Splatoon becomes an eSport with huge Japanese tournament series

Nintendo is following through with their stated desire to get in on eSports, and to nobody's surprise it's Splatoon leading the charge. Nintendo's wildly popular shooter isn't slowing down, and the hype train is gaining more velocity with the announcement of the Splatoon Koshien 2016 tournament series hosted by Japan's KADOKAWA DWANGO Corporation.

Together with Puzzles and Dragons, Splatoon Koshien will feature over $1 million in prizes, with 40 events taking place in eight cities:

• Fukuoka (September 13)
• Sapporo (September 26)
• Nagoya (October 11)
• Osaka (November 3)
• Miyagi (November 15)
• Hiroshima (November 22)
• Kagawa (December 13)
• Tokyo (January 30)

So far it seems the battles will be 4-on-4 turf Wars with no restriction on weapon choices. In the likely event that there are too many applicants for a tournament, participants will be determined by random lottery. Those lucky enough to be selected will receive a commemorative wristband on top of their shot at the glory and gold.

The kids transform into squids, the game transforms the genre, the truck transforms into a stage, and they're doing a crossover with Transformers.

There is no tournament currently announced for North America, but if Nintendo has taken anything away from last E3 it has to be that the Nintendo World Championships were proof of demand for these types of tournaments. Hopefully, we'll get one soon, with a transforming Splatoon truck of our own. Until then, we'll have o settle for a Transformers themed Splatfest.

[Source: Gameranx]