XBox 360 League - The Major Competitions And Games

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.

MLG

Founded in 2002, it's the foremost in video gaming leagues. It provides annual tournaments for people to compete in, usually with six major games. The most recent of the Halo series is always present with the latest tournament using Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. Furthermore, if the game is not exclusive to a single console, but instead present on at least the PS3 and any other one, the PS3 version will always be used. The tournaments take place both online and offline, with many live events held all over the world. However, these live events sometimes only apply to specific games, consoles or players.

The Games

The Halo series is an arcade-like first person shooter (FPS) that provides many close-quarters maps and levels for players to face off against. However, there are also larger maps with vehicles and differing objectives, making the series perfect to suit many different roles. With it's insane popularity and large fan base, it's perfect to be used as standard fare for any major gaming league.

Call of Duty is another game of exceptional popularity and has also been used in several iterations. Modern Warfare provided a good deal of competitive gaming and features realistic scenarios in contrast to the sci-fi Halo. The gameplay is still somewhat unrealistic, however, and is still very much twitch-based. Modern Warfare 2 has also been used and the upcoming Black Ops is expected to debut next year. 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

Unfortunately, not everyone is beyond such practice. While cheating in an online, video gaming league might be somewhat easier, the console's low-level interface means it's a lot more difficult. However, cheating can be perceived in a number of ways. For example, perhaps the easiest method of cheating is purchasing a controller with macro keys. This button has a string of other button presses attached to it, so all you need to do is press it once to perform combination moves or something similar, which is inhumanly possible at such a speed.

Video Game Leagues, The Primary Unions, Procedures And Regulations

For some of us, playing games is a way of life and many of this demographic may often wonder at a life where playing games is actually productive. It would come as surprise for these individuals, then, to learn that there are, in fact, almost a dozen major video game leagues that have hundreds of attendees and competitors every year. Millions of dollars of prizes are given away annually to the winners, meaning it's not just a passing fancy, but a completely viable way of life, provided you're the best of the best. These leagues utilize some of the most competitive games around, not all of them new, and people from all over the world compete, both in person and over the Internet. The participants can take part as either teams or individuals, depending on the league and game in question.

The Main Competing Bodies

There are several major leagues that dominate the world of competitive gaming. The first is the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) has been around for six years and has awarded over three million dollars worth of prizes. It primarily focuses on the first-person shooter (FPS) games and is a venerable option. The World Cyber Games (WCG) provide annual events with tremendous amounts of money varying between four-hundred thousand and five-hundred thousand dollars. They provide dozens of gaming genres from strategies to FPSs. The Pro Gaming League (PGL) also stands with the larger leagues and focuses on the console gaming sector, though offering 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.

Once a team have beaten the champions or the champions have retained their throne, then the prize money is awarded. Sometimes it's money, but it's also commonly dished out as items worth the same amount, such as graphics cards, computers, etc. The events are then arranged for the following year with the new or old champions being written in to defend their titles.

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.