Esports competitors from across the country converged on Salford to take advantage of its specialist digital arena at MediaCity.
Innovation hub Host was the venue for the University Invitational Finals for ‘Naraka: Bladepoint’ last weekend, with the University of Salford’s team getting involved in the action.
Their first collaborative local-area network (LAN) event was hosted in partnership with National Student Esports (NSE), with 16 universities taking part in the event.
We had a fantastic Sunday with @nse_gg, who hosted their Naraka Bladepoint invitational in the Gametech campus.
It was a great opportunity to bring fair access to technology to the various communities that attended.
Find out more: https://t.co/BQjt5BZCKl pic.twitter.com/U4bfFGgWpr— Home of Skills & Technology (@HOSTSalford) December 5, 2022
Before the LAN event on Sunday, there was two weeks worth of online qualifiers which ensured that the sixteen competitors secured their positions for the tournament.
The University of Salford’s Lions team was one of the 16 attending in the tournament, finishing seventh and picking up 56 kills and amassing a total of 113.2 points in the final standings.
The University of Manchester ended up victorious, dominating the competition, earning 378 kills and ending out with 779.15 points to take the championship for their university.
Of the six matches played, the University of Manchester won half of them, with the other wins going to the University of Warwick and University College London (UCL) respectively.
Salford Lions player James ‘Westy’ West, who competed in the event, said: “Sunday’s tournament was the first opportunity I’ve had to compete in a live LAN event.
“I’d previously streamed my point of view to my personal Twitch of our Salford Lions Overwatch team but never with a live crowd.
“Being a representative of the University of Salford on the LAN stage gave me an opportunity to showcase what our Esports society can do.”
Despite the team’s mediocre finish, he was optimistic about their results in finals. He continued: “By the LAN finals we we clearly showed improvement as a team and even came second in a round despite the caliber and experience of the top three teams.
“Having a local venue will be invaluable to the growth of Esports in the region, especially when it comes to the loacl university Esports societies like ours.”
“Host is one of, if not the only e-sports arena and education space in the north of England. I feel this will definitely promote more LAN events as this tournament showcases what the space is capable of.”
James was hopeful for the future of the partnership between HOST and NSE. He said: “I believe this is the first event in the partnership between Host and NSE which will hopefully mean more events in the future.”
“This will offer more opportunities for students to get involved in LAN tournaments.” He added.
NSE’s picks for their highlights from the tournament can be seen via the video below – with the organisation picking their ten favourite moments:
Elsewhere in Esports, Salford University’s Rocket League team were also in action, making it to the Grand Finals of the Championship Bracket in NSE’s Rocket League Winter Championships.
They will either face Exeter University’s ‘Exeter Emperors’ or Roehampton Esports Gold for the title.
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