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The last CS:GO Major has begun!

With the introduction of Valve's new Counter-Strike entry, CS2, the game that changed esports history is about to witness its final Major event. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive shaped the industry of the competitive FPS genre for over 10 years, but Paris is the last stop for a Valve hosted event. The iconic Majors will come back in 2024 as the competition moves to the next title.CS2's launch date has been announced for Summer 2023, just a couple months away. While some got exclusive access to test the beta, the majority is counting the days left to get their hands on it. As soon as it launches, competition will move on to the new version. According to Valve's plans, there won't be a second CS Major in 2023. That means that we are witnessing the very last Global Offensive tournament hosted by them.Ten years ago, Jönköping was home to the very first Major. Hosted by DreamHack, it had a total prize pool of US$250,000 split among 16 teams. Fnatic managed to beat NIP in a 2-1 grand final and had the honor of lifting the trophy before anyone else.The expansion of the esports industry can be seen through the growth of its more iconic events. CS:GO Majors have seen more recent tournaments promoting a US$2,000,000 prize pool and presenting twenty-four teams from around the world. There is a very special shared feeling of participating and becoming the last champions of a CS:GO Major. In less than two weeks, we'll find out who will claim victory for the last time.

VALORANT Premier: From team ranked to pro, the beta is live!

Have you ever wondered if your team has what it takes to face the very best? Riot Games' FPS long awaited feature 'Premier' will give you the answer. This new mode that presents exciting opportunities for upcoming talents to test themselves against rivals of equal footing has launched its beta. That's not all: the very best will ascend beyond the Radiant rankhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d0ZoVqrWuoIt consists of three phases: Enrollment, competing in ranked play weekly, a defining tournament in search of a champion. Players will be seeded into 1 of 20 divisions in their region according to the average MMR of the team's top five players.The highest level of play in VALORANT is experienced through premade teams battling it out with the highest stakes on the line. What exactly is on the line? VALORANT Premier is the new road to pro. Yes, you heard it right! The very best will have a chance to compete against VCT regional teams and climb their way into an actual professional league.This should definitely help towards the rise up of upcoming and promising prospects to the most competitive sphere. As a side effect, it should breed new life to the game with new and returning players looking to test themselves. What do you think about this fresh new in client built feature? Let us know on Blast's Discord.

Squad up!: How to set up your own Team at Blast

In this guide, we'll learn step by step how to set up a team in Blast. If you don’t have a Blast account yet, read this first and the Spanish version of this user guide is also available for your language of choice. Make sure to link your respective gaming account to your profile, you can find how to do so in our user guides section.https://youtu.be/Z5Tsiev4iJwOnce you have created your account, we can start from the top. Players can either create their own team or join an already existing one by requesting or accepting an invite.1. You will find the "teams" button in the sidebar at app.blast.gg, go ahead and click it to visit the section.2. If you don't have any, you will be prompted to create a team. While doing so, you will be met with a pop-up to name your team. Once created, you will see it listed in the "all" and "my teams" sections.3. There, you can click on "go to team details" to check out your team's profile page and edit it to your liking. But most important, the "invite players" button on the right corner of the header will allow you to start recruiting.In this page you can also edit name, language, avatar and banner. To add on that, there is a "Tournaments" section where all competitions the team took part in will be listed.4. To ease the user experience, there are many ways to achieve the same objective. Search for the players you want on your team and a notification will let them know they have been invited while you wait for them to accept the request. In the same manner, players can request to join.5. Now that you assembled your squad, the captain will be able to join a tournament with the "Teams" requirement, given all players registered have their game account linked in their profiles. Another requirement is for the team to have enough players and if there are more than needed, the captain has to choose the fighting force for each tournament.Well? What are you waiting for, Blast keeps growing and it's time for you to squad up and show us what you got. Go out there and make a name for yourselves together. We will be expecting you blasters!

¡Junta a la banda!: Cómo crear tu propio equipo y competir en Blast

En esta guía aprenderemos el paso a paso para configurar un equipo en Blast. Si aún no tienes una cuenta en Blast, lee este tutorial primero. La versión en inglés de esta guía también está disponible para tu idioma de preferencia. Asegúrate de vincular tu respectiva cuenta de juego a tu perfil, puedes encontrar el paso a paso para la que necesites en nuestras otras guías de usuario.https://youtu.be/7x8YF3gFulEUna vez que tengas tu propia cuenta, podemos empezar desde el principio. Los jugadores pueden crear su propio equipo o unirse a uno ya existente solicitando o aceptando una invitación.1. Encontrarás el botón "equipos" en la barra lateral de app.blast.gg, haz clic en él para visitar la sección.2. Si no tienes ninguno, se te pedirá que crees un equipo. Al hacerlo, aparecerá una ventana emergente en la que se te pedirá que le pongas un nombre a tu equipo. Una vez creado, aparecerá en las secciones "todos" y "mis equipos".3. Allí, puedes hacer clic en "ir a los detalles del equipo" para ver la página de perfil de tu equipo y editarla a tu gusto. Pero lo más importante es que el botón "invitar a jugadores" situado a la derecha de la cabecera te permitirá empezar a reclutar.En esta página también podrás editar el nombre, el idioma, el avatar y el banner a tu gusto. Además de la personalización. Además, hay una sección de "Torneos" en la que se enumeran todas las competiciones en las que ha participado el equipo.4. Para facilitar la experiencia del usuario, hay muchas formas de conseguir el mismo objetivo. Busca a los jugadores que quieres en tu equipo y una notificación les hará saber que han sido invitados mientras esperas a que acepten la solicitud. Del mismo modo, los jugadores pueden solicitar unirse para que tú, el capitán, decidas si lo aceptas o lo deniegas.5. Ahora que has reunido a tu escuadrón, el capitán podrá unirse a un torneo con el requisito de "Equipos", siempre y cuando todos los jugadores inscritos tengan su cuenta de juego vinculada en sus perfiles. Otro requisito es que el equipo tenga suficientes jugadores y si hay más de los necesarios, el capitán deberá elegir su fuerza de combate para cada torneo.¿Y bien? A qué esperas, Blast sigue creciendo y es hora de que formes equipo y nos demuestres lo que tienes. Poneos a prueba y haceos un nombre juntos. ¡Los esperamos blasters!

Can Star Wars Jedi: Survivor become the franchise’s best game yet?

One of the most beloved franchises could be about to write a new chapter in the gaming industry. The long awaited sequel Jedi: Survivor is nearly here and keeps the hype up high with the latest trailer. Set to launch on April 28th, the ambitious title will take Cal Kestis' on new adventures and will expand the story of Jedi: Fallen Order.As the Empire continues to rule over the galaxy, we take on the role of a fugitive Jedi who is fighting back and lives through the terrors of their conquest and colonization. As he grows, we'll experience the introduction of new Force abilities and new lightsaber fighting styles, as well as the ability to use a blaster. We got a little sneak peek to gameplay and it looks like we'll be able to turn him into the jedi we always wanted to be.https://www.youtube.com/embed/bmj3ty-Wt48Not only that, the sequel "will feature an expanded range of enemies, and that we'll need to cleverly utilize our training to overcome opponents and solve mysteries contained on both 'new planets and familiar frontiers in the Star Wars galaxy'".That means we'll get to meet never seen rebels, inquisitors, and expand on the variety of species and fauna that Star Wars is so famous for. Respawn anticipated that there will be larger areas to explore and innovative ways to navigate them. Not only that, we already know that the game will feature "at least 7 planets" to visit and explore.The game's non-intrusive UI would seem to let us change between two stances, bring back the healing stims and what's most likely to be a Force ability.Lastly, the events of Jedi: Survivor will take place at the same time as the Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ shows. There is a chance that we might get to see Cal in the TV screen, as Ewan McGregor has stated about the need for his show to match-up with events and lore from the video games.Respawn Entertainment has confirmed that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is going to release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X. Stig Amussen, game director of SW Jedi: Survivor, says that next-gen features such as real-time ray tracing is allowing Respawn to work "at a fidelity that's well beyond anything that we've ever produced before."There is no doubt that the latest entry launching in two weeks could become the best Star Wars videogame to date. It has big shoes to fill, but it is certainly set up for success.

A cleaner and prettier Blast: take a look at our new homepage!

So as you may guess, our app platform was only the first of many steps we set for Blast this year. Now, we are thrilled to present newcomers (and blasters) with a brand new homepage! More detailed, intuitive and thorough than ever.As you scroll down the new website, you'll find our catalogue, platform stats, highlighted players, step by step introduction and more. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to join us, enjoy playing and become a part of the community. Because of it, we have placed a language option for both English and Spanish at the top right.Get straight to the action with a simple and easy to follow "How it works" section. We know people just want to get playing ASAP, and so visitors will find a three step guide to set up and get hands on.If you are looking for more guides specific to a particular game, make sure to visit our blog posts. You'll find a "News" and "Tutorials" section as well, which we update constantly.We take pride in the Blast Community and witness its continued grow. We highly recommend users to become part of it through our Discord server. There, we don't just announce upcoming tournaments across multiple titles, but we share discussions of any kind. From gaming related news and state of the game themes to off-topic exchanges of any kind.There's even more to visit but we don't want to keep you here all day. We invite you to visit it yourself, where you'll find more about our partners, a "contact" section, a FAQ to clear any doubts and the chance to join our newsletter. Welcome to Blast, see you on the server!

Counter Strike 2 is real and it’s launching this summer!

After more than 2 weeks teasing the announcement of Source 2 version of CS:GO, Valve has finally done it. Called simply "Counter-Strike 2", it will arrive available for everyone this summer. Ahead of time, we already know a lot about the upcoming free update. Oh that's right, even though the name has changed, CS2 will update your current CS:GO client rather than sell you a new game.On Wednesday, Valve dropped the big announcement and people went wild on social platforms. We'd like to go over some of the most significant changes coming to the title, from upgraded visuals, to maps and even tickless servers.Counter-Strike 2 plays differentFor starters, it might be a very similar experience, but it's algo significantly different. How so? If you know anything about CSGO, then you know how important smokes and utility are. Now, smokes will be responsive to environment, lighting and react to shots and granades clearing paths and affecting vision dynamically. Rather than creating a big smoke sphere, they will also seep out of broken windows, opened doorways, expand through tight corridors and combine with other smokes.Counter-Strike 2 looks and sounds differentMore polished than ever, Source 2 engine provides CS with different and upgraded visuals. Cleaner, brighter and even bringing a new reworked audio to the table. Visual effects are brand new: from Source 2 lighting and particles to water, explosions, fire, smoke, muzzle flashes, bullet tracers, impact effects, blood and more. Sounds like a lot doesn't it? It isn't all of it: CS 2 takes a leap with a new HUD with fresh visuals that also communicate importante information about the game state.The first time you throw a molotov or a smoke, you might get a little distracted by the way it looks or interacts. We also know many people worry for their in-game skins, so don't! You get to keep all of it, and even get to see they got and upgrade and are looking slicker than ever.Overhauled mapsIconic locations don't change, they just get better. The Valve team in charge of the FPS took the necessary time to present similar but very refreshing and slightly redesigned maps. They might look brighter for starters, but there is so much more. Fully rebuilt with Source 2 tools and rendering features, classics like Nuke, Dust 2, Italy, Overpass and plenty have been fleshed out with realistic materials, lighting and reflections.Valve has confirmed that there are more news to come. We will have the time to learn more about the tickless servers that will affect the highest level of play and deep dive into gameplay differences. For now, only a few select amount of players will be testing CS2 ahead of time, so we will probably hear a lot in the upcoming months. Worry not, it will arrive before five months pass. Exited already? If you are eager to read more, you may head to Counter Strike's blog.

VALORANT LOCK//IN: Sao Paulo’s 2023 kickstarting tournament was a huge hit!

The long awaited VALORANT competition hosted in Brazil gathered 32 teams around the world in a 2023 season opening event. It also achieved the feat of becoming the 2nd most watched VALORANT event. Organized by Riot Games, it was the first major tournament of its kind to take place in South America. From February 13th to a very high tensity finish on March 4th.After a Bo5 series that decided the champions in the very last game, FNATIC claimed it against LOUD and lifted the trophy. The high quality production draw thousands of fans from across the region.To begin with, the teams were drawn into a unique bracket where they competed in a single-elimination format. Loser would go home and winner moved on. It was a punishing format, but keeping in mind it was a new year kickstarting event. That being said, Riot proposed a $500,000 USD total prize pool and the winners took home $100,000 USD.From the very beginning, the event was a hit. It worked as a year presentation preceding the three new international franchised leagues: Americas, EMEA, Pacific and even two teams emerging from China. An opportunity for teams to show off and prove they belong at the top. The atmosphere was electric, with players and spectators alike caught up in the excitement of the competition.On top of that, another key factor that made the event such a success was the quality of the production. Riot Games spared no expense in creating an immersive and engaging experience for the fans. The stage was decked out with cutting-edge lighting and sound equipment. The matches broadcasted on massive screens throughout the venue. The commentary team was full of many familiar faces to the scene, with some of the best analysts and casters in the industry.Just like CSGO stood foot on South America with the IEM Rio Major, Riot Games decided the time was due. The Brazilian and South American esports market is one of the fastest-growing and most promising markets in the world. The region has a huge population of passionate gamers making it ideal for game developers and esports organizations to tap into.Brazil alone has a population of over 200 million people, and with the rise of popular games like VALORANT, League of Legends, and CSGO, the esports scene in the region is exploding. By capitalizing on this market, game developers and esports organizations can not only tap into a new and potentially lucrative revenue stream but also help to further grow and develop the esports scene in the region, giving local players and teams more opportunities to compete at the highest levels of esports.

Dota 2: A new ESL Pro Circuit is reportedly on the rise for Valve’s MOBA

ESL is planning a complementary circuit to Valve's (DPC) according to the latest report from Esports Journalist Richard Lewis. The proposal presented to teams during the already finished Lima Major would combine DreamLeague, ESL ONE and Riyadh Masters into a single global circuit.The well-known DreamLeague would become the primary way to qualify for the Riyadh Masters, to be played between 16 teams remotely from Europe. ESL ONE would continue as an arena LAN event, with 12 teams. There would be plans for it to happen on Thailand next. Both would offer a one million USD prize pool.However, the connection of ESL One with Riyadh Masters is unclear, but the latter would be the pinnacle of the circuit. This is the highest paying outsourced Dota event to date. It is part of the Gamers8 festival in Saudi Arabia.Gamers8 holds ambitious tournaments for multiple titles. Last year's offering included Dota 2, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six, Rocket League and Fortnite. This year, they have announced a 45 million dollar prize pool which will be distributed among all the esports competitions. The event has already been confirmed for July 2023 and would arrive at the end of the Bali Major.Finally, we begin to see the plans and consequences of the merger of ESL Faceit under the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The parallel circuit could become a reality for the 2023-2024 season. It would not seek to rival the current Dota Pro Circuit.Outsourced events have the potential to run concurrently thanks to changes made from Valve to the latter circuit. In favor of more downtime available between Tours and with a less stretched format.