Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Gaming News from Around the Globe

It has been over 15 years since Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines hit the shelves so when its successor was announced, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, it was met with anxious anticipation from its fanbase.

But the publisher, Paradox Interactive, moved at a glacial pace in getting it to market. In February it was announced that the project had shifted away from the original developer, Hardsuit Labs, and to another development team which has yet to be revealed. Throughout the process, there has been a rash of hirings and firings and it seemed Bloodlines had plenty of bad blood behind the scenes. Word trickled out that the project would be terminated but fans who have been waiting with bated breath were happy to hear of the latest update on the sequel.

Esports Newest Venue

“When we lifted the game from the original developer, we had a long review in case we should end the game [development] or run it further,” said CEO Fredrik Wester to website Avanza. “We were actually prepared to close the production completely. But we got a pitch that we thought was convincing enough to run, played on, and we have very good hopes that it will be a good game that meets the players’ expectations.”

When asked whether there would be more Bloodlines to come, Wester stated, “There is a huge desire for good games in the RPG genre so I absolutely do not want to close any doors. But I would like to see what happens, and what we can do, and how Bloodlines is received.”

Esports Newest Venue

The rapid growth in popularity of esports is staggering and it also becoming increasingly mainstream, reaching demographics not normally associated with the genre. Even the best online sportsbooks and professional handicappers who sometimes give out free sports picks are now engaged in esports. That’s right, it is not uncommon to see esports tournaments being offered on betting menus as well as the bettors paying for expert information on which team or player to wager.

But even those completely oblivious to esports will no doubt become acquainted, especially if they are located in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Wisdom Gaming is the company behind opening what is rumored to be an 18,000-square-foot esports and multi-purpose facility opening sometime in early 2022 at the famous Mall of America.

Wisdom Gaming’s Nicole Du Cane stated, “This partnership with Mall of America was really born out of a shared goal of making the Twin Cities, and subsequently the Mall of America, a true hub for esports in North America.”

When asked about how well-received this new facility should be as the nation emerges from the global pandemic that shuttered businesses and crippled the worldwide economy, Du Cane remarked, “Coming out of that, people are going to be looking for more ways to engage with the communities that they’ve connected to online, because that’s what everyone was forced to turn to during the pandemic.”

Wisdom Gaming’s professional esports team, Torrent, has company in the Gopher State as Version 1, the Wilf’s family gaming company and esports team, will likely be throwing down against Torrent. If you are unaware, the Wilf’s family knows a thing or two about professional sports as they also own the Minnesota Vikings.

“The fun thing about this is that Version1 Rocket League and Torrent, they both compete in the same league, Rocket League Championship Series. So yeah, this could be the start of a fun Minnesota rivalry,” said Version1’s Director of Communications Cassie Batinich.

“We have a great friendly rivalry already with [Verson1], with our teams because we each have teams in Rocket League,” Du Cane responded.

Romain is Back in the Game

Former OpTic and Unicorns of Love general manager, Romain Bigeard, is getting back in action as he recently signed with G2 Esports to take the reins as GM for their League of Legends team. Bigeard has been with Riot Games since 2018 as a business development manager and showing up as on-air talent.

Bigeard will have his work cut out for him as G2 has plans to cut ties with up to all five of its players as well as support staff. Wunder, Rekkles, Mikyx, Grabbz, and Nelson are all up for grabs and G2 is reportedly looking to unload their contracts to whoever will take them. There will be plenty of changes when the larger-than-life personality of Romain Bigeard takes charge and it will be interesting to see if G2 thrives or dies under his watch.

But regardless of how G2 fares under Bigeard’s regime, there will be no shortage of drama with him at the helm. His return is good for the game and will bring plenty of publicity to the team, which will hopefully allow them to build a better squad than the one that flamed out this season with a supposed “super team” driving G2’s LoL bus.

abubakarbilal
abubakarbilal
Abubakar is a writer and digital marketing expert. Who has founded multiple blogs and successful businesses in the fields of digital marketing, software development. A full-service digital media agency that partners with clients to boost their business outcomes.
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