Why the WESA is the Best Thing to Happen to Esports
Esports tournaments need to consolidate. Apart from the League of Legends scene, esports games have disorganized competitive scenes spanning dozens of small leagues with hundreds of teams competing for attention. Just tune in to Twitch.tv any day, and you’ll see CS:GO players competing in one of dozens of major competitions, from FaceIt’s Esports Championship Series, to the ESL Pro League, to ELEAGUE, to more. In the case of CS:GO, high profile players are starting to burn out, often skipping major tournaments and matches due to injury and fatigue. In the past, there was no real solution. Players would simply sit out matches when they were tired or injured. Some continued to try and play every single match. Players complained of the lack of practice time, that they’re expected to perform in high level online matches just hours after getting off a plane from a major event. But they have never had a real, official voice and representation in esports leagues. 
Players have tried, albeit mostly unsuccessfully, to unofficially unionize in the past, making their collective demands known to teams. But there has never been an organization dedicated to bringing together team, player, and league interests into one overarching organization to try and standardize rules and competitions. Until now. ESL, the world’s largest esports content provider, just announced the World Esports Association, or WESA for short. This is a shot at creating a real association in the world of esports with profit sharing for teams and a player-elected Player’s Council that sits on the board to advocate collective player concerns. Traditionally, any move to professionalize or standardize the esports scene has been met with great resistance. Arguments usually come in the form of, “Hey, you’re forcing out competition by agreeing to rev share with major teams!” Or, “Oh man these teams are just money grubbers who are corporatizing esports!" 
Truth is, none of that is going on. LCS is what’s going on. LCS was just the first. When Riot created their LCS, the same complaints were heard, that no good could come from this, that League of Legends is being shut down.. But here’s the reality: No investor in the world would take a bet with major money on an organization that doesn’t have stability. Ever wondered why an investment group put $100 million into a brand new team like Immortals? Because they knew that the LCS represented stability, predictability of scheduling, strong broadcasting credentials, and consistency of payments to organizations to fund teams. CS:GO has none of that. Why do you think that Turner is creating their ELEAGUE, or ESL wants to push for this? It’s because these are the platforms that create the opportunity for that level of investment. Rick Fox, actor, producer, and former LA Lakers player, created the Echo Fox squad as an LCS squad first. That’s not a coincidence. 
If you prefer to watch new CS:GO matches around the clock, that’s great, but it’s not sustainable. And for me, as a fan, I’m MUCH happier waiting each week for key LCS matchups where I’m guaranteed to see the best players in the world. Every time I tune in to Fnatic playing CS:GO, and the commentators say, “Well, best player in the world Olofmeister is fatigued, so Fnatic is subbing someone in,” I die a little inside. In every traditional team sport, an association is created that gives teams profit sharing, gives a voice to players, and locks down rules and regulations so they can be standardized across that game’s competition. WESA is no different. This is not too early for esports. This is not going to kill the game. This is how esports keeps growing.
Pacific Rim 2 Adds Jurassic World Writer
Jurassic World co-writer Derek Connolly has signed on to Pacific Rim 2, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro's monsters vs. mecha film.
His exact involvement is unknown at this point, as drafts have already been penned by del Toro, X-Men: The Last Stand writer Zak Penn, and Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it's unclear whether he's working on a "page-one rewrite or developing certain story ideas."
Daredevil season one showrunner Steven S. DeKnight replaced del Toro as director for Pacific Rim 2, though del Toro is still set to produce. Jurassic World producer Thomas Tull, Pacific Rim producer Mary Parent, and Godzilla producer Jon Jashni will join del Toro.
How Will DC Rebirth Change Wonder Woman?
We're only a couple weeks away from the start of the DC Rebirth relaunch, and perhaps no new series is more anticipated than the Wonder Woman relaunch. This series will mark writer Greg Rucka's return to DC after a several year absence, and his second stint on an ongoing Wonder Woman comic. Along with artists Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott, Rucka will weave a two-pronged storyline that promises to redefine Diana prince's origins and her current place in the DC Universe.
We were lucky enough to chat on the phone with all three creators this week. They shed more light on what the future holds for Wonder Woman, what role the Greek gods will play and how the two halves of the story will intersect in the months ahead. Scroll down to find out what they had to say.
Marvel’s Darth Vader Comic Will End Soon
Marvel’s Star Wars: Darth Vader ongoing comic series by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca will be ending with August’s Issue #25.
Darth Vader’s solo series is one of three ongoing Star Wars comics -- the other two being Star Wars and Poe Dameron -- but now Gillen and Larroca are wrapping up their story that began just after A New Hope with Vader being held responsible for the destruction of the first Death Star, and will now end with him finding a way to regain his power, not to mention his good standing with the Emperor. The current, and now final, story arc is titled “End of Games,” so it's a wonder we didn't see this coming (the Dark Side clouds our vision, after all).
PS4 Neo to be Released by September, Says Report
A French video games distributor appears to have revealed that the rumoured PS4 mid-generation upgrade will be released by September.
In a press release posted on Boursier (reported by Otaxou and translated by VideoGamer), Innelec Multimedia states that what it calls the Neo 4K (lining up with previous reports about the console's codename) will be released in "the first half of our fiscal year" - that's a date range of April-September 2016.
CoD: Modern Warfare Trilogy Coming to Last-Gen Consoles
A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy bundle has been spotted, indicating a May 17 release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Listed on the Best Buy website, the 3-disc, $30 set comprises Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3, as well as the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus map pack.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy box art.
Linklater’s Guide to Everybody Wants Some!! Soundtrack
Music plays a key role in the films of Richard Linklater, the writer-director meticulously picking songs to set the scene in Dazed and Confused, to suggest the passing of time in Boyhood, and to bring the rock in…well, School of Rock.
His new feature is no different, with Everybody Wants Some!! set in 1980, revolving around one guy’s first weekend at a Texas university, and powered by a soundtrack that combines pop and soul with new-wave, disco, and yet more rock.
So we asked the man himself about the songs that made the cut, the songs that didn't, what you do when you can't get a Michael Jackson track, and why Prince wouldn't let him have a funk classic...
“These are all songs that were either on the radio or minor hits” Linklater explains when we meet at a London hotel. “I had so much to pick from. It was probably the last era where I felt like I was in touch with the mainstream – whatever was popular. Being a young person then, listening to the radio. The 80s sent me underground pretty quickly. But this was to me the last moment. So when I started this I had 200 songs that I culled from memory. And the different genres too. There’s a lot – there’s so much that didn’t make it into this movie. Where’s the Elvis Costello? Where’s the Talking Heads? It’s endless what’s out there, and what ended up working in the movie, what you can get the rights to. So I started big – had a lot of options I guess. It just doesn’t work out with every song.”
Watch Dogs 2 Will Have a “New Tone”
Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot has said that Watch Dogs 2 will have a "new tone", but didn't expand on what that might be.
Guillemot made the statement in an earnings call yesterday (transcribed by Gamespot), adding that it will feature "innovative" gameplay (although, you know, it would have been weird to hear him say that it featured "desperately hackneyed gameplay", so maybe don't take quite as much from that one).
Early signs are pointing to a Watch Dogs sequel that differs from its predecessor. Last week, a leak appeared to confirm a new main character, while its director has previously indicated that the studio was taking risks with the new game.
Ubisoft CEO: One More Generation of Traditional Consoles Left
Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot has said he expects traditional consoles to be replaced by "new types of consoles" - likely streaming-based - after the next generation.
"Now on the console side," Guillemot said on an earnings call yesterday (transcribed by Gamespot), "we expect there will be new consoles that are going to make this market continue to grow and we feel it's... we'll still have another generation of consoles before we have new types of consoles coming to the market."
As for what those new consoles will be, Guillemot was unequivocal: "We believe in streaming--it demands lots of bandwidth. We think it's going to grow but today, with the types of games we have, it will still take a bit of time to be more popular."
Gran Turismo Sport Details, Footage Coming Next Week
New details and footage of incoming PS4 racer Gran Turismo Sport will be unveiled during a UK event next week, Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed via PlayStation Blog.
The event will be streamed via the official Gran Turismo YouTube channel and the official PlayStation YouTube channel on May 19 at 10:45 AM PT (6:45 PM BST, 3:45 AM AEST on May 20).
Following the news and the showcasing of the new GT Sport trailer the stream will host a pre-season test of two FIA Gran Turismo Championship Cups; the ‘Nations Cup Pre-Season Test’ and the ‘Manufacturer Fan Cup Pre-Season Test’.