STACK June 2017 Issue 152

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58 JUNE 2017
Australia’s biggest ever
esports event happened
recently, with the Intel Extreme
Masters series trying out
Sydney for one of its flagship
tournaments. Big overseas
franchises like Faze, SK, Optic,
and more were flown in to
compete, and the production
didn’t disappoint. Sold-out
stadium seating, massive
screens, and ESL’s international
staff combined with a crowd
who had been yearning for this
kind of event for years, to build a
vibe I’d never seen in Australia.
“Normally we have to G up
the crowd,” said one of the ESL
presenters. “We didn’t have to
do that here.”
Local top dog Chiefs got us
all excited in the lead-up when
Each month, STACK takes a brief look at what’s
happening in esports, both locally and overseas.
esports Round-Up
Junglist
with
Logitech’s latest keyboard is taking it to the Pros – but what will they think of it?
visit GAMES FEATURE
keys from the right hand side, chopping
a considerable chunk off the keyboard. It
makes sense given that you’d rarely use
those keys when gaming, but if you’re
using this hardware for anything else, you
might notice the difference.
Of course, in this day and age, what
would a gaming keyboard be without
customisable RGB lighting? Logitech have
you covered, with 16.8 million colour
combinations available for you to mess
around with, and that’s not to mention the
built-in gaming profiles. Enabling automatic
game detection in Logitech’s gaming
software will let you pick up and play over
300 preset games with the keys at your
fingertips – literally. It’s even got room
for onboard profile storage – perfect for
gamers on the go.
With a detachable USB cable for easy
transport, and a lightweight design,
the Pro is great for esports
professionals that are always on
the road.
Logitech’s Pro Keyboard is a mechanical
keyboard that was developed in
conjunction with esports players. Boasting
Romer G mechanical switches – 25 per
cent faster than other mechanical switches
on the market – the Pro is one of the most
responsive keyboards you can get. They’ve
also got a tiny 1.5mm actuation, which
means you’ll spend less time pressing keys
and more time raining justice from above.
The keys themselves are rated for 70 million
keystrokes, too, so you won’t need to
replace them any time soon.
One thing you will notice about the Pro
is how tiny it is. It’s
got what’s called a
‘tenkeyless’ design,
meaning it’s missing
the number
it beat Renegades,
and then North.
The fairytale was
crushed when
Chiefs lost to
Optic, 10-16, but
its performance
bumped it up into
HLTV’s top 20 teams in the world
-- above Renegades.
Much like football, Australian
shoulders sported jerseys of
many overseas franchises. What
was less
expected was
the sizeable
South American
turnout – SK’s
Counter-Strike squad is
owned in Germany but imported
from Brazil, a region contending
with a similar isolation to us in
the esports realm. The crowds
bonded, resulting in a meaningful
cultural exchange – one group
experiencing the beautiful
complexities of Portuguese
banter, the other learning how to
drink from a shoe.
SK were both clinical and
creative in the final against Faze,
winning three maps to one, as
graphics on the big screen made
the crowd aware of key events
like 1v3 clutches, ninja defuses,
or three-person boosts over a
wall to pick off a defender. While
nothing is set in stone yet, all
the chatter from ESL staff behind
the scenes was that this will be
a yearly event. Great news for
us, and if the first IEM Sydney
is anything to go by, you should
definitely keep an eye out for the
next one.
Normally we
have to G up
the crowd... We
didn’t have to do
that here
Logitech
G Series
Pro
Keyboard