THE largest student gaming festival in the UK is staged at the University of Salford campus in MediaCityUK this weekend.

The ‘King of the North’ e-sports tournament will see students face-off against each other in a number of competitive video games, with the end goal to be named the tournament champion.

The competition is open to university students across the UK, and this year will see duels on popular video games League of Legends, Overwatch, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

With the addition of an interactive live event for the public, partnership with the University of Salford, and a brand new location for the tournament, committee member, Morgan Palmer, promises us that this will be an event like never before.

“Esports has grown massively in the past few years however the UK is still behind in comparison to the rest of the world! So people should come down and see what Esports is really about.

“There will be stands from all sorts of different companies and societies – expect to see lots of mini tournaments (fighting games being a big one), there will be VR, and more. And of course – you can’t forget about the tournament that will be going on throughout the two days, LoL on the Saturday and OW/CS:GO on the Sunday

“The main tournament qualifiers have already happened, but the for the mini tournaments you should still be able to sign up using the link on the UoMesports page.”

Entry to the event, which costs £3, will not only give access to the audience seats for the main event, but also to a range of activities, stalls and giveaways that anyone can take part in.

Smaller tournaments in Super Smash Bros WiiU and StreetFighter V can be participated in by any visitors also, with disabled access being readily available for those who need it.

Online qualifiers took place on Saturday 24th of February and Saturday 3rd of March, which saw the top two teams of each qualifier invited to the semis and finals for the live event in Salford this weekend.

First established in 2013, the KOTN event has become the most popular student esports tournament in the country, run by students of the University of Manchester Esports Society.

Esports is a form of competition using video games, mostly in the shape of organised multiplayer games between professional gamers, and has heavily increased in popularity over the last 3 years due to websites like Twitch and YouTube streaming the events online.

To find out more about the event, purchase tickets or sign up to play, visit the website here, or follow the event on social media via the following accounts:

Twitter: @uomesports

Instagram: @uomesports

Twitch: twitch.tv/uomesports

Facebook: KOTNorth

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