Pro-gaming or e-Sports has certainly taken on a different form from its small net-cafรยฉ roots from just a few years ago, we now have entire events centred on this booming culture. We had the chance to be part of the recently concluded MSI Overdrive gaming event, brought to us by world-renowned PC components and laptop manufacturer MSI.
This 3-day event marks one of the most anticipated gaming event of the year featuring tournaments for Diablo III, Battlefield 3, League of Legends, Starcraft II and DotA starring the top brass of the local gaming scene. Further event highlights include exhibition matches against pro-gaming players from Team Fnatic in Starcraft II and League of Legends and an all-star DotA match pitting top-ranked Philippine players against each other in an unprecedented gaming spectacle.
Day 1 รขโฌโ The Enthusiasts
[singlepic id=6862 w=580 h=350 float=center]The 3-day festivity was kicked off with an event targeted for overclockers, PC enthusiasts and rig modders. On-site are 26 rigs ranging from simple water-cooled Cosmos IIs to scratch-built custom cases from the local case moddercommunity.
To further accommodate the enthusiasts scene, the event had aa rig-modding and overclocking seminar. Mr. Levi Sinon conducted the former with the latter presented by Mr. Gil Navarro. Mr. Navarro proceeded to explain MSI motherboardsรขโฌ™ features are a good choice for newbie overclockers and experienced alike. A small demo of MSIรขโฌ™s overclocking technologies and applications was held with help from the people in attendance. Yours truly was a part of the MSI Control Center overclocking demo peaking at a stable 4.9Ghz on an i7-3770K (yeah, those hot Ivy Bridges) but then got DQd after a system crash trying to break 5.1Ghz at 1.4v on just pure multiplier.
Further adding weight to this seminar, this event will be key to those in attendance registered to participate in a write-up contest, detailing their experiences about the keynotes given on the said day. The lucky participant will then move on to win an all-expense paid trip to Taiwan for the MSI Masters Overclocking Arena. We wish all the participants the best of luck!
Last up was the Battlefield 3 Beat-it tourney, which unfortunately only had two entrant teams which expectedly ended in an immediate finals match. I and a couple others tried to insert ourselves in the contest but the registration was already closed. ASA Allianceรขโฌ™s SWAG and Angas put on a good show but Angas came out in glorious victory which marked the end of the dayรขโฌ™s events.
Day 2 รขโฌโ All-Star Gaming
[singlepic id=7102 w=580 h=350 float=center]In what has to be the busiest day of the event, Day 2 had the most activities happening at the same time. With a massive turn-out waiting in excitement for the highly-anticipated showdown between Team Turbo Drive and Team OC Genie, the all-star match that pits top voted DotA players in the country against each other in a spectacle yet to be seen. Prior to this though were other major activities such as K-pop dance battle, which was just awfully disappointing, and a cosplay competition, hosted by Boy Back-up EriNeeman and Alodia who was weirdly entertained by me taking Vincentรขโฌ™s Diablo III headset which in true Back2Gaming swagger led Team CyberPress in schooling their opponent in the dayรขโฌ™s Diablo III media tourney. In more Diablo III-related items, Alodia and her ever-so-adorable imouto, Ashley participated in the Diablo III tournament which eventually saw Team Usual Suspects downing Belial in record time.
[singlepic id=7084 w=580 h=350 float=center]Ramping up the excitement was the Team FnaticShowdown featuring Fnatic.Rain and Fnatic.Byul going up against the Philippinesรขโฌ™ Ender and Jabito in successive 1v1 matches in Starcraft II. The highlight here is Rain vs. Ender which havea bit of history against each other. Ender sought to get back at Rain for his previous defeat at the hand of the South Korean player. In a great feat of skills, both players demonstrated their outstanding skills but superb micro sealed the deal and gave Rain the win. Following this match was Byul vs. Jabito, which also saw the Fnatic gamer from South Korea taking the win from the Philippine player. This was then followed up by another all-star game with League of Legends with two teams going at it led by Germanyรขโฌ™s Lamia and Pheilox, both from team Fnatic.
[singlepic id=7116 w=580 h=350 float=center]Finally, the main event: the All-Star DotA match between Team Turbo Drive and OC Genie comprised of hot names from the local DotA gaming scene. In what seems to be the longest match of the day (ending well beyond SMรขโฌ™s 10PM closing time), Team Julz took the win with Santino named as MVP of this spectacular match.
Day 3 รขโฌโ Finals and Awarding
[singlepic id=7119 w=580 h=350 float=none]This is where everything comes down for all the team that came and join this tournament. Crossfire, Diablo III, League of Legends, Starcraft II and DotA champions were crowned on this day with a massive combined total of PHรขโยฑ200,000 (USD4,700) in cash prizes to be awarded to the champions of this day. We will try and post an updated bracket as well as match-ups as soon as we can get them as well as the final lot of winners.
FINAL THOUGHTS
[singlepic id=7112 w=580 h=350 float=center]Weรขโฌ™d like to congratulate MSI for pulling off such a wonderful event. Pulling in crowds from different niches like the otaku, enthusiast and gamer scene is no easy feat. You even managed to get me to take a day off from work since I encompass all that was mentioned. Personal notes aside, it is evident from the turn-out that MSI Overdrive 2012 was a massive success. Also up for some kudos are the guys of NetEssentials for organizing the event. We wish to see more gaming event in the future of this scale, hopefully with us in tow. *hint hint*
We didnรขโฌ™t manage to catch the awarding ceremony but weรขโฌ™d like to congratulate all the players that participated in this tournament and those whoรขโฌ™ve won.
There are far more gaming communities out there seeking spotlight with players that need more exposure to send them to events like EVO or WCG, we hope that the people that can make this happen take notice of this unsigned hypes of the highly diverse gaming world. Events like MSI Overdrive will be a good stepping stone for platforms like fighting, racing and other competitive games to be put on the spotlight so more and more people will appreciate gaming and discard the age-old รขโฌลgames are for kidsรขโฌย notion, and finally make the phrase รขโฌลwhere video games matterรขโฌย take on a whole new dimension.
[button color=”red” link=”http://www.back2gaming.com/screenshot/msi-overdrive-2012-day-1-photos”]Day 1 Pictures[/button]รย [button color=”blue” link=”http://www.back2gaming.com/screenshot/msi-overdrive-2012-pictures”]Day 2 and 3 Pictures[/button]