Earlier in this article, I said that HeroesHearth Esports was a favorite to win. However, by most accounts Team Dignitas is the favorite to win the Western Clash this weekend. Just this year, they grabbed 2nd at Mid-Season Brawl, 1st at the HGC - Phase 1 EU Pro League, and 1st and Phase 1's Western Clash. They have yet to lose a match this phase, and I don't see them deviating from that dominating p

_ Heroes _ may have a much smaller roster, but the developers clearly care more about making each one of them viable with the number of patches they release. Of the 64 heroes available, 43 have a pick rate higher than 10% in competitive games - that’s fully two-thirds of the hero roster, and way more than can be found in _ League of Legends

Everyone here at Game Rant would like to wish the inanimate, mass-produced, nostalgia-inducing Game Boy a very Happy North American Birthday. While it can't reciprocate the love many gamers still have for it, it revolutionized an industry that we still care about all these years la

On July 31, 1989 the North American gaming industry changed forever. This day in history marks the debut of Nintendo's Game Boy , a portable gaming device that would go on to revolutionize gaming and tap an entirely new market. Unsurprisingly, being able to take your game on the go was incredibly well-recieved by the masses and the handheld has secured its place as an iconic device amongst gamers and casual consumers al

In _ Heroes of the Storm _ , things are a lot more interesting. Sure, there’s always the benefit of killing your opponents in giving your team experience, while depriving the other team of a crucial defender, but if you happen to be on the losing end of this scenario there’s usually an option besides killing your opponents to secure a victory. Each map will have its own objective, and if you can secure that objective before the enemy does it can lead to a massive, potentially game-changing advant

Arthas and Nova should never really end up in a battle together as far as Blizzard lore is concerned, but Heroes of the Storm allows players to live out that "who would win in a fight?" fantasy over and over in an addicting MOBA game patch notes format. This trailer does a stellar job of showing just how fun things can get when you relax and don't think too m

And it's hard on gamers to just not buy games that use microtransactions; some of our most beloved series are heading down this path and whether or not the content is worth the extra money is an individual decision. Counting on big-name distributors not to do whatever they can to make money doesn't leave a whole lot of room for hope, but, short of boycotting popular series and supporting games that do it right, there's little gamers can do to stop the waves of cha

If you're planning on watching every single second of the HGC Western Clash, this should be no problem. According to the bracket (which I'll discuss in a few moments), the last game on Friday will begin at 7:00 PM

Not all free-to-play models are bad; League Of Legends does it well with rotating champions and monetized skins that add customization but no significant advantage. Mobile games are known for particularly exploitative models, and psychologists have even made connections between particularly devious free-to-play games and gambling addicti

Many free-to-play games have in-game currency that can be purchased with real money, giving those who are willing to shell out actual money a reward. That's all well and good, but many gamers feel it sets the stage for unbalanced play, as people willing to spend real cash may get better weapons or more play time to level

So, what is the importance of Game W-L and G +/-? These statistics determine where a team is ranked in the standings if two or more teams' match record is tied. For example, in the HGC North America Standings, Team Octalysis and ENDEMIC are tied for 4th place. However, since Team Octalysis has the better game record, they get the 4th place spot. In the case that both the match and game records are at a tie, the team with the higher G +/- score gets the higher spot in the standi

It's hard not to get teary-eyed watching Tyrael descend from the sky voluntarily even out of context, but when the trailer arrives just at the right point in the game's story, there's no denying its impact. Although Diablo 3 is incredibly replayable, the game's story does matter and it's hard not to become attached to its characters in between long sessions of looting. We dare players to make it through the game without getting invested in this st

Nintendo, on the other hand, finds the free-to-play model frustrating. Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata, in a Q&A with investors , said, "As with games that are free-to-play, or 'free-to-start' as we like to call it, there is a tendency within the entertainment industry to make gaming as easy as possible to start playing." Because Nintendo uses an integrated hardware-software model, unlike many companies, they require a hardware purchase before their games are playable, making the free-to-play model unrealistic unless they completely overhaul their current strat