Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute
English. I'm Neil.
Catherine: Hello. I'm Catherine.
Neil: And if I say to you, Catherine,
fortnight, what do you think of?
Catherine: Well, that's easy, Neil. A
fortnight is a period of two weeks.
Neil: Well, fortnight, spelt f-o-r-t-n-i-g-h-t,
is indeed a period of two weeks. But
Fortnite, spelt F-o-r-t-n-i-t-e, is an online
computer game that has become
incredibly popular in
a very short period of time.
Catherine: As well as popular, it's also
very competitive. And you're soon going
to be able to make big money playing it
and you can even hire people to be your
Fortnite coach.
Neil: Well, before we hear a little more
about this topic, it's time for our quiz.
These days we play computer games on
our phones, we can hold them in our
hands. In 1950 Bertie the Brain
was the name of one of the very
first computer games. It played a simple
game of noughts and crosses, also called
tic-tac-toe. But how tall was this
computer? Was it...
a) one metre tall; b) about four metres tall or
c) about ten metres tall?
Catherine: Well, if it was the 1950s,
computers were huge, so I'm going to go
for ten metres.
Neil: OK. Well, we'll find out if you're right
at the end of the programme. eSports or
computer games competitions are now a
thing. In some markets they are huge and
they are even discussing including
them in the Olympic Games. Kyle
Jackson is a 13-year-old gamer who's
been asked to join a team. How long does
he say he's been playing video games?
Kyle Jackson: I've played video games all
my life, basically. I started playing
competitively when I was around nine or
ten. I got into like Halo, Call of Duty,
games like that. And I just...
I realised that I could probably
like go to a pro (professional) level, if
I keep playing at the level I am.
Catherine: He said that he's been playing
computer games all his life. Now that
might be a little exaggeration, but he's
probably been playing them ever since he
can remember. When he was nine or ten
he started playing competitively, which
means he started playing
in competitions against other people.
Neil: He talks about a number of games
that he got into. This is a good
expression. If you are into something
you are very interested in it and to get into
something describes the process of
becoming interested in that thing.
Catherine: In Kyle's case, it was computer
games and he got so good that he's
thinking about playing at a professional
level. Doing something as a professional
means that it's more than a hobby or
pastime. It's something someone
pays you to do because you are really
good at it.
Neil: George Yao is a former gaming
champion who is now Director of Media
of Team Secret.
Team Secret are like a regular sports
team. They have a group of players who
play matches and competitions against
other teams. Except these are not regular
sports. These are eSports and they are
big business. Here's George Yao.
George Yao: It's becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry:
just games, production
of games, publishing of games and the
eSports scene. So it's not just one thing
now, it's a whole industry.
Catherine: So George Yao says that online
gaming is becoming a multi-billion-dollar
industry. We usually think of industry as
factories and manufacturing. But it can
also apply to other areas as well that
involve a lot of different elements that
come together to make a business.
Neil: Different elements that he mentions
as part of this industry are creating
games, publishing games and the eSports
scene. The word here scene here refers to
the world of eSports: the events, the
competitions and the players. And many
people want to be part of that scene.
Right, now, let's get the answer
to our quiz question about the size of that
1950s computer game. Was it...
a) one metre tall; b) four metres tall or
c) ten metres tall?
What did you say, Catherine?
Catherine: I went for ten metres, Neil.
Neil: Well, unfortunately it was four metres.
Catherine: Still quite big though - imagine
you couldn't get those in your pocket,
could you?
Neil: I'd rather not! But I would like to
review today's vocabulary.
Catherine: We started off with the word
for a period of two weeks - a fortnight.
But with a different spelling, Fortnite is
also a very popular video game.
Neil: Multi-player video game
competitions which people pay to go and
watch are known as eSports.
Playing against other people is
playing competitively. Do you like to play
multi-player video games, Catherine?
Catherine: I've never really got into them
even though I've tried one or two. And
that was one of our other expressions,
to get into something - to become really
interested in something.
Neil: Same here, I enjoy playing a little
bit but I could never be a professional.
I couldn't get paid to do it as a job.
Catherine: Of course not, you're already a
professional broadcaster, Neil.
An area of business that is made up of
different parts can be described as an
industry. The video game industry is a
multi-billion-dollar business. And we also
talk about, for example, the fashion
industry and the movie industry.
Neil: And finally there was the word
scene. This noun is used to describe
the world of a particular activity.
Catherine: So the eSport scene, for
example, is the world of eSports. The
games, the teams, the competitions,
the audiences. It's all part of the scene
Neil: Well, that's all from the 6 Minute
English scene today. Do join us again, but
if you can't wait, you can find us
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
YouTube, and of course on our
website bbclearningenglish.com.
Thanks for joining us and goodbye.
Catherine: Goodbye!