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[Hazaro]

Hmm... not a big league fan, but I am sure the energy there is going to be insane. I should try and go.

 

[Ashhong]

So is this just for the finals? That's the only part that was at USC right? The rest was somewhere downtown? I forgot where

 

[Boken]

So is this just for the finals? That's the only part that was at USC right? The rest was somewhere downtown? I forgot where

yeah, finals is at staples

the semis is at Galen Centre and group stage somewhere else? maybe?

Apparently LoL pro players are now recognised by the US govt as "professional athletes", in order to make visas easier to obtain. From this video:
http://au.gamespot.com/league-of-le...llen-talk-tournament-format-and-more-6411345/
cant actually watch it myself. dunno if they mean pro gamers in general, or riot has gone and spoken to the govt.

 

[Ashhong]

Hmm, I should make sure I'm on top of it and get tickets to at least the semis and finals. Probably the group too.

 

[Jamie OD]

I wonder how many viewers EVO will top out at this weekend.

It will be good but nowhere near as strong as LoL's major tournaments. Wouldn't surprise me if a certain LoL stream gets more viewers than the EVO streams this weekend to be honest.

 

[Boken]

It will be good but nowhere near as strong as LoL's major tournaments. Wouldn't surprise me if a certain LoL stream gets more viewers than the EVO streams this weekend to be honest.

does evo have SSBM?

if it does,
NO CHANCE

 

[rCIZZLE]

Yeah it's a bummer as a fan of competitive FPS this still makes me happy but I would rather see CS GO and Quake live pulling these kinda numbers. Hopefully they will find their audience.I am grateful for Dota 2 opening valve's eyes to the competitive scene. I think the huge amount of competitive oriented patches for CS: GO has showed they aren't the same company who pretty much ignored the competitive community back in the day.

Despite being so popular, shooters are just not suited for spectating. Even when I watched the old cal-i 1.x matches it was almost always about learning instead of entertainment.

 

[bjaelke]

Let's hope other companies notice the success Riot and Valve are having with continously supporting a well made competitive game.

Constant sequels are not needed. Do a good base and slowly evolve the game from there. I prefer that a lot to the yearly COD mp update model.

Sequels might not be needed, but it's obvious that they're playing on a 4 year old client. So many outdated elements that could benefit from an overhaul - both graphically and codewise.

Adobe Air.

 

[Aaron]

Despite being so popular, shooters are just not suited for spectating. Even when I watched the old cal-i 1.x matches it was almost always about learning instead of entertainment.

I really think speed and pacing limit how far an esport can go. That's why fighting games don't do huge numbers outside of EVO. The only shorter with any traction right now is BLOPS2, and that's pretty slow paced compared to Counter Strike. Slower pace means that more casual fans have time to absorb it, and the casters have time to explain it. You can watch LOL casually and not pay close attention to it, focusing just on the big fights, but fighting games are all big fight. You've got to pay attention to the whole thing, and a lot of viewers aren't interested in that.

 

[Leezard]

Sequels might not be needed, but it's obvious that they're playing on a 4 year old client. So many outdated elements that could benefit from an overhaul - both graphically and codewise.

Adobe Air.

Though it can certainly see more improvements, the current client is far superior to the one that existed even 2 or 3 years ago. It's a good thing the game itself doesn't run on Adobe Air.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

LoL was also perfectly timed to take advantage of the rapid growth in streaming. Starcraft and Counter-Strike never had such technology behind them, and Twitch turned League into a juggernaut, and its pro players into celebrities.

 

[Toski]

I really think speed and pacing limit how far an esport can go. That's why fighting games don't do huge numbers outside of EVO. The only shorter with any traction right now is BLOPS2, and that's pretty slow paced compared to Counter Strike. Slower pace means that more casual fans have time to absorb it, and the casters have time to explain it. You can watch LOL casually and not pay close attention to it, focusing just on the big fights, but fighting games are all big fight. You've got to pay attention to the whole thing, and a lot of viewers aren't interested in that.

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard that before.

 

[The Faceless Master]

as an australian, i dont understand the significance of being at the staples centre, but maybe some of you will

it's like moving from a large college Cricket field to the biggest pro stadium in the city.

 

[Senor Kami]

I heard it costs 775 million dollars to rent out the Staples Center. I hope it's worth it.

LOL. Drunk people say the darndest things.

 

[Aaron]

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard that before.

It's purely anecdotal from people I've talked to who either watched other esports and not fighting games, or used to watch fighting games but have fallen off. Around a dozen people isn't a good sample size, but I'd like someone, say even twitch to conduct a survey to find out what makes certain esports more popular than others.

 

[ExpressGalaxy]

I wish CSGO pulled in bigger stream numbers... the fact that Call of Duty routinely beats it in Twitch viewers makes me sad :[

 

[sixteen-bit]

lolesports such an unfortunate url

Without context, sure.

 

[Boken]

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion? I'm not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard that before.

i think watching pro games are for 2 things:
1. to appreciate their skill
2. to learn things

now i dont know the % distribution between the two, but assuming a game takes some kind of skill, then #1 is satisfied for any competitive game.

however, i feel like watching a fighting game doesnt teach you as much about the game because theres few strategies, just amazing execution and mechanics. Things you can learn are some strategies to teach, and some mechanics that have replicatable elements - like a certain stunlock combo.

 

[Majine]

I feel that I need to learn to atleast play that game some day. Just for educational purposes, considering it's the frickin' biggest game on the planet.

 

[Liseda]

It just makes me sad that "esport" wasn't this big with fun competitive games like Quake.

 

[impact]

It just makes me sad that "esport" wasn't this big with fun competitive games like Quake.

Quake is about 579,183 times harder to learn and master than LoL. I imagine that has something to do with it.

 

[Samyy]

Quake is about 579,183 times harder to learn and master than LoL. I imagine that has something to do with it.

Exactly, the fact that its fairly simple to learn makes it much more enjoyable to watch as you know the champions, what they can do and how the game is generally played. If it was too complex it wouldn't be as popular.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

It's not on the staples center schedule at their website haha.

Guess they don't want dorky videogames sitting between Depeche Mode and Bon Jovi.

Honestly, this is awesomely cool.