We have added a WebAPI for public access to official playtime distribution on Operation Hydra maps in Competitive and Casual game modes. This allows map creators and the CS:GO community to track the relative popularity of Operation Hydra maps.
In order to access the WebAPI you would need to obtain a Steam WebAPI key, if you don't have one yet, as described in this document.
gamemode={competitive|casual}, used to filter playtime tracking to the requested game mode
interval={day|week|month}, used to aggregate playtime across the requested interval. Data aggregation interval used in this WebAPI always ends at midnight GMT that has already occurred. For example, when requesting playtime for the day on July 4th at 09:00:00 GMT, the aggregated data returned will be for the 24 hour period between July 3rd 00:00:01 GMT and July 3rd 23:59:59 GMT. Playtime for the week covers 7 days period ending at last midnight GMT, and playtime for the month covers 31 days period ending at last midnight GMT.
WebAPI response:
WebAPI response contains relative percentages of player-minutes played on the Operation Hydra maps in requested game mode for the requested aggregation interval.
We encourage callers to cache the response for 24 hours, as aggregated data doesn't change until next daily aggregation cycle happens after midnight GMT.
We have added a WebAPI for public access to official playtime distribution on Operation Hydra maps in Competitive and Casual game modes. This allows map creators and the CS:GO community to track the relative popularity of Operation Hydra maps.
In order to access the WebAPI you would need to obtain a Steam WebAPI key, if you don't have one yet, as described in this document.
gamemode={competitive|casual}, used to filter playtime tracking to the requested game mode
interval={day|week|month}, used to aggregate playtime across the requested interval. Data aggregation interval used in this WebAPI always ends at midnight GMT that has already occurred. For example, when requesting playtime for the day on July 4th at 09:00:00 GMT, the aggregated data returned will be for the 24 hour period between July 3rd 00:00:01 GMT and July 3rd 23:59:59 GMT. Playtime for the week covers 7 days period ending at last midnight GMT, and playtime for the month covers 31 days period ending at last midnight GMT.
WebAPI response:
WebAPI response contains relative percentages of player-minutes played on the Operation Hydra maps in requested game mode for the requested aggregation interval.
We encourage callers to cache the response for 24 hours, as aggregated data doesn't change until next daily aggregation cycle happens after midnight GMT.
Intel and ESL announced a "landmark deal" during Intel's presentation at E3 today that will see Intel become the Global Technical Partner of ESL, a move they said will "further advance the worldwide growth and development of esports." It also saw the reveal of a new, $1 million Intel Grand Slam prize, which will awarded to the first team that wins four qualifying CS:GO tournaments in a 12-month period.
"We have been one of the very first companies to believe in esports and have supported it for over 15 years. This year, we have decided to take our commitment to the next level," Intel CEO Steven Fund said in a statement. "We are excited to level-up our partnership with ESL, invest into the development of future esports stars, and create premier events like the Intel Grand Slam."
The Grand Slam is a $1 million prize awarded on top of the regular tournament prizes to the first team that can win four out of the last ten $200,000 CS:GO events held between Dreamhack and ESL. Qualifying events include the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL Pro League and DreamHack Masters series.
As an added bonus, any team that's able to keep a potential Grand Slam winner—that is, a team with three wins under its belt—from claiming the fourth and final victory will earn a bonus $100,000 for doing so. Once the prize has been awarded, everything will reset and the race to four will begin again. Qualifying events include the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL Pro League and DreamHack Masters series.
We'll see more from Intel during the PC Gaming Show. You can watch the show live on Twitch, and catch up on all the news from this year's show right here.
Update: The post originally indicated that G2 Esports had claimed the first Intel Grand Slam prize by winning the ESL Pro League Season Finals. Intel has since clarified that the VR Challenge League won't begin until ESL One Cologne in July.
Have you heard about Steam? It’s a sort of shop, but not a shop with a door and a roof and some shelves. It’s a “virtual shop”, a place where you can buy games that, incredibly, has no walls whatsoever! It’s entirely rendered digitally, using computers.
We’ve taken a look, and totted up the games people are buying the most often. … [visit site to read more]
We have added support for normal maps on Custom Paint Job, Patina, and Gunsmith finish styles. The CZ75-Auto | Victoria has been updated with this feature.
You can read more about it and see an example here.
We look forward to seeing your creations. Happy skinning!
We have added support for normal maps on Custom Paint Job, Patina, and Gunsmith finish styles. The CZ75-Auto | Victoria has been updated with this feature.
You can read more about it and see an example here.
We look forward to seeing your creations. Happy skinning!
Operation Hydra in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [official site] has again rotated its special event mode, bringing in Weapons Expert. This mode, which is available free to all Counter-Strikers, lets players buy each weapon only once per match. It’s an interesting-sounding twist on modes like Gun Game, rewarding players for being skilled with all weapons rather than just a few favourites. … [visit site to read more]
Hello. I’ve had this brilliant new idea! Each week I shall tell you which are the top 10 selling games on the PC gaming outlet Steam. No, no, this is nothing like Alec’s idea that he had – he did it on a Tuesday>. This is entirely different. … [visit site to read more]
It’s another busy weekend in the world of digital sports as lots of tournaments are gearing up for the summer finals. There’s plenty of action from the League of Legends LCS to the CS:GO ESL Pro League. We even have the Rocket League: Championship Series to look forward to. All the details on this weekend’s events can be found below.
League of Legends: NA LCS
The NA LCS Summer season will be kicking off with a highly anticipated showdown between Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming. Cloud9 will be aiming to put their spring playoffs loss behind them after Team SoloMid took the trophy. However, TSM’s disappointing MSI performance showed clear weaknesses, but they hope to defend their dynasty with help of Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng in the bottom lane. Meanwhile, Team Liquid and Team Envy survived the promotion tournament, which marks the first time in the history of the NA LCS that the same group of teams will be competing two splits in a row. The full schedule and stream can be found by heading over to lolesports.com.
League of Legends: EU LCS
It’s been a hectic midseason for G2 and the team has barely had time to rest since they took down Unicorns of Love in the EU LCS spring playoffs. G2’s MSI journey painted a picture of confidence, but it wasn’t enough to stop SKT from blowing open their Nexus in the final. However, the defending EU LCS champions will face ROCCAT in first game of the summer split. G2 did lose to ROCCAT at the end of the last regular split, but it wasn’t enough to stop G2 from claiming the title. The full schedule and stream can be found by heading over to lolesports.com.
Dota 2: EPICENTRE
Ten teams will battle it out in a deadly group stage that will kick off this year’s EPICENTER tournament. Only three teams from each group will advance to the playoff stage, so it expected to be a tense weekend for those participating. Group A will see OG and Team Liquid compete against each other along with the EU qualifier winner Team Secret. Na'Vi will also join the group, alongside the Chinese Regional Winners LGD Forever Young. Meanwhile, Group B has a diverse mix of regions where Evil Geniuses, Virtus.Pro and Invictus Gaming will be battling it out along with the NA Regional winners Thunderbirds and SEA Regional winners Clutch Gamers. The full schedule can be found over on epicenter.gg, while the stream is available on Twitch.
Dota 2: ZOTAC Cup Masters
This weekend the ZOTAC Cup Masters takes place in Taipei where four teams will battle it out for their chance to win the $100,000 prize pool. Danish Bears and Digital Chaos were eliminated from the tournament in the first round of playoffs, while Fnatic and iG Vitality will advance to face Newbee and NP. The semifinals concluded yesterday for US viewers, but those of you in Europe can catch all the action today at 03:50 CEST. Finals begin today at 17:50 PDT, while Europe can catch the action on Saturday at 02:50 CEST. The full schedule and stream can be found by heading over to zotac.com.
CS:GO: ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
The ESL Pro League is well underway and both G2 and North have taken control of groups A and B respectively. The quarterfinals saw mousesports take on SK, while Team EnVyUs battled it out with Team Liquid. Both North and G2 aim to land a decisive semifinals victory that will lead them to the ESL Pro League crown and the $750,000 prize pool. The semifinals begin today at 21:50 PDT / 06:50 CEST. All the action can be viewed by heading over to ESL’s official YouTube channel.
StarCraft II: 2017 WCS Europe Qualifier
The 2017 WCS Europe Qualifier will give four of the best StarCraft II players the chance to win travel, accommodation and entrance fully paid to 2017 WCS Valencia. Players have been battling through the gruelling open qualifiers and only the strongest have made it to double-elimination bracket. Matches begin today at 09:00 PDT / 18:00 CEST and continue the same time tomorrow. There’s certainly a lot on the line and anything could happen at this stage of the tournament. The matches can be watched over on Twitch.
Overwatch: Apex Season 3
Overwatch Apex Season three continues to heat up as the group stages enter the final rounds. Today’s match will see two Korean giants clash as KD Panthera aim to settle the score with their rivals Lunatic-Hai. KD Panthera lost their opening match against Lunatic-Hai, but the team has not let this defeat impact their overall dominance in the arena. However, Lunatic-Hai has yet to lose a single match, so KD Panthera will need to be at their best if they’re to dismantle the current leaders. The Group A match begins today at 03:00 PDT / 12:00 CEST, while the Group B match between MVP.S and CB Spirit starts at 04:30 PDT / 13:30 CEST. Make sure to check out the full stream over on Twitch.
Rocket League: Championship Series
Denial and Alpha Sydney are kicking off season three of the Rocket League world championship in Los Angeles today. The Canadian roster of CorruptedG, Lethamyr, and Sadjunior have been on top form and in week five they dispatched Rogue Esports to claim their regional championship spot. However, Alpha Sydney has dominated the Oceanic Region with their strong defensive plays and accurate cross-map goals. Drippay, Jake, and Torsos pose a threat to Denial’s claim to the RLCS throne, so they will need to remain focussed if they wish to advance. The full schedule and stream can be found by heading over to rlcs.gg.
Operation Hydra features the all-new Operation Hydra Events--a 2v2 competitive mode, a 5v5 mode that requires broad weapon proficiency, and twists on classic game rules including a chance to play using a special heavy armor, low-gravity sniping, team deathmatch, knife and zeus-only, and others. There's more - Operation Hydra features a set of new and returning community maps available for casual and competitive modes, along with a full Guardian Mission campaign, an Operation Coin upgradable to the new Diamond level, an Operation Journal with friends leaderboards, the opportunity to gain extra XP, Operation weapon drops, and the all new Operation Hydra Case!
