Back Stage Pass - The Las Vegas NOPEN

Hey, everybody!

This is Space Marine Steve signing on to talk about the Las Vegas NOPEN and how Play On Tabletop got involved with an incredibly positive global initiative. Additionally, I am going to give you the inside track on how Play On Tabletop achieved top quality streaming content and defined our 40k Uncut series.

The Las Vegas Open has been a growing tradition for 40k gamers, with the 2020 Open being the largest 40k tournament in the world (like... 1000 players... it was crazy). 

Of course, this year needed to be a little different. The Pandemic has made large tournaments like that take some time off but that will never break down our community's dedication to the game and to each other. The Las Vegas NOPEN was a world wide tournament hosted by streamers from many different countries to raise money for COVID-19 relief charities. I am proud to say that the event was a huge success, smashing stretch goals for donations and providing much needed relief for a tired world dealing with a crisis. We are all in this together.

The man and myth, JT McDowell played two games against me, Ultramarines vs. Dark Eldar and Dark Eldar versus Chaos Undivided (killed me to play Chaos... but I took one for the team haha). JT was the eventual winner of both games and his list went all the way to the finals of the digital tournament! Congrats, JT! They were hard fought and well played games, both of them, that put spectators on the edge of their seats for 40k action.

What is 40k Uncut?

40k Uncut is a live series of 40k using multiple camera angles, Play On quality graphics and overlays, loveable personalities... but without all of that edit time. It is no secret that the work we do here in the Play On Studio takes time, sometimes a long time. 40k Uncut gives us the ability to play more 40k (something I know we all love to do), interact with our audience via chat, and showcase an entire game.

Does this mean that 40k in 40m is going away? 

Goodness, no! In fact, we have been planning the third season of 40k in 40m since we returned from our Christmas break and, without giving too much away, it is going to be incredible - and contain more episodes than the previous seasons with a more consistent release schedule too. We also have Kill Team Challenger returning for a full second season this summer (after the release of the last pilot season episode next week). To sum up, our edited content isn't going anywhere (and that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, Nick likes it, uh huh uh huh).

The Tools of the Trade - The Black Magic ATEM Mini

How does Nick work the Black Magic that he does? Well... The Black Magic ATEM Mini helps him out a great deal. With this wonderful little device we can set up multiple cameras and then switch between them for the audience view in real time. This helps us achieve our stunning video quality while making sure that the audience doesn't miss any of the important action. When one player is speaking or making an important move, we can focus on the table or on that player when the action happens and we can make those switches as lightning speed. 

Here we see Nick using the ATEM mini to great affect as he manages the technical needs of live streaming a game of 40k. The concentration necessary to manage audio, video, live chatting with fans, and updating scores and graphics is intense. In fact, the process is so intense that Tak jumps in to update graphics and make sure that all of the information on the screen is as updated as possible.

Quality is our standard at Play On Tabletop and if you haven't had the chance to watch some 40k Uncut, be sure to check it out. It is a whole lot longer than the other shows on our channel but it is fantastic to watch while you hobby or if you want to see all the moves being made in the game.

Until we see you again in the far flung future of the grim dark universe, Play On!