Signals

Hong Kong – Fast-casual food chain Fairwood has opened a space that combines eSports, live-streaming and dining.

Fairwood eSports is touted as the first large-scale collaborative project between the food and gaming industries. The space, which is located at E-Max – a mall that supports the development of eSports – provides more than 100 seats for casual dining and includes a main stage with professional equipment to support gaming events.

The gaming area allows patrons to battle one another while enjoying food and drink, which they can order online or through self-service kiosks. The late-night KE Bar also offers alcoholic drinks such as craft beer, transforming the space into a night-time venue.

As e-tourism becomes more popular, spaces that offer immersive gaming and dining are opening around the world. For more, read our interview with Brent Bushnell from Two Bit Circus.

Manchester – During Manchester International Festival (MIF) grime artist Skepta immersed the audience in an immersive interactive rave.

The performance, DYSTOPIA987, harks back to the early days of acid house raves whilst offering commentary on the current state of social and political narratives. Upon arrival, attendees phones were locked away while placards urged them to ‘Free Your Mind’, ‘Free Your Ego’ in an attempt to distance them from the weight of their digital identities.

Without the familiar interface of smartphones, the event took an innovative and experiemental approach to AR and MR by using new spatial computing techniques designed by creative studio TEM. The aim of the show was to combine performance and immersive theartre into deep, dark, radical and riveting space of creation. Ravers took part in an artificial economy of tokens, VR experiences, interactive projections, glowing e-ccessories, and afro-futurist makeup, which came together to create a multi-sensory theatre.

‘It’s a layered experience that brings virtual and physical spaces together, creating a dialogue between the two where our vision of the future of performance lives,' says TEM. The nature of nightlife is changing and the industry is being reimagined with new technology and political intent. For more read our Nightlife Market.

Online videos are generating huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, according to think tank The Shift Project. On-demand streaming services such as Netflix account for a third of this number, while online pornographic videos generate another third. According to the study, the watching of pornographic videos generates as much CO2 as countries such as Belgium, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

In response to the push for higher-quality videos – reaching as high as 8K resolution – the authors of the study suggest limiting the emissions for online videos with measures such as: preventing videos from autoplaying and not transmitting videos in high definition when unnecessary.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental implications of their streaming practices. To see how music streaming services are responding, read our microtrend.