News::'League of Legends' owners open up revenue streams to pro teams

"We recognize that the current ecosystem isn't consistently profitable yet for team owners or for the league."

That's how Riot Games' directors of eSports Jarred "Bradmore" Kennedy and Whalen "Magus" Rozelle laid out the studio's plans to funnel more money to professional League of Legends teams in 2017. The changes come after four years of explosive growth across the eSports industry, with League of Legends leading the charge, but it also follows a public spat between coaches and founders about the game's booming economy.

Source: League of Legends

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News::'Minecraft: Education Edition' officially arrives in November

After a summer of test runs, the full version of Minecraft: Education Edition will officially launch on November 1st. When it goes live, the service will require a $5 yearly membership per user or a district-wide license, but the Early Access edition is still free until November.

Source: Minecraft.net

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News::Facebook and Intel reign supreme in 'Doom' AI deathmatch

On the island of Santorini, Greece, a group of AIs has been facing off in an epic battle of Doom.

This is VizDoom, a contest born from one man's idea: To improve the state of artificial intelligence by teaching computers the art of fragging. That simple notion then spiraled into a battle between tech giants, universities and coders. Over the past few months they've all been honing their bots (known as "agents"), building up to one, final death match.

Okay, it was a lot more than one match. But that doesn't sound nearly as dramatic.

The competition is all about machine visual learning. Just like when you or I play Doom, the agents can only make decisions based on what they "see," and have no access to information within the game's code.

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News::'Super Mario Maker' for the 3DS only plays in 2D

If you were hoping that the handheld version of Super Mario Maker played in three dimensions, take a seat. Polygon has stumbled across the GameStop listing for the 3DS edition, the box for which comes with a prominent caveat that it only plays in two dimensions. It's not that much of a surprise, given how few 3DS titles really harness stereoscopy in a meaningful way -- even Pokémon X and Y mostly saved it for battles. Not to mention, of course, that Super Mario Maker is the most two-dimensional of games, and certainly won't need any extra depth. If you can't wait to try your hand at becoming the next Miyamoto (spoiler: it's hard), then it'll set you back $39.99 on December 2nd.

Via: Polygon

Source: GameStop

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News::Watch some truly ludicrous kills from 'Dishonored 2'

The original Dishonored was all about choice. Corvo had a mission, but how he completed it was up to you. Battle the guards head on? Slow down time and quietly sneak past them? Or lurk in the shadows and summon a swarm of bloodthirsty rats? Dishonored 2, which comes out on November 11th, looks to offer a similar, if not greater level of freedom through its twin protagonists Corvo and Emily. To showcase the game's impressive flexibility, Bethesda has put together a "Creative Kills" video which teases some new powers and how they can be combined to devastating effect.

Source: Bethesda (YouTube)

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News::Stream Android apps on Facebook Live with Bluestacks

Streaming your favorite smartphone apps on Twitch is pretty hard. Through Facebook? Even harder. To simplify the process, Bluestacks is adding a Facebook Live option to its desktop Android emulator. So whether you're using a PC or Mac, you can now grab your favorite games from the Play store, launch them and stream using the same interface. Bluestacks added a similar Twitch-streaming option just a few month ago -- while Amazon's platform is known for gaming, Facebook clearly has similar ambitions. (You can already broadcast Blizzard titles on the social network, for instance.) With so many eyeballs, its influence is growing fast.

Source: Bluestacks

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News::The first Xbox One S bundles in the UK are really cheap

Microsoft's Xbox One S is just the right kind of mid-generation hardware update. The neater console, with a better bundled gamepad and 4K Blu-ray drive, is tempting enough without feeling like a big ol' middle finger to OG Xbox One owners. When it launched in the UK towards the beginning of last month, though, its £350 price tag wasn't exactly accessible. But today, the first One S console bundles (with FIFA 17 included) have launched, lowering the cost of entry to dangerous, impulse-buy territory.

Source: Amazon, Tesco Direct

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News::Blizzard finds its 'Overwatch' World Cup teams

Overwatch may only be four months old, but Blizzard's multiplayer shooter has already amassed 15 million players and is gaining a lot interest from eSports fans. Many of the top eSports teams are quickly adding players to their roster as the world's biggest invitationals find new ways to host them. However, a competition hosted by Blizzard itself may give the game the boost it needs to gain notoriety in a scene dominated by League of Legends, DOTA 2 and CS:GO. It's called the Overwatch World Cup and we now know the 16 teams that will battle it out for global supremacy.

Source: Overwatch Blog

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