HOLLYWOOD REPORTER — 'GameMaster' places 12 aspiring gamers under one roof where they will live together and compete for a $100,000 grand prize.

A new esports reality competition series hosted by Wil Wheaton is coming this spring.

GameMaster places 12 amateur, aspiring esports athletes under one roof where they will live together and compete for a $100,000 grand prize. Each week, a contestant will be sent home with the season culminating in a one-on-one battle between the top two competitors. The nine-episode season will debut on an unspecified streaming service.

GameMaster is produced by Georgia-based Peach Maria Productions and powered by Santa Clara tech company AMD. [MORE]

CYNOPSIS ESPORTS — DreamHack and ESL North America recruited the US Navy for a joint partnership that will see the military branch designated an Official Festival Partner at DreamHack Anaheim on February 21-23 as well as DreamHack Dallas on May 22-24. Within the U.S. Navy’s experiential activation onsite, the US Navy will host a LAN station, where fans can challenge Naval officers and veterans to compete in a variety of game titles. [MORE]

GEORGIA ENTERTAINMENT NEWS — Mark Wofford is General Manager of PC&E, an employee owned rental company located in Atlanta. The company serves clients all over the state and works to stay on the cutting edge of technology for their production clients doing TV and movies in the state. [MORE]

WASHINGTON POST, “LAUNCHER “— Mega esports organizers ESL (Electronic Sports League) and the gaming conference DreamHack have announced they are entering a three-year deal with Blizzard to form new ESL pro tours for real-time strategy games StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged.

Blizzard will provide a prize pool of $1.8 million for StarCraft II’s upcoming season and $200,000 for the first season of Warcraft III: Reforged. StarCraft II’s tour will take over for its World Championship Series. This new pro tour will have tournaments on at least four different continents, with the global finals moving away from BlizzCon in Anaheim and to Intel’s Extreme Masters Katowice in Poland. [MORE]

90.1FM WABE (NPR), “CLOSER LOOK WITH ROSE SCOTT” — This month, Sesame Street reached its 50th birthday. As the PBS program celebrates half of a century on the air, we remember some memorable Sesame Street moments and hear about Sesame Workshop’s project: addressing parental addiction. Kama Einhorn, senior content manager of the United States Social Impact Team for Sesame Workshop, and Jeremy Seymour, creative director of Primal Screen, the Atlanta-based design company, discuss the creation of a new muppet named Karli and reflect on the program’s recent milestone. [MORE - listen at 18:29]

ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE — Georgia has quickly become one of the top filming locations in the world. During the 12 months that ended June 30, 2019, 399 productions filmed in Georgia including 26 feature films, 31 independent films, 214 television series, 91 commercials and 29 music videos, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

In 2018, film and television productions spent $2.7 billion in Georgia. The amount spent in 2019 is preliminary and expected to increase as productions finalize their numbers. [MORE]

CBS-46 ATLANTA — One of the largest gaming conventions and computer festivals in the world took place in Atlanta on Saturday. DreamHack took over the Georgia World Congress Center where over 35,000 gamers spent hours and hours testing their skills against other gamers. [MORE]

90.1FM WABE (NPR) — One of the biggest gaming lifestyle festivals in the country is returning to Atlanta this weekend.

DreamHack Atlanta, a multi-faceted esports event, will be making a stop in the Georgia World Congress Center with tournaments, concerts, cosplay and more until Sunday. DreamHack has been happening around the world for the past 25 years.

More than 35,000 people are expected to come out to DreamHack Atlanta, which is at least 10,000 more than the first-ever event held in the metro area in 2017.

WXIA-11ALIVE (NBC) ATLANTA — The video game industry is big business in Georgia. The industry generated an $830 million  economic impact on our state in 2018, employing more than 2,000 people. The Georgia Game Developers Association keeps track of those numbers.

In a newly released study, it said there were 452 new jobs created last year.

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION — More than 25,000 gamers from all over the U.S. and the world are converging on Atlanta this weekend for the 25th anniversary of DreamHack at the Georgia World Congress Center. 

More than $1 million in esports tournament prizes will be awarded during the festival, which will run 24 hours a day through Sunday, Nov. 17.  [MORE]

FOX 5 ATLANTA — What started with some friends in a school cafeteria has turned into a massive gaming festival drawing crowds from around the world. And if you haven’t kept up with gaming technology over the years – prepare to amazed by what you’ll find inside the Georgia World Congress Center this weekend. [MORE]

CINEMA ATL — PC&E doesn’t need much of an introduction as you or someone you know has likely rented equipment or a used a sound stage here. However, how much do you really know about the company? What is their mission? How long have they been around? What do they have to offer super low budget indie filmmakers looking to get a chance?

All this and more is covered in our episode with General Manager of PC&E, Mark Wofford. Mark talks about the history of the company as well as his own history and why the business values “community” extremely high. We also talk about keeping up with equipment trends and much more. [MORE - LISTEN]