Level up! The Esports and Gaming Show

This week on Level up! Nathan spoke to FIFA Esports megastar Donovan 'Tekkz' Hunt, a professional FIFA player who represents Fnatic.Ahead of the FIFA 22 eChampions League finals, Tekkz talks about feeling old aged just 20, wanting to add the eCL trophy to his collection having already won the ePremier League, wanting to emulate Liverpool's success in real-life, and how he decides how to play depending on which side of the bed he wakes up on!

Joining Nathan this week is Harlequins star Louis Lynagh!Louis is a huge gamer and loves Call of Duty, Football Manager, FIFA and more. They talk about the similarities of top sportspeople to top gamers and do a deep dive into the best gamers in the Quins squad.Louis was part of Harlequins Premiership winning team from last season, and scored twice late on in the final, and will be looking to repeat the feats from last year this time around as Quins eye another playoff spot.Watch Louis Lynagh for Harlequins vs Gloucester at Twickenham Stadium this Saturday 21 May for Big Summer Kick Off – a festival-themed rugby event with headline music act Craig David. Buy tickets here.

This week Nathan speaks with Daniel Ringland head of Valorant esports EMEA at Riot Games. They discuss what makes a good esport, how esports has grown over the last few years and where's next for Valorant esports

In this week's episode Nathan speaks with Jukeyz days before he sets off on a US tour to compete against America's best Warzone players. They discuss the tour, Jukeyz's journey, American food whether US warzone lobbies are easier than EU lobbies!

This week Nathan Speaks to UFC fighter Jack Shaw, They spoke about gaming, what it means to him and how he started his twitch channel. Jack Streams Warzone and GTA among others, they talk abouthow his streamer profile has grown and the comparison between traditional sports and esports.

The ePremier League is the Premier League's official esports event, with the grand finals of the competition set to played on FIFA 22, taking place on March 26 and March 27, 2022, with the event live on various platforms, including Sky Sports, Twitch and more. Ahead of the event, Nathan Bliss sat down with some of the professional FIFA players who will be competing for ePremier League glory including former ePremier League winner Tom Leese (Excel and Tottenham), Liverpool's Diogo Mendes, Watford FC, Crystal Palace, Manchester City and Aston Villa

Jaden 'Wolfiez' Ashman, professional Fortnite player for Excel Esports, became the youngest player in the history of esports to win $1 million in 2019, following his second place in the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Duos event, aged just 15.Now aged 18, Wolfiez is one of the best professional Fortnite players in the world, with a huge fanbase and loyal following, so what's next for the Fortnite prodigy? Following in the footsteps of Liam 'Jukeyz' James, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Stokes, Ryan Pessoa and more, Wolfiez has been officially confirmed as a Red Bull athlete.

Valve has just launched the Steamdeck, a piece of hardware that could change gaming forever. The Steamdeck is an all-in-one portable gaming device that can run AAA games on the go, with Valve calling it "the most powerful, full-featured gaming handheld in the world."Nathan Bliss and Matthew Aldus talk about the Steamdeck, go into the specs, discuss what it means for the gaming industry, what it could be used for, discuss right-to-repair and how Valve are taking a different approach to Apple, and why companies like Microsoft should be worried.Powered by a custom AMD APU, the Steamdeck is optimized for handheld gaming, featuring Zen 2 and RDNA 2 graphics which delivers more than enough performance to run the latest AAA games, and efficiently too. And, it's very affordable for the specs.

EXCLUSIVE: After more than a decade, Fnatic will re-enter Halo esports to take part in the HCS (Halo Championship Series).Mirror Esports and Gaming Journalist Nathan Bliss spoke exclusively with Fnatic's Chief Gaming Officer Patrik Sättermon and Fnatic's Team Director and New Projects Lead Colin Johnson (CoJo) to discuss to find out why Fnatic decided to become a HCS partner, what this will mean for fans and what they can expect to see in the future.They also touched on Fnatic's FIFA Esports lineup, featuring Tekkz and Diogo, talked about the esports industry in general and discussed esports recruitment.

We spoke to G2 Esports' visionary founder Carlos 'ocelote' Rodriguez about how he created his esports empire, his previous life as a professional esports player, how esports has grown in the last 20 years, launching G2 Esports' own record label and first song, an epic power metal track 'Our Way' and how he feels about the future of G2 Esports and the future of the industry as a whole.

For the first time in the history of the Formula 2 Championship series, former sim racer and F1 Esports driver Cem Bolukbasi will line up on the real-life Formula 2 Championship (F2) grid next season after signing with Charouz Racing System.Bolukbasi, who was competing in virtual races in the F1 Esports Series in 2017, 2018 and 2019, also winning the Formula Renault Esport Series, graduated into real-life single-seater racing in the 2019 GT4 European Championship. The Turkish driver then drove in two full seasons of GT4 racing in 2020 and 2021, winning twice in the Pro-Am category.

The most anticipated games of 2022! Nathan Bliss and Matthew Aldus take a look at some of the brand new games that are set to be released in 2022 on Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Nathan and Matt discuss the games that they are most excited to play, whilst also discussing some of the games that they're finding it hard to get excited about.

EA have issued a BIG update regarding the ongoing FIFA 22 hacking scandal, which has seen big streamers and content creators like Bateson, NickRTFM and traders like FUTDonkey, having their accounts compromised by hackers. Nathan explains how the hackers takeover accounts, what EA have said so far and discuss the big update and the additional security changes that will be happening following the scandal

Nathan and Matt discuss the launch of Warzone Pacific and the new 'Caldera' map. They discuss what they think is good AND bad, talk about the games industry culture, amongst discussing the positive and negatives of the new map.

The best Call of Duty: Warzone professional esports player in the UK, and Red Bull Athlete, Liam 'Jukeyz' James, joined Nathan Bliss and Matthew Aldus/Rose to talk about his history with FPS games, how he became one of the best Call of Duty: Warzone players in the world, why he loves Battle Royale, joining London Royal Ravens, winning the $300K Europe World Series and FaZe Swagg's Summer Invitational, and his plans for the future with Call of Duty: VanguardConnect with us on social media!TWITTERMatt: https://twitter.com/therealmiffyNathan: https://twitter.com/EsportsNathLevel up! Podcast: https://twitter.com/LevelUpPodTIKTOKMatt: https://www.tiktok.com/@therealmiffy

In this episode Nathan speaks with producer Matt about WarZone Pacific! they discuss everything they've seen from vanguard, tip and pointers, Loadouts, any much more

In this week's episodes Nathan talks with Nic Madden (Senior Producer) and CJ Ramson (QA Lead Match AI) about all things Football Manager 2022.They discuss how the match engine works, animations, the task of production and lots more!

In this Episode we're GIVING AWAY a brand new Blue Yeti USB microphone! Perfect for streaming, content creation and to just generally upgrade your sound this mic is a fantastic addition to your setup!Nathan and Matt also talk about The importance of audio and how it plays the most important role in any story

In th is episode Nathan and Matt discuss loot boxes and why they have led to so much controversy. They discuss gambling and chance, spending money for an in-game experience and whether or not we need them at all. Where do loot boxes go from here? Well, we have some ideas.

In this Episode Nathan talks to Twitch Streamer WillFromWork! Will has been streaming on Twitch for almost a year and it a Twitch Partner. Nathan and will discuss the importance of finding balance, what makes a stream authentic and entertaining, the commitment needed, family, keeping your mental health in check and above all else, giving it a go.Streaming can be the best best thing in the world and so everyone, if you've been thinking about it, just give it a whirl!

In this weeks episode and with the release of Call of duty: Vanguard drawing closer, Nathan and Matt talk about the state of cheating in gaming, why do people do it? and what exactly is classed as cheating?

This week Nathan has the pleasure of talking with Lindsey Eckhouse, Mclaren's Director of Licensing, Ecommerce & esports. They discuss a brand new innovation for McLaren in the form of their 'Shadow Studio' at their technology centre. They discuss F1, Gaming and why esports is taking a spotlight right now.GIVEAWAY INFORMATIONDepending on the platform, the start of Vanguard's second Beta weekend — from Thursday, 16th September at 6pm BST to Saturday, 18th September 6pm BST — is either an Open or Early Access Beta.We have10x Playstation codes5x Xbox codes 5x PC CodesTo Get your hands on one all you have to do is head to our twitter @leveluppodLike and share the pinned tweet, comment on that tweet what platform you're onAnd lastly, Follow @levelupgamingPCCodes will be sent This Wednesday and Thursday depending what platform you're playing onEntries will be valid until ThursdayWe are being sent the codes when they become available and after randomly selecting giveaway winners, we will the codes as we receive them this will likely be over Wednesday and Thursday.MUST BE AGED 18+

In this week's episode, Nathan talks to Gee Nelly, a prolific streamer and one of the biggest names out there. They discuss how she got started and how she became one of today's biggest and best streamers. They discuss community and how important it is to make connections.They also discuss content creation, getting the balance right and the future of the gaming industry.

In this episode Nathan and Matt take a look at Call of Duty: Vanguard. They discuss brand new features such as reactive environments, new game modes like Champion Hill - and a potentially a solution to finally address cheating in Warzone with a brand new anti-cheat system.

In this episode Nathan and Matt discuss what it's like being a PC owner after 15 years of being a mac user. Discussing everything Matt's learned in the first few weeks of owning his very first gaming PC. They also discuss upcoming plans for the podcast, expanding out to new platforms and an exciting collaboration with some amazing people.

In this week's episode Nathan and his producer Matt talk about the free to play vs pay to play debate. As PES have announced a massive shift in their approach to make it make into the limelight, bringing a free to play football game with cross-play and a ton of other features. Could this be a FIFA killer? Probably not but it could be a brand new format for traditional sports games.

n this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive, and Tina Keech, Head of Research for Women's Football at Sports interactive, to discuss Women's Football coming to Football Manager!The result of this landmark work will not be a standalone women's football management simulation. Instead, women's football will be fully incorporated into FM's living, breathing world, with managers able to take control of either men's or women's clubs and move between them seamlessly.

In this week's episode of Level up! Nathan spoke to Sam Rivera, Lead Gameplay Producer at EA Sports, to discuss the new gameplay features that fans can look forward to in FIFA 22.Sam discussed his favourite new features, explained how they've been able to improve the gameplay significantly, discussed skill moves, skill gaps, esports and why FIFA 22 has the best gameplay in EA Sports FIFA franchise history!

In this week's episode, Nathan was joined by Joe Sutton, Director of Academy at Guild Esports, the esports organisation that is owned by David Beckham.Guild Esports recently launched the Guild Academy, a new online esports training subscription service that is open to players aged 11+, with members gaining access to training programmes, tournaments, gameplay analysis from Guild ‘experts', as well as peer-to-peer coaching and advice.Joe, who has vast experience in football acadamies at Brentford, Arsenal and Manchester United, joined Guild Esports earlier this year. Joe told Nathan about his prior experience in football, his role at Guild Esports, how his experience in football academies will help him at the Guild Academy, the similarities and differences between esports and traditional sports, what he looks for in talented individuals, his own history with gaming and much more!

Lee told Nathan about the new features in F1 2021 (releasing on June 16th 2021) that he is most excited about, discussed the improvements to the driving physics and tyre model, how Codemasters are preparing for F1 2022 already, feedback from the F1 community, the power of the next gen consoles, creating a game during the pandemic, EA's acquisition, esports and much more!

In this episode Nathan and his producer Matt take a look at their own gaming pasts and explore where gaming started for them and how it became such a big part of their lives. They discuss which games made an impact, the age of the internet, first consoles and a few 'off topic' subjects such as cut-scenes, do we need them?

In this week's episode, Nathan was joined by content creator Marcus Cole, also known as PC Centric on YouTube. Marcus told Nathan why he started his YouTube channel, how long it took until he realised being a content creator could become a career and offered advice for any content creators starting out.Marcus also offered a few PC building tips for beginners, talked about some of the biggest mistakes that new PC builders make, discussed the PC parts shortage and much more!

In this week's episode, Nathan was joined by Nicolas Estrup, VP of Product at BLAST.Counter-Strike has had nearly 20 years of competitive play beginning with the original Counter-Strike and is considered one of the most influential first-person shooters in history.Nicolas explained what Counter-Strike (CS:GO) is, why it's such a huge esports title and what makes a great CS:GO player.They also discussed gaming development, how some games can become more popular over time and also touched on the future of CS:GO as an esport and what the future looks like for BLAST.

In this week's episode, Nathan is joined by Leah Revelle, content creator for SAF.They discussed Leah's history with gaming, how she decided to become a content creator, streaming FIFA, joining SAF after just two months of streaming, how she juggles full-time work in the day with streaming in the evening, and Leah offered advice for anyone who wants to become a content creator.They also discussed some of the challenges and double standards that Leah and other female content creators face when streaming and on social media and talked about how social media organisations and streaming platforms just aren't doing enough to combat sexism, racism and discrimination of all kinds.

In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Ryan Tveter, Managing Director USA at Veloce, the world's leading esports & racing growth platform.Ryan is himself an internationally accomplished racing driver, having participated in Formula Renault, Formula 3, GP3 and most recently raced for Trident in the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship.Ryan told Nathan about how Veloce are changing the esports landscape, being the world's first esports organization to acquire a real-life sporting franchise in Extreme E and partnering with Alfa-Romeo, McLaren and Mercedes. Veloce have also played a major role in the launch of Lando Norris' Quadrant brand.They also discussed the unusual route he took to get into motorsport, the future of F1 esports and much more!

In this week's episode Nathan is joined by his producer Matt as they discuss all of their favourite moments from working on the podcast. Matt is a gaming novice and so they discuss their favourite moments, what they've learned over the year and their opinions on all the topics talked about over the last year. Enjoy!

In this week's episode, Nathan is joined by content creator Aarava, who is also one-fifth of gaming and lifestyle brand QUADRANT, which was founded by McLaren Formula One driver Lando Norris, to preview the upcoming release of F1 2021.They discussed every bit of news that has already been revealed about the new F1 2021 game, including the brand new story mode named 'Braking Point', the brand new tracks and more.They also discussed EA's potential influence over the F1 gaming franchise, following their acquisition of Codemasters earlier this year and discussed what this could mean for future F1 games.Aarava also explained his involvement with QUADRANT, a gaming and lifestyle brand that was founded by McLaren Formula One driver Lando Norris, and revealed their goals and plans for the future.

In this week's episode, Nathan caught up with content creator and prominent FIFA community member FUTDonk to review the ongoing FIFA 21 Ultimate Team TOTS (Team of the Season) promo, looking back on previous squad releases, SBC's, Objectives and looked ahead to the releases still to come.They also discussed Icon SBC's, their hopes for FIFA 22, if FIFA should move to a free-to-play model and much more!

In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to two key figures at SAF global gaming, Jon Jarvis (Esports Manager) and Craig Winfield (Partnerships Manager).FIFA Esports Team SAF Global Gaming was founded in 2018, and is now one of the largest FIFA communities in the world and one of the biggest British FIFA esports organisations, with a number of talented players on their roster.Recently, they announced that they are launching their own esports academy within FIFA esports, with a talented 15-year-old joining their academy as their first signing.Nathan talked with Jon and Craig about why SAF launched their esports academy, how they help players prepare for a career within FIFA esports, the support they give to their players, the organisation's growth and commercial strategy, and their lofty ambitions to become the biggest FIFA esports organisation in the world.

In this week's episode, Nathan spoke to Jamie “vGooner” Bull, a professional NBA 2K player for Miami Heat's professional esports team Heat Check GamingGooner was recently selected in the 2021 NBA 2K League Draft to play for Heat Check Gaming.Jamie was also a member of the inaugural NBA 2K League draft class when he played for Pacers Gaming during the 2018 season, so he has previous experience competing in the league.They discussed how it felt to get picked by Heat Check Gaming, discussed how NBA 2K esports work and how he could have been an electrician instead.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 tournaments42 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.

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!

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.

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 moreZelonius 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.

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 EsportsJames 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.

In this week's episode, Nathan spoke with Saul Ashon, Esports Executive at Manchester City, New York City FC and Melbourne City.They discussed Man City's esports strategy and how they want to become the biggest football club in esports. They also touched on esports player welfare, the growth of esports and the future of the industry too. They also discussed his role at Man City and what it entails, including details on how Saul manages their professional esports players to support their success.