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On the weekend of October 11th to 13th 2024, Intel launched its new Core Ultra 200S series desktop processors, held an Intel Extreme Masters Rio Watch Party, and Esports News UK celebrated its 9th birthday at Pixel Bar Manchester too. Here’s a look back on what went down.
Intel celebrates launch of new Core Ultra desktop processors with Manchester gathering
Intel brought together partners, streamers and more at Pixel Bar Manchester to show off its new processors.
Guests included UK streamers such as Frankie Ward, RageDarling, Two Angry Gamers, Veracity, MC Fixer, Fnatic Ralphyy, BreaK, Scan Computers, CyberPowerPC and many more.
Mark Walton, Head of EMEA Product Comms at Intel, gave a talk about the new Intel Core Ultra 200S series, which aims to ‘usher in the first enthusiast desktop AI PCs’. Led by the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285K, the latest generation of enthusiast desktop processors includes five unlocked desktop processors equipped with up to 8 next-gen Performance-cores (P-cores), the fastest cores available for desktop PCs, and up to 16 next-gen Efficient-cores (E-cores) that altogether result in up to 14% more performance in multi-threaded workloads than the previous generation.
Attendees had a chance to play darts to win giveaways including copies of the new Star Wars Outlaws game on PC.
Gaming PCs powered by the processors were also set up for guests to try out for themselves.
You can check out some snaps from the evening here:
Intel also embraced the esports community in other territories to mark the launch of its new processors.
NRG and Intel unveiled a collaboration showcasing the processors via an immersive campaign, highlighted by a launch event in Downtown Los Angeles: the Intel x NRG Night Market.
This event fused the vibrant atmosphere of Asian-inspired night markets with the excitement of Valorant’s in-game special shop, reimagining the Spectrum NRG Castle – an 18,000 sq. ft. ‘Fantasy Factory’ for gamers and entertainment lovers, letting guests see local vendors, an artist alley, try food and themed drinks, and meet and compete with big names in the Valorant community, including pro players and influencers. s0m and FNS led hand-picked teams of pros and influencers to take part in a showdown.
IEM Rio 2024 watch party at Pixel Bar Manchester: Gamers, giveaways and gallery
With the Counter-Strike 2 IEM Rio 2024 playoffs taking place in Brazil from October 11th to 13th, Intel held a watch party at Pixel Bar Manchester for UK-based esports fans.
The semi-finals took place on the Saturday, and the grand final between Navi and Mouz was held on the Sunday (more on what happened there in our recap below).
Casters Affinity and Dweg orchestrated giveaways and encouraged the community to take part in CS2 deathmatch challenges throughout the weekend, with Angus winning the raffle draw for a limited edition IEM-engraved Predator Gaming laptop.
Others took home Intel goody bags, including processors, pin badges, sweets and even pairs of Intel Core Ultra socks.
Esports News UK also celebrated its 9th birthday at the venue on the Saturday.
Guests included Resolve CEO Jeff Simpkins, members of Brod n Friends including The Governor (who quite impressively failed a press-up challenge to win some Intel goodies), members of Noctem including founder Jack Stovell, streamers like TacticalRab, PhaseGames and Gross Gore, former CoD pro player Trei ‘Zer0’ Morris, former LoL coach Froomie, broadcast talent LucyLuce, Frankie Ward, Index and TIMMO, University of Salford’s Professor Andy Miah and many more.
Here are a few pics and tweets from the weekend:
Full image gallery:
Pixel Bar Manchester was a fantastic host venue and we hope to be back with more gatherings there in the future.
See our TikTok on the event here. And See more images in our ENUK 9th birthday and IEM Rio 2024 watch party Facebook gallery here.
How Navi won IEM Rio 2024: Event recap
Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Rio 2024 delivered its conclusion with Navi making history and triumphing over Mouz in a rollercoaster Grand Final.
Returning to Brazil for the third consecutive year, IEM Rio saw 16 of the world’s best Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams vying for a chance to bring home the coveted trophy. The competition brought together a passionate crowd of 19,000 fans to the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro and generated a peak viewership of 709,317, according to Esports Charts.
Group Stage
IEM Rio 2024 commenced on October 7th, with the participating teams competing in two groups of eight, where the top two teams from the upper bracket and the top team from the lower bracket advanced to the Playoffs. The tournament saw a representation of local heroes from Furia Esports, Pain Gaming and Imperial Sportsbet as they battled it out to secure the coveted win on their home turf.
In Group A, the Brazilian powerhouse Furia had a flawless run through the upper bracket, securing a spot in the Semifinals. Navi followed as the second team in the upper bracket, while Mouz advanced to the Playoffs from the lower bracket after eliminating Faze Clan.
Group B saw a strong performance from Heroic, which advanced to the semi-finals by dominating the upper bracket and coming out on top of their group. The reigning champions, Team Vitality – the IEM Rio 2023 winners – proceeded to the quarter-final from the upper bracket, and Virtus.pro secured the last spot in the Playoff Stage by beating The MongolZ.
Playoffs
As fans gathered in the Farmassi Arena on October 11th to 13th, the quarter-finals opened with Navi facing off against Virtus.Pro. With Navi’s dominant performance and a clean 2-0 victory, they secured their place in the semi-finals.
The second quarter-final saw an intense matchup between Mouz and Team Vitality, where the former showcased their resilience, taking the series 2-1 in a tense finish.
The first semi-final was a true power clash as Heroic went head-to-head with Navi. Despite Heroic’s impressive run, Navi sealed a 2-1 victory, setting up a highly anticipated showdown in the final. In the second semi-final, Furia faced off against Mouz in a fierce battle. Even with the home crowd behind them, Furia were not able to match their performance from the group stage, as they faced a dominating Mouz who took the series 2-0 and secured a spot in the final.
Grand Final
The stage was set for an epic clash as Navi and Mouz faced off in the IEM Rio 2024 Grand Final. There was a lot at stake for both teams – for Navi, it was a chance to claim back-to-back ESL Pro Tour (EPT) victories after their triumph at ESL Pro League Season 20, while Mouz sought redemption after being defeated by Navi in the IEM Cologne 2024 semi-finals.
Both teams kicked off the Grand Final strong on Inferno, refusing to let the other pull ahead as they went head-to-head. Navi and Mouz showed great determination, but after trading some rounds, Navi gained the upper hand and closed out the first map with a hard-fought 13-11 victory.
Having built up momentum from their Inferno win, Navi dominated Mouz from the start on the second map and secured another series point with a 13-2 score on Dust2.
Mirage saw the tables turn for Mouz as they weren’t ready to give up on the final yet. Determined to stay in the fight, Mouz showcased their skill and managed to overrule Navi 13-6. Mouz paid back their opponents for the loss on Dust2 on the following map by getting a 10-2 advantage in the first half. But Navi, committed to closing it out, launched a thrilling comeback in the second half, taking control and ultimately winning the series.
With the 3-1 score, Navi became the IEM Rio 2024 champions, winning the lion’s share of the $250,000 prize pool, a slot in the EPT Winter Championship 2025, and a second point in the Intel Grand Slam race for $1m.
“I feel really proud of us as a team. Even though we had our ups and downs, being 10-2, we knew we were gonna win this game. And I wanna thank this crowd for being so amazing. It was truly a one-in-a-million experience,” said Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius, the IEM Rio 2024 DHL MVP winner.
Elsewhere at IEM Rio, Predator Gaming and Intel showed off PCs and gaming gear to guests, including the Helios Neo 16 running Counter-Strike 2.
The EPT for Counter-Strike continues with the ongoing ESL Challenger League Season 48, which will conclude on October 20th. The year will be closed off by ESL Challenger Katowice, taking place on October 25th to 27th.
Related article: EFG announces $22m+ financial contribution for CS ESL Pro Tour in 2025 and 2026, plus changes to structure
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
