XBox 360 League - The Biggest Leagues And Challenges

Video game leagues have grown in popularity over the last decade and have now become fully-fledged tournaments and competitions with vast numbers of prizes, both in item and monetary form. In some countries, gaming tournaments are amongst the primary forms of entertainment and large sums of money are not only given to the winners, but placed in bets as well. It's become a lucrative business and it's a chance for many individuals who think they have the skills to perform against some of the best players in the world. There are dozens of leagues for different kinds of gaming, such as PC-only or an Xbox 360 league. Some mix and match platforms, hosting only the latest or most competitive games to truly distinguish the champions.

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

Halo has been the mainstay of the tournaments since the start with Halo: Combat Evolved. It's a first person shooter with many non-realistic elements, which means it's very fast paced and focused primarily on twitch-based skills. The close-quarter maps amplify this and it is considered an exemplary competitive game. Over the years it's been updated and Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach have all made their debut. Call of Duty is another game of exceptional popularity and has also been used in several iterations. Modern Warfare provided a good deal of competitive gaming and features realistic scenarios in contrast to the sci-fi Halo. The gameplay is still somewhat unrealistic, however, and is still very much twitch-based. Modern Warfare 2 has also been used and the upcoming Black Ops is expected to debut next year. Strictly an Xbox 360 series, Gears of War takes a detour from the usual first-person shooter genre and instead provides brilliant third-person cover-based shooting. With both Gears of War and Gears of War 2 providing a lot of support for team-play as well as mass free-for-alls, it's a tremendously competitive game and serves as a primary game each year.

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 Companies, Procedures 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 Main 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

Video game competitions function like most major competitions. The competitors face off against other competitors in a bid to challenge the reigning champions. Once the competitors are weeded out and only the best remain, these then face off against the champions. If the champions defend their title, they are rewarded with the prize money, as are the competitors if they win. There are variations in each tournament, such as champions being consider competitors and facing off against the teams until only one team remains. The prizes are not always monetary. They can sometimes be physical items such as graphics cards, consoles and other items of varying monetary values. The following year sees the champions written in to face either returning or new competitors.

Rules Against Cheating

Obviously cheating has become a serious rule that no one is allowed to break. The actual means of cheating can vary from game to game, where some players may use 3rd party programs to manipulate the game's data or in other cases, the player might exploit certain parts of the game to give themselves a superior advantage over other players. Generally, there are always referees and judges to deem whether the players' conduct has been has been honorable or not. Hardware can also provide unfair advantages. For example, some controllers designs come with a macro button, which allows a series of button presses to programmed to a single button press. This allows players to do more within less time, usually more than is human possible. This is yet another form of cheating and these controllers are generally banned from such competitions.