STACK March 2017 Issue 149

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M uch like real football, FIFA’s
competition structure places
Australia in the extensive “Rest
of the World” region. There’s
Europe, the Americas, and “Rest
of the World”. As such, our FIFA
competitors recently found
themselves up against challengers
from Saudi Arabia and Hong
Kong, right in the middle
of Sydney’s sweltering
heatwave. But unlike real
football, this FIFA is very
much owned by EA, which
can alter the competitive
format to suit its bottom line.
At a time when
mainstream sporting
franchises are investing in FIFA as
an esport, EA chose its Ultimate
Team mode to carry its biggest
ever competition -- featuring a $1.7
million prize pool (quadrupling its
“main” mode) and unprecedented
production values in commentary
and highlights. Ultimate Team is
a popular, yet provably pay-to-win
mode in which you collect (or buy)
a football dream team of stars,
past and present. Competition
finals are played on special
consoles with everything unlocked,
ostensibly levelling the playing
field -- but earlier stages of the
tournament are played at home
with your own team, built on your
own dollar.
It’s a similar issue to
World of Warcraft’s Arena,
which never blossomed as
an esport outside of Blizzard-
hosted events. Competitors
could pick from an unlocked
pool of items, but actually
getting to that stage required
thousands of hours of grinding for
high level gear on the public ladder.
In the case of FIFA Ultimate Team,
it’s possible to buy your way into
the final, but no further.
While history will forget those
who didn’t belong, it was the Saudi
Arabian duo Khalid “The Royal”
Aloufi and Abdulaziz “A8drafwz”
Alshehri who won the PS4
and Xbox One sections of the
Sydney final. Longtime Aussie pro
Kieran “Muzza” Murray picked
up a 3rd place finish, and Mark
“MarkoHD” Brijeski’s new Red
Bull sponsorship gave him enough
wings to reach the quarter-finals
for a 7th place finish.
Each month, STACK takes a brief look at what’s
happening in esports, both locally and overseas.
esports Round-Up
Junglist
with
Let’s take a look at Corsair’s Harpoon RGB Gaming Mouse
FIFA 17
54 MARCH 2017
visit GAMES FEATURE
where your palm would be while you’re
gaming, but still looks good sitting on your
desk. The colour panel can be customised
with one of up to 16.8 million colour
combinations, and can be set for likes of
DPI profiles or just waves/flashes of light.
Possibly the most appealing part of the
Harpoon is its sharp price point. At only
$69 it’s really hard to fault, particularly
when you put it up against its $200+
competitors.
The Harpoon is an affordable mouse for
the budget-conscious gamer that’ll do the
job, and do it surprisingly well.
I f you’re becoming increasingly bored
with military-grade PC mice with an
overwhelming button layout, Corsair’s latest
wired mouse may just be your calling.
It would appear Corsair are pitching the
Harpoon as a solid, entry-level mouse. The
excellent price point and the simple set-up
makes the Harpoon the perfect choice for
anyone just entering the PC gaming market,
or a gamer simply searching for a competent
and accurate FPS mouse with all the bells
and whistles.
Corsair’s Harpoon is small for a mouse
with a good build quality, which is actually
a refreshing departure from some of the
larger models on the market. It comes
with your standard left, right and centre
buttons, as well as two additional
programmable buttons on the inside
left. There’s even a DPI switch that
lets you flick between your six pre-
programmed DPI settings.
Being a Corsair product, it
features RGB lighting. The only
panel on the Harpoon sits beneath
Corsair
Harpoon
M65 RGB
Gaming Mouse