Nintendo to Stream Splatoon 2 and Arms Tournaments During E3

Circle June 13-14 on your calendar if you want to watch the carnage.

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In an effort to build even more hype for Splatoon 2 and Arms before launch, Nintendo will be a tournament for each game on successive days later this month. The events will be streamed live on Nintendo's E3 channel, as well as its Twitch and YouTube channels. 

The Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational will kick off on June 13 at around 2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET. Four four-player teams from around the world, each having won separate regionals will compete: Deadbeat from the United States, Dynameau from Japan, Rising Moon from Europe and Blue Ringed Octolings from Australia/New Zealand. They will battle in a round-robin Turf War that will set the next round's seedings. Once seeded, the teams will then play Ranked Battles, leading to a best-of-five semifinals. The finals will be best-of-seven, with the winner getting a trophy and bragging rights.

The next day, at around 3:30 p.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. ET June 14, the 2017 ARMS Open invitational will kick off, with four expert players from the fighting game community taking E3 attendees. Those wanting to participate in the tournament will need to participate in a qualifier from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day at the E3 show in Los Angeles. The top four will square off against the four experts. 

The pros will be Alex Valle of Street Fighter fame; Canadian Kelsy Medeiros, aka SuperGirlKels, a professional Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player; Super Smash Bros. player Daniel “Tafokints” Lee; and French Super Smash Bros. player Marie-Laure “Kayane” Norindr. The winner of the tournament will take home an Arms Invitational championship belt.

“Splatoon 2 and ARMS are games that lend themselves perfectly to tournaments, and E3 is an ideal venue to bring people together to compete,” Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said in a press release. “These friendly tournaments will highlight the fun, competitive nature of these games and the Nintendo Switch hardware for people at home and on the show floor.”

The streaming should help build momentum for Arms, which launches on June 16, and Splatoon 2, which is releasing on July 21.

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