bytes: ESL One, StarCraft Remastered, MSI

A game that helped launch esports around the world is getting a major facelift.  Blizzard unveiled StarCraft®: Remastered, a modern version of the original StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War expansion.

Announcement Video

“It’s been a staple in competitive gaming and esports for almost 20 years,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “With StarCraft: Remastered, we’re modernizing the original game’s visuals, audio, and online support to ensure that players can enjoy StarCraft for another 20 years and beyond.”

The remastered graphics will offer widescreen UHD support for up to 4K resolution.  Additional updates include advanced matchmaking, replays, keybinds and more.  StarCraft: Remastered is expected to be released in the Summer of 2017.

Official StarCraft Site


Tickets are now on sale for international spectators for the 2017 League of Legends Mid Season Invitational in Brazil.

The tickets are selling for as low as R60 ($19 USD) and as high as R140 ($45 USD) for spectators.  The early stages of the event will be held in São Paulo, Brazil and the prime stages of the tournament will move on to Rio de Janeiro.

2017 MSI runs from April 28th-May 21st.


Blizzard is offering some special rewards for Hearthstone players to mark the in-game Year of the Mammoth.  Earlier this month they introduced Mammoth Brawls that awarded new card packs with each victory.  A new brawl will begin on March 29th.

Starting on the 29th, players will also get Daily Rewards just for logging into the game.

March 29 50 gold
March 30  Mean Streets of Gadgetzan card pack
March 31 100 Dust
April 1  Whispers of the Old Gods card pack
April 2 Journey to Un’Goro card pack
April 3 50 gold
April 4 Journey to Un’Goro card pack
April 5* enUS_HS_GoldenVolcanosaur_LW_429x622.gif

Each day in-game resets when the quests reset.


ESL have revealed SK Gaming and Virtus.Pro as the first two teams invited to ESL One Cologne 2017.

Brazil’s SK Gaming won the title in 2016, while Poland’s Virtus.Pro took the honors in 2014.  The two teams are the first of 16 teams competing at the event.  10 more teams will be revealed in the coming days, and four additional teams will come from soon-to-be-announced qualifying events.

ESL Cologne is July 7th-9th at LANXESS Arena in Cologne, Germany.


Oh look, it seems Bungie may have dropped something:

Let us hear your hopes and dreams for Destiny 2 on our ESS forums!

 

Sometimes news needs to be fast, which is why we have ESS Bytes – a short round up of noteworthy stories from the esports and gaming communities.  Have a news tip or a press release to share? Email us at esportssource(at)gmail.com.