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How One Valorant Clip Kickstarted A Conversation About Sexism In Competitive Games
12.4.2024
Last summer, I reported on major studios’ valiant (but still lacking) efforts to combat toxic voice chat (of which women are often the target) in popular competitive games like Overwatch 2, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends. And though Riot Games, the studio behind the 5v5 competitive hero shooter...
Valkyrae On The Family Plan, Working Retail, And How To Stream Authentically
12.2.2024
Rachell Hofstetter always wants to do more. With four million subscribers on YouTube, the streamer known as Valkyrae has become one of the top women creators in gaming since she started back in 2015. Viewers can’t get enough of her bubbly personality and quirky antics, devouring her streams as...
Ben Affleck Sounds Incredibly Bummed About Valorant Nerfs
29.8.2023
Riot Games’ free-to-play tactical hero shooter Valorant nerfed a bunch of characters in its latest update, and actor Ben Affleck doesn’t sound too happy about the tweaks made to one of the game’s most goated characters.Read more
Elon Musk Booed At Valorant Tournament
28.8.2023
Elon Musk, head nit-twit and “Player of Games,” appeared surprised when he attended the Valorant Champions 2023 tournament at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California and was greeted with a cacophony of boos. Read more
Despite Advancements, Games Still Aren't Doing Enough To Stop Toxic Voice Chat
21.7.2023
I started regularly playing competitive online games in 2007, with the launch of Halo 3. Back then, participating in in-game voice chat was harrowing for a 17-year-old girl whose voice betrayed her gender and her youth. I was subjected to such frequent and horrific hostility (rape threats...
Valorant Didn’t Just Break My PC, It Broke Me
16.8.2022
I love shooters about as much as I love taquitos from 7/11, which is to say on far too many occasions I am walking out of such a store at 3 a.m. with…multiples of them…and a can of Monster energy, on my way home to play Halo or Siege or one of my shooter go-tos. Well, about a week ago, I decided...
Valorant Pro Accused Of Letting Boyfriend Take Over During Women-Only Match
27.7.2022
On July 24, the mysterious Twitter account @nicekeybinds posted a comprehensive Google Doc accusing MarsArxa, a member of the all-women Valorant esports team Fallacy, and her boyfriend Nate ‘Payen’ Lopez of cheating during a tournament organized by Galorants, a Valorant community space for female...
‘Suspended’ Valorant Pro Sinatraa Announces Return To Competition
13.4.2022
Ousted esports player Jay “Sinatraa” Won, who was suspended from his Valorant team the Sentinels last year for six months due to sexual assault allegations and failure to cooperate with an investigation, announced a return to the competitive scene. While he hasn’t signed to a team, Sinatraa...
YouTube Streamer With 6.9M Followers Banned After Valorant Tirade Clip Surfaces
7.4.2022
In maybe the swiftest escalation of 2022, gaming YouTuber and experimental rapper IShowSpeed was banned from Valorant (and other Riot Games titles) and potentially YouTube for demeaning a female player in Riot’s tactical hero shooter. IShowSpeed has since apologized for his behavior, saying he...
Valorant Art Director Comments On Endeavor Skin Criticism
30.3.2022
On March 23, Matthew Hagg, a professional Call of Duty player known as Nadeshot, expressed disappointment in a viral tweet that a new skin bundle for a weapon in the first-person shooter Valorant didn’t have a ton of alternate colors and special effects. He noted that the new cosmetics had “so much...
Riot Forced To Explain A Valorant Character Is Not Into NFTs
27.1.2022
Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends and online shooter Valorant, has issued something of an apology to fans of the latter after a tweet appeared to show one of the game’s characters enjoying the works of an NFT artist.Read more
New Agent Neon Brings Sprinting And Sliding To Valorant
5.1.2022
In her recent (and gorgeous) reveal trailer, Neon, the newest agent about to be introduced to Riot’s team-based tactical shooter, Valorant, breaks the cardinal rule of the sweaty, tryhard, head-clicking tac-shooter genre—she can actually move fluidly.Read more
The Best Shooters Of 2021
11.12.2021
Video game shooters once dominated the gaming landscape. Today, well okay... they sort of still do. But, the variety and diversity of shooters has truly blossomed in the last few years. Now we have hardcore military sims, colorful live games filled with wild quests, VR titles pushing the bounds...
Here's The First Look At The League Of Legends Fighting Game
21.11.2021
Last night, Riot Games released the first gameplay video of Project L, a fighting game set in the League of Legends universe. The video included a few different League characters and an in-depth discussion about what type of fighting game the devs behind Project L are trying to create. Read more
Valorant’s Newest Agent Will Be A Nightmare To Play Against, And That's Good Actually
2.11.2021
Chamber, Valorant’s newest defensive agent, looks like a monster. I am terrified of this fancy French man and his very pretty guns.Read more
Activision Says Call Of Duty: Warzone, Vanguard Are Getting New, Souped-Up Anti-Cheat
13.10.2021
Amidst numerous lawsuits claiming the company fostered an abuse-filled working environment, Activision Blizzard is getting serious about Call of Duty: Warzone cheaters with the introduction of its new, proprietary Ricochet Anti-Cheat system.Read more
FTX Lands Naming Deal With Esports Giant TSM for $210 Million
5.6.2021
On Friday, FTX Exchange announced signing a naming rights deal with U.S. professional esports organization TSM for $210 million. The cryptocurrency exchange’s multi-year partnership arrangement will allow the crypto firm to rename the company to “TSM FTX.” Esports Firm TSM Will...
One Year And 14 Million Active Players Later, Valorant Is Going Mobile
2.6.2021
Officially launched on June 2 of last year, Riot Games’ hero shooter Valorant has enjoyed massive success on PC, with more than a half-billion matches played and over 14 million active players. Today Riot announced plans to expand the franchise, starting with Valorant Mobile. Read more
Valorant Pro Jay “Sinatraa” Won Suspended For Six Months Following Sexual Assault Investigation
17.5.2021
Jay “Sinatraa” Won has been suspended from competing in professional Valorant matches for six months following Riot’s investigation of claims he sexually assaulted his girlfriend Cleo Hernandez. Announced today, the six month suspension will last until September 10 and require Won to participate...
Former Overwatch League MVP Jay 'Sinatraa' Won Suspended Over Sexual Assault Allegations
10.3.2021
Former Overwatch League MVP and current Valorant pro Jay “Sinatraa” Won was suspended from his team Sentinels today after being accused of sexual assault by a former girlfriend. In a Google Doc posted late last night to Twitter, Cleo Hernandez detailed emotional and sexual abuse allegations...