Major League Gaming: Difference between revisions
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In 2010, ''Brawl'' was added to the MLG circuits, as a replacement to ''Melee''; this inclusion, while not as popular as the ''Melee'' scene, did lead to ''Brawl'' experiencing a similar surge in popularity. Despite its popularity as an "alternate" fighting game, MLG later removed ''Brawl'' for the 2011 Pro Circuit; reasons have have not been disclosed, though common theories include dwindling attendance at events (the MLG Raleigh tournament, for instance, only attracted 148 singles entrants); growing interest in grassroots tournaments; a lack of sponsors (most notably Nintendo's refusal to let MLG livestream ''Brawl'' events); and that two of the most well-known ''Brawl'' players, {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|ADHD}}, were found guilty of [[bracket manipulation]] at [[MLG DC 2010]] in October. | In 2010, ''Brawl'' was added to the MLG circuits, as a replacement to ''Melee''; this inclusion, while not as popular as the ''Melee'' scene, did lead to ''Brawl'' experiencing a similar surge in popularity. Despite its popularity as an "alternate" fighting game, MLG later removed ''Brawl'' for the 2011 Pro Circuit; reasons have have not been disclosed, though common theories include dwindling attendance at events (the MLG Raleigh tournament, for instance, only attracted 148 singles entrants); growing interest in grassroots tournaments; a lack of sponsors (most notably Nintendo's refusal to let MLG livestream ''Brawl'' events); and that two of the most well-known ''Brawl'' players, {{Sm|Mew2King}} and {{Sm|ADHD}}, were found guilty of [[bracket manipulation]] at [[MLG DC 2010]] in October. | ||
Neither ''Melee'' nor ''Brawl'' returned for MLG events in 2012 or 2013. Furthermore, on 27 November 2012, MLG sold the Smash World Forums to {{Sm|AlphaZealot}} through his company Xyelot LLC.<ref>http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=330262</ref> | Neither ''Melee'' nor ''Brawl'' returned for MLG events in 2012 or 2013. Furthermore, on 27 November 2012, MLG sold the Smash World Forums to {{Sm|AlphaZealot}} through his company Xyelot LLC.<ref>http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=330262</ref> This was viewed by some smashers as an attempt to even further the separation between ''Smash'' and MLG. | ||
Towards the end of 2013, it was suggested that MLG might include ''Melee'' at [[MLG Anaheim 2014]].<ref>http://smashboards.com/threads/mlg-2014-feedback-discussion.343288/</ref> ''Brawl'' was also considered for inclusion, as well as ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', if the game was released by the tournament date; ''[[Project M]]'s'' status as a fan-made [[mod]], however, made it an unlikely candidate for inclusion, even if the other three games appeared at the tournament. In March 2014, ''Melee'' was confirmed to be reappearing at MLG Anaheim 2014, but it was also announced that ''Brawl'' would not make a return for the tournament; the reason for ''Brawl's'' exclusion were not stated, though it is rumoured that it was due to intervention from [[Nintendo]] and legal technicalities involving the third-party characters of {{SSBB|Sonic}} or {{SSBB|Snake}}. While response to ''Melee's'' appearance was positive, the decision to exclude ''Brawl'' received more mixed reception, owing to the continued controversy over ''Brawl's'' gameplay changes compared to ''Melee''. | Towards the end of 2013, it was suggested that MLG might include ''Melee'' at [[MLG Anaheim 2014]].<ref>http://smashboards.com/threads/mlg-2014-feedback-discussion.343288/</ref> ''Brawl'' was also considered for inclusion, as well as ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', if the game was released by the tournament date; ''[[Project M]]'s'' status as a fan-made [[mod]], however, made it an unlikely candidate for inclusion, even if the other three games appeared at the tournament. In March 2014, ''Melee'' was confirmed to be reappearing at MLG Anaheim 2014, but it was also announced that ''Brawl'' would not make a return for the tournament; the reason for ''Brawl's'' exclusion were not stated, though it is rumoured that it was due to intervention from [[Nintendo]] and legal technicalities involving the third-party characters of {{SSBB|Sonic}} or {{SSBB|Snake}}. While response to ''Melee's'' appearance was positive, the decision to exclude ''Brawl'' received more mixed reception, owing to the continued controversy over ''Brawl's'' gameplay changes compared to ''Melee''. | ||
Revision as of 19:47, October 21, 2015
Major League Gaming, often abbreviated as MLG, is a professional American gaming league founded in 2002, dedicated to competition in console gaming. Headquartered in New York City, the league has had some interaction with the Super Smash Bros. series, with Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl having to appeared on their brackets. In addition to giving more recognition to the two games, some Smashers from the MLG scene later became celebrities in their own right; Ken Hoang, for instance, credits the league with helping him pay for college, and he has since appeared in other television shows.
Involvement with Super Smash Bros.
Melee was added to the circuits of MLG in 2004; it was retired in 2007 due to declining interest in Melee with the development of Brawl underway, as well as an increasing focus in the MLG to seventh generation consoles. Adding to this, an increased independent tournament scene began developing, which sometimes undermined the MLG's own tournaments.
In 2007 MLG bought SmashBoards from Gideon for an undisclosed sum, however Gideon says that the sale helped him pay for medical school expenses. MLG's involvement with SmashBoards was generally positive. The organization moved the SmashBoards servers and helped prevent the constant server crashes that the website used to experience. One unfortunate outcome of the acquisition was the most of the posts that were made before 2007 were deleted, including a lot of information about old tournament results which were then lost to time.
In 2010, Brawl was added to the MLG circuits, as a replacement to Melee; this inclusion, while not as popular as the Melee scene, did lead to Brawl experiencing a similar surge in popularity. Despite its popularity as an "alternate" fighting game, MLG later removed Brawl for the 2011 Pro Circuit; reasons have have not been disclosed, though common theories include dwindling attendance at events (the MLG Raleigh tournament, for instance, only attracted 148 singles entrants); growing interest in grassroots tournaments; a lack of sponsors (most notably Nintendo's refusal to let MLG livestream Brawl events); and that two of the most well-known Brawl players, Mew2King and ADHD, were found guilty of bracket manipulation at MLG DC 2010 in October.
Neither Melee nor Brawl returned for MLG events in 2012 or 2013. Furthermore, on 27 November 2012, MLG sold the Smash World Forums to AlphaZealot through his company Xyelot LLC.[1] This was viewed by some smashers as an attempt to even further the separation between Smash and MLG.
Towards the end of 2013, it was suggested that MLG might include Melee at MLG Anaheim 2014.[2] Brawl was also considered for inclusion, as well as Super Smash Bros. 4, if the game was released by the tournament date; Project M's status as a fan-made mod, however, made it an unlikely candidate for inclusion, even if the other three games appeared at the tournament. In March 2014, Melee was confirmed to be reappearing at MLG Anaheim 2014, but it was also announced that Brawl would not make a return for the tournament; the reason for Brawl's exclusion were not stated, though it is rumoured that it was due to intervention from Nintendo and legal technicalities involving the third-party characters of Sonic or Snake. While response to Melee's appearance was positive, the decision to exclude Brawl received more mixed reception, owing to the continued controversy over Brawl's gameplay changes compared to Melee.
MLG Anaheim 2014 eventually took place from June 20th to June 22nd of 2014, marking Melee's first appearance at an MLG event since 2006. Afterwards the tournament was criticised by some entrants and spectators for multiple logistics issues regarding the timing of events and quality of online streams. MLG ended up losing the recordings of Melee matches, and had to obtain them from some viewers who had screencapped the livestream, even though the MLG.tv website asks that people specifically not do this.
Throughout the rest of 2014 and 2015 there was no word from MLG on whether Smash Bros. would appear in any of their 2015 events. In August MLGAdam asked a number of community leaders via twitter if there were any major events planned during the MLG World Finals 2015 on October 16-18th in New Orleans, Louisiana.[3] About a month later MLG finally made an official announcement for Melee and Wii U tournaments at the world finals.[4] The reason for the relatively short notice was reportedly because of ongoing negotiations with Nintendo.
References
- ^ http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=330262
- ^ http://smashboards.com/threads/mlg-2014-feedback-discussion.343288/
- ^ https://twitter.com/MrAdamAp/status/629002499848941568
- ^ http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-and-super-smash-bros-melee-added-to-mlg-world-finals-2015?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=NG
External links
