ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 Live Coverage Tonight Has VR and Eye Tracking Tech

Live coverage of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 begins tonight, Friday, Sept. 8, at 10 p.m. ET on TBS with digital coverage starting at 6 p.m. on digital sites like Twitch, YouTube, Sliver.tv and ELEAGUE.com. The event takes place in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) and will showcase the 16 groups playing CS:GO for a prize pool that totals $1,000,000 USD. First place gets $500,000, second place gets $150,000, 3rd-4th split $70,000 with the rest being divided between the 5th to 16th placed teams. ELEAGUE is the premium esports tournament and content brand formed in partnership between Turner and IMG that launched in 2016

The participants that were invited this year are Astralis, Cloud9, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, mouseports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, North, SK Gaming and Virtus.pro. Team EnVyUs, Heroic, Immortals, Team Liquif and Renegades all won spots through European and American qualifier rounds. with live Friday night coverage on TBS beginning with Group A play, Friday, Sept. 8.

Three new features will be implemented in ELEAGUEs latest CS:GO tournament. The first is the use of biometrics, specifically eye tracking hardware and software developed by Swedish technology company Tobii. The data is analyzed on the players computers and then shown to the viewers as a gaze overlay highlighting precisely where players look throughout their games. This means we can see where the pro gamers focus is at any given point in time. This is neat information that can allow aspiring pro gamers learn from their idles and help understand how they play better than ever before. A video demo of the eye tracking technology can be seen below. Only two players will be tracked at a time tonight, but it will still be interesting to see how it does on live TV.

ELEAGUE will also utilize DOJO Madness Shadow.gg platform, which provides viewers with advanced two-dimensional tactical replay data that includes heat maps, smoke maps and path maps, along with tactical and statistical replay views. This will allow viewers and other teams watching to identify a teams strategic tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.

If that isn’t enough there will also be SLIVIR.tv, so users can watch the tournament on a 360-degree cinematic virtual reality stream. The feature will immerse the CS:GO fan inside the game map, allowing a unique perspective on their favorite players and an exceptional level of gameplay interaction, according to a news release. VR will be supported across web, iPhone, Android, Gear VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Daydream and Google Cardboard platforms.

We’ll be tuning in tonight to watch the show!