XBox 360 League - The Major Leagues And Titles

Some individuals go through life doing very little with their spare time. They work, come home and watch TV and play games. While others have hobbies, you're intent on winning the next big video game. Fortunately for some, this isn't as unproductive as you might think. While you'd have to be exceptionally good, there are plenty of opportunities to make money and win prizes with your honed video gaming skills. There are various leagues all over the world with varying levels of games, players and rewards, including an Xbox 360 league. If you think you're good enough and you want the time you've spent playing any one of the Halos to mean something, then you could consider entering a league and trying to qualify.

Major League Gaming (MLG)

Major League Gaming (MLG) is considered one of the largest gaming leagues in the world and provides yearly tournaments in some of the latest games available. However, they put competition ahead of new games and may even utilize older games due to the high-level of competitiveness they instill. Major League Gaming utilizes the Playstation 3 consoles if the game is available on all the platforms, but if they do use other consoles if the game is exclusive to those machines, such as Halo or Gear of War. MLG has been known to hold events all over the world as well as online events.

Halo, Gears of War And Call of Duty

Halo has been the mainstay of the tournaments since the start with Halo: Combat Evolved. It's a first person shooter with many non-realistic elements, which means it's very fast paced and focused primarily on twitch-based skills. The close-quarter maps amplify this and it is considered an exemplary competitive game. Over the years it's been updated and Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach have all made their debut.

Call of Duty is another game of exceptional popularity and has also been used in several iterations. Modern Warfare provided a good deal of competitive gaming and features realistic scenarios in contrast to the sci-fi Halo. The gameplay is still somewhat unrealistic, however, and is still very much twitch-based. Modern Warfare 2 has also been used and the upcoming Black Ops is expected to debut next year.

Gears of War strays from the mold as it provides third-person cover-based shooting, but focuses on team-based play. It can, however, provide matches for free-for-alls and pairs and is a very good example of controlled competition. The sequel is currently in place with Gears of War 3 likely to be put in place when that is released.

Rules And Cheating

Cheating isn't favorable in any sport and video game leagues are no exception. While it's somewhat easier to do, cheating can become very subjective. There are controllers with macro buttons that allow the player to simply press once to dispatch a prearranged set of keys or combinations. This provides the players with an inhuman advantage, but as it's sold legally and not banned by online governing bodies such as Microsoft, many consider it to be fine, while video game leagues are gradually banning such devices.

Video Game Leagues, The Main Companies, Processes And Rules

For some of us, playing games is a way of life and many of this demographic may often wonder at a life where playing games is actually productive. It would come as surprise for these individuals, then, to learn that there are, in fact, almost a dozen major video game leagues that have hundreds of attendees and competitors every year. Millions of dollars of prizes are given away annually to the winners, meaning it's not just a passing fancy, but a completely viable way of life, provided you're the best of the best. These leagues utilize some of the most competitive games around, not all of them new, and people from all over the world compete, both in person and over the Internet. The participants can take part as either teams or individuals, depending on the league and game in question.

The Main Leagues

Competitions are generally set up by several major competition-holders, but these generally don't hold official game-specific leagues. For example, there is no official CounterStrike league. The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is the big one and the one who has dished out over 3 million dollars in prizes over 6 years. Venerable, this big hitter provides competitions primarily in the area of first-person shooters (FPSs). The World Cyber Games (WCG) is considerably bigger than the CPL in that it offers up to 500,000 dollars a year and features dozens of games of varying genres. The Pro Gaming League features gaming on consoles, rather than personal computers, but offers less prize money.

The Process Of Elimination 

Video game competitions function like most major competitions. The competitors face off against other competitors in a bid to challenge the reigning champions. Once the competitors are weeded out and only the best remain, these then face off against the champions. If the champions defend their title, they are rewarded with the prize money, as are the competitors if they win. There are variations in each tournament, such as champions being consider competitors and facing off against the teams until only one team remains.

Once a team have beaten the champions or the champions have retained their throne, then the prize money is awarded. Sometimes it's money, but it's also commonly dished out as items worth the same amount, such as graphics cards, computers, etc. The events are then arranged for the following year with the new or old champions being written in to defend their titles.

Cheating

Cheating is a serious issue as with any major sport. Unlike other sports though, gaming makes cheating a lot easier as there are practically thousands of ways to manipulate a game into making it easier for the player. Some may utilize 3rd party programs, while others might exploit game glitches to provide themselves with an advantage. To combat such irregular methods of play, referees and judges are sometimes present to supervise players. Hardware can also provide unfair advantages. For example, some controllers designs come with a macro button, which allows a series of button presses to programmed to a single button press. This allows players to do more within less time, usually more than is human possible. This is yet another form of cheating and these controllers are generally banned from such competitions.