Alienware and Riot Games Announce 'League of Legends' Partnership
*By Christian Smith*
The Consumer Electronics Show isn't just a massive display case for the latest in consumer tech ー it's also the site of new partnerships.
This year, CES marked, among other milestones in tech, a new partnership between gaming hardware maker Alienware and "League of Legends" developer Riot Games, a union that was a year in the making, according to the general manager at Dell's gaming arm, Alienware.
"It actually started here a year ago," Frank Azor told Cheddar at the Las Vegas conference on Wednesday. "That's where we first met."
The Dell-owned gaming company will become the esports league's official competition PC and display partner.
Alienware will also provide full hardware support for "League of Legends"' two premier leagues ー the LCS and the LEC ー for their spring and summer seasons.
Gaming has become big business for Dell and Alienware, with annual revenue topping $3 billion.
Alienware also launched a new gaming laptop at CES ー the Area-51m ー which Azor said packs serious punch for a notebook.
"It's basically a desktop computer like our Alienware Aurora, but in a notebook form," Azor said. "We threw everything in the kitchen sink at this thing."
The Area-51m allows users to upgrade the 17-inch laptop's hard drive and graphics package, so they can keep up with the latest advancements in video game technology.
The power comes with a price: $2,549, to be exact.
The Area-51m will go on sale Jan. 29.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/dells-alienware-launches-new-gaming-laptop-with-the-power-of-a-desktop).
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
