Nintendo is actually starting to invest in some of its competitive titles that lend themselves well to the world of eSports and now three of those titles will be getting highlighted during E3 this year. Bits and pieces of information about Nintendo’s upcoming tournament lineup for E3 have been trickling out over the week but now we have a full scope of what’s going down, when exactly it’s all happenings and who will be competing. We learned last week that Splatoon 2 and ARMS would be featured in the string of tournaments and shortly after that it was revealed that Pokken Tournament DX would also be grabbing some of the spotlight.
Most Nintendo fans aren’t used to seeing the gaming giant offering this many competitive titles that can actually leave a big footprint in the eSports community and it certainly feels odd to see them supporting and acknowledging the competitive scene to this degree. After all, this is the same company that has been giving its largest competitive community (Smash) the cold shoulder for years. Perhaps this E3 tournament lineup is actually Nintendo’s way of reminding us all that the Switch is truly meant to be going toe-to-toe with other current gen consoles even when it comes to competitive offerings. For the Switch, these tournaments will do a lot more than simply showcase gameplay. It will position Splatoon 2, Pokken Tournament DX and ARMS as games for “serious gamers,” which is exactly one of the many things Nintendo needed to accomplish at this year’s E3 showing to give the Switch a boost.
The Splatoon 2 tournament will kick off at 5:30 ET. The competing teams are the U.S.’s Deadbeat, Japan’s Dynameu, Europe’s Rising Moon and Australia/New Zealand’s Blue Ringed Octolings. The Pokken Tournament DX Invitational will start at 1:30 ET on June 14 and will feature a pretty exciting lineup of competitors. Justin Wong, JD Witherspoon, Stephanie Patrick, MatPat, Nairo, Andre Meadows, Allister Singh and Ken Hoang will all be competing in the tournament.
To nobody’s surprise, ARMS will be the final tournament of the lineup and it’s likely to get the most attention. ARMS has become quite the hot topic lately and for a multitude of different reasons. To be honest, it first collected little more than side-eyes when gamers assumed Nintendo’s new fighter would be an unsophisticated button masher. The more of ARMS gamers started to see, however, the further the community began to bury that theory. After the game flaunted its true potential, it pulled back the curtains to unveil a character by the name of Twintelle who broke the Internet with her… well…. her assets. To be fair, however, her overall character design is fun and gives a lot to be appreciated. The fact that she’s also a curvy girl is just an added bonus that the Internet just couldn’t seem to handle.
Either way, this will be the first major look at ARMS especially in the competitive light so it’s an event a lot of people will have their eye on. The ARMS invitational will take place on June 14 at 6:30 ET. The players in this tournament consist of a variety of notable names in the fighting game community like Alex “CaliPower” Valle and Daniel “Tafokints” Lee. Four more players will actually be selected from E3 to also compete against the pros.
Nintendo #E32017 Tournament Line-up#Splatoon2: Tues, 6/13#PokkenTournamentDX: Wed, 6/14#ARMS: Wed, 6/14
Watch: https://t.co/xYmEsIdBCy pic.twitter.com/5PcTNxlg6q
— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) June 9, 2017
If you want to catch all the action the tournament will be livestreamed throughout E3.
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