Level up! The Esports and Gaming Show

In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Maximillian Schmidt, Head of Esports for League of Legends in Europe & MENA at Riot Games, following the conclusion of the League of Legends European Championship Spring 2021 playoffs.

He told Nathan how and why League of Legends became the biggest esport in the world, also discussing Max's role at Riot Games.

Max also explained what League of Legends is, revealed the number of people that play LOL around the world, the esports' prize money, viewership stats and more!

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In this week’s episode of Level up!, Nathan caught up with 2020/21 ePremier League Champion Shaun 'Shellzz' Springette, a professional FIFA player for Manchester City.



Shellzz told Nathan how it felt to win the ePremier League title for his club Manchester City, they also discussed how the tournament went overall and revealed how he prepared for the tournament with the help of City’s mental performance coach.

They also discussed Shellz's career so far and how he got into FIFA Esports, talked about his ambitions for the future and discussed the rise of gaming and esports in general.

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In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to David, also known as @Scudztv, the author of the viral FIFA Twitter thread about the 'true cost' of obtaining a 'dream' FIFA Ultimate Team.

David told Nathan why he started the thread in the first place, also giving his honest reaction to EA's direct response to his tweeted calculations.

David also revealed why the thread has led to him creating an open letter to EA about the Ultimate Team game mode, which has been signed by some big-name content creators, esports orgs and professional FIFA players.

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In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Danny Taylor, an experienced professional FIFA player who will be representing Newcastle United at the 2021 ePremier League finals.

Danny told Nathan about his career as a professional FIFA player so far, including the first FIFA he started competing on, his best moments so far, his hopes for the upcoming ePremier League and his ambitions for the future.

They also discussed how FIFA and FIFA esports has changed over the years, looking at how the game and competitive esports scene has changed over the last 20 plus years.

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In this week's episode, Nathan chatted to Edgar Chekera, Mental performance coach for Man City Esports, who has also worked with Fnatic, AS Roma Esports, Hashtag United and Excel on across variety of esports and traditional sports including FIFA, Valorant, Fortnite, Rocket League and more.

Edgar told Nathan about the different techniques he uses to help esports players improve their mental performance and how each esport needs unique approaches.

We also talked about how mental performance in esports is overlooked, touched on how the stereotypes around esports are changing rapidly and discussed the similarities between esports and traditional sports in terms of mental performance.

Edgar also revealed a few hints and tips that everyone can use to improve their performance when gaming casually with friends.

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In this week's episode, Nathan is joined by Christian Volk, Director of eFootball & Gaming at FIFA, the international governing body of association football.

They discussed FIFA’s intentions for FIFAe in 2021 and an overview of what’s to come, why esports is important for FIFA and how it creates a new vertical in their ecosystem.

They also touched on the convergence of sports and esports and what this means for FIFA, whilst also introducing the FIFAe Club World Cup, which is the first of this year’s FIFA-hosted esports tournaments

42 teams will compete from across 6 dedicated global zones (based on geographical region) and a total prize pool of $245,000 (in addition to the $105,000 distributed after the online qualification) up for grabs.

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In this week's episode, Nathan is joined by FUT Content creator Donk, to discuss and review the latest FIFA 21 Ultimate Team promo, Future Stars.

They discussed the promo teams, sbcs, objectives, players to miss out and also looked back on previous Future Stars promos.

They also discussed and previewed potentially upcoming FUT promos including Winter Refresh, Shapeshifters, Fut Birthday, TOTS and more!

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In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Steve Bromley, a User Researcher at Reach plc. Previously, Steve worked at PlayStation (Sony Interactive Entertainment), working on console games such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, No Man's Sky and more!

Steve told Nathan about the role of a Gamers User Researcher and how they make games better.

They also discussed how games get made, why it's fun to work in games, some of the misconceptions around working in games development, Cyberpunk 2077, No Mans Sky, getting employed in the gaming industry and his brand new book: How to be a Games User Researcher.

How To Be A Games User Researcher, by Steve Bromley, is out now.

Aimed at early-career UX researchers, it explains what working in games is really like, how to run reliable playtests, and how to develop the skills required to get a job running playtests professionally.

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In this week's episode of Level up! Nathan is joined by FIFA Pro + Coach Zelonius to discuss the FIFA 21 Ultimate Team TOTY Promo, including thoughts on the overall team, ratings, players to miss out, SBCs, objectives and more

Zelonius also told Nathan about what he thinks needs to change with the EA's FIFA franchise, revealing to me how he's spent around £2000 on FIFA points since the start of FIFA 21 in order to compete as a professional FIFA player this year. He also opened £1000 worth of FIFA packs on behalf of someone else to try and pack a FIFA TOTY player, but didn't pack a single one.

Included in an in-depth discussion, they talked about pack odds, the prices of FIFA points, content creators opening packs, an update on loot box regulation and much more.

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In this week's episode, Nathan was joined by James Doherty, also known as TRL Limitless, a Sim Racer, YouTuber and F1 Esports Manager Alfa Romeo Orlen Esports

James revealed some expert tips on how to become a better sim racer, including the difference between using a controller and a wheel, turning assists off, setup help, driving tips, how to improve your racing and more.

They also discussed James' career so far, including how he started on YouTube, how he became a professional sim racer and what it's like to be the F1 esports manager for Alfa Romeo Orlen Esports.

They also touched on the return of the F1 Virtual Grand Prix series and discussed the future of the F1 esports/sim racing industry.

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