Stunlock Studios has announced a new Battle Pass system for Battlerite and Battlerite Royale. All players will be given a Free Battle Pass that can be upgraded to the Premium Battle Pass for 950 in-game Gems / Diamonds or for $9.50. Battle Passes reward players with cosmetic items, emotes, outfits, weapons, XP boosts, avatars and more. “Players will be able to switch back and forth between” both versions of the game with Battle Pass progress continuing to accrue regardless.
Apex Legends has exceeded everyone’s expectations mere days after being both announced and launched. Within the game’s first 72-hours, it managed to hit two huge milestones: Over 10M unique players have taken part and for a time over 1M players were on board concurrently. Respawn’s Vince Zampella wrote a brief note to players on the game’s site that announced the big numbers and thanked the community for its support.
Bellator MMA is launching its European Series starting with Bellator Newcastle this weekend, and fans need not worry about how to watch the event any longer.
The pay-per-view landscape for the Ultimate Fighting Championship is still uncertain, as the organization has announced that despite failed negotiations, fight fans will still be able to order UFC 234 through DirecTV this weekend.
The pay-per-view landscape for the Ultimate Fighting Championship is still uncertain, as the organization has announced that due to failed negotiations, fight fans will not be able to order UFC events through DirecTV for the foreseeable future.
With the continuing growth of competitive fighting games and esports in the United States and beyond, the pursuit of a career in these fields is becoming more viable every day. Even high schools such as Lambert High in Suwanee, Georgia are getting in on the action.
In this mini-documentary produced by well-known FGC cosplayer and competitor, Amanda “Romanova” Rose, she interviews a group of students from the Lambert High School Esports Club, who play competitive fighting games such as SoulCalibur VI, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and several others. In the video, they talk about how they got into competitive fighters as well as what they plan to do involving fighting games in the future, after graduation. Some of them also talk about how they balance their school life with the club activities, and what the goals of the team are in general.
I talked to Romanova about how and why she produced this video to highlight the Lambert High School Esports Club, and what the future might hold for these teens in the world of competitive gaming. You can watch the video and read the interview below.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: How and when did you come across this high school esports club in Suwanee?
Romanova: First of all, thank you for giving a chance to give these teens more exposure. They deserve it.
I came across the Lambert High School Esports Club by just attending my weeklies. Funny enough, my first encounter was their leader Ajax playing me at the Gwinnett Brawl weekly. He barely beat me, but popped off and I was like ‘Who is this young kid popping off like a maniac?’ He later came up and apologized for the excitement claiming he was actually a big fan of my streams and me playing DBFZ, and told me a bit about what they do (him and the team).
Their one member, Synebon, frequents my streams and was the one to officially invite me to come guest coach them. They have had a few people from our locals (like Max Blackwerk) come to give advice to help them get better at fighting games by sitting with their players individually and working on strengthening areas of their gameplay.
El Cubano Loco: Why did you choose to do this mini documentary on them in particular? What made them stand out and strike a chord with you?
Romanova: I chose to do this because there is always content being pumped out in the FGC and it’s amazing, but you don’t get to see too many of these inspiring tales. This may not inspire most people but seeing what these people were doing was so pure and heartwarming I wanted to share it with the FGC. I never had a team like this when I was younger. I know I would’ve felt so much better about being a nerd in high school if I had a group like this to kick it with for practices and gaming. I hope that it inspires other high schools to do the same. I know the other people who have come to coach them would agree also.
The way I did this all was using Twitch to raise the money to hire a videographer to come with me to interview them. I wanted it to be grassroots, but also good quality video. I also learned more about them while doing this doc, which made me end up including Ajax’s father in the video as well. I thought one of the most heartwarming things was seeing his dad say how his son was into esports so he ended up working on fight sticks and arcade cabs instead of cars with him and wouldn’t have it any other way. I really hope for the parents out there who see this video see how much it means to their children when they can support the hobbies their kids want to partake in, like gaming.
El Cubano Loco: Do you have any projects planned with them in the future? If so, what are they exactly?
Romanova: I do not currently have any future projects planned with them, but one big thing I’d love to do is this: some of them graduate next year, and it would be cool to raise money and send two of them to Evo next year if we could get a project going for it and to film their experience at Evo, since it will be their first time at an event of that grandeur. Another thing I’d love to do would be to send them to Combo Breaker, one of my personal favorite FGC events.
El Cubano Loco: Do these kids plan to grow their club into something bigger, and maybe branch out to compete at majors at some point as they mature?
Romanova: I think some of them want to continue to support each other even after they become alumni to the club. I really hope to see them come more often with time to the monthlies and weeklies as well. I see a lot of potential in them to grow as fighting game players as do my fellow players from the local scene here. I think the future looks bright for this group of teens.
The STar Wars: The Old Republic site has a new mini-interview with Creative Director Charles Boyd where he speaks about the inclusion of some pretty familiar faces in Jedi Under Siege which launched in December. He speaks about the such well-known characters as Darth Malgus, Master Gnost-Dural. He also speaks about new characters, what the team was most excited for players to find in the update and how Ossus is something different from all the other planets.
Blizzard has announced the release of the latest book in the Diablo series, this time a closer look at the bestiary in the long-running series. Called “The Book of Adria: A Diablo Bestiary”, the tome is a fictionalized look at the research Adria — one of the arch-villains in Diablo 3 and mother of Leah — conducted of monstrous races over the years. “Equal parts a tome of lore and beautifully illustrated art book,” the description reads. Certainly, it is a must-have for hardcore fans.
