LBR Podcast Network

This week in esports the NBA 2k League locked down some major sponsors in Dell and Intel. NorCal regionals finished with Tokido securing the SFV win and Go1 locking down Dragonball FighterZ. Riot also announced a major shake up for the European LCS.

With the trade window finally closing on the OWL, some teams have completely different rosters than what they did in the previous stages. Norris and Robbie go through how this could affect each team and what to watch for.

The crew discuss the racial disparity between different esports scenes such as the OWL and the FGC and what leads to this type of scene and how to fix it.

This week in gaming Street Fighter the TV series is being developed. EA gets another chance at a Star Wars game as a new job posting goes up. Fortnite breaks the record on YouTube for most uploads in a single month. Lastly, PUBG adds weapon skin customization options to the game.

This week in esports Twitch and Dreamhack re-up their deal after 10 years of co-operation. PGL PUBG Spring Invitational wrapped up with Ghost Gaming taking home the main prize. At Full Bloom 4 for Super Smash Bros Melee, Hungrybox takes the win. Finally, at the new Allied Esports Arena in Las Vegas the first tournament for Smash Masters League took place with Nairo taking home the prize.

After one of his ‘Yoshi P Walks’ streams on Niconico, we have a bit more of a clue about what to expect for the future of Eureka. Despite still ‘hating it’ Nika’s been spending quite a bit of time in the Forbidden Land. The real question on everyone’s mind though, is can Square Enix keep up with the success?

The Checkpoint Radio crew was live from the opening of the Allied Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. They're back and sharing their thoughs on being present for the opening of this epic new arena. Remember, if you haven't heard this week's special episode from the opening of the Esports Arena at the Luxor - hear it at Mixcloud.com/CheckpointRadio. Episodes uploaded every Tuesday.

This week in gaming Amazon once again spearheads efforts to help smaller developers by offering some new tools in effort called Amazon Game On. Battlefield 2 has reinstated its microtransactions and they're all purely cosmetic now. Sonic Mania Plus was announced for the Switch as well as the Nindies, Nintendo's own line of Indie games for the Switch. Finally, Ubisoft and Vivendi's epic saga concludes with a win-win as Tencent enters the scene.

The Overwatch League expressed interest in a draft for season 2, but in order for that to happen, a players association must first be established. Final Round 2018 results are in with Infiltration, Knee and Co-Ichi claiming the win in their respective titles. Esports entering the Olympics is still on track despite their hard stance against any that contain violence. Finally, with the success of the Overwatch League Activision looks to be interested in launching a formal Call of Duty league.

We've seen the rise of the underdogs and the fall of some western powerhouses. We also discuss the consequences and motivations of xQc on the future of the league.