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E3 Witnesses the Birth of a Legend

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Wow!!! Since E3 started in 1995, I’ve been to 16 of them, and each year I’m still amazed how far gaming has advanced. Alienware was created one year after E3 started and much like the show, Alienware has also grown to be a trailblazing leader in PC gaming. This year at E3, Alienware will feature the latest Legend designed laptops and headsets since announcing the new ID at CES. In addition,  Dell G3 now has Game Shift to optimize your gaming experience in one button. But E3 is not all about our new rigs, we always want to cater to our community, and this year we have esports partnerships, display technology news, and other benefits sure to please our fans.

I’m excited that visitors at this year’s E3 will be the first in North America to see and experience the newest Legend designed Alienware m15 an m17 laptops, recently announced at Computex 2019. This is the first time that Legend will be brought to Alienware’s thin & light systems, built for gamers who prioritize mobility without any compromises. But, laptops aren’t the only thing featuring the Legend design.

The just announced Alienware 7.1 Gaming Headset (AW510H) and Alienware Stereo Gaming Headset (AW310H) will not only join the rest of the already existing peripheral portfolio, like our Alienware Wireless Gaming Headset (AW988), but these two headsets will be the first to bring the Legend design to the portfolio – while still delivering unparalleled clarity, ultra-comfort and fully immersive audio experiences.

Now, for you budget-conscious gamers, be sure to check out the newest member of our G-Series family, the Dell G3 15. We’ve been having a lot of fun with the new Game Shift feature that, with one button, enables maximum fan speed for optimal processor performance to support intense gameplay in short bursts. This newly debuted laptop is already supercharged with the latest 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 16 series graphic cards. But the internal features aren’t the only thing getting upgraded.

Alienware and G Series laptops have always offer various premium display options, but I’m excited that more systems will now offer our 144 Hz, 240 Hz, and OLED displays. Additionally, for the first time, we can talk about how our OLED displays include the industry-leading technology, Eyesafe®. For those of you who haven’t heard of Eyesafe® displays, it’s technology that maintains vivid colors while reducing potentially harmful effects of blue light exposure.

Now, while all that is cool, E3 is more than just hardware announcements. It’s about everything gaming, including esports. Since the infancy of esports, I’ve made it a key priority for Alienware to invest and support esports. Educational institutions recognize this, and we are proud to help them infuse esports into their curriculum.  Along with the National Association of College Esports, close to 800 schools in North America belong to the High School Esports League and seek partners to help them develop varsity-level programs that can teach valuable STEM skills to students, whether playing or designing games. Committed to fostering tech literacy in youth, we’re taking this another step further with a new initiative, creating modular curriculum resources for K-12 school environments. You’ll hear more about everything we’re doing later this summer.

Lastly, since its launch nine years ago, Alienware’s loyalty program, Arena Rewards, has benefited players across the U.S. – at E3, we announced its long-awaited expansion to Canada. Arena Rewards doesn’t require a purchase to earn points, which instead can be scored through games and community engagement. Dell Advantage dollars will be available to members in Canada later this Summer; however, Arena Rewards Points can be won today through daily and weekly quests. New Arena membership includes all the benefits of Dell Rewards and have access to game code giveaways, gaming news and more. Existing members can join Dell Advantage through their Arena account settings.

Anyways, time to get the day started, it’s always great to come to E3 – seeing all those giant ads on buildings with gaming themes all around me – and getting to see everyone! I’d love to meet all of our customers and fans who made the trek out this year, so stop by the booth to meet the Alienware family. Our booth is at the entrance of the South Exhibit Hall (Booth #2301). But if coming to meet the team isn’t special enough, come visit just us to snag “first in line” privileges to play our partners’ latest AAA titles like Ring of Elysium, Zombie Army 4 and Rage 2. Our friends at Tobii Software will also be showing off their eye tracking technology on the Alienware m15, the first 15” laptop to integrate the technology. We’ll have a ton of other activities going on at the booth, but if you can’t make it to L.A., follow online at twitch.tv/alienware each day of E3 to get the latest updates or I’ll be sharing my personal experience on my Twitter handle, @AzorFrank.

About the Author: Frank Azor

Frank Azor, an Alienware co-founder, now oversees XPS, Dell’s premium consumer brand and Dell gaming, which includes Alienware and Inspiron Gaming. Celebrating 20 years as the leader in PC gaming systems, Alienware sets the standard for premium gaming PCs and innovation, and Inspiron Gaming provides high performance gaming systems at an affordable cost that give gamers a competitive advantage at every level of play. Under his leadership, Dell’s XPS brand has risen to the top in innovation, design and performance, while becoming the most-award winning product-line in Dell history. Frank joined Alienware as a quality engineer and later held executive roles in sales and marketing before creating the Alienware Product Group organization in 2003-after helping to pioneer the industry’s first high-performance gaming notebook, the Area-51M. Later that year, he was credited with the successful launch of Alienware’s first self-designed desktop case (Predator) which immediately made industry headlines and has defined the look of Alienware’s products ever since. Prior to Dell’s acquisition of Alienware in 2006, Frank held the positions of Senior Vice-President of Product Group and Marketing and Executive Vice-President managing the global executive leadership team and reporting directly to the President and CEO. Shortly after helping lead Alienware’s successful integration into Dell, Frank assumed the role of worldwide general manager for the Alienware business unit. Under Frank’s leadership, Alienware’s brand has become the worldwide leader in its industry and has earned hundreds of awards for its products including multiple best of CES product awards. As of 2017, Frank holds 16 patents granted under his name and has been named a milestone inventor by Dell. In 2014, Frank’s role was expanded to include global responsibility for Dell’s XPS business unit, one of the company’s most innovative and valued brands. Since assuming responsibility for the XPS business unit for Dell, Frank instituted a new product and business strategy that led to the successful introduction of the highly acclaimed XPS 13 notebook which has won more than 300 awards since its introduction at CES 2015 and has been deemed the best notebook on the market from numerous outlets including Forbes, Wall Street Journal and CNET. On top of the product accomplishments, Frank’s leadership has reinstated rapid growth for Dell’s XPS business. In 2017, Frank assumed responsibility for launching and managing Dell’s Inspiron Gaming line of powerful yet budget friendly gaming PCs. Inspiron Gaming systems have quickly become a favorite among players and reviewers desiring top graphics performance under $1000 USD. The systems have received many awards including a Computex d&i Gold winner and several Best Gaming PCs of CES awards. Frank sits on the advisory board for Miami Dade College’s MAGIC program where he has led the creation of a Dell-backed scholarship fund to help both high school and college students learn skills and earn degrees in computer graphics design, animation and game development. Frank has also served as a volunteer judge for the FIRST robotics south Florida regional competition since 2013 (www.usfirst.org) an organization founded by Dean Kamen that has provided students with more than $50 million in college scholarships in 2017 alone. Frank lives in Palmetto Bay, FL USA near Alienware’s headquarters with his wife, their 2 sons and their pet dachshund. Frank is currently playing Overwatch with his oldest son who is also an avid Minecraft player. Frank’s most anticipated games for 2017 exist in Virtual Reality where Frank has been immersed for years – and of course – powered by award-winning VR-ready PCs from Alienware and XPS.