Red Bull Media House announced today the 2014 tournament event calendar for its Red Bull eSports initiative, featuring Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning real-time strategy game, StarCraft II. The tour begins with Red Bull Battle Grounds events in Atlanta and Detroit, followed by the Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals heading straight to our nation’s capital September 20th – 21st, establishing Washington, D.C. as a capital of competitive gaming. For the first time, Red Bull eSports events will be linked to Blizzard’s StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS). Competitors at Red Bull Battle Grounds 2014 events will battle not only for prestige and prize money, but to earn WCS points. These points bolster each player’s place in the WCS Standings which determine who competes in the WCS Global Finals for the title of Global StarCraft II Champion.

Coming off last November’s Red Bull Battle Grounds championship in New York City, which showcased some of the most talked about competitive videogame battles of 2013, this year’s circuit rewrites the Red Bull Battle Grounds playbook, introducing open format registration for the Atlanta and Detroit events. Up-and-coming hopefuls will have their shot to compete alongside the pros, and earn their spot in the ultimate showdown in DC this September.

Kicking-off in Atlanta, Georgia, the first event takes place July 11th – 13th, with online registration for the event opening this summer. The tour then lays tracks for Motor City, USA – Detroit, Michigan – hitting the second stop on the tournament tour August 22nd – 24th. Culminating September 20th – 21st, eight elite players from the Red Bull Battle Grounds event series will assemble for the Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals in Washington, DC. Every moment of the three city tour will be live streamed so that fans around the world can tune-in, and – like the Red Bull Battle Grounds 2013 legendary “Scarlett vs. Bomber” matches – witness eSports history being made.

Details surrounding registration and formats for Red Bull Battle Grounds Atlanta and Red Bull Battle Grounds Detroit, as well as how to attend live and tune-in remote will be revealed soon. But that’s not all – also on the horizon, information detailing the WCS point breakdown and other qualifying events in the full series will be announced in the coming weeks.

Visit www.redbull.com/us/en/eSports for more information.

At PAX East 2014, Carbine Studios made a special donation to Child’s Play, a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in its network of 90 hospitals worldwide. Carbine Studios partnered with LEGO® artist and instructor Mariann Asanuma to bring a WildStar® Rocket House, an exclusive in-game item only available through pre-order, to life with 50,000 LEGOs. The sculpture, standing nearly three feet high and four feet long, will be auctioned off at the annual Child’s Play Dinner and Auction taking place later this year, with proceeds going to the partner hospitals and facilities in the Child’s Play network.

In addition to the LEGO sculpture, a $10,000 check was also presented to Child’s Play which will be donated to the Boston Children’s Hospital and the University of Massachusetts Children’s Medical Center.

“Child’s Play is deeply grateful for the support of Carbine Studios and the WildStar team,” said Jamie Dillon, program coordinator and development, Child’s Play. “Creative, gamer-focused fundraising is the cornerstone of Child’s Play and we’re honored to be the recipient of both an incredible donation for two of our network hospitals as well as a work of LEGO art to be featured in our annual auction. These donations will allow us to provide video games to children who are in need of distraction, empowerment, entertainment and more. The contributions have a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of sick kids, and we are so grateful to Carbine Studios and WildStar for their donation.”

“We wanted to not only find a fun way to bring a small piece of WildStar to life, but also see the efforts go to a good cause,” said Mona Hamilton, vice president of brands, Carbine Studios. “Child’s Play is a wonderful charity doing really great things with the gaming industry and we’re looking forward to seeing the result of the auction later this year. It was also important for us to say thanks by giving back to the Boston community; they’ve been great to us over the years at PAX East.”

For more info, visit Child’s Play at www.childsplaycharity.org

From the makes of the Dofus and Wakfu series, Ankama announces Tactile Wars, a strategy game for mobile devices. Developed by an internal Ankama studio, the game will be released later this year.

In Tactile Wars, you are… THE HAND, the supreme commander of an army of pigments. Take control of your troops via innovative and intuitive touch gameplay and dynamic gestures to create your squad formation. The aim is to raid other players’ defense strategies and make your color prevail to achieve high world rankings. The innovative multi-touch controls of Tactile Wars makes it accessible to anyone. The game offers different layers of experience designed for a wide audience. Players can decide to play for short sessions or invest more time in it and still enjoy the colorful experience provided by Tactile Wars.

“The development of Tactile Wars follows the company’s strategy of creating new IPs and universes for players”, says Olivier Comte, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Ankama. “Mobile and touch devices also give us more gameplay opportunities and Tactile Wars is making the most of it.”

The game will be available later this year in nine languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian and Japanese.

Tactile Wars will be playable for the first time at the Ankama Convention, taking place in Lille, in the North of France, from May 2nd to 4th. For more info, visit www.ankama-group.com

MMORPG fans can experience an exciting new challenge in Dragon’s Prophet today: the Column of the Prophet. Reaching over 100 stories into the sky, this tower has now opened its gates to daring Osiran adventurers. As they climb the tower, players encounter increasingly tough monsters and bosses from all corners of Auratia. Only the strongest heroes will master this challenge, earning special rewards and crafting materials for the coveted Laedis Hero set.

Before they enter the Column of the Prophet, either alone or in a group, players should be well prepared. A high degree of combat skill is required to survive the higher stages. Naturally, the rewards get better with each story as well. Adventurers can call upon three sources of aid in the tower: There’s a medic to revive fallen allies, while Skyhammer guards and a war dragon will directly engage in the battle.

Details on the Column of the Prophet can be found on the official website: http://www.dragonspropheteurope.com/game/column-of-the-prophet