Coachella Items

Only during the two weeks of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will players be able to obtain Items. Several items will be available to purchase from the Fortnite Item Shop. The first lot of items will be available from Thursday April 14, 5pm PT. Players can purchase the Wilder Outfit with a Cosmic Equalizer alternative style. There’s also the FinFin Back Bling, Neon Biter Pickaxe, and FinFin Flair Wrap.

Gamers can also dive into the Item Shop and add the Lyric Outfit to their collection. This outfit comes with a Cosmic Equalizer alternative style, as well as Swaguaro Back Bling, and the Festival Shredder Pickaxe.

To obtain the next lot of items, players will need to log back in from Thursday April 21, 5pm PT. Players can purchase the Alto outfit with matching accessories. These include the Sonic Vibes Back Bling and the Softest Electropalm Pickaxe.

The second collection available during the second week of the festival is the Poet set. Players will be able to purchase the Poet outfit which comes with a free Cosmonautic Helmet Back Bling. This outfit and complimentary back-bling are both reactive. There’s also the Cactical Crusher Pickaxe, and the Mainstage Wrap. All outfits will be available in one big Dancing with Coachella bundle. This bundle also includes the Coachella loading screen.

Icon Radio

It’s not only outfits and cool cosmetics you can collect during the festival. From April 14 until May 16, players will be able to tune into Icon Radio in-game. There gamers will be treated to a line-up of artists who are featured in the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Epic Games is also running a Fortography, encouraging players to share screenshots of themselves enjoying the in-game festival. Epic Games will be sharing some of their on the Fortnite blog on April 29.

We’re All Gamers

The “we” in “We’re All Gamers” refers to everyone, regardless of gender, race, age, ethnicity, or beliefs. This new campaign launched by HyperX is designed to showcase some of the challenges faced by women in the gaming community, whether a casual gamer, streamer, or pro player.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=9210950988411226893

The video called on some of the top female content creators from Empress Gaming. These women were asked to answer the question “what are the challenges you’ve encountered being a female gamer/streamer.” They were also asked what strengths women have to showcase, and what advice they have for other young women.

Empress Gaming ladies provide their thoughts

I reached out to some of the ladies involved in the video. I wanted to understand how important it is to bring this message to the world. The best way to do that, is to speak to those involved in the campaign.

Dhayana “MissDeusGeek” Sena told us it’s important to show there are women who play games too. “For gaming to truly be diverse and inclusive, championing and promoting women in gaming is a great first step to showcasing that women play games too.”

MissDeusGeek also adds that being part of the campaign highlights to the public that gaming is an activity for everyone:

Promoting women who play games allows the general public to see that women gamers do exist and there is in fact, representation in the games industry. Being part of the HyperX campaign for International Women’s Day was something I was proud to do… It allowed me and the other women featured in this campaign to highlight the challenges that women often face for simply doing something they love. I hope that by viewing the HyperX We’re All Gamers video, gamers will take note that gaming should be an activity that’s open to everyone, because at the end of the day, we are ALL gamers.

https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8544695373936390482

The challenges women face

One of the goals of the HyperX campaign is to highlight the challenges women face in the gaming industry. Nicole “ThePeach” Constantine, the founder of Empress Gaming, told me the video helped shine a light on these challenges:

It’s incredibly important for everyone to be able to use their voice and too often in gaming, we hear women be either silenced or talked over. The HyperX piece with some of our amazing Empress women, really shines a light on realistically, the everyday obstacles that women can experience in gaming and allows each of them to tell their story. If at least one people walked away feeling empowered by these women, or at the very least not alone – then that’s all we could ever ask for.

Empress Gaming and HyperX partnership

Moving forward, HyperX has announced an official partnership with Empress Gaming, set to last at least a year. The partnership kicked off with the video above, and the team will also get the chance to test HyperX gear.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8614402130713010237

Furthermore, HyperX has become the official naming sponsor of the upcoming Empress League. This is an all-women’s Fortnite tournament with cash prizes on offer. HyperX believes the partnership will enable them to empower women in Australia to achieve their dreams.

NicoleThePeach told me that by working with HyperX, she hopes to “level the playing field”:

Working with brands is incredibly vital to the ecosystem and through our partnership with HyperX – not only do we have access to an incredible set of peripherals – but we have the much-needed support in order to continue growing, improving our resources and dedicating our time as a whole to the cause … We have a lot of admiration and respect for the HyperX team in believing in what we do and everything we want to do. Not only is it absolutely needed at a grassroots level, but for that to extend to women in gaming and ensuring we can level the playing field, is great!

Creating opportunities for women

NicoleThePeach is not alone in these thoughts. The HyperX team also spoke with us on what the partnership with Empress Gaming means. In short, HyperX hopes to create more opportunities for women through this campaign:

Through our collaboration with Empress Gaming, we’ll be supporting their efforts to highlight female creators in Australia and New Zealand and making sure they’re well equipped to create their best content. We’re also helping to create opportunities for female gamers to enjoy the competitive side of gaming through the Empress League as HyperX joins as the title sponsor. We’re excited to see the continued growth of female content creators in ANZ.

HyperX told us they believe in promoting women and creating opportunities for them in gaming:

It’s important as almost half of game enthusiasts are female nowadays! By sharing stories about experiences faced by female gamers on a daily basis, we hope to educate and engage the gaming community in conversations that challenge norms and create an inclusive, enjoyable community for everyone who loves gaming.

[Disclosure: Mish is a recent member of the Empress Gaming stream team and was not involved in the campaign.]

I say fun, because if you’re not excited to go to your place of work, then you simply won’t be productive. If you’ve got some space to play with, then let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to make your new (or revamped) setup work well for you.

My Ultimate work from home setup

Before we jump into specific pieces of gear, take a moment to check out what I consider to be my ultimate setup. I was lucky enough to acquire a second room in the current place I’m staying in. I spent six weeks putting the room together just the way I want. I’ve been dreaming about something like this for a long time and I’m so happy to finally be able to make it a reality. So here’s my ultimate work from home setup in six weeks. Well, a hyperlapse of it happening in under three minutes!

Now let’s jump into all that sweet gear and top tips on building an epic setup.

Computer setup

Most people these days require a computer to work. If you don’t, then you probably wouldn’t be working from home, and would have no need to read this post! Some people feel the need to have a fully customised computer build. Most however, only require a laptop or Macbook. If you’ve got either of these, then you’ve already got your computer system sorted. Now it’s a matter of making it work well from home. Laptops are great for travelling and working in cafes. But when you’re suck working on it in a chair 8 hours a day, you’ll want a few extras to make work more comfortable.

Docking Station

The first thing you’ll need is a docking station. This will allow you to connect to all the fancy extras that make work more comfortable. A docking station usually comes in the form of a long bar with multiple different outputs. You can get small ones with room for one monitor and a couple of USB ports. If you want to go big however, you’re going to want something more up market. I went for the ATEN USB-C Multiport Dock. This thing is an absolute beast.

It has 13 different ports including space for two monitors, USB C and USB 3 ports, SD card, and ethernet. This dock is the only thing you’ll need to build your ultimate work setup. It’s a little on the pricy side, but well worth the money to ensure you have everything you need to work comfortably at a desk. It even has power through the dock, meaning you only need to connect one plug to your computer. This way, you can easily grab you laptop and head to your coffee meeting; when you’re allowed out again!

Go big on the screen

Okay so now you have your docking station, you can have an additional monitor, or two. Monitors are crucial for working at home. There’s no way you can stare at your tiny 13″ or 15″ screen all day long. My preference is to go for two large screen monitors; that’s why I got the ATEN multiport dock instead of dock with only one monitor output. With the ATEN I can have two monitors setup side by side. This is what I have at the office in town. For my home setup, I actually have three monitors since I’m working off a massive PC build. Three monitors gives you the flexibility to do whatever you like. You’ll notice I also have one setup vertical which is perfect for coding or other documentation.

You’ll probably just want to opt for one or two monitors. If you’re going for two, it’s usually a good idea to have two of the same monitors. You can choose to set them up side-by-side so it’s split right in front of you, or you can have one off to the side. Whichever you decide, make sure you’re not turning your head too much to view each screen. This can cause neck strain and back problems. Instead, if you need to turn to view your monitor/s, turn your whole body, not just your head.

Keyboards, mice, and other fun things

We’ve got the monitors setup, and the computer, now how about the extra bits? Keyboards, mice, headsets, microphone etc. Depending on what you’re doing for work, you’ll want different things. I ALWAYS opt for a keyboard and mouse, no matter where I am. I even travel with a mouse in my luggage (when we can travel). I simply can’t stand using trackpads and so mouse is my number one go to.

Depending on how you like to work, you might not want a keyboard. You might instead want a half decent webcam. My recommendation is the Razer Kygo webcam. It’s high quality and has a built in light. Everyone on your next virtual meeting will notice the difference. If you need a better microphone, then the Razer Seiren Mini is the perfect combo. It’s not expensive, it’s great quality, and best of all it’s plug and play. Just plug it into your docking station or your computer and start chatting.

As for headphones, this is a matter of personal preference. Lots of people like to go for earbuds, or something really cheap. If you’re on the lower end of the budget, then a couple of my favourites are the Razer Kraken and the RIG Gaming 400. You can check out my reviews on both the Razer and RIG headsets. I have the RIG Gaming headset in the Artic Cameo and I prettied it up with the Neon Purple Razer Kitty ears. Super cute!

Desk and chair

This is one very important feature. You’re going to be sitting at your desk, in your chair for hours on end. You want to make sure both are comfortable and good for your posture. Ensure the desk is the right height; most are adjustable these days or you can get sit/stand desk. I grabbed a desk from Officeworks and paired it with a generic Ikea one. For my chair, I went a little more all out!

ZQ Racing are one of my favourite companies. They do amazing, high quality chairs. Even if you can’t afford one of their gorgeous, plush, squishy chairs, it’s definitely worth investing in their velvet memory foam cushions. This is one of the best purchases I’ve made for this whole setup. My back loves me for it and I feel so much better sitting and working for hours on end. If you ever want to see my chair (or anything else mentioned here) in action, tune into one of my live streams.

Lights, plants, and funky vibes

Okay so you got the tech working for you, now you need to beautify your space. I have things like feature lights, plants, statues, lanyards, poster frames, books, medals, whatever makes the space feel cool and epic. Items that are special or have a connection to you and your work are helpful for creating an atmosphere of work. Lots of people like to display their qualifications, some (like me), have lanyards hanging on the back of the door from all conferences I attend. I’m also a big gamer and pop culture fan. So I have Lego, anime statues, Dungeons & Dragons board game, Final Fantasy posters, and a D20 dice atop my computer. Well, those among other things. Check out the hyperlapse again and see what you can spot.

As for the lighting, I like to use LIFX smart lighting. They run on WiFi and have a heap of built in functions, settings, and ambient environments. I even programmed them to work on my Elgato Stream deck. Learn how to program and setup your lights by watching the recording on my Twitch channel.

Finally, plants! You need some greenery in your life. Studies have shown that looking at something green for even 15 minutes can dramatically improve your productivity. I’m lucky enough to have a lovely courtyard to look out onto, but I also have lots of plants in my room. Varieties like ivy, succulents, and bamboo do well indoors. Plants have really livened up the work space.

The Ultimate setup

Well that’s all from me and my top tips for creating an awesome setup. I hope you now have some ideas for designing your work from home space. If you’ve thought of something amazing, or there’s a piece of tech you’d like to share, post in the comments below or share them with me on Twitter.

On my last AMA Twitch session (Ask Mish Anything) we spoke about all the places were you can find FREE learning courses and tutorials. As promised, here’s the list of the ones I have come across and would recommend. Some of these are free to use during the COVID-19 wake, whilst others are always free. In alphabetical order.

Oh and I’ve been doing lots of these on my Twitch channel too!

AWS DeepRacer

Ever wanted to get into Machine Learning? This is a great way to learn what ML is and how to apply it. All free.

AWS Courses

By extension, AWS has tonnes of free “Training and Certification” courses; it’s all AWS tools like Security, cloud, database and more.

Codecademy

A go to for lots of coders! Learn to code in Python, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Java, SQL, Bash/Shell, Ruby, C++, R, C#, PHP, Go, and Swift. Their tracking and goals system is really nice for motivation too.

Coursera

Literally hundreds of universities and companies have free courses available here. Everything from coding to physics, arts, history, and heaps more. All the courses are free to do, and if you want to get officially certified then you pay to sit the exam.

CS Courses

During the stream we were lucky enough to have someone drop this link in. It’s a GitHub repo with HUNDREDS of links to CS courses. Check them all out on GitHub.

Deakin University

An Australian university known for its lengthy experience in distance and online learning. There’s heaps of free courses available from “learning culturally diverse teams in the workplace” to transforming digital learning.

edX

Over 2500 online courses from hundreds of unis like Harvard and MIT. Nearly all of it is free! Comes highly recommended from my Twitch chat too.

FreeCodeCamp

As the name suggests, it’s all free! Learn heaps of technical content like web design, JavaScript, front end, data visualisation, and more. You can also get certified.

General Assembly

A global group that does courses and workshops in everything from coding, to design, marketing, startups and more. They often have lots of free workshops for people to attend both in person and online (all online during COVID-19). Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, GA have launched “Free Fridays”, with 100% free workshops EVERY FRIDAY! Make sure you click the correct link for the course and ensure you select the correct timezone.

GitHub Learning Lab

Of course we can’t go past GitHub learning lab! Lots of free courses on how to use GitHub, everything from the basics like opening a PR, right through to creating Docker containers, building Actions, and more.

Google University

\The university itself is no longer running, but there’s lots of courses now on Developing for Android if that’s your thing.

Khan Academy

Lots of courses around schooling, programming, maths etc. There’s something for each year level from preschool through to 8th grade, and then lots available for open learning.

Laracasts

A cool online place to learn some really indepth technical content. The UI is amazing and it’s a great place to learn Laravel along with JavaScript and PHP.

MIT Open Courseware

Lots of things from computing to languages, Data Science, Business, Engineering, Humanities. Heaps of free stuff to sink into. Fair warning, their UI isn’t the greatest.

NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute

A lot of the content here is paid (although it’s REALLY cheap) but there are a couple of free courses too. It’s definitely one of the best places to learn about machine learning, deep learning, and GPUs.

Unity Learn Premium

During the COVID-19 crisis, Unity have made all their Premium courses FREE until June 20. Learn to make games using Unity, code in C# and more. There’s also Unity Learn which is free forever.

Unity Beginner Tutorials

Passed on by a “Master C#” friend. This one came highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn unity and Master C#.

Ruby Warrior

Built by Bloc io, this uses gaming to teach Ruby programming. It’s a bootcamp for learning to code from scratch, right up to being a full time developer!

TAFE NSW

For those New South Walians (Australian NSW residents), there’s a bunch of free certifications just for you. This is your chance to get a full diploma or certificate 100% free. There’s some eligibility requirements so check them out on the website.

Twilio Quest

Put together by the Twilio team, TwilioQuest uses role playing to teach coding. Embark on a quest to save The Cloud and learn to code in Python, JavaScript, and learn about open source.

Where will you learn?

I hope you all find these resources useful. As promised (I seem to promise lots of things), check out my GitHub repo where all the above information is store. This repo and readme file will be updated with new information as it comes.

Header image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

https://twitter.com/QUTSciEng/status/1149180268261117952

Girl Geek Academy’s four-part book series for young ladies

The first book is about a hackathon. It’s a competition where people solve problems through technology. Four girls, Hamsa, Eve, Niki, and Maggie are thrown together as a team — a girl gang! They must put aside their differences and work together. Each book is designed to follow one of the girl’s journeys. The girls navigate friendships, take risks, and “embrace their inner geek”. The first is for Hamsa. She’s the “too cool for school” kid. Hamsa faces challenges many young people encounter through school.

Game On!

The second book is one for the gamers in the room. Game On! follows Niki’s journey. As a keen gamer and coder, Niki’s world revolves around video games and skateboarding. When the biggest esports tournament announces a junior competition in her town, Niki is the first to enter. But like with many esports tournaments, challenges are thrown her way. Some challenges come as a result of Niki being a girl. Others are problems many players face as they move into competitive gaming. But Niki has the support of her friends. Unlike the Girl Gamer Festival, Niki’s competition was non-gender specific. The issues spoken about in the book are certainly seen in the wider industry. Game On! is a great book for young girls, but women of all ages will resonate with this fantastic story.

What does it mean for the industry

This book series is designed to break down boundaries around women in gaming and tech. Inside the cover of the book is a definition about who a geek is. It’s not the “unfashionable or socially inept person” many people think. Instead, a geek is someone who is passionate about a particular topic. If you’re a StarCraft geek, you are super passionate about StarCraft. An Overwatch geek might have every skin available and every statue under the sun. A geek isn’t a derogatory term; it’s something to be embraced. That’s why Girl Geek Academy has written these books:

We wanted to tell stories to young girls because we know how great stories about girl geeks can be… This book series uses technology as a plot device and has fun with putting technology onto paper. There is something magical about the journey young girls go through as they learn about who they are as an individual and how friendship can make them stronger.

The series is written by the wonderful Alex Miles in partnership with Geek Girl Academy. Based in Melbourne, Alex has written in the Zac Power series and published children’s series. The first two books were launched in Melbourne in June, published by Penguin Books. The final two books are on their way. The Hackathon and Game On! are available to purchase on Amazon for only $10 AUD! If you know any young girls, this is the perfect series to get them into gaming and technology. Or just read it yourself. Even as a grown adult, I found these books certainly resonated with me.

Originally published at DailyEsports.com in July 2019.

Now, all books are out so you can get ALL four books!

I’m one of those people who’ve been working from home and working remotely for a number of years. I work for a global team and been doing the #StayHome challenge for a number of weeks. With that in mind, here’s some tips and tricks I’ve picked up and implemented in order to work effectively from home.

First things first, THIS IS NOT NORMAL!

Okay, you’re being asked to work from home? The first thing you need to note is there’s a big difference in working from home… and working at home during a global pandemic. Usually, when you’re working at home, the rest of your life is normal. But right now it’s completely different. Most people can’t go to the cafe and grab a coffee. You can’t go out and play sport. You can’t just go and see your friends. People might have others at home and maybe look after – older people or kids. You could be trying to fit multiple bodies in one room. Or you might (like me) not even have a dedicated work space.

Whatever the situation you’re in, it’s basically not the norm. On top of these, remember, WE’RE IN A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. This means people are more anxious and uncertain than ever. This is going to affect productivity. At times like this not everyone CAN work from home. There’s lots of humans out there who are working hard in essential services to keep everything running.

Thus, when you’re starting out working from home, just know this isn’t what normally happens. Be aware of other people’s situations. Understand everyone isn’t in the same situation as you. Once you got that, then you can build on what you already know about remote work, or implement an effective work from home routine.

Recreate everything virtually

This right here is one of my number one pieces of advice when it comes to working remotely. Reads this carefully!

Replicate as much as you possibly can… virtually. This means taking everything you normally do at work and doing in remotely. Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t interact with people or have meetings. We’re lucky in this era to have a wealth of tools at our disposal to be able to work remotely.

Schedule meetings in a virtual environment

Reschedule all your usually meetings – just do them online. And I mean ALL your meetings. If you have 1:1s, standups, team meetings, check-ins, customer calls, continue to have all these meetings. Just because you’re working at home, it doesn’t mean you don’t interact with your team. Companies all around the world have now taken this approach. Simply watch your Twitter feed fill up with screenshots of people’s virtual hangouts.

When I say interact, I don’t just mean in a work sense too. If you and your team usually head for coffee in the morning, still do it! Simply do it virtually. Schedule a virtual hangout where everyone can BYO coffee and chat about life. Do you usually have Friday night drinks? Do you have lunch and learns? Schedule those in too. What about playing table tennis or Mario Kart in the afternoon? Put those in the calendar too. It is however important to note these more ‘social’ gatherings, should be optional to allow for different people’s crisis situations.

Virtual social sessions

Having these virtual check in sessions – both for work and social – is really important for ensuring you and your team stay and feel connected during this pandemic. It’s super easy to do with all the tools available – Zoom, Hangouts, Skype, Teams. Find one that works for you. If you work in a globally distributed team then you’ll probably be practicing this already. But remember, internet in some parts of the world isn’t as good as others (*cough* Australia), and be mindful of timezones.

Tips and tricks to keep you motivated and productive

There’s lots of content out there for keeping motivated and productive whilst working from home. The Conversation put out an article on it. Microsoft has some tech and written a piece on it. GitHub is known for having a globally remote workforce. Trello wrote up a guide. But how do you implement things?

There’s MY tips and tricks. This is what I find works for me and hopefully some of them works for you too. What works for some people won’t work for others. There’s no “template” to working from home. Take the pieces that work for you.

Make your bed

This is a big one for me. I always get up and make my bed. The reason for this is because of US Navy Admiral, William H. McRaven. He says if you make your bed in the morning you’re ready for the day. You’ve already accomplished one thing. And then if you have a bad day you can always go back to a comfy bed! Watch the whole speech

Do you get dressed?

This is an interesting one. Most people say “get up, shower, get dressed into your work clothes, and then start working”. For me however, it’s a little different. Yes I shower, but I often don’t get changed into work clothes. My go-to-gear is ugg boots and either trackies or PJs. Controversial! Most people say PJs and trackies are the worst and you should avoid them. But there’s a specific reason why I wear these things.

You need to create a good working environment. For me, that’s wearing trackies and ugg boots. And it’s because I used to do this throughout university. I’d be writing essays, smashing out assignments, or studying. At the start of every SWOT Vac (the study time before exams) I’d go buy myself a new pair of fluffy trackies. So for me, wearing these things puts me in my “get stuff done, smash out work” mode. Find what puts you in this mode and do that! Don’t just listen to what everyone else is saying.

Work to a routine

If you have a regular routine at work, try as best you can to recreate it at home. Often the type of work you do will be different. You still need a good routine and stick to it. Have things you regularly do everyday, each week, every fortnight. Having a good routine will remind you you’re at work and you’ll be more productive. Set time aside to do the things that need doing as well as keeping your mental and physical health in check.

Have a good to-do list

Know what you want to accomplish – daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly. Having a good to-do list can help you prioritise work, schedule things in, and ensure high productivity. There’s lots of programs out there to help you manage your to dos. Personally, I use a mix of GitHub Project Boards, OneNote, and good ol’ fashioned paper and pen!

Take regular breaks

Even when you’re working at home, remember to take regular breaks. Big breaks for lunch are essential. During the day, take little breaks like you would at the office. These little breaks are called “recharge time”. You’ll probably know them as grabbing a coffee, going for a walk around the block, or chatting to a colleague. If you don’t continuously recharge you’ll be constantly running on low battery and you’ll burn out. Recreate these little breaks at home for the situation you’re in – take the dog for a walk, brew a cuppa, play with the kids, jump on a virtual chat. You’ll find you’re way more productive if you stay energised.

Create your work space

Again, it’s important to remember everyone isn’t in the same situation. Many people (like myself) aren’t lucky enough to have separate rooms for work and play, or even separate spaces. Some households have multiple people in one work area, and others are so small  the only place for the desk and computer is in the bedroom – yep that’s me.

Whilst it’s great to have the luxury of a home office, not everyone is as lucky. When you’re communicating with your team, try to understand their situation. Do they have kids at home in the room? Don’t scold someone for their kids showing up on the team meeting. Lots of people are competing with a spouse or partner for real estate room in the house.

Whatever situation you’re in, try to create some sort of work space. Then, keep your space neat, tidy, and clutter free.

Make sure you have the right tech setup

It’s important your tech works! Why? Because you are now 100% reliant on tech to get your work done. Ensure you have a good working computer. Try as best as possible to get the most stable internet connect (yes, it’s still a problem in Australia). Get equipment good enough so people can see and hear you on your video calls. If you’re yet to get video and microphone, check out the review I wrote over at Daily Esports.

Grab a monitor for work as it can help boost productivity! Apparently lots of people went and panic bought monitors, but there’s still plenty out there. I myself have always have a few screens. Currently I’m running three – I believe productivity increases exponentially with each monitor… jokes.

There’s also tonnes of tech out right now for virtual meeting spaces, online field trips, robots, video games, hackathons, and streaming services. Imagine this happening even 10 years ago! There wouldn’t be near the amount of tech available to help us.

Keep in touch with people

Stay connected to people, especially during this crisis time. If you have others in your household, connect and chat with them where possible. Keep in touch with your teammates and colleagues virtually. In this pandemic situation, people no longer have the luxury of playing sport or hanging out with their mates at the pub. Ensure you’re communicating with everyone on your work team to understand each other’s situations.

Eat food and snacks!

Keep yourself fueled up and eat regular snacks. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are essential. DO NOT skip these! Have gas in the tank to keep you going through this crazy time by eating good healthy snacks too. For me, I can’t go a few hours without eating something. Snacks, coffee (or tea in my case – read the back story) will get you through the day and keep you productive. But that’s just me! If you can just not eat for hours (or even days on end) it’ll mean you won’t have to line up for food at the shops!

During this global pandemic, understand what you can and can’t do

Most places around the world have asked people to practice social distancing. Social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t leave the house. Whilst in some countries, you literally CAN’T leave the house, social distancing doesn’t mean shutting yourself away in your house.

Where possible, take a walk outside. Getting out and breathing some fresh air will reinvigorate you, keep you fueled, and keep you productive. Plus it’s good for mental health to not confined yourself completely to one room. Read up on your countries current situation to understand what you should and shouldn’t do during this pandemic.

Finally, stay active and healthy

As much as possible stay active! There are LOTS of gyms, health subscriptions, yoga classes, and body fit places who have moved their services online. Virtual Yoga classes have gone viral, and even Chris Hemsworth announced his workout app, Centr, is free for the first six weeks.

Find something you can do to keep healthy and active. Cooking home meals, reading, watching educational content, playing active VR games like Beat Saber… whatever it is, try and find something that works for you. Pick up a hobby you always wanted to try, relive forgotten hobbies, or simply spend time with the kids.

We can all do this. To put things into perspective, you’ve probably seen this quote making it’s away around the internet:

Our grandparents were called to war. We’re being called to sit on the couch. We can do this 

We can do this! Just remember:

• Stay sane and happy!
• Check in on family, friends, workmates
• Everyone isn’t in the same situation
• Reschedule all your usual meetings online
• Technology can assist you
• Find what works for you
• Flattening the curve, staying home, and listen to what your government and health officials are advising and recommending and we’ll all come out the other end

Stay awesome everyone. And if you ever want lots of positivity, check out my social channels, or tune into a Twitch live stream.

Amateur gamers beat the pros in Summer Smash

Hailing from Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Bresco qualified to play in the tournament. He defeated many pro gamers and streamers including Lachlan, Lazarbeam, Loserfruit, Muselk, MrFreshAsian, and plenty others. Bresco takes home $100,000 AU for first place. Another $300,000 AU was divided among the rest of the pool.

Bresco said after winning the match he didn’t come to win. He had simply come completely to compete and have a good time:

It’s really exciting. I didn’t think I was going to win, my aim was to not come late so this is great. This tournament has been crazy.

The second and third place winners took home respectable prizes too. Sebastian ‘Looter is FA’ Ollie from Australia earned $40,000 AU for second place. Reza ‘Symetrical’ Ebrahimi from America took home $25,000 AU for third place.

Solo’s leader board and success all around

After the tournament, many players commented on the excitement from the event and said they’ll be back next year. Mark Riedy, the Event Organiser, said in the press release he was happy with the second Fortnite Summer Smash event:

We are so pleased that Summer Smash proved to be an even bigger success the second time around. Fans and competitors seemed to really enjoy the event as a whole and we look forward to hopefully developing and improving the tournament even further next year.

As this tournament grows, the prize pool is sure to grow with it. Check out how the $400,000 AU prize pool was divided:

1^st place: $100,000
2^nd place: $40,000
3^rd place: $25,000
4^th place: $18,000
5^th place: $11,000
6^th place: $10,000
7^th place: $8,000
8^th place: $6,000
9^th place: $5,000
10^th-24^th place: $3,000
25^th-90^th place: $2,000

Take a look at the lucky winners who took home the top 20 places:

Trios Charity Pro Am

The Solo’s Championship is a true display of skill. But many people come to watch their favorite celebrities and streamers battle it out. It’s the Charity Pro Am! Teams of three gathered to compete for a $100,000 prize pool. Unlike the Solo’s, the winners of the Pro Am don’t take home their winnings. They instead donate the money to a charity of their choice. In 2019, many charities benefited from the Fortnite Summer Smash event. What’s unique about the Pro Am format is many competitors don’t regularly play Fortnite. In fact, some of them have never played a game before.

This year, Lachlan, Harley ‘MrFreshAsian’ Campbell, and Enschway teamed up for the win! They collectively earned $30,000 AU for charities of their choice.

UK’s benjyfishy, Supercars driver Richie Stanaway, and Aliythia took out second place, earning $21,000 AU. Third place winners won $15,000 for their charities with Triplezero, Whatscope, and Zayt teaming up. See if you can spot your favourite streamer or celebrity on the leaderboard.

Everyone involved had great fun. Many fans are hoping this event continues and so do the players. Lachlan said in a press release he’s hoping the Summer Smash continues:

I hope we can do it every year with the AO. I love seeing the combination of traditional sports and esports. It’s definitely the future, and hopefully it just gets better and better every year.

Here’s hoping the Fortnite Summer Smash returns for 2021! If you missed the action, you can rewatch the action on the official Australian Open YouTube channel. It’s awesome to see so many cool esports events continue to take place in Melbourne.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some epic Sphero toys. Here’s the low down on these fantastic robots.

Music to my fingers

Last year, Sphero announced their acquisition of the Colorado based Specdrums. Specdrums is a music tech startup and they have some sweet product to add to the Sphero family. Moving slightly away from the traditional ball shapes, the Specdrums are a neat piece of tech that allows you to program sound and music based on colour. The Specdrums – shaped like little rings – are worn on your fingers. It’s pretty amazing to see colour change into sound right in front of you.

These are the perfect gift for any music savvy kid – especially the type who likes to DJ, jam out, or mix music. These cool rings start from $109.00 AUD from JB Hi-Fi.

Whilst music is great, if you’re looking for the classic Sphero ball, you might want to take a look at one of their new and improved models.

Sphero’s robot balls now in mini sizes

You might have seen the Sphero mini’s floating around. But did you know they are now fully programmable and come with added bonuses?

Not only can you get the mini Sphero ball in the standard fun colours – white, pink, green, blue, and orange – it now comes in a funky soccer ball style. The mini soccer ball was born from the mini; which ended up being one of Sphero’s best selling robots. Kids will have loads of fun driving, playing, and testing their skills.

By using Sphero Education, they can connect the ball to Sphero’s range of educational programming tools and learn to code. And that’s not all. Along with the release of the Sphero mini soccer ball comes the activity kit. This neat add on gives your kids all the equipment they need to build their own obstacle courses. So instead of buying a tool that might get thrown away or give kids another excuse to be in front of the screen, grab a mini soccer ball and activity kit to encourage them to build and create.

These awesome balls of fun only cost $89.00 AUD. At least that’s what JB Hi-Fi and Officeworks are selling them for. Which is perfect if you’re trying to find that last minute Christmas gift. Most stores have them in stock. Otherwise you can always check out the official Sphero website if you live in the US.

Up your kids programming skills – or even your own

Are your kids a little older? Or are you jealous all the cool toys are made for the kids? Near fear! Sphero has you covered. The new Sphero RVR is the go-anywhere, do-anything kind of robot. It’s an all terrain robot. It has high torque – okay there’s lots of power in it. And you can program it to do just about anything! It’s revolutionary and it’s drivable right out of the box.

There’s heaps of sensors on this thing and so much opportunity for customisation. Your imagination is your limit. So what’s the catch with these things? Well, since they are so new and customisable, there’s not a whole of ‘stuff’ available online yet. Sphero probably released it into the wild to check out what users would build if given the tools and minimal limitations. So realistically it’s up to you what you want to create.

Regardless, the Sphero RVR is the next generation in Sphero’s line of programmable robots. It’ll be exciting seeing what people build with these. If you’re a Melbourne or Sydney resident, keep your eyes open. Word on the street is Sphero might be holding a hackathon just for these robots! Follow me to stay up to date on any announcements.

But who wants to wait? If you can’t hold out, then these will be the ideal Christmas present for your kids; or really just you… so you can play with your kids, and get some quality bonding time! The RVR will set you back $399.00 AUD from JB Hi-Fi. So this isn’t a decision you want to take lightly. Think about the impact products like these can have on the creativity and imagination of kids – and yourself! They are super invaluable and provide hours of fun and learning.

Christmas in the bag

Well that’s it on the Sphero front. I’m sure there’s plenty more things you’re thinking about buying. If you want to see some more sweet tech reviews, check out my posts on Daily Esports. I’d also love you to tell me what you’re keen to get this Christmas. What tech do you want Santa to bring you?

League of Legends champions return for Legends of Runeterra

Legends of Runeterra is based on the champions of LoL. Each champion has their own style and advantages characteristic of their League history. New characters and allies have been added to Runeterra to further build out the world of LoL. Legends of Runeterra is built around players using their champion of choice to build combos and decks to battle others. To begin with, there will be 24 main champions to choose from.

The game is dynamic and creative. Jeff Jew, the Executive Producer for Legends of Runeterra, commented on the type of gameplay this new title is built upon:

We’re all huge card game fans on the LoR team, so we know the issues with the genre: things like excessive cost, over-the-top randomness, and seeing the same decks over and over. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what we’d do differently, and now we have a chance to shake up the genre by keeping what’s great, improving what’s not, and adding some new twists of our own. We’ve been hard at work making the best card game we can imagine—one that we hope players everywhere will love. We’re pretty excited to show players what we’ve got so far, and we can’t wait to hear what they think!

Rethinking free-to-play card games: Get the cards and champions you want faster

Yes, most card games currently on the market are free to play. But as Jew points out, many of them still cost far too much, and the same decks are seen over and over again. Runeterra is changing all that. There are heaps of ways to earn and obtain cards in LoR. Players can directly purchase cards, either with paid currency or through earnings. There’s also a way to get the cards and champions you want right away by choosing story options and playing through your favorite lores.

Through these stories, players will obtain the core cards for that class. The aforementioned 24 champions hail from six major regions of Runeterra: Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, Piltover & Zaun, Freljord, and the Shadow Isles. This will be expanded over time to include more champions.

Choose which region to play through and obtain cards specific to that region.

Legends of Runeterra goes beyond turn-by-turn play, and champions level up

Legends of Runeterra isn’t just another card game. Most strategy card games are based on turn-by-turn play. Runeterra changes that. Instead of playing each turn systematically, players will have the chance to respond to their opponents’ cards and moves. There’s a fine balance between setting up a play and combating your opponent. This gameplay could change the outcome of games, and there should be more deck styles in the meta. The team behind LoR is committed to creating this diverse meta and allowing players to experiment with different card types, backed up by lots of updates and card releases.

Unlocking cards through gameplay is something much more fun than simply purchasing cards. You can easily decide where cards come from, i.e., which region you want, and you can swap out cards you don’t want. This makes building your dream deck much easier and far less costly. Included in the game are also wildcards, which can be transformed into any card you like. Top that off with the Vault, which unlocks cards once a week just for you.

See above how various cards are available in the game including champions, spells, and allies.

Finally, unlike other card games, your cards — namely your champions — become stronger as you play. Your champions level up, just like in LoL. There’s still a lot to be released on this, so keep an eye out!

Esports and gameplay

Legends of Runeterra will feature both ranked and unranked gameplay. Players can challenge their friends. Friend lists and challenge features are still being finalized, but they should be ready for the closed beta.

Esports is something Riot Games works towards, especially with League of Legends. The team at Legends of Runeterra, however, isn’t aggressively pushing to make this happen. Whilst there are competitive aspects of the game, there will no doubt be LoR esports in future.

Graphics, animation, and beauty

Let’s face it — this game is pretty! I mean, just check out these screenshots. It’s characteristic of LoL, but this has its own personality. The addition of poros on either side of the field makes this game really cute. The deck area looks like a zoomed in version of the LoL map area. This graphics style will speak directly to fans.

The animation on cards gives this game something a little extra. It isn’t plain and boring. When effects are activated, fun times happen. Check out the original article for full-in game videos.

Legends of Runeterra release beta

The closed beta for Legends of Runeterra will be available in early 2020. The Announce Preview Patch will be open from Oct. 16 (10 p.m. EST) to Oct. 21 (10 p.m. EST) and will be followed by another preview patch in November. If you link your Twitch or YouTube account to your existing LoL account, you’ll get a chance at access. If you pre-register, you’ll also receive an exclusive Moonstruck Poro Guardian once Legends of Runeterra fully launches in 2020.

You also don’t need a LoL account to play LoR. Legends of Runeterra is a standalone game. If you have an existing account, you can pre-register for access and the exclusive poro, but it isn’t required for the game.Legends of Runeterra will be available on Windows, Mac, and on Apple and Android phones too. If you’re excited about this game, let us know! We’re pumped to play, and we can’t wait to share our experiences with you too.

Originally published at Daily Esports.

I’m a gamer. Yes I am. I’ve played lots of strategy games, RPGs, and a few shooters. Mario Kart and Smash Bros have featured heavily and I was able to get into online games when I moved to Melbourne with half decent internet. I’ve watched a lot of Sword Art Online, Log Horizon and others. Final Fantasy VII, X, XIII, and XV have been part of my collection for a while now.

But only when I had the incredible opportunity to play FFXIV with Noiz and Twitch Kittens was I able to really experience an MMO. Many of the features like character creation I’ve dealt with in games like Skyrim. I always fantasied about creating a character in one of these games and playing with my friends. Hanging out in an online space, just like they do in Sword Art Online.

When I hit the mall in FFXIV did I understand what an MMO really was. People everywhere! All different levels, all playing the same game I was… at the same time! Some where in theatre modes, and others were running around with their familiars. It was incredible to physically see the sheer number of people playing in a virtual space. Now just imagine what this would be like with the type of immersive VR they have in Sword Art Online.

I discovered emotes pretty quickly, and this is definitely one of the most fun things of MMOs. I went through every single emote, and discovered my favourites. It’s just like communicating with people via social media. I think I totally scared someone away though; oops.

It was great streaming this game for the first time. Loads of fans, friends, and other players jumped into my Twitch chat to give me tips, advice, and even party up on missions.

I’m looking forward to continuing my MMO journey. If you’d like to join in the fun too, you can download the free trial of Final Fantasy XIV. If you already have the game, and want to go in the draw to win some Amazon gift vouchers, check out gleam.

I’d love to see some of you online again soon. Looking forward to seeing you all on my Twitch channel.