Six Flags prototyped its gaming hub in San Antonio. Mexico City next.

Six Flags prototyped its gaming hub in San Antonio. Mexico City next.

Bathed in blue and red lighting while seated onstage at high-end PCs, celebrity gamers are immersed in “Fortnite,” a popular online video game. Their every move is captured on video feeds being watched by fans as the action is described by announcers in a broadcast booth.

If it sounds a little like a pro sporting event, that’s because it is. The gamers are competitors in a two-day tournament — with $30,000 up for grabs — at ESIX Gaming powered by Coca-Cola. It’s a first-of-its-kind facility and one the operators of Six Flags Fiesta Texas hope will give youthful visitors and their families a new reason to visit and stay longer at the park.

It was working that way during the recent tournament. In front of the stage, young people wearing headsets at rows of computers were also playing “Fortnite.” As they navigated the game and discussed strategies with friends, family members were a few feet away munching on snacks, charging phones and browsing gaming equipment and clothes for sale by Six Flags.

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San Antonio Spurs player Tre Jones — a gaming fan who had a spot on stage with the pros — appeared to be as excited to be there as a Spurs fan might be to sit courtside at a basketball game. 

“I watch a lot of them,” he said of the pro gamers. “To play with them was a dream come true.”

Other fans got a chance to meet the pros during breaks in the tournament, when star gamers known by stage names such as as Bugha, Sommerset, Kaz and Zemie mingled and posed for photos.

Players intently watch their screens during Saturday's E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Players intently watch their screens during Saturday’s E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Robin Jerstad
Players from all over the country man their screens during Saturday's E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Players from all over the country man their screens during Saturday’s E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Robin Jerstad
Kyle Rapozo, better known in gaming circles as Kazify, plays during Saturday's E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Kyle Rapozo, better known in gaming circles as Kazify, plays during Saturday’s E6 gaming tournament in a new e-gaming facility recently completed at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. There was over $30,000 in prize money for the event.
Robin Jerstad


Players from across the country watch their screens during E6’s recent gaming tournament at Six Flags Fiesta Texas’ new e-gaming facility. Kyle Rapozo, (bottom right) better known in gaming circles as Kazify, was one of those players vying for a piece of the $30,000 in prize money.

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New Old City bridge could use Brewer company’s progressive technologies

New Old City bridge could use Brewer company’s progressive technologies

Old Town, Maine — The Maine Office of Transportation could use impressive design supplies created to last a lot more than 100 several years when it replaces a deteriorating bridge in Aged Town future 12 months.

The Maine DOT strategies to install a momentary, two-way bridge ahead of replacing the Llewellyn G. Estes Memorial Bridge in 2024, department spokesperson Paul Merrill explained. The style staff is exploring the use of GBeams from Brewer-primarily based manufacturer Highly developed Infrastructure Systems, which are fiber-reinforced polymer bridge beams, he claimed.

The bridge is far more than 70 a long time old and deemed structurally deficient. When it closed for aspect of a day earlier this month since a utility pole leaning more than the bridge prompted basic safety worries, area people wondered if the substitution challenge date would shift up.

Though the substitute challenge is even now slated for 2024, men and women can be expecting that set up of the temporary bridge will commence in July and increase into late slide. If Advanced Infrastructure Technologies’ composite beams are utilised, it would stick to initiatives like alternative of the Grist Mill Bridge in Hampden, which was the initial in the nation to use the technology.

The Maine Division of Transportation designs to substitute the Llewellyn G. Estes Memorial Bridge that carries Stillwater Avenue above the Stillwater River in Old Town. Credit score: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

The bridge, which is made up of two buildings that have Stillwater Avenue throughout the Stillwater River, was slated for replacement as part of a multi-year, $20 million challenge.

The office turned down all bids last April after they arrived in approximately double the budgeted total, delaying the project about two yrs. It resolved to individual the bridge substitution from other street function.

The alternative bridge style is in development, so a value estimate was not available Friday.

GBeams are created to last many years longer than standard steel and concrete buildings, are resistant to corrosion and call for tiny servicing, in accordance to the corporation, which formulated the engineering with University of Maine researchers.

The content is also more environmentally friendly and lighter, earning it less costly to transport as perfectly as much easier to operate with.

Considering the fact that design of the Hampden bridge wrapped up in late 2020, AIT has completed sets of GBeams for projects in Maine, Florida and Rhode Island, and is functioning on other individuals on the West Coastline, in accordance to its web-site.

“Drivers and pedestrians will be equipped to use the momentary bridge all through building,” Merrill stated. “The short-term bridge will be taken off just after the proposed bridge is opened to visitors.”

The previously marketed bridge construction package deal also involved a short-term bridge, he reported.

The Maine Office of Transportation plans to switch the Llewellyn G. Estes Memorial Bridge that carries Stillwater Avenue over the Stillwater River in Aged Town. Credit history: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

Pieces of Aged Town’s bridge

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