The 2015 World Championship for League of Legends is underway in Europe right now. This is the first major eSports competition I've watched at length and the differences between LoL and "conventional" sports are really striking to me.
The thing about watching a pro LoL match is that it seems, well, harder than watching football. I think anyone with almost zero knowledge of football's rules could enjoy it because there's a simple focus for their attention: the ball. If your team catches the ball or runs really far with it, you know it's a good thing. The entire match hinges on the ball and its position. With LoL, you've got ten players in different spots on the map and multiple objectives. Plus there are over a hundred characters, each with different abilities. It seems like someone without decent experience in the game might be lost.
Still, LoL is in some ways much more accessible than, say, the NFL. You can watch every pro match online for free. There's no "blackout" in your area because the team didn't sell enough tickets at the stadium. Plus, there's the visual factor. Even as an NFL fan, I have to admit that a football game can look pretty tame compared to a samurai fighting an ice witch in front of a dragon.
Top Stories Of The Week
Assassin's Creed Syndicate TV Commercial Is Short But Effective - So it's the opposite of an Assassin's Creed game?
Uncharted Fans Don't Want Movie, Voice Actor Says - You can swap out "Uncharted" with the name of practically any video game in that headline and it works.
Destiny Developers Apologize For Sleeper Simulant Quest Line - This headline had a typo for two days ("Stimulant" instead of "Simulant") before I realized it. New personal record!
Metal Gear Solid 5 DLC Includes Horse Armor - "Remember that horse armor DLC for Oblivion that everyone made fun of Bethesda for? Why can't we do cool stuff like that?"
Star Wars: Battlefront Heroes and Villains Leaked - Unfortunately Salacious Crumb didn't make the cut.
Cyberpunk 2077 Much Bigger Than Witcher 3 - Okay, that's just kind of scary.
Far Cry Primal Takes You To The Stone Age - "Krunk, we need to scout the area. Climb that radio tower - err, rock tower."
Metal Gear Solid 5 FOB Insurance Might Be The Dumbest Microtransaction Ever - Finally, a game that combines my two passions: covert ops and risk management.
League of Legends One for All Mode Making Comeback - It's a lot different from the default mode, "Fuck You All, You're Ruining My MMR."
Resident Evil 7 Teased By Capcom - Considering Resident Evil's steady move toward action in the past few sequels, I'm expecting RE7 to be a mech combat MMO.
Video Of The Week
Frontier Developments releases footage from Planetary Landings, the expansion to Elite Dangerous that will let players explore the surface of worlds throughout the game's galaxy:
Quote Of The Week
"You know, I don't know. You know, the length of the generation... They [Sony] have a huge lead and they have a good product. I love the content, the games line-up that we have." - Xbox boss Phil Spencer, on whether Xbox One can beat PS4 this generation.
Anne Hathaway Reveals She Used To Be Asked To Make Out With A Bunch Of Dudes For Rom-Coms During Auditions: 'Gross'
Matthew McConaughey Still Hasn't Officially Joined Yellowstone Yet, And A New Rumor Suggests An A+ Actress Could Replace Him
Jennifer Lopez’s Stunning Dress Is Giving All The Maid In Manhattan Vibes
