DALLAS MORNING NEWS — DreamHack went two and a half years without a live gaming festival. When the opportunity for a comeback finally came, picking a location was easy.

“When it comes to Dallas, there was no other option,” said Shahin Zarrabi, DreamHack VP of Strategy & Growth. “It’s a gaming hub in a lot of ways.”

DreamHack Dallas, a 24-hour a day gaming festival with top-tier esports, college competition and amateur opportunities, returns Friday through Sunday at Kay Bailey Convention Center. The last time DreamHack hosted an event was in Dallas in 2019.

The event was a boon, accumulating over 30,000 visitors and contributing nearly $3.6 million in direct spending to the Dallas economy, according to Dallas Sports Commission. Zarrabi said DreamHack thought it would return several times in the two and a half years of absence.

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GEORGIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING — Early voting officially kicks off Monday for the 2022 midterm elections with sky-high stakes freighted with the never-ending relitigation of the 2020 presidential election.

Over the next several weeks Georgians will cast ballots for the May 24 primaries that will determine the Republican and Democratic nominees for governor, U.S. Senate, congressional districts, secretary of state and other tests of the state’s budding battleground status.

The primary is the first statewide election since the election overhaul implemented by Republican lawmakers in spring 2020 that reshaped absentee voting, set new deadlines when provisional ballots can be cast, added an extra Saturday of early voting, and gave the state power to take over local election boards deemed to be underperforming.

… “I think part of the problem with this law in particular is just how unnecessarily complex a rule that changes at five o’clock on Election Day is,” said Saira Amir Draper, a co-founder of Power the Vote and a Democratic candidate for state House District 90. [MORE]

DOT ESPORTS — The 2022 SXSW Gaming Awards provided a chance for several titles to take home notable accolades, such as Game of the Year, Tabletop Game of the Year, and Excellence in Multiplayer. Some games secured multiple titles, like Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, which went home with the Video Game of the Year, Excellence in Original Score, and Excellence in Narrative awards.

Though FFXIV took the prize of Game of the Year, other critically acclaimed titles such as Resident Evil Village and It Takes Two were in the running for the category. The two titles also scored some awards of their own, with It Takes Two earning the prize of Excellence in Multiplayer and Village taking the Excellence in Audio Design award. [MORE]

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER — 'Before Your Eyes,' which tasks players to navigate an emotional story through blinking, is among the nominees for a cultural innovation award given to a game that challenges the "norm" of everyday gaming. The South by Southwest Gaming Awards unveiled the final nominations on Tuesday for its ninth annual celebration of technical, artistic and design achievements in video games. “In a year where the convergence of the gaming and entertainment industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, SXSW is proud to showcase the most creative and innovative titles,” said Hugh Forrest, chief programming officer for SXSW. “For a second year, SXSW is excited to bring the awards digitally to a global audience with our new partners Peach Maria Productions.” [MORE]

FORBES.com — ESL has announced The Women's CS:GO Circuit, a $500,000 series of events across 2022 that will feature full leagues and LAN events throughout the year.

This commitment from ESL to the female CS:GO scene is the latest announcement in its #GGFORALL campaign where the company is trying to improve both its image and the esports scene. The first major announcement was that the company would be offsetting its carbon emission going forward, and not it is focusing on inclusion for females at the top level. [MORE}

WSB-TV ATLANTA — The residents of Peoplestown are fighting against the city of Atlanta and their use of eminent domain. Watch full interview here.

VARIETY — In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Jason Isbell tweeted, “If Biden wins Georgia I’m gonna make a charity covers album of my favorite Georgia songs — R.E.M., Gladys Knight, Vic Chesnutt, Allmans, Cat Power, Precious Bryant, Now It’s Overhead, etc… And damn is that gonna be fun.” He subsequently confirmed that he hadn’t just been blowing electoral smoke but was really in the studio, working on giving voters in the swing state — and Peach State allies — their due reward.

The result, a charity album called “Georgia Blue,” comes out digitally with Oct. 15, with a Record Store Day vinyl edition imminently to be announced. The 13-song set spreads the love with a number of guest lead or co-lead vocalists and featured instrumentalists, including Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Béla Fleck, Chris Thile, John Paul White, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin and prominent members of his band the 400 Unit, Amanda Shires and Sadler Vaden.

Proceeds are earmarked for three organizations: Black Voters Matter, Fair Fight and Georgia Stand-Up. [MORE]

ESPORTS INSIDER — Turnkey esports provider Skillshot Media announced plans to create an esports gaming hub at Uptown Atlanta, a 47-acre mixed-use community being redeveloped by Rubenstein Partners.

Per a release, Skillshot will relocate its Alpharetta office and production studios to Uptown and partner with Rubenstein to establish Atlanta’s ‘new go-to destination’ for esports events. Skillshot’s new space will also provide classroom and training space for local students.

HyperX was named the official peripheral partner of Skillshot at Uptown. As part of the collaboration, HyperX will outfit Skillshot with a range of products, including headsets, keyboards, mice and microphones.

Skillshot will collaborate with Rubenstein to utilise a 35,000-square-foot office atrium to become ‘Atlanta’s premier venue for esports events’. The atrium will be outfitted to host approximately 300-400 gamers for in-person events and feature a ‘massive’ LED screen with new digital infrastructure to support live streaming. [MORE]

NPR, 90.1FM WABE — In the realm of film and TV, Georgia’s industry has never been stronger. Productions are booming throughout the state, with 49 films and TV shows currently in the making. Now, the University of Georgia will keep the tide high by connecting students to the industry with a new MFA program in Film, Television, and Digital Media, through the University’s Grady College. Students will even live on-site in production studios as part of the curriculum.

Dr. Jeff Springston, the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the Grady College joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes along with Frank Patterson from Trilith Studios, formerly Pinewood, and Kyle Hamlin, a UGA student pursuing the new MFA. They discussed what the program will entail and how it will enrich students aspiring to have careers in Georgia’s robust media industry.

The MFA, in development for three years, started its first courses last year in August. “The very first cohort is actually finishing their summer films this summer, and then once they’re done they’re actually going to move out for the second year, which is right at Trilith Studios,” said Springston. “So we’re all very excited about them getting really right in the cusp of, frankly, where a lot of the action is in the film and television industry these days.”

This year, ten students will be living and learning at Trilith studios. [MORE]

THE VERGE — The Olympics is currently hosting its first-ever virtual sporting event series, the Olympic Virtual Series, where competitors can play in virtual versions of five different physical sports: motorsport, cycling, baseball, sailing, and rowing. The cycling competition, for example, takes place in Zwift, which lets you pair your bike and a bike trainer with your computer, phone, or tablet. The motorsport competition takes place entirely inside Gran Turismo Sport.

You might notice that none of those are games you might typically associate with esports, such as Overwatch, which has previously hosted World Cup-style tournaments where players represented their countries. At least for now, though, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is intentionally choosing to host competitions in virtual versions of physical sports.

“I think it’s fair to say that we remain a sport-based and sport-focused organization,” the IOC’s sport director, Kit McConnell, told The Verge in an interview. “We’re looking to keep the Olympic Virtual Series focused around sport titles.”

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SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL — The Olympic Virtual Series, a gaming showcase for the e-versions of five physical sports including baseball and sailing, is at its core an attempt for the International Olympic Committee to reach a younger audience. But the series, which kicked off earlier this month and runs through Olympic Day on June 23, is also the first real indicator that virtual physical sports — and, perhaps, non-physical esports — may have a formal place in the Olympic Games by LA28.

“The real opportunity around an Olympic Virtual Series for this year came actually with the postponement of Tokyo,” said IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell, who noted that lockdown-related spikes in gaming activity were a major driver of the IOC’s urgency. “We saw massive increases in the number of people playing NBA 2K, FIFA 21 and the emerging titles as well. Reflecting that growth, and reflecting the opportunity that the postponement of Tokyo gave us to actually do something before Tokyo when we had that window created … we felt there was a real convergence and a unique opportunity to bring those elements together. So we seized it rather quickly.”

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THE WASHINGTON POST —We don’t have video games in the Olympics quite yet, but we’re getting closer.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday that it was organizing a slate of five esports events to be staged ahead of the Summer Games this year in Tokyo. The Olympic Virtual Series (OVS) will feature competitions in auto racing, baseball, cycling, rowing and sailing.

Auto racing is not an Olympic sport, but then again, neither are any esports. However, a “road map” produced by an IOC panel in February of recommendations for the next several years included sections on growing digital engagement and on encouraging the development of virtual sports. It appears the IOC is intent on doing just that, but it will start with something of a toe-dip into the virtual waters.

“The Olympic Virtual Series is a new, unique Olympic digital experience that aims to grow direct engagement with new audiences in the field of virtual sports,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. “It encourages sports participation and promotes the Olympic values, with a special focus on youth.”

According to the IOC, each OVS event is being run via coordination between a given sport’s IOC-recognized international federation and a corresponding gaming publisher. In the case of auto racing, contestants will play Gran Turismo, as agreed upon by manufacturer and Sony subsidiary Polyphony Digital and the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The World Baseball Softball Confederation and Konami Digital Entertainment are teaming up to offer eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, and the International Cycling Union (UCI) is working with Zwift Inc. to use its popular program, Zwift. [MORE]