Overwatch: The League

I don't know just how plugged into video games you are but this last weekend was Blizzcon, the yearly event where Blizzard gets you hyped about World of Warcraft expansions and I don't know... something for Diablo? Anyway this year Blizzard has a fresh new property to promote in Overwatch and did they ever. First off they had a big "Overwatch World Cup" tournament (spoilers, the South Koreans won), then they announced a new character and some new modes of play.

Their biggest news however was pretty gosh darn big. They announced that they were starting a professional Overwatch League. The league will be comprised of city based teams any joe-roadhog can qualify for, with players earning actual money for their play. We've been living in a world of professional video gamers for a while but this isn't really like anything I've seen before. It's not really comparable to the NFL but it's like the MLS or some other communist based sports league where the league owns all the teams. By no means do I have any delusion into thinking that I could qualify for a professional video game team (my player ranking puts me in the 19th percentile at Overwatch) but I'll sure as heck watch me some professional Overwatch games. Especially if they can dial in the format a bit. As it is most broadcasts I've seen jump from player to player so quickly it's hard to tell what's going on.

What a crazy world we're living in, right? Maybe I should make my kid play more video games? Did you hear that Logan? Put down those books and start working on your twitch reflexes. The only math I want you to practice are dps calculations.