STACK September 2017 Issue 155

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INTRO GAMES
5 years ago - The Mists of Pandaria
update for World of Warcraft is released.
10 years ago - Halo 3 launches for the
Xbox 360, developed by Bungie.
20 years ago - Croc: Legend of the
Gobbos makes it to the PlayStation 1.
30 years ago - The SEGA Master
System hits shelves in Europe.
Every month STACK takes a brief look at what’s
happening in esports, both locally and overseas.
esports Round-Up
Junglist
with
It’s been an incredibly busy
time for Australian esports,
with the talk of the town
being our performance at the
Overwatch World Cup qualifiers
in Sydney. After demolishing
Portugal and Italy, a loss to
Sweden meant Australia had to
book its ticket to the World Cup
finals by fighting a Japanese
side that had a points advantage
almost the whole time. The
Australians kept managing to
come back, even after being
within one per cent of losing a
final point, and snatched victory
with some tricky, yet still frantic,
defensive play.
A new league has spawned
in Australia. “The Elite Series”
is a lovechild of several
digital marketing companies
undoubtedly volleying words
like “youth” and “millennials”
across meeting rooms. It aims
to tie its franchises to cities
with names like the
Melbourne Rebolte,
and Perth Subnets.
What’s unclear
is “why?” –
because while
mainstream
sports athletes
playing for their
actual hometowns
are already rare,
the only way to make
geography less relevant is
to choose a medium based on
broadband. We'll find out more
soon.
All is not
well in Oceanic
Smite, as top
team Dire Wolves’
roster in its entirety
has quit the game. A lengthy
grievance statement from
guardian player Richard Castle
cited frustrations in dealing
with developer Hi-Rez Studios.
Recently third-placed Smite
organisation Dark Sided has
also disbanded, citing lack of
motivation.
Both Mindfreak and Tainted
Minds crashed out of the
group stages of the Call of Duty
World League Championship,
the former unable to recreate
previous successes.
Elsewhere, Aussie player
Damien “kpii” Chok earned an
individual $800,000 for team
Newbee’s second place finish
in DOTA 2’s The International
2017, losing out to Team Liquid.
Perhaps most impressively, our
very own Daniel "dandaking" De
Sousa managed to qualify for
the Quake World Championships
by showing up Americans in
the qualifiers – despite a ping
of 272.
Dire Wolves'
roster in its
entirety has quit
the game...
In Super Mario 3, if you
let a chain chomp pull
against its chain enough
times, it will break free
on the 50th attempt.
Did you
know?
SEPTEMBER
GT SPORT
JB are offering an
exclusive Steelboo
edition, as well as
Europe Theme pa
featuring three ca