Despite who may or may not think video games can count as sports, a lot of games have strong online followings and growing communities, and the rest of the world is starting to take notice. While athletes in physical sports are competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, a few video games—and some top players—will join them for the Rio 2016 eGames Showcase.
It’s not quite the same as being part of the Olympics, but it’s still great to see competitive gaming get some recognition alongside them, at least. The showcase will be held by the International eGames Committee and include the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game Smite, as well as a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament. The new Smash Bros. title has already become the highest selling entry in the series yet (counting the 3DS and Wii U versions together), and the Wii U version has finally unseated Melee as the series entry that sold the highest proportion of units compared to the number of people who owned the system that played it.
After also surpassing its older sibling in number of entrants in their respective largest tournaments (Evo 2016 for both of them), heading to the Olympics is a nice bonus for the newest Smash version. It’s also a bonus for some of the game’s top players and commentators, who will get to participate in Rio alongside the game. Shoryuken reports that Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland, Elliot “Ally” Cardoza-Oyarce (who won Evo 2016), and Leonardo “MK Leo” Lopez, among others, will compete in the international event, and Richard “Keitaro” King Jr. and Maximillian “Max Ketchum” Krchmar will handle the commentary and match breakdowns.
For those of us unable to make it to Brazil in person, the two-day showcase will be live streamed August 15 and 16, with the Smash tournament on the 16th at 11AM local time (10AM ET).
(image via Nintendo)
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Published: Aug 10, 2016 03:03 pm