SOURCE REVEALS BLACK OPS II PLANS FOR MLG PRO CIRCUIT 2013
A source has leaked exclusively to ESN that Call of Duty will return to the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit in 2013, starting with MLG Dallas in March.
The competitive Call of Duty community has been on edge since the summer of 2012, when MLG CEO, Sundance DiGiovanni tweeted numerous times asking his followers whether or not they would like to see #Halo or #CoD on the circuit for 2013. Competitive-friendly features included Black Ops II such as the CoDcasting mode and the extensive marketing of competitive Call of Duty as part of the game’s launch campaign have further propelled the anticipation of an announcement. MLG themselves have ventured back into the Call of Duty scene with a series of shows and their well known Halo commentator Chris Puckett has shown desire to learn the Call of Duty competitive game.
Starting with Dallas, Texas on March 15-17 and for at least one more event, MLG will be hosting Black Ops II on Xbox 360 offering “around double” the prize pool up for grabs at the 2011 Black Ops season events (where there was $10,000 for first place and $25,000 total). The number of teams expected is rumoured to over 100, although this could fluctuate wildly - UMG $10K managed to host 61 teams at a local LAN expected to host just half that number.
Sundance DiGiovanni
@MLGSundance
Also - with the help of folks like @OpTicH3CZ and others I know we can build competitive CoD to rival what we had with Halo.
Sundance DiGiovanni
@MLGSundance
Support from @DavidVonderhaar and the @Treyarch folks has been big. Biggest we've ever seen for a console shooter.
It is well known that MLG has been working with developers to support competitive features in the game, and as a result of this, MLG will opt to use the Treyarch-supported League Play Champions Series ruleset. The rules used will be finalized ahead of League Play Season 3, due to start next month.
Treyarch game design director David Vonderhaar hinted at these facts on Friday posting on the 360icons “Pro Discussion” forum:
I can't yet explain fully explain why a finalized set of published restrictions, and game modes variety, are so important other than to tell you that you will WANT Season 3 of Champions to be something we are both happy with because it will largely determine your entire year. We have just over a week to work this out. Let's go.
Furthermore, our source tells us that online qualifiers for each event will be played inside of League Play, to be promoted by Treyarch in-game and also broadcast by MLG as part of their new Call of Duty shows.
Although qualifications and possibly seedings will be determined by the online qualifier, we expect there will also be an open bracket for teams showing up on the day.
We reached out to MLG for comment and received a stock “We have not announced any games for the Pro Circuit yet” answer, so don’t take this as 100% confirmation yet. But the facts certainly seem to add up. The event will be added to our calendar as soon as we receive confirmation from MLG.
This news is obviously incredibly exciting to reveal. Treyarch working directly with MLG is something the community has dreamed of, and with MLG’s recent rapid growth and partnerships with 3rd party publishers on the horizon, 2013 looks like it will be a very exciting year for Call of Duty and eSports as a whole. ESN will of course be providing our comprehensive coverage at the event. Stay tuned on March 15th!Source: http://esports-nation.com/news/source-reveals-black-ops-ii-plans-for-mlg-pro-circuit-2013/~ I thought I would post this just spread the word to you guys, some of you seem semi-interested in competitive play.