Digital services are blowing up in all kinds of ways, whether becoming the new hotness or collapsing under the weight of all this new work from home traffic. What are we searching for? Efficient work, entertainment or a sense of real connection?
All this plus random acts of kindness, esports replacing real sports, and more.
Seamus caught up with Josh Inman, Operations Manager for ESL Australia, a few weeks ago around the AO Summer Smash event (ESL was behind the scenes on production) to talk about the importance of that event to the local scene.
Plus Josh dropped the IEM Melbourne news on Seamus in this chat so you get to hear his raw reaction to the news and then they discuss just how Melbourne is getting so serious about being Australia’s “home of esports”.
Seamus visited the construction site of Fortress Melbourne ahead of the venue’s launch in early March. He spoke to Jon Satterley, CEO of Fortress, and Ben Jackson, Dell General Manager for Australia, to find out about the venue, its mission, its business model, and their Alienware partnership.
Having had the chance to walk the three-floor venue (as deeply under construction as it was), it does feel like something very new in the Australian market. It’s massive, and it’s aiming to be a great esports venue while also being a space that is open for use every day for people to hang out and play games together. And that includes tabletop!
It’s great to hear the mission from the folks before the public’s fingers hit the keyboards and controllers – and bars. Hopefully we’ll catch them again later in the year to hear more about how it’s doing and what lessons you just can’t learn until you’re operating.
This week Seamus and Nic explore ten years of iPad, how Sonos is struggling to kill old products, and the return of the Motorola Razr… all somehow revolving around questions of how our tech is meant to evolve, to last and to be the right tool for the right job.
On the ten years of iPad, we think about how we both dismissed it at launch but have had very different perspectives on it in the years since. Has the tablet market grown? Have laptops changed?
Seamus is a massive Sonos nerd so he’s right in the thick of the tension between the need to kill old tech in the name of new features but the faith Sonos lovers have in the company always supporting its speakers. Is there something unique about audio tech that makes it feel wrong to see it die?
Motorola’s new folding screen Razr hits the market in February so we debate if it’s the right kind of folding screen or not, and whether folding screens really are the future.
Plus a look at Activision Blizzard’s new YouTube deal for its esports broadcasts – is this going to hurt Twitch?
Some links related to our conversations:
https://www.ejectejecteject.com/statistics/24-tablet-market-share-statistics-and-analysis/
https://www.imore.com/history-ipad-2010
https://www.imore.com/10-years-gaming-ipad-how-its-changed
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/27/21083369/apple-ipad-10-years-launch-steve-jobs-tablet-market
https://killedbygoogle.com/
Plus this great thread from Steven Sinofsky:
Send us your thoughts on our amazingly accurate predictions and opinions, or ask us for our thoughts on something that is on your mind. Email via ask@byteside.com or reach out on the socials. @byteside on Twitter, /byteside on Facebook and @TheByteside on Instagram.
And catch Seamus and Nic on Twitter via @seamus and @dr_nic.
A special panel recorded live at PAX Australia 2019! Featuring a trio of amazing industry experts to explore the topic of shifting gears from just playing to truly pursuing esports as a passion.
Listen here or find it in your favourite podcast apps or Spotify!
Jocelyn Brewer: @JocelynBrewer
Andrew Kinch: @gameawareprogr1
Brandon Defina: @SINJuves
Find Seamus here: @seamus
Find Byteside here: @byteside
(Photo Credit: Anthony Brolin)
Seamus rounds up his thoughts from being there, as well as the mainstream media interest that blew up around the event. Plus why the haters need to calm the farm – Fortnite is an esport and it’s not going away anytime soon.
And the positives of the shift into a new phase of Fortnite esports starting just days from now with Season X.
A quick podcast at the end of the Fortnite World Cup Preview Day in New York.
Seamus shares his initial thoughts on what he thinks the weekend is shaping up to look like and what the event is really focused on – it’s all about the fans and the players!
Dave Jansen stops by The Scrapyard to dive deep on 8.2 and the state of the raiding scene just as Mythic Eternal Palace gets set to drop.
With a fresh Race To World First kicking off, we look at the controversy around Method and Red Bull falling out, wanting to see more guilds being involved, and what we hope the right way to run this all might be.
Plus we enter a big old rabbit hole around the lore of the expansion and where we think, and where we hope, things will take us as we head toward the next expansion.
This week we’re taking a bit of a dive inside the new sponsorship deal between Intel and Acer and the Meta High School Esports program, owned and operated by Adelaide Crows Football Club.
These are global companies getting involved in an Australian grassroots esports operation, so it seemed an interesting opportunity to talk to all involved about why it’s happening, what it means for Meta and the value for Intel and Acer.
So I spoke to reps at all involved – Intel, Acer, Meta, and the Crows, plus I also had a chat with one of the teachers at a school that participates in the Meta program to get a sense of how this league is impacting on some of the students too.
This week we catch up with Jamie Skella, an Australian with a lot of angles covered on the esports scene, most prominently in the online tournament platform, Mogul.gg.
Find Jamie online at his Twitter: @JamieSkella