Gamefest 3 - Evolution: An Uninteresting Report On An Exciting Event

After a year of planning, failing, depending on others, then failing, delaying, postponing, coordinating and preparing, Gamefest 3 has finally come to a conclusive end. It felt really good working with others and as a team to bring the event into a full swing.

There were a number of sub-events that made up Gamefest 3. It was especially great to see so many people flocking over to join a world-stage Rubiks Cube event, or the cool gadgets that were on exhibition such as the Alienware gaming laptops and Windows Phone 7 hands-on. The Cyber Open 2011 Rubiks Cube event attracted so many contestants that even cubers from Netherlands and Philippines came over to participate. It is amazing how people could solve the puzzle blindfolded or with one hand. The Self-Interest Games division also brought in a dice stacking group over to display their skills and teach some of them to the visitors.

Everyone had fun with the Xbox 360 Kinect and the consoles that were around for free play, Kinect Adventures and the Fighters Uncaged really appealed to the crowd. I personally liked how accurate the camera captures your gestures and mimic them completely and flawlessly, representing your actions as a player character. Fighters Uncaged really had its way with the crowd as it makes you feel really engaged in the fight and it allowed you to show off a few self-taught chops. Other console games such as Rock Band and Super Street Fighter 4 captivated a huge crowd of guitarist wannabes and pretend street fighters, and that's a good thing.

On the side was the Board and Card Games section where people could learn new non-electronic games and mingle around at the round tables. One very exciting card game is the Monopoly Deal, it's nothing like the original Monopoly bored game. I meant "board", sorry. There were a selection of games such as Cluedo, World of Warcraft Battlegrounds, Vanguard and Sabotage, just to name a few. These games are a great deal of fun to learn and also master!

Finally there's also the LAN party and DotA tournament which took place during the Gamefest event, with the tournament only happening on the second day. The LAN party was successful during the first day but failed to see good reception during the second due to the tournament's exceptional response.

On the first day, people gathered around the LAN party area and arrived with their own machines to play with everyone else. Games such as Pudge Wars, Warlock, DotA, Counter-Strike, Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed were just some of the games played during the LAN party. The DotA tournament that happened on the 2nd day of the event started off slow and only picked up speed when the network problems experienced by the computers were fixed. However, the schedule was too tight to meet, so the finals, along with the match for 3rd place, had to be delayed until after the closing ceremony. It ended well with no big issues.

Generally, the event went pretty well with support and sponsorship from several vendors and corporate figures such as Gardenia, Jayacom, Ban Leong, Corsair and Gigabyte. Codemasters came with the intention to push the gaming industry forward among Malaysian students and game content developers. They also promoted their game "Dirt 3" and "Operation Flashpoint: Red River" on a game racing seat and Alienware machines. On the second day, Codemasters' Ivan Smith gave an inspiring and humorous talk on career prospects in the gaming world.

What else... Lalalalala sleep