Hello, Friends!
Welcome to the latest Geeky Brummie esports roundup! This week, the Gayming Awards are back, Guild unveils an all-female VALORANT team, and Wolves Esports team up with the University of Wolverhampton to host the city’s first esports tournament. If you want to feature in this roundup, then please contact mat@geekybrummie.com.
Gayming Awards Returns for 2022
Celebrating LGBTQ+ Perspectives, People, and Culture in Gaming – now in the flesh!
Gayming Magazine, the world’s first LGBTQ+ online gaming publication, has announced the return of The Gayming Awards for its second year in 2022. The announcement accompanies the reveal of Twitch as long term presenting sponsor.
What are the Gayming Awards?
Launched in 2021, the awards set out to celebrate diversity and inclusivity within games and interactive media, recognising game developers, publishers and industry individuals.
The inaugural event was a huge success online earlier this year in February. Watched by over 150,000 unique viewers around the world, making it the largest LGBTQ+ event on Twitch last year. You can read more about it here.
Gaming heavyweights Xbox, EA, Green Man Gaming, and Hangar 13/2K are renewing their sponsorship of the event, as it shifts away from its online roots. Devolver Digital, Marvelous Europe, and Space Ape are among the new sponsors who have signed on for this year’s awards. Supporters of the event include Out Making Games, UKIE, London Games Festival and the German Games Industry Association.
When and Where is it?
The next event will take place in London in April 2022, with Twitch exclusively broadcasting it to a global audience.
An expanded list of award categories will be announced in October. This move will enable the initiative to provide a larger platform to highlight and celebrate representation and inclusion in gaming and esports.
About Gayming Magazine
Gayming Magazine is the world’s first LGBTQ+ online gaming publication. It was founded in 2019 by local Brummie, Robin Gray, and seeks to connect the LGBTQ+ and video game communities. It has rapidly grown in popularity, launching several initiatives including virtual Pride events and, of course, The Gayming Awards.
I’m thrilled to see the return of TGA. The ongoing success of Gayming Magazine provides opportunities for better representation in games, as well as the inclusion of talent behind the scenes. TGA forms a significant platform for diversity, connecting the LGBTQ+ community with gaming and esports in a meaningful way.
Check out Gayming Magazine here.
Meet Guild X – Guild Esports All Female Valorant team
Formerly Project X, now an exciting new venture for Guild Esports
Guild Esports has announced the signing of an all-women Valorant team. The all-female team previously competed under the Project X name. Under that name, they racked up numerous impressive results since the current roster’s formation in May–including a major win in the Women in Games Community Cup earlier this month.
Who’s in the team?
Combining the names of its past and present teams, the newly branded Guild X features Roxi (Germany), Smurfette (Turkey), Glance (Russia), Kim (France), alongside team captain Cinnamon (U.S.). All five players have signed one-year contracts with an option to renew for another year. They will receive an annual salary and performance incentives.
Their first tournament under the Guild banner will be in the women’s Valorant tournament, the VTC Game Changers EMEA. The tournament, which runs from 27th September to 3rd October 2021 has been launched to help create more diversity and competitive opportunities for women in esports.
About Guild Esports
Guild Esports has been making a big impact in 2021 with major trophies in Fortnite and Rocket League. Bringing the outstanding Project X team into the fold only serves to increase their championship-winning potential across a diverse range of games and competitions.
Guild Esports, owned by famed Footballer David Beckham, will also become corporate ambassadors of Women in Games.
I personally cannot wait for the VTC Game Changers to see how this epic team fair on their first Guild Esports challenge. Welcome to the Guild gang, Guild X!
Wolverhampton to get first Esports Tournament
All thanks to the University of Wolverhampton and Wolves Esports.
Wolves Esports dominate this news corner once again! The incredibly successful esports organisation has teamed up with the University of Wolverhampton to deliver the cities first esports tournament!
The deal will see the two parties host a 2021 Le Mans Virtual Series watch party, which is a part of the university’s new Screen School launch.
Le Mans Virtual Series
The tournament will take place in the Arena Theatre on 25th September 2021. Attendees will see all the action live on the big screen and meet Wolverhampton Screen School staff and students. They can also take part in interactive activities as a taster ahead of the opening of the university’s new facilities this year.
Wolves GR Esports, the racing arm of Wolves Esports alongside Gulf Racing, will be competing against some of the biggest racing teams in the world. These include Red Bull Racing Esports, Porsche Esports Team, and BMW Team Redline. The team will be competing in the GTE class, driving two Porsche 911 RSR cars in the series manned by a mix of professional drivers and sim-racers.
Four endurance races – Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, Nürburgring, and Sebring – lead up to the grand finale event of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual 2022 which will take place to live at the Autosport International Show, Birmingham in January. The prize pool for this tournament will be a cool $250,000.
University of Wolverhampton’s Screen School
The new £5 million Wolverhampton Screen School has been transformed to ‘create state-of-the-art teaching facilities and equipment, with the aim to boost skills in the digital arts and media industries’.
The core courses taught at the Wolverhampton Screen School will be animation, computer games design, film and television production, multimedia journalism, computer science, cyberpsychology alongside proposals for a new course in visual effects.
Watcht the tournament for free
Wolves Esports is set to host live events for the first four races in the series in Wolverhampton. These will be the first live esports events held in the city at the University of Wolverhampton’s Arena Theatre. Tickets are available for free on the theatre’s website. The tournament will also be broadcast via Wolves Twitch channel here.
That’s it from me folks, I’ll catch you on the flip side!
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