News::Yahoo welcomes the rise of eSports with its own hub

Yahoo clearly wants a piece of the growing eSports pie. Despite having to shutter almost all its verticals recently, the company has launched a new hub for competitive video gaming under the Yahoo Sports banner. In its announcement post, Yahoo Sports Media Vice President Bob Condor said that "with a global audience reach of more than 226 million," the company has "identified an incredible opportunity" in competitive gaming. Yahoo Esports is meant to be a comprehensive guide that regularly publishes match scores, stats and schedules. The team behind it will concentrate on producing video content, though, including live tournament coverage hosted by various gaming personalities like Andrea Rene.

Source: Yahoo, Tumblr

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News::Play as two new heroes in the next 'Battlefront' DLC

DICE has announced the next map and character DLC pack for its wildly popular Star Wars: Battlefront game. The new pack, dubbed Outer Rim, will feature two new maps including a close-range field within Jabba the Hutt's palace and garage complex as well as a second map for Sullust (which already has one in-game), a lava-laden industrial planet.

Via: IGN

Source: Star Wars: Battlefront

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News::Finn from 'Star Wars' wants a story mode for 'Battlefront'

Electronic Arts and DICE have gone on record saying that the "Battle of Jakku" map is the closest we're going to get to any content in Star Wars: Battlefront that wasn't in the classic trilogy. But does that edict mean the development teams will ignore the request of one of The Force Awakens' breakout stars, John Boyega (disgraced stormtrooper Finn), for a "full on offline" story mode? Time will tell. "It's more of an enjoyable way to learn controls," he tweeted. He isn't wrong, either: Trying to learn any game's intricacies while also dodging incoming fire from folks online is a pain.

Via: Kotaku

Source: John Boyega (Twitter)

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News::'Rocket League' has an official championship

Rocket League is practically tailor-made for tournaments (it's football/soccer with cars, after all), and Psyonix is determined to make the most of that fact. It's teaming up with Twitch to launch the Rocket League Championship Series, an official 3-vs-3 competition with real-world stakes. The two are running 3-month seasons that will offer a $75,000 prize pool to the top players -- peanuts next to some tourneys, but enough that it could be worth brushing up on your mid-air shots. Only PS4 and Windows PC players can qualify (at least at first) once the series begins this month, although every playoff match will be streamed over Twitch if you can't join in with your Xbox One.

Source: Rocket League Championship Series, Twitch

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News::Coleco Chameleon Kickstarter over before it even begins

Last month RetroVGS's Coleco Chameleon made a big splash at Toy Fair, promising retro-gaming goodness from such storied systems as the SNES, the Intellivision and the Atari 2600. The Kickstarter was set to begin on February 26, but instead the company made an announcement that evening via Facebook stating that the crowdfunding process would be put on an indefinite delay.

RetroVGS says the Kickstarter campaign was put on hold in order to finalize the prototype and lock down additional content for the system. However, an accompanying image was removed from the Facebook post after criticism that the Chameleon may not work as advertised.

Source: RetroVGS (Facebook)

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News::EA says 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' not due till 2017

It's been almost four years since players gathered a crew on the SSV Normandy SR-2 and saved the universe with Commander Shepard. A Mass Effect sequel was originally scheduled for 2016, however an investor call with EA's CFO Blake Jorgensen suggests that Andromeda has now slipped into 2017. During the presentation, he was asked which titles the publisher will be putting out in its "FY (fiscal year) 2017," to which he replied:

Via: NeoGAF

Source: EA (Investor Call)

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News::'Alan Wake' teased once more in 'Quantum Break' easter egg

Oh boy, Remedy Entertainment sure does love to tease. The Finnish game developer has hinted once more at a return for Alan Wake through a fictional trailer buried inside its upcoming thriller Quantum Break. As Polygon reports, during an early chapter protagonist Jack Joyce visits Riverport University, and as the player you have the option to explore the campus before heading to the physics department. If you go inside a tent pitched by a protesting student you'll be rewarded with a short video, shown on a flatscreen television, for a live-action adaptation of Alan Wake.

Source: Game Informer, Polygon

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News::Xbox One update boosts Party Chat and lets you buy Xbox 360 games

For Microsoft and Sony, the start of a new month means it's time to expose their new software updates. Sony's already had its turn, announcing that Remote Play will soon make its way to PC and Mac, and now Microsoft has confirmed it's deploying a patch with a number of frequently requested features.

One of the most notable additions is improved access to Xbox 360 games. Microsoft has allowed Xbox One gamers to play older titles on their console for a few months now, but finding and launching them can be a pain. With the new update, older-generation games will be listed in a similar way to digital Xbox One titles, making them easier to buy and download to your console.

Source: Major Nelson

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