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Esports

Cheltenham Science Festival

Cheltenham Science Festival

Last weekend, I was at Cheltenham Science Festival installing GameLab and giving a talk about technology. We had a wonderful team from Salford University working on the install and some amazing experiences with the public. HERE’s an overview of what we presented, becoming now a fully fledged exhibition in the history of digital gaming.


Sport 2.0 published in Japanese

Sport 2.0 published in Japanese

Amazing to see the publication of Sport 2.0 in Japanese this month, especially since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are just around the corner. It has been a while since I’ve been to Japan and I can’t wait until the next visit.

The future of the eSports experience

The future of the eSports experience

Ahead of the Blooloop Live event next week in London, I gave an interview about where we are headed in the world of esport. Check it out here.

The BioDigital Athlete #TNW2018

The BioDigital Athlete #TNW2018

My keynote for The Next Web conference in Amsterdam brought together my years writing about digital and biotechnological change in performance. Here's the video...

The Next Web does eSport

The Next Web does eSport

Last week, I was in Amsterdam for The Next Web, a major digital/tech festival with 15,000 delegates. The first of my contributions to the programme was a dream team panel of experts on digital sport. We invited Shireen Hampdan from the groundbreaking architecture company Populous, Oliver Weingarten from Virtually Live, which is pioneering gaming and virtual reality sports event integration, and Bill Martens, from the amazing BamTechMedia. Here's the video!

Smart Cities and Sport

Smart Cities and Sport

Last week, the World Union of Olympic Cities new platform "Smart Cities and Sport" interviewed me for a piece about smart cities and sport. Here are a few of my quotes:

“With esports, these gamers are engaged in a global community. Cities can play an important role by providing them with a space to be competitive and creative within a community. In a certain way, it is an opportunity for the older generations to do something meaningful for the younger generations – a way to rebuild communities.”

“The definition of esports is still evolving, and this makes it a much bigger opportunity for a city. The idea is to apply digital technology to the practice of a physical activity. As of now, certain interfaces allow practitioners to advance into a digital game by doing skateboarding tricks, or play basketball on a specific court in a city. Others allow you to go for a run and, at the same time, to be part of a story in a virtual world. (…) I believe this is the future for esports: to bring it even closer to the practice of a sport activity.”

Esports at Salford University #esportsUoS16

Esports at Salford University #esportsUoS16

Today at Media City, we have our first eSport conference, with some really amazing speakers, who are thought leaders and doers in the industry. It's such a privilege to have to have such excellent folk to our place to plan the future!

 

eSports and the Future of Sport

The University of Salford Centre for Sports Business, in collaboration with The Digital Cluster (part of CARe), and World Gaming Executives is hosting a one-day symposium on the 2nd November 2016 at the University of Salford at MediaCityUK on eSports and the Future of Sport.

This event will include talks by leading academics in the field, and those working in the management and provision of eSports. This will explore the rapidly developing business of eSports, and consider its relationship and synergies with the changing nature of more traditional sports.

The event is free and open to anyone interested eSports, the business of digital gaming, digital media, or the changing nature of professional sports.

Book Tickets Here

Hashtag: #eSportsUoS16

 

Programme:

930-1030: Registration, and welcome coffee

1030-1045: Welcome (Chris Brady, Centre for Sports Business, University of Salford)

1045-1200: Session 1: The Future of Sport?

  • Garry Crawford (University of Salford)

  • Andy Miah (University of Salford)

  • Trevor Keane (Celtic eSports League)

1200-100: Keynote 1: The Development of eSports

  • Chester King (CEO International eGames Group)

100-200: Lunch /FIFA with Kieran 'Kez' Brown (Manchester City eSports)

200-300: Session 2: Regulating eSports

  • Christopher Paget (Sheridans, Media Law)

  • Dr Mark Johnson (York Digital Hub) & Dr Jamie Woodcock (LSE)

300-330 Coffee

330-430: Keynote 2: Panel on The Opportunities of eSports

  • Dominic Sacco (British eSports Association), Carleigh Morgan (King’s College London), Malph Minns (Strive Sponsorship), Josh Williams (NUEL)

5: Drinks Reception

In the future, all sports will be e-sports #SAC2016

In the future, all sports will be e-sports #SAC2016

My talk at the Sport Accord in Lausanne this year focused on e-sports, an area of focus for my forthcoming book for The MIT Press, out later this year. My talk was followed by a panel debate with Patrick Nally (President, International Federation of Poker), Alex Lim (Sec Gen, International e-Sport Federation), and Chris Osborne (BBC Sport).

Here's the livestream recording

 

Here's the prezi...

`Esports

`Esports

A really early start today on BBC Radio 5 Live with Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden talking to them about the recent signing of eSport player Dave ByTheWay to Wolfsburg football team. Here's a story about what happened.

The Beautiful Gamers

The Beautiful Gamers

Tonight, I appeared on BBC 5 Live, a feature 90min show about the development of digital gaming in football. It was hosted at the National Football Museum and brought together a great cast of expertise in the room, including the England's Captain of the Women's team, Steph Houghton. Here's the show.

Generation eSport

Generation eSport

In December, I interviewed for journalist Fabien Mulot on a feature article for L'Equipe on eSport. It is perhaps the most comprehensive news article on the subject and is a beautiful example of how long form journalism can work well online. Take a peek!

eSport Summit

eSport Summit

This week, I was in Seoul for the 7th eSport World Championships. Recently, I have begun working with the International eSport Federation and they ran their 1st eSport summit during the champs. It was a great chance to air some ideas I have about the field, many of which are in a book I have coming out next year with MIT Press. Here's what happened.


Sport 2.0

Sport 2.0

Salford University's Creative Entrepreneur event has become a huge success, with over 400 delegates registered over 1 day. I took part in a panel this year focused on Sport Business 2.0, at which I spoke about the game development community around sports and the growing mobile health market. 

Pitch to Pixel

Pitch to Pixel

Opening at the National Football Museum this week is a new exhibition I was involved with producing, through my relationship with the museum's artistic director, John O'Shea.

I have worked with John for many years now and he has done amazing work in bioart and new media art. He has brought together an extraordinary exhibition of the last 40 years of football computer games to show how much gaming has evolved and how close art and life now come together.

The exhibition is on until June, so plenty of time to see it. It's worth spending a whole day at least, just to experience the different kinds of game interfaces and appreciate how they have changed over the years.