XBox 360 League - The Major Leagues And Challenges

Video game leagues aren't new, but they're also not widely advertised and it's likely that if you don't play games much or monitor the gaming scene, you've never heard of a video game league before. However, they've grown to much larger sizes of the years, with rewards reaching half a million dollars for the winners. Usually, events are held annually and focus on half a dozen or so popular games that emphasize competition. These events are held all over the world, sometimes live, while other times they'll simply be online. Some leagues utilize all the platforms, such as computers, Xboxes and PS3s, while others focus exclusively on a certain platform, such as an Xbox 360 league, for example. Those who qualify and pay entry fees can take part to challenge some of the best players in the world.

MLG

In existence for ten years now, it's considered one of the foremost and most venerable of video game leagues. It focuses on annual tournaments utilizing multiple tiers to filter out the champions. Within these tournaments, there are six major events to coincide with the six games in use. There are some games that have been part of the competitions since the start, only changing to sequels, and some are brand new to the tournaments. With Major League Gaming, the PS3 editions of games are usually used, but in the case of some exclusive games like Halo or Gears of War, the Xbox 360 is utilized. MLG hosts both online and live events around the world, depending on the event.

The Games

The Halo series is an arcade-like first person shooter (FPS) that provides many close-quarters maps and levels for players to face off against. However, there are also larger maps with vehicles and differing objectives, making the series perfect to suit many different roles. With it's insane popularity and large fan base, it's perfect to be used as standard fare for any major gaming league.

Call of Duty has also seen tremendous hikes in popularity over the past few years. While the current generation of Modern Warfare 2 is soon to be ousted by Black Ops, the original Modern Warfare saw its own use within many major console gaming leagues. As they all provide high-quality gameplay and are FPSs, they're a perfect complement to the Halo series. It's likely Black Ops will replace Modern Warfare 2 in the next leagues. Gears of War strays from the mold as it provides third-person cover-based shooting, but focuses on team-based play. It can, however, provide matches for free-for-alls and pairs and is a very good example of controlled competition. The sequel is currently in place with Gears of War 3 likely to be put in place when that is released.

Rules

Cheating isn't favorable in any sport and video game leagues are no exception. While it's somewhat easier to do, cheating can become very subjective. There are controllers with macro buttons that allow the player to simply press once to dispatch a prearranged set of keys or combinations. This provides the players with an inhuman advantage, but as it's sold legally and not banned by online governing bodies such as Microsoft, many consider it to be fine, while video game leagues are gradually banning such devices.

Video Game Leagues, The Main Organizations Competition And Regulations

It's become a fantastically popular dream to become a member of a professional gaming league. It allows you to play your favorite games at the toughest opponents and potentially make a good profit from doing so. Living your life playing games is somewhat of a Utopian fantasy for many, but outside of the savvy fans, there is little information in circulation. To gain some understanding about the video game leagues, you need to consider many different aspects of it. There is practically a league for every console and every one contains numerous games. For the most popular ones, there is usually an entire league dedicated to them and the participants might sometimes take part as individuals or as parts of teams.

The Major Leagues

Competitions are generally set up by several major competition-holders, but these generally don't hold official game-specific leagues. For example, there is no official CounterStrike league. The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is the big one and the one who has dished out over 3 million dollars in prizes over 6 years. Venerable, this big hitter provides competitions primarily in the area of first-person shooters (FPSs). The World Cyber Games (WCG) is considerably bigger than the CPL in that it offers up to 500,000 dollars a year and features dozens of games of varying genres. The Pro Gaming League features gaming on consoles, rather than personal computers, but offers less prize money.

Competing

Like all sports, gaming leagues follow a set process to filter out the losers from the winners. Essentially, the competitors and challengers fight it out, either with or without the champions, until only two are left. If the champions were not involved, this is where they join in, as either the last competitors faces off against the champions or the remaining two challengers compete. The last remaining player or team is declared the ultimate winner.

These new or retaining champions are then awarded the prizes or prize money. The prizes are generally items of considerable worth, such as graphics cards, consoles or computers. The following year will see the champions coming back to defend their title.

Rules

Cheating is a serious issue as with any major sport. Unlike other sports though, gaming makes cheating a lot easier as there are practically thousands of ways to manipulate a game into making it easier for the player. Some may utilize 3rd party programs, while others might exploit game glitches to provide themselves with an advantage. To combat such irregular methods of play, referees and judges are sometimes present to supervise players.

Recently, hardware has come under scrutiny as well, since hardware has come a long way since standardization. It's possible to purchase controllers that provide macros, which allows the player to press a button once and have that button repeated faster than is humanly possible. Furthermore, it's easier for such macros to reduce large combinations of keys into a single button press. These have been banned from gaming leagues due to the obvious advantages provided.