SA Gaming News Wrap

Tuesday, 27 March 2018, VS Gaming announced today that it has acquired the rights to host a FIFA eWorld Cup Qualifier in 2018 after signing an agreement with EA Sports on the 22 of March 2018.

With 1024 players, the VS Gaming Cup is the largest on the continent and the second largest in the world. According to VS Gaming spokesperson, Wanda Mkhize, this historic agreement means players can now test their skills and be given the chance to compete to represent South Africa at the Global Series Playoffs later this year.

“EA SPORTS FIFA is one of the country’s top selling video games and with almost 7 million gamers around South Africa, we can safely say this is a more than an ideal partnership between VS Gaming and EA SPORTS. It most certainly escalates an already successful tournament to world status and gives local gamers the international exposure each of them dreams of,” concludes Mkhize.

The VS Gaming Cup is an accredited official EA SPORTS™ FIFA 18 Global Series qualifier as EA brings competitive FIFA to millions of fans around the world through the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series on The Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 in August 2018.

About the VS Gaming Cup

The VS Gaming Cup will have 1, 024 registered competitors across both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms. The event will be divided into eight pools per platform consisting of a maximum of 64 players per pool. The total number of contestants will be 512 per platform.

The total prize pool for this year is over R1,5 million with the winner on each platform receiving R400, 000. The breakdown is as follows:

For more details on the entire EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series, please visit www.FUTChampions.com.

Esports enthusiasts who would like to compete in this tournament and become a part of the VS Gaming community can register on www.vsgaming.co.za. You can also compete in the online qualifiers, the second round of which is taking place 31 March and 1 April 2018. Those that competed in the first round of online qualifiers, which took place 24 and 25 March, are also eligible for the tournament in May. 

Further details on the tournament, prize packages and ticket sales will be released in due course.

Local-owned favourites take the win at 1337 LAN 

The motto “work hard and play even harder” was given new meaning at this weekend’s 1337 LAN held at Emnotweni in Nelspruit, where locally-owned semi-professional eSports teams dominated the playing field.

This first-of-its-kind event attracted more than 130 esports enthusiasts playing, among others, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. Spectators from the general public had the chance to watch the specially produced live stream of games live in the arena with commentating by professional esports casters.

In the DOTA 2 team competition teams competed in round-robin format with favourites Leetpro.DOTA and Sinister 5 facing off both in the first round and again in the final. While Sinister 5 managed to win the first round 2-1 it was Leetpro.DOTA who walked away with R10 000 in cash and other prizes after a gruelling final that Leetpro.DOTA managed to win 2-0.

“The play of the tournament was when Darron ‘Chelsea)’ Reinhardt, playing Tusk, threw down the Ice Shards to protect Rynhardt ‘RDK’ de Kock on the Tiny from being killed by the Dire team,” says Dota 2 caster Jono “Jubba” Simon.

The CS: GO team competition was played in double elimination format with 16 teams. Again, local favourites Leetpro.CS, Leetpro.fe (who went to China for WESG earlier this year), and NoYou (comprising of LP Voxity, Sinister 5 and Skeletons Again members) dominated the playing field.

Although local team Uniwisp seemed to have started off with a bang, they lost against Omnius Gaming in the second round and fell out of the competition after the fourth round versus NoYou. Omnius Gaming and Leetpro.fe just missed the final after being taken out by NoYou, who went on to face Leetpro.CS in a nail-biting final.

The first map saw double overtime before Leetpro.CS managed to take the win. Although a clear winner could not be predicted during the second map, the Leetpro.CS boys did what they came to do after yet another overtime and also left with R10 000 cash and loads more in prizes.

“Each team member really pulled their weight and supported one another. One team member that really stood out is Tiaan ‘Tiaantjie<3’ Rheeder who, when least expected early on in the game, and again later, really carried the team. When everyone else was down, he just kept going,” says Leetpro.CS captain Aaron ‘SloWye’ van der Walt.

Other teams that competed to look out for in the Lowveld Corporate League during the year includes T3ch 4 of White River and RE Acce of Ermelo.

The LAN was also home to an exhibition showcasing the latest trends in PC and cryptocurrency mining hardware, and here visitors to the arena could try their hand at gaming on top-of-the-range custom MSI PCs and laptops as well as try out the VR experience with the HTC Vive.

“The aim of the LAN is to promote and grow esports in the Lowveld and provide a safe environment for local players and interested parties to network. The more events of this kind hosted in the Lowveld, the more interest there will be and the more local talent will develop”, says organiser Johan Bezuidenhout of Leetpro.

Although Leetpro’s core business focuses on cryptocurrency mining and PC hardware, the Leetpro esports division is very passionate about the development of esports in South Africa and as the company is based in Nelspruit, they would love to see more organised gaming events in the Lowveld.

“As this is a non-profit event, we relied on likeminded businesses to assist with the venue, infrastructure and prize money to make this event as successful as possible. We would like to thank all the sponsors involved, but we would also like to thank each team and player for supporting and sharing our enthusiasm for esports in the Lowveld,” says Bezuidenhout.

Unearthed – A Sci-Fi MMO

Prepare to leave the Earth you know

27 March, 2018 – Pretoria, South Africa – Independent game developer Mad Matter Creative has announced its first game, “Unearthed”, a multiplayer title for Windows Desktop PCs. Unearthed has a strong sci-fi theme and features a blend of survival and adventure elements and is being developed in Unreal Engine 4.

Ragel Alheit, the sole developer of Unearthed and the founder of Mad Matter Creative, describes Unearthed as follows:

“Unearthed is a game which evolves. It encourages exploration from its inception, both in the literal and in the figurative sense. I want players to expect only the unexpected and retain their excitement about the potential and possibilities the developing game holds. They should always wonder: What will happen next?”

Server-wide events will unite players in immersive scenarios which expands and contributes to Unearthed’s lore and the mystery surrounding the setting. Such events can come in the form of, amongst others, a new environment, a blight altering a familiar one, or an incursion of hostile forces. Players will need to work together to face the challenges, or try and brave them on their own.

Unearthed’s environmental sectors is the heart of its multi-layered worldscape. Dynamic elements such as flash floods, forest fires and blights, toxic vapors and sandstorms, as well as many other unique components add to the player’s experiences in the fight for survival.

The game defies the traditional and offers players the chance to pursue what they wish to, without restricting a player to a specific style of play. Neither are players restrained by limitations imposed by skills or levels. Whether it is exploration, trade, earning prestige in arena battles, crafting, gathering, defending outposts or investigating the mysteries of the world they find themselves on, players will have the opportunity to focus on what they love.

While Ragel has been developing and funding Unearthed herself, a larger team is now essential.

An successful Indiegogo campaign will ensure that a team of talented individuals can be hired and added to the ranks of Mad Matter. This will shape Unearthed into the game it is meant to be.

Mad Matter Creative is running an Indiegogo campaign for Unearthed at: indiegogo.com/playunearthed