Some of the best international gamers arrived in Wollongong on Friday for a major fighting game tournament being played in Shellharbour this weekend.
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It is the fourth year of Expand Gong which has traditionally been held in Wollongong but this year it is part of Shellharbour Civic Centre's Youth Week celebrations.
"When creating Expand Gong we wanted to challenge the rhetoric that Esports events only work in major cities," Sean Thorpe said.
He is one of a team of volunteers from University of Wollongong's Video Game Association (VGA) and Fighting Game Community (WollongongFGC) who run the event which started as a joke and has transitioned into the second biggest Super Smash Brothers event.
Expand Gong 3 won the title of UoW Club Event of the Year and was one of only two internationally ranked tournaments in Australia. 150 people competed last year but more than 270 have signed up to compete in Expand Gong 4 including the strongest field of international competitors vying for more than $12,000 in prize money.
Many have huge followings on social media and are sponsored to travel the world play and live stream. The include Cosmos, Keitaro, Hackoru and Nakat from the USA and Mr R from the Netherlands.
Streaming partner VG Bootcamp (VGBC), the biggest twitch stream in the world for Super Smash Brothers, is streaming the action live to up to 100,000 viewers at a time both days. VG Bootcamp will be one of five live streams to a global audience. Anyone in the Illawarra can also go and watch the action live both days at Shellharbour Civic Centre from 10am to 8pm.
Mr Thorpe's twin brother Nic Thorpe said the event was also a chance to showcase Wollongong to players across the world.
The five international players got to see the sights on Friday and attend an opening party at City Diggers Wollongong.
Competition starts Saturday after an opening ceremony and on Sunday top eight players for each competition take to the stage for completion.
To get here one of the players flew from Texas to Ohio and then back to Texas before the last leg to Sydney.
After competing in Shellharbour this weekend he will fly to Japan for another competition.
Tyrell Coleman, who flew in from the United States on Friday, has been playing since 2009 and has over 31,000 followers but this is his first time to Australia. He said he came to win.
Ramin Delshad, of the Netherlands, moved to the United States for gaming but has played in Australia before at a tournament in Melbourne.
"I want to win this tournament," he said.
Nic Thorpe said the larger venue at Shellharbour meant more people could watch some of the best gamers in the world.
"We had Keitaro here last year and is coming back this year as well," he said.
"He knows all these guys and has been our contact in America drumming up support. We have lots of eCompetitions in Australia but this is the main one when we get international people to come across. It is really good to get Australians known to the scene overseas. Especially in America where it is a lot bigger".
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
