of gaming.”

IS HERE

BY JOE

COOK

Virtual reality has shot to prominence in the last decade with the technology progressing further an further every year, and especially since the release of the Playstation VR In 2016 the hype continues to thrive. “It’s a magical experience when a group all come in all jokey and messing about, 10 minutes later they sit down and all become competitive all want to beat each other. And that’s the aim, we want people to enjoy themselves so why not turn this into a competitive way of playing,” Mr Lee added. “In the long run we are looking to promote, collaborate and generate an eSport tournament where we could race and compete against Glasgow, Southampton, Manchester, Birmingham and various other branches, VR companies and players”

The idea of playing professionally in a virtual reality world may sound slightly dystopian to some, but ten years ago the idea of professional gaming may have been laughed at by many. The gaming world has taken massive strides into the mainstream media in recent years. A lot of this is down to YouTube and Twitch, but a lot of it is also due to the ease of access of gaming in the modern day. Consoles are cheap and everyone has one, VR Simulators want this to be the case in order to step into a virtual reality world of gaming as well. “We are always in collaboration with Project Cars 2, which we mainly play here, so we have the constant conversation and critique in terms of what can be done better to create the perfect and consistent gaming experience. Anyone can come down for a few hours for little more than you would pay for a cinema ticket. The product is very real, it replicates driving a super car, rally car, f1 car, we provide an immersion level that is unrivalled in any other way of gaming.” Despite this, the truth is doing this kind of competitive playing on a mass scale is quite a long way off unfortunately.

Take a search into Twitch and you’ll notice the market isn’t thriving with viewers wanting to watch virtual reality. That’s the problem with virtual reality, it’s all from the players perspective, and though this is clearly immersion taken to the next level for the player, the output for viewers is practically the same as watching a player play a standard console. Though, this doesn’t affect VR Simulators, who see the technology itself as a reason to believe that anything is possible.

“Obviously with technology, it’s a constant change in environment, so 6 months down the line there could be a new headset, a new tv, but also new simulation technology, the possibilities are endless. So you never know. Hopefully the technology and player base, which has a huge following, continues to grow.

the experience is a win win Mr Lee hopes that VR will expand into eSports in the near future: “As of right now we are able to race other venues and other clubs, and stream it online, and that’s all it really takes so who knows. We hope that Leeds, a hugely commercial city full of business, fashion and sports, can accept us and help us thrive. “We want to set up an eSports league here. We want people to come back because that is the nature of gaming, it encourages competition, feeling a winning rush is important to us. We’ve had tournaments held here before of course and had no real issues! Maybe a couple of beers spilt but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. There’s a massive following of such eSports tournaments online in other racing games such as Gran Turismo and Forza, as well as shooting games and tactical games, so we think this really is a recipe for a something magical to happen for gaming.” With the world of eSports growing now really is the time to get involved, and try something new. The main reason to get involved with virtual reality is just well and simply because it’s fun. Where else can you look out the window of a Ferrari as you burst down a country road at 100mph? Nowhere. And that is what getting into a video gaming is all about, stepping into another world, doing the impossible. There’s competitive elements to all sports but there’s also the sports clubs and games for those who just wants to take part and try something new, and gaming whether in VR, competitively or just on your own is no different.