XBox 360 League - The Primary Organizations And Challenges

Video game leagues aren't new, but they're also not widely advertised and it's likely that if you don't play games much or monitor the gaming scene, you've never heard of a video game league before. However, they've grown to much larger sizes of the years, with rewards reaching half a million dollars for the winners. Usually, events are held annually and focus on half a dozen or so popular games that emphasize competition. These events are held all over the world, sometimes live, while other times they'll simply be online. Some leagues utilize all the platforms, such as computers, Xboxes and PS3s, while others focus exclusively on a certain platform, such as an Xbox 360 league, for example. Those who qualify and pay entry fees can take part to challenge some of the best players in the world.

Major League Gaming (MLG)

In existence for ten years now, it's considered one of the foremost and most venerable of video game leagues. It focuses on annual tournaments utilizing multiple tiers to filter out the champions. Within these tournaments, there are six major events to coincide with the six games in use. There are some games that have been part of the competitions since the start, only changing to sequels, and some are brand new to the tournaments. With Major League Gaming, the PS3 editions of games are usually used, but in the case of some exclusive games like Halo or Gears of War, the Xbox 360 is utilized. MLG hosts both online and live events around the world, depending on the event.

The Games

Halo has been the mainstay of the tournaments since the start with Halo: Combat Evolved. It's a first person shooter with many non-realistic elements, which means it's very fast paced and focused primarily on twitch-based skills. The close-quarter maps amplify this and it is considered an exemplary competitive game. Over the years it's been updated and Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach have all made their debut. Call of Duty has also seen tremendous hikes in popularity over the past few years. While the current generation of Modern Warfare 2 is soon to be ousted by Black Ops, the original Modern Warfare saw its own use within many major console gaming leagues. As they all provide high-quality gameplay and are FPSs, they're a perfect complement to the Halo series. It's likely Black Ops will replace Modern Warfare 2 in the next leagues. Gears of War strays from the mold as it provides third-person cover-based shooting, but focuses on team-based play. It can, however, provide matches for free-for-alls and pairs and is a very good example of controlled competition. The sequel is currently in place with Gears of War 3 likely to be put in place when that is released.

Cheating

Cheating isn't favorable in any sport and video game leagues are no exception. While it's somewhat easier to do, cheating can become very subjective. There are controllers with macro buttons that allow the player to simply press once to dispatch a prearranged set of keys or combinations. This provides the players with an inhuman advantage, but as it's sold legally and not banned by online governing bodies such as Microsoft, many consider it to be fine, while video game leagues are gradually banning such devices.

Video Game Leagues, The Primary Leagues, Processes And Regulations

It's become a fantastically popular dream to become a member of a professional gaming league. It allows you to play your favorite games at the toughest opponents and potentially make a good profit from doing so. Living your life playing games is somewhat of a Utopian fantasy for many, but outside of the savvy fans, there is little information in circulation. To gain some understanding about the video game leagues, you need to consider many different aspects of it. There is practically a league for every console and every one contains numerous games. For the most popular ones, there is usually an entire league dedicated to them and the participants might sometimes take part as individuals or as parts of teams.

The Main Leagues

There are several influential gaming leagues. The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) has been around since 2004 and has distributed over million in prizes. It's considered somewhat of a veteran and is where many go to compete in first-person shooter (FPS) games. The World Cyber Games are yearly events to dish out a serious amount of prize money ranging between 0,000 and 0,000. It features dozens of game types, so it's not strictly limited to a single genre. The Pro Gaming League (PGL) is also a primary contender though primarily in console games, unlike the previous leagues, and offers less prize money.

Competition

Generally, the leagues all have reigning champions who are teams or individuals whom have won the previous events. These champions are then challenged by amateur players and teams who have entered the league, usually paying a fee to do so. From here on out, it's a very standard competition, where the the amateurs fight amongst themselves until only the best remain, then they're pitted against the champions. There are variants amongst each league, such as the champions also competing within the tiers instead of facing only the winners.

The prizes are not always monetary. They can sometimes be physical items such as graphics cards, consoles and other items of varying monetary values. The following year sees the champions written in to face either returning or new competitors.

Cheating

A considerable offense, cheating will obviously mean instant disqualification of you and your team if you're part of one, unless it's proven the team had no awareness of the player's cheating. If they are allowed to continue, then they may be able to seek a replacement player or have to remain handicapped. Cheating can be present in a number of ways, such as manipulating in game data or exploiting glitches in the game to provide a distinct advantage to themselves. Recently, hardware has come under scrutiny as well, since hardware has come a long way since standardization. It's possible to purchase controllers that provide macros, which allows the player to press a button once and have that button repeated faster than is humanly possible. Furthermore, it's easier for such macros to reduce large combinations of keys into a single button press. These have been banned from gaming leagues due to the obvious advantages provided.