Mobile phones are the most popular gaming devices in the world. Hundreds of millions of people now hold a world of games in the palm of their hand at every waking moment, eliminating the inconvenience of computers and consoles.Enter Vainglory, the worlds leading mobile esports title. Developed by Super Evil Megacorp, Vainglory is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title akin to League of Legends and Dota 2; unlike its PC counterparts, it is designed specifically for touchscreen play. Popular esports powerhouses like Team SoloMid and Team Secret have already developed franchises in its growing esports scene.On Sept. 11, the finale of the summer season, the top eight teams will duke it out for a prize pot worth over $100,000. Super Evil Megacorp has confirmed that the subsequent autumn season will feature a world championship starring the 12 most decorated teams.The Evil Eight system, a special title for the top eight teams at any given time, will debut during the summer season. North America and European teams will compete for inclusion in the Evil Eight all summer long as they try to accumulate points in the championship standings.The bottom three Evil Eight teams will face weekly challenger battles from the community-run challenger tier.Its important for us to keep the dream alive, for three friends to be able to get together and make a path to the championship, says Kristian Segerstale, COO and Executive Director at Super Evil Megacorp.With Amazons sponsorship of the league, Segerstrale says he is confident this will be the biggest and best season yet. Amazon has been invested in Vainglory since its first tournament: a community-driven event that inspired Super Evil Megacorp to invest more into Vainglory esports.Evan Denbaum, Senior Director of Content and Creative Director of Esports at SEMC, says its team initially wanted to create a game that would redefine the expectations of the mobile genre. He jumped aboard SEMC because he was impressed by the game engine they were working with and felt it could even build games for current gen consoles. Turning Vainglory into an esport wasnt even on his radar, but the community quickly gained his attention.At first, tournaments were 2v2 so the third player slot could be used to spectate the matches, he says. That forced SEMC to immediately bump spectator mode up in its development queue.The players, teams, and regions of Vainglory esportsSome people saw Vainglorys esports potential from the get-go. Team SoloMids team captain and roamer, Michael FlashX Valore, says hed been following it since it was featured at an Apple keynote event in 2014. He started playing when the game was released only to Southeast Asia, even though the latency to the U.S. was very high.FlashXs major breakthrough came when his first team, Ardent Alliance, rolled through the autumn season open qualifier last fall, winning the chance to compete in the Vainglory International Premier League (VIPL) for a shot at an $80,000 prize pool. The Korean esports media powerhouse OnGameNet (OGN) hosted the VIPL in Seoul.We actually had an issue at first, though, he says. One of our members was only 13 years old and he couldnt convince his parents to let him go to Korea.Despite needing to sub out their teammate, Ardent Alliance defeated the worlds strongest teams en route to winning the VIPL Season 2 Championship.After that sensational performance, AA was acquired by Team SoloMid, whose clout and presence in North American esports is unmatched.The incredible variety of mobile touchscreen devices can throw an interesting wrench into a Vainglory teams plans. At a recent invitational event, FlashX and Team SoloMid suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Koreas Invincible Armada.While FlashX was quick to acknowledge his opponents strength, he also wanted to emphasize that the games werent an accurate gauge of his teams ability, as they were forced to play on Samsung phones instead of their usual iPads.FlashX says that, generally speaking, deciding which type of device to use comes down to preference. Some players prefer using their thumbs on a phone while FlashX opts for his index fingers on a larger screen. Some players use a stylus. Some players sit at a desk, and some lie down on their stomachs.In the future, a Vainglory stage might accommodate all these preferences for players. Mobile devices mean competitors can play in different positions and in many kinds of environments, unlike PC gaming. Of course, it probably wont get to the point of placing a bed on the stage for a particular player to use, but whos to really say?As Vainglory heads into the summer, regions all over the world have begun to take shape as distinct competitive arenas. Denbaum says one of the most intriguing things for him to watch as a developer is the vast differences between the metagame [strategies] of each region.North America, for example, is extremely aggressive in the early game, he says. Europe is more likely to play passively and scale into late game, and Korea will funnel all of their resources into their primary carry as the other two players focus on supportive roles.Super Evil Megacorp has watched its game evolve before its eyes as professional players redefine the notions and preconceptions behind champions. The SEMC team has watched heroes like Petal, previously thought of as useless and gimmicky, play a significant role in Koreas spring championship.He says flexibility is a key philosophy to the teams balancing ideology. In a 3v3 game, we feel every hero needs the potential to be played in any of the roles, he says. And differences are already spawning to fill each regions strategic needs.With the confirmation of a World Championship event, the regions will have a real opportunity to determine who stands supreme. Its a chance to define the entire game going forward. In League of Legends, for example, the now-standard Marksmen and Support duo-lane didnt come into its own until Europe dominated the inaugural LoL World Championship.The summer season and the future of esportsAs they head into the summer, SEMCs priority will be to expand the games reach and to provide stability and support to their professional scene. Denbaum also wants to continue to acknowledge the communitys strength and passion for Vainglory as an esport.And beyond that, Segerstale says, Within the next decade, I expect a mobile game to be one of, if not the largest players in the esports industry. There are over three billion touchscreen devices compared to some seven hundred million gaming PCs.One of the limitations facing mobile games is the perception that they are time killers or less serious than games on other platforms. Additionally, Segerstale says a lot of mobile games have intrinsic timers that cause players to expect shorter playing sessions. These games rely on pay-to-win models that dont have the same type of magic the gaming generation experienced growing up.In contrast to casual mobile games, Vainglory matches can go anywhere from 7-8 minutes up to 20 minutes, and the average player plays for about two hours per day. Segerstale hopes more mobile games will ask and allow players to steep themselves in a richer, more strategical environment.During Vainglorys development, one of Super Evil Megacorps concerns was that theyd have to persuade a generation of PC gamers that touchscreen games were legitimate. However, what theyve instead come to realize is that Vainglory appeals to a whole bunch of people whose first language is mobile gaming, especially when limited to the MOBA genre.Mobile games like Candy Crush and Clash Royale are turning more and more people into gamers, although these gamers are different from the traditional stereotype. Segerstale shares a story about a 13-year-old kid from Europe, who is one of the top thousand Vainglory players there:When PC gaming came up, he said he didnt understand how people could just accept the abstract limitations of a mouse and keyboard. He couldnt just touch where he wanted to go or aim at multiple targets.So comes the next generation of esports. 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The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets will make some history when they kick off on Thursday night.Not on the field, but on your phone.The game between the AFC East rivals will be streamed live on Twitter, meaning millions around the world can watch the live game action from their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.The NFL had a similar venture with Yahoo for a game last season, but the league signed a deal with Twitter in April to deliver 10 Thursday night games through the mobile app.Twitter also announced on Wednesday that its app will be available on Xbox One, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, just in time for the first NFL game.Here is a look at the details and what it means for fans around the world:HOW TO:Streaming live television is becoming more of a trend in recent years, with some consumers preferring to cut their cable television subscriptions in favor of viewing their favorite programs through the internet. This occasionally takes away the option of watching the program live as it airs, but not in the case of Twitters agreement with the NFL.To access the stream, you dont even need a Twitter account. Simply open Twitters mobile app or go to twitter.com, click on the moments tab and it will show up on the screen . Viewers will see the same broadcast production -- same announcers, camera angles, etc. -- as those who tune in to CBS on television to watch the game.For those who would rather stream the game on a larger screen than their handheld phones or tablets, Xbox One, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV are now equipped with the Twitter app to use on television screens.For those who want to watch the old fashioned way, the game is still available on TV via CBS and on the NFL Network.NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCES:While the production quality and most other components of the broadcast itself will be identical to the one viewed on CBS, those watching through Twitter will see curated tweets related to the game running alongside the video.Twitter has long billed itself as the second screen for the TV viewer, with users having a live, running conversation and commentary about what they are watching on their phones as a companion to the content they are viewing on TV.ddddddddddddThis stream will marry the two screens, allowing users to tweet away to their hearts content while never having to take their eyes off the ball.MONEY MATTERSTwitter paid more than $10 million for the chance to stream the 10 games. In contrast, CBS and NBC are paying $45 million per game for the Thursday night package and Yahoo reportedly paid nearly double that just for the Jaguars-Bills game in London last year.The NFL is not known for offering discounts, but Twitters user base of more than 313 million people worldwide may have helped the company secure the bid. All of the advertising during the streamed version will be the same as those ads aired on television, save for a few that Twitter was able to sell itself.AUDIENCE NUMBERSWhile more and more people are leaving cable television for streaming services, the audiences are still small in comparison. The Yahoo game last year in London averaged a worldwide audience of about 2.4 million viewers, but that game was blacked out on television for any viewers outside the local markets of Buffalo and Jacksonville.To compare, a Jets-Dolphins game from London last year televised on CBS drew 9.9 million viewers in the U.S. alone.But the NFL is banking on Twitters international reach to help draw in audiences from around the world that the league has spent years trying to cultivate.TWITTERS GAMBLEThe short-message service has had difficulty monetizing its popularity. The company has yet to turn a profit despite the hundreds of millions of people who use their product, so hitching itself to the all-powerful NFL is a leverage play to increase the eyeballs and advertisers.---AP NFL websites: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '