Less than a year after students organized the Collegiate VR Esports League, they've launched their second season featuring competitions in Beat Saber and Echo Arena.

Last year we wrote about the history of CVRE and how it could impact collegiate level esports, then we had the opportunity to meet some of the young professionals at Oculus Connect 5 in September. They’re serious about their mission: “to create an environment for student VR and esports enthusiasts to gather and enjoy fun, competitive play, as well as to build a community of teams representing universities across North America.”

While many students are interested in higher level competitions,Madison Hight, vice-president of VR at Berkeley, points out that “the key aspect of CVRE is that it’s focused on providing access to VR equipment and games for students and providing them a space for mentorship – whether they're interested in casual or professional play.”

This attitude is essential because it allows the ecosystem to grow overall rather than simply maintaining a focus on the elite athletes who want to advance to professional VR esports.

Check out the CVRE website and tune into their Twitch channel to watch some of the season 2 competition. We’re sure to see this group continue to grow so if you enjoy collegiate level sports, this is something to start watching now.

Beat Saber Schedule – Season 2

(All times are in Central Standard Time. Subject to change.)

• Feb 17 | Berkeley v. Florida | 7:00pm
• Feb 28 | Clemson v. Baylor | 7:00pm
• Feb 28 | Berkeley v. Miami | 8:30pm
• Mar 21 | Clemson v. Florida | 7:00pm
• Mar 21 | Baylor v. Berkeley | 8:30pm
• Apr 4 | Clemson v. Miami | 7:00pm
• Apr 4 | Florida v. Baylor | 8:30pm
• Apr 11 | Baylor v. Miami | 7:00pm
• Apr 18 | Clemson v. Berkeley | 7:00pm
• Apr 18 | Florida v. Miami | 8:30pm

Beat Saber is an incredibly popular VR game. In competitive mode, players try to achieve higher scores than their opponents for a particular song.

Beat Saber Song Pool

• A Moment Apart – ODESZA
• A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton
• Bangarang – Skrillex
• Beat It – Michael Jackson
• Believer – Imagine Dragons
• Blue – Eiffel 65
• Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz
• Close To Me – Sabrepulse
• Crossing Field – LiSA
• Cry Thunder – Dragonforce
• Cycle Hit – Kasai Hardcores
• Every Time We Touch – Cascada
• Genghis Khan – Miike Snow
• Light – Polyphia
• Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
• Lone Digger – Caravan Palace
• Lose Yourself – Eminem
• Megalovania – Toby Fox
• Midnight City – M83
• Misery Business – Paramore
• Naruto Opening (Blue Bird) – Ikimono-gakari
• Promises – Nero
• Rap God – Eminem
• SAIL – AWOLNATION
• Separate Ways – Journey
• Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
• Through The Fire And Flames – Dragonforce

Echo Arena Schedule – Season 2

(All times are in Central Standard Time. Subject to change.)

• Feb 7 | Baylor v. Clemson | 7:00pm
• Feb 7 | Miami v. Berkeley | 8:30pm
• Feb 21 | Miami v. Clemson | 7:00pm
• Feb 24 | St Clair v. Berkeley | 12:00pm
• Mar 7 | Clemson v. Berkeley | 7:00pm
• Mar 10 | St Clair v. Baylor | 7:00pm
• Mar 28 | Clemson v. St Clair | 7:00pm
• Mar 28 | Baylor v. Miami | 8:30pm
• Apr 11 | St Clair v. Miami | 8:30pm
• Apr 14 | Baylor v. Berkeley | 7:00pm

Click on the image to see action from the CVRE Season 2 opening games.

Teams

Below are the collegiate teams and team members. We wish them all the best for a fun, successful experience throughout season 2!

Baylor University – “Baylor VR Club”

Waco, Texas

• Bears

Echo Arena:

• Cameron     Hay – “BaylorVRClub”
• Trevor     Irion – “BaylorVRClub2”
• Nathan     Hill – “BaylorVRClub3”

Beat Saber:

• Same     as above

_______________________________________________________________

UC Berkeley – “Ursa Major”

Berkeley, California

• Also     Bears (but golden)

Echo Arena:

Madi Hight – “neonpurpleraven

• Vice President of VR@Berkeley  
• Studied Cognitive Science (neurosci, compsci, psych, linguistics, philosophy)
• Loves gaming, gardening, hiking, cooking, Lego, and starting projects but not      finishing them
• Teaches “Advanced Digital Animation” on campus
• Currently developing a narrative-based VR game and helping build CVRE
• Is watching all of Naruto, even the filler

Ross     Luo – “y02u”

 
• Poached      eggs are best eggs
 
• Chemistry      pre-med turned computer science
 
• Thinks      Battlefield 1942 is the best Battlefield

• Peru     Dayani – “BerkeleyUrsaMajor”

 
• Throws      great parties
 
• Plays      basketball
 
• Enjoys      hiking and doodling
 
• Thinks      BO2 was the best Call of Duty game ever
 
• Die-hard      OKC fan

_______________________________________________________________

Clemson University – “Clemson Esports”

Clemson, South Carolina

Echo Arena:

• Maurice     Barnett – “r3cebarnett”

 
• Captain      of Echo Arena
 
• Computer      Engineering Junior
 
• Likes      sports and watches every Clemson sporting event

• Timothy     Moss – “tmoss94”

 
• Echo      Arena Supreme 2v1
 
• Electrical      Engineering Grad Student
 
• Loves      pugs

• Sean     Kelley – “strider”

 
• Enjoys      long walks on the beach
 
• Enjoys      the desperate pleas for mercy by his opponents
 
• #1      Grabber

• Jason     Lyle – “OtterKing” Jason     Lyle – “OtterKing”

 
• On      Smite A Team
 
• Computer      Science Junior

Beat Saber:

• Timothy     Moss – “tmoss94” Timothy     Moss – “tmoss94”

 
• Loves      mint chocolate chip ice cream
 
• Still      an Electrical Engineering Grad Student
 
• Still      loves pugs

• Harrison     Tann – “Samp1e”

 
• Computer      Science freshman.
 
• Ice      cream? Mint chocolate chip.
 
• Also      member of Clemson Esports’ CS:GO team
 
• Double      black diamond snow skier

• Cameron     Keyser – “Jazzieee” Cameron     Keyser – “Jazzieee”

 
• Premed
 
• LOOOOVES      mint chocolate chip ice cream
 
• Has      cat with 3 legs

• Sean     Kelley – “strider” Sean     Kelley – “strider”

 
• Loves.      Mint. Chocolate. Chip. Ice. Cream.

_______________________________________________________________

Florida International University – “FIU VR Club”

Miami, Florida

Echo Arena:

• Haczar     Criollo – “haczar”     Haczar Criollo – “haczar”

 
• President      of Immersive Technology Club at FIU
 
• Led      a team of students in creating a whiteboard application in VR called      infinite whiteboard
 
• Currently      works on a firefighter simulator used by the miami-dade fire academy

• Matthew     Kress – “mckress”     Matthew Kress – “mckress”

 
• Graduate      student at FIU
 
• Built      an architecture application called “kit of parts” where students use      materials to create a model of their blueprints, used by students at FIU
 
• Currently      working on a new melee combat technique for VR

• Ciana     Rogers – “kiwitwist”

 
• Senior      at FIU
 
• Working      in VR educational research
 
• Currently      developing a vr assisted ASL translator using leap motion and machine      learning

Beat Saber:

• Haczar     Criollo (above)
• Matthew     Kress (above)

_______________________________________________________________

Miami University – “Miami VR Club”

Oxford, Ohio

• Definitely     not Miami, FL

Echo Arena:

• Taylor     – “Reukifellth”

 
• Team      Captain
 
• Competitive      VR esports player
 
• PooNanners      knows me.

• Brendan     – “Eric.hodgson”

 
• Echo      arena isn’t his strong suit.

• Kabir     – “regulace”

 
• Club      president
 
• Relatively      new to VR

_______________________________________________________________

Beat Saber:

St. Clair College – “Saints Gaming”

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Echo Arena:

• “Mizuchi-” Name 1     – “Mizuchi-”

 
• Makes      a good sandwich

• “Tripl3-B”

 
• Connoisseur      of fine pastimes like PC gaming and whisky
 
• A+      at tangoing

• “zrglitch”

 
• Anime      fanatic
 
• Secretly      a super saiyan
 
• Has      ascended past all other saiyans

Beat Saber:

• Not     participating this season

Additional Resources:

• Article from Madison Hight about the Cal team Ursa Major.
• Collegiate     VR Esports Discord Server Invite

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