Good Morning, I’m Dan with Des Moines Gaming Club and welcome to another Tuesday Telecast. As you know from last week’s video, I have been fortunate to have been able to talk with quite a few folks recently who have been informed of our Club and have garnered an interest about what we’re doing. Esports is a rapidly growing industry and people are definitely taking notice. Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of speaking with some representatives from Version1 which is the Minnesota based parent company of these three professional esports teams. The Version 1 Valorant team, the Version 1 Rocket League team, and… the Minnesota Rokkr. One of the best Call of Duty teams in the world. They have a whole complex up in Eagan, Minnesota solely dedicated to esports. A huge shoutout and thanks to them for reaching out to us to chat about potential partnerships down the line. Don’t be surprised if we host some watch parties for the Minnesota Rokkr…!
Moving on to our weekly events, we continue to host online locals every Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon. Be sure to check out dsmgamingclub.com to view those events and to sign up if you are interested. At the physical space itself we continue to get it ready for our Grand Opening which will happen in the Summer, currently shooting for mid-June. Vaccination rates here in Iowa are looking pretty good so if you haven’t gotten signed up or begun the Covid-19 vaccination process then keep trying. The more people vaccinated the better! If you have questions about how to get vaccines, reach out to us! We are no experts but have been able to secure appointments ourselves.
We are excited to be so close to an in-person opening so be sure to spread the word to any other gamers you might know. We are starting small with our number of stations but we are ready and willing to get more equipment and more stations if the volume necessitates it! Investing in the esports and gaming community of Des Moines is our number 1 priority.
Now for some esports news. Not this past weekend, but the weekend before that was the Call of Duty leagues 2nd major tournament which was a wild ride to say the least. One of the craziest plays in CoD history occurred when Accuracy clutched a 1v3 vs. OpTic to send the Minnesota Rokkr into the top 4 of the tournament and eliminating OpTic in the final round of the 5th map in Search & Destroy. An even bigger moment though was when Toronto Ultra won the whole series by defeating Atlanta Faze in the Grand Finals! Not many people had the Ultra winning this tournament so that was pretty cool to see.
The 2021 Overwatch League kicked off this past weekend and it was a much anticipated opening because nearly every roster in the league had major roster changes during the off season. This will be the 4th year of the Overwatch League and if you want to watch the action, all events are live streamed on the official Overwatch League YouTube channel.
Finally, Lauren Bergin with Dexerto has published an opinion piece about the World of Warcraft esport. Blizzard has had rocky experiences in the past with esports and with WoW it is no different rights Bergin. Recently, Blizzard changed the format of the esport to a new style of competitive dungeon running that would see teams attempt to survive longer than their competitors which differs from the old format where teams try to complete dungeons the fastest. The event was called The Great Push still taking place during the Mythic Dungeon International. However, reactions from fans of WoW were not great with many people asking Blizzard to stop trying to make an RPG an esport and that their changes just end up hurting the game. What are your thoughts? WoW is such a classic game in the gaming community but should it be an esport? If so, what format would work?
That’s all the news we’ve got for you today, have a great day, thanks for watching, and happy gaming!