Q&A: Alienware Arena - Back To School

Q: Can you tell our readers what your job role at Alienware involves and how you came to work for the company, had you worked in the industry before?

A: My name is Christopher Sutphen and my role at Dell is that of Marketing Manager for the Alienware brand. I am responsible for managing all events, sponsorships and the Alienware Arena. I started at Dell directly out of college and I have been here for just over 8 years working in both engineering and marketing.

Q: For those who do not know what Alienware Arena is can you give us a brief overview of how it started and what Alienware hoped to achieve by launching it?

A: The Alienware Arena is a community eSports portal sponsored by Alienware which hosts gaming competitions online, at local LAN centers and parties around the US & Canada and at consumer gaming tradeshow events. Our hope in creating the site was to provide gamers of all caliber the ability to game and be part of a community.

Q: How has Arena grown since its launch? Are the events much different now to what you had a year ago?

A: At just a year old, the Alienware Arena has a community with over 500,000 registered participants from all around the globe. The gaming competitions continue on a regular basis to excite and enjoy and we have made significant additions to the Alienware Arena, just recently adding the Movie Vault - ones of the internet's best showcases of Machinima content on the planet, now sponsored by and available on the Alienware Arena.

Q: How do you decide which games should be included in the tournaments?

A: We have an extensive team of experts that have been doing eSports for many years that play and evaluate each game for competition readiness.

Rather than most leagues, we are constantly adding new games and titles to try out and always on the lookout for the next best competitive game.

Q: How interested are you in helping shape the competitive scene for titles that are currently struggling to meet the requirements to be a competitive play, such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2? Will you look to pass on recommendations about what works and what doesn't work in your tournaments?

A: At the Alienware Arena we are not interested in shaping the competitive scene by choosing one game over another. We will pick games on how well they play competitively and if we think our community will enjoy the competition.

Q: Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends are effectively recreations of the same thing, the WC3 mod DotA. Is there any chance that should one become more successful than the other you would stop catering for one game?

Do you have any thoughts as to whether that might happen or not?

A: The community and our experts will dictate which games are played in tournament. It really has nothing to do with supporting or picking one game over another.

Q: Are there any recent events which have been a particular success, if so what do you put this down to? Is it the players involved, game chosen, venue or maybe a combination of a few things?

A: In addition to competitions the Alienware Arena has been a great place to find beta keys to some of the latest games. Make sure to check back often for changes to play the latest games before they are released.

Q: What do you see as the next big thing in the world of Arena?

A: I'm very excited that in addition to on-going tournaments we'll be building a loyalty and rewards program starting later this year where our community of gamers will be rewarded for being an integral part of the Alienware family.

Q: How can people keep up to date with developments in Alienware Arena and how do they participate/compete?

A: Right now, competitions are available in the US & Canada but we are working hard to bring these eSports to other parts of the world. Sign up for an account today, be part of our active community and stay on top of the latest news in gaming and keep an eye out for new beta key releases.

Q: Do you have any closing message for our readers?

A: Thanks for making the Alienware Arena such a success!!