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NIU to open Esports Cafes in Naperville, Hoffman Estates centers

Northern Illinois University will open NIU Esports Cafes at its Naperville and Hoffman Estates regional centers, bringing the growing esports world to the suburbs.

The cafes - which will be open to students and the public - will offer Dell gaming workstations, console gaming areas, and bring-your-own-computer tables for LAN parties. The Naperville Esports Café will open Feb. 28, and Hoffman Estates will open April 4.

The NIU Esports Cafés will be available to rent for parties, tournaments and other events.

Each location will feature 12 Dell Precision 3630 systems, configured specifically for video gaming. Dell also donated Dell 27-inch gaming monitors and gaming keyboards, mice, headsets and webcams to complete the gaming workstations.

"One goal for our regional centers is to build community, and that can come in the form of graduate classes, professional gatherings or competitive video gaming," said Anne Kaplan, NIU vice president of outreach, engagement and regional development.

Jennifer Sigmund, Dell's senior higher education strategist, Dell, added esport programs gives students the opportunity to engage with the technology, as well as prepare them for future careers by providing an environment to enhance communication, collaboration and team building skills.

"Emerging technology, like virtual reality headsets and gaming platforms, deliver new kinds of collaborative and engaging learning experiences to students," Sigmund said.

Both locations will be open to the public from 4-11 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and noon-11 p.m. Saturdays. The use of PCs and video game consoles is free to registered NIU students and $5 per hour or $45 for 10 hours to the public. Special event pricing will be available to groups.

PC games can be played through a player's own Battle.net and Steam accounts. The cafes will offer a variety of console games on Xbox, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Most paid games require the user's own account or license to play.

NIU Esports plans to host theme nights, tournaments and viewing parties throughout the year. The cafes will also be available for local high school and community college teams to rent for practice or tournaments. Community members are can also to use the cafes for corporate events, online or LAN tournaments, parties or just a friendly drop-in game.

To reserve the cafe for events, contact conferencecenters@niu.edu.

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