PS3 League - Cybersports, Competitions And Tournaments

Video game leagues are nothing new, but they're so unknown by the majority of the population that their existence is generally only spread by word of mouth. Only those that monitor such news channels or are very much into their gaming will know of such leagues, their titles and the sorts of games they include in their lineups. In actual fact, gaming leagues are extremely lucrative, both for the industry and for the competitors, with prizes worth up to half a million dollars being offered every year by certain leagues, such as the PS3 league Major League Gaming. The only requirement is that the player pays the entry fee and then they are given a chance to qualify.

MLG (Major League Gaming)

It's safe to say that the Major League Gaming collective is probably the biggest gaming league in existence today. It's been going strong for eight years now and provides consistent, annual tournaments with the latest games, though never sacrificing quality. They hold live events throughout the world, but also provide online video and audio for those unable to attend such events. The tournaments act in a similar way, sometimes taking place live, but most of the time online. Major League Gaming hold between four and six tournaments on a yearly basis. For the most part, MLG utilizes the Playstation 3 console for their gaming, but in some cases, the games have exclusivity on a certain console and cannot be purchased in any other format. In these cases, the game's native console is used. For live events, the participants are provided with all they need to play. Here is the latest lineup of games for MLG.

Games

The Halo series made its debut back with Halo: Combat Evolved, which was used in the earliest MLG tournaments. Today, both Halo 3 and Halo: Reach have their own tournaments featuring four versus four team battles on varying maps. It provides high-intensity, twitch-based gameplay in a first-person shooter (FPS) format. Joining these two games comes the venerable Call of Duty series. Starting off with Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 is the current Call of Duty game on show. It features similar gameplay to Halo, but in a more realistic setting and somewhat more depth.

Fighting games are coming in strong this year with Tekken 6 making the first of its series' debut in the Major League Gaming. While it didn't have a predecessor in the league, Super Smash Bros. Brawl did and it has now taken over. Both of these games provide good one versus one matches that require excellent coordination and reflexes.

Marking Blizzard's second outing on the MLG circuit, Starcraft II is also providing the league's first real-time strategy title to mix up the tournaments a little. Starcraft's own past is deeply embedded in the country of Korea, where it's become a fantastically popular game that even has its own television channels. Starcraft II is looking to take up its predecessor's mantle with ease.

Major League Gaming has provided tournaments for many different games, but also many of the earlier mentioned games' iterations. For example, Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 were also part of the MLG tournaments. As was Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Blizzard's first MLG game, World of Warcraft, was also part of the lineup. Other games part of the MLG circuit was Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas and the sequel, Gears of War and Shadowrun. Next year is likely to see further sequels, such as Call of Duty Black Ops.