let the harvest begin
Giants Software
Many have probably heard of a series of games like Farming Simulator at least once. And most likely, ironically – they often joke about Farming Simulator that this is a game that you have to work on when you get home from work.
The essence of Farming Simulator is simple. The player takes on the role of a farmer who owns a plot, a barn and several tractors with a plow, seeder, wheelbarrow and other agricultural implements. Using them, you have to cultivate the land, plant something there, then grow it and sell it to buy a larger plot and repeat everything.
For 13 years, the series has had new episodes with millions of copies sold each year. At one point, Farming Simulator had so many fans that in 2018 the developers decided to organize a game-based esports league.
Oddly enough, within the framework of Farming Simulator competitions, esportsmen do not compete in combined races – everything is much more serious.
Matches are played between two teams of three players each. Each player has a role assigned to him: one controls the tractor to collect hay and pack the bales, the second controls the tractor for loading and hauling, the third controls the tractor for unloading. There are two fields with hay on the playground. Teams need to process their sites as quickly as possible. The one who completes the task faster wins.
In 2022, the Farming Simulator World Championship was held in Erlangen, Germany. Eight teams competed for a prize pool of €100,000, while two German teams Trelleborg and Valtra made it to the finals. First team won: three under-18s received €40,000.
dance ’til you drop
Ubisoft
Just Dance is a series of games in which players must repeat the dance moves of the characters to hits from popular artists. The accuracy of the dancers’ movements is monitored using a handheld smartphone or special console accessories such as the Kinect or PlayStation Move.
Just Dance has hosted the official Just Dance World Cup since 2014. Every year, Ubisoft selects the highest-rated players from 18 regions and invites them to an offline championship. As a rule, it is made in France or Brazil. In the finals, e-athletes perform in pairs – dancing against each other. The results of the performances are evaluated both by the play itself and by the jury (developers, professional dancers and stars). The goal is to better dance your opponent in two of the three rounds.
Despite the official status of an esports discipline, Just Dance World Cup finalists do not compete for cash prizes. The winner of the tournament gets a five-day trip to Paris, an appointment with the game’s developers, and the opportunity to record a dance that will be featured in the next episode of Just Dance.
From 2014 to 2019, the Just Dance World Cup was held five times. In addition, the developers took a break due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has continued to this day. The winner in 2014, 2015 and 2017 was Brazilian dancer Diego San. In 2018 and 2019 – Turkish Umutkan Tytyunci. Participants from Russia twice went to the super final of the tournament.
laid bricks
thectwc.com
Developed by Soviet programmer Alexei Pajitnov, the Tetris game definitely needs no introduction, but the fact that this unassuming arcade has been hosting the World Championships every year since 2010 may be a revelation to someone. The tournament is called the Classic Tetris World Championship.
The word Classic in the title is not in vain. The fact is, players compete in the original Tetris game, which was released in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (better known in Russia thanks to its Chinese clone Dendy). Also, during matches, players use the original NES console and controllers, the original game cartridge, and old “core” CRT TVs. Breaking these rules will result in disqualification.
Single players participate in tournaments. They go against each other in two player game mode. The goal is not to lose before the opponent. The difficulty is that the rate at which the numbers drop increases after you earn a certain number of points. And so several times.
It is noteworthy that competitive Tetris is constantly evolving: players regularly develop new tactics that allow them to last as long as possible. For example, the latest trend is the “rolling” control technique. The player pinches the directional arrow and taps the lower part of the body with his fingers. Each hit counts as an arrow click. Therefore, moving the pieces is noticeably faster than if the player had multiple clicks.
In 2022, 18-year-old American Eric Tolt won the Classic Tetris World Championship. He got $10,000.
good old strife
middle ground games
Tetris isn’t the only game of the last century to have a more or less professional scene in 2022. You can at least put Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on a shelf, a fighting game (a type of video game where fictional fighters fight) that gained huge popularity in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Although the Mortal Kombat series continues to evolve to the present day, unlike Tetris, fans cannot leave Ultimate. An amateur Ultimate Cup tournament has been held regularly since 2013, bringing together players from 13 countries. In 2022, the 11th World Cup has already taken place.
The rules of the competition are simple. Players from the tournament group play one-on-one. They choose fighters and fight up to four victories. There are fighters who are prohibited from participating in the tournament due to their excessive strength. These include, for example, the Indian Night Wolf and the mercenary Cabal.
The prize funds of the Ultimate Cup are quite modest and rarely exceed 50 thousand rubles. However, the organizers also share a portion of the profits from donations (cash prizes) from the audience with the winners.
Players from Russia and the CIS dominate the professional scene of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. For example, Snowboy (Belarus), Isum (Azerbaijan), Ali (Azerbaijan), Mafioso (Russia) and Zohan (Russia) were among the top 5 athletes with the highest scores at the time of this writing.
Source: Gazeta
Jackson Ruhl is a tech and sci-fi expert, who writes for “Social Bites”. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of technology and science fiction.