My last big gaming event was years ago. Don’t ask how many. Attending the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2013 Summer Assembly was a good way to get back into the habit. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned my excitement in meeting Team Asterisk, particularly “Furryfishâ€Â Tammy Tang. With my overwhelming desire and failure to attend The International 3, I really looked forward to PGF 2013. I really thought I’d handle meeting Team Asterisk and Team Orange with manageable fangirly feelings.
I was wrong.
As soon as I entered the venue, Tammy walked past me and I mindlessly utter-squealed her name, which she heard. Thankfully, I had enough wits to decently talk to her and introduce myself. Soon after, Mushi passed by and aside from realizing that he was taller than what I had expected, I also figured that I was having more fangirly feelings than I thought I would have. I confirmed this as soon as I realized I wasn’t able to take any pictures because I was too flustered. Thankfully, we were able to catch up with Mushi and take pictures with him.
We designed our DOTA 2 shirts ourselves. The DOTA 2 logo is formed using the names of our favorite players. The “most favorite” ones get the largest fonts. Anyway, after a short case of hyperventilation (That was Mushi! OMG that was really him! OMG OMG OMG) Â and lunch, we came back to find that the match between Neolution.int and Dreamz was about to begin.
Listening to the commentators was fun. Although I admit that I should give them more credit for being very entertaining, I also hope they could improve on their play-by-play casting and insights. I look forward to seeing more Pinoy casters. I now want to be one. Another thing I noticed about the games on the main stage was that the players had no way to block the noise. They could perfectly hear the casters including their jokes, insights as well as game analysis.  At one point even, a Sunstrike was dodged because it was heard clearly from the speakers. I hope future events can find a way to block these sounds by using sound-proof headsets or similar methods. It will not only help the players, but also the casters since they don’t have to worry much about the players hearing what they say.
There were also an ASUS and NVIDIA booth, which showcased these amazing units that I have not seen before.
I knew I should have asked, but I got distracted when I was handed a flyer and told that I could play Street Fighter vs. Tekken if I handed said flyer to a guy somewhere. I ended up not being able to play because I was once again distracted by DOTA 2-related things.
I was distracted by the fact that PMS Asterisk was having a match against Team Orange.
Also took a picture with Neolution.int!!
We found Mushi again!
I like how gaming events allow me to meet online friends. Jizza is a fellow DOTA 2 fan girl who spazzes out with me on Twitter regarding DOTA 2-related things. Our stalking powers must combine one day. It will be epic. I hope to meet more Filipina fan girls in the future!
Finally took a picture with the rest of Team Asterisk! I was absolutely too excited about everything that I just kept on smiling at everyone. I sincerely hope I did not end up scaring people.
Thankfully, I had enough wits to ask them to sign this picture for us. Yay! They were very, very friendly. We love them more now. I wish I could’ve bought a PMS Asterisk Tee. Ah, regrets!
We spent some time lurking behind Team Orange.
We really wanted a picture with the rest of Team Orange, but we couldn’t find the appropriate time to ask them. Whenever we tried, either one of them was playing a game or they were incomplete. And so we give up for the moment and look around.
Somewhere in between, we got to try out Chaos Online. They call it “the Korean DotAâ€. It pretty much is based around DotA, but it was still in the Alpha phase and quite raw for me to say anything. Does that explain me getting a lot of kills and not dying once even against five enemy heroes? Not sure.
We also got to watch Team Asterisk vs. Gangster. It was really fun for me to watch an all-girl team play competitively.
We finally managed to get a solo picture each with Tammy Tang! I should come up with a better pose than just a “thumb up†sign. Really.
For any of you who might be wondering why we didn’t ask for a solo picture earlier when we asked for a picture with the team, I will now admit that I was too excited and overwhelmed that I forgot.
We stopped by the Neolution E-Sports booth where my horrible decision making has caused me to feel so much regret at the moment. Okay, I may be exaggerating, but I am still full of regret nonetheless. I’ll tell you why in a bit.
Here we have the Neolution Keyboards. The one on the left is the Neolution Titan (P2,050.00) while the one on the right is the Neolution T-Rex (P760.00). You may notice that that the Neolution Titan has no Numpad on the right. Why would players prefer this? Watching “iceiceice†Daryl Koh’s streams taught me why. According to iceiceice, he prefers the shorter distance between his left hand (keyboard) and his right hand (mouse) when using a keyboard without a Numpad. It is much comfortable and allows for “faster reaction time†(at least for him). I haven’t tried using a keyboard without a Numpad since mine is used for both work and gaming. Also, I have hotkeys assigned to my Numpad keys.
The Neolution T-Rex, on the other hand is about the size of your regular keyboard, except it feels really durable and seemingly “springs back with life†(I had to say it that way) when you press on the keys. The WASD and arrow keys are particularly designed to be heavy-duty to withstand hours of FPS gaming. It may also be used in other games using WASD or arrow keys such as MMORPG’s like Continent of the Ninth or Dragon Nest.
Gaming mice! I have yet to find my choice of gaming mouse, but these were awesome. I will forever regret that I did not buy any of them.
Neolution’s gaming mice had a price range of P500.00 to P1,200.00. The Neolution SuperSonic X headset, on the other hand, costs P1,800.00. Pretty affordable compared to other brands if you ask me. I got myself a brochure and signed up for their e-mail list just in case. I asked the person in charge if they had branches or stores that sold their gear, but he said there were none in the Philippines at the moment. At that point, I SHOULD HAVE realized that I SHOULD HAVE bought at least a keyboard or a mouse on the spot because I don’t have to pay for shipping charges and whatnot anymore! But, no, I didn’t! Why? I have no idea!
See? Buying any of their gear gives me a chance to win a trip to The International 3 in Seattle! Was I so dead tired at that point that I didn’t realize that I SHOULD HAVE bought something! And why didn’t I buy gear? Because the ATM was on the other side of the mall and there was this long line of people in front of it and it was late and we had no time and… and… and… I should’ve just checked out the booth earlier! *insert dramatic scream of “noooooo!†while kneeling on a cliff against angry waves and looking at the heavens here*  (Yes, I feel that bad.)
In the end, I did buy something, but not gaming gear.
Can you guess what it is? It’s in the next picture.
In case you didn’t get it, I bought a shirt. Yes, I bought an Orange eSports shirt. But it’s not just any shirt!
This cost me P500.00, but it was so worth it. The moment I saw it, I forgot the world, picked it up and showed it to my companions. It’s Mushi’s jersey! It’s Mushi’s jersey!
“This is what Na’Vi should’ve done.†Says Jizza. If Na’Vi sold merchandise with player names, I would not think twice to get a KuroKy jersey. Why won’t you make it happen, Na’Vi!? Why!?
At that time, I didn’t have enough money on me to buy a shirt so I had to run to the ATM to get some. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, there was a long waiting line so my cousin agreed to loan me some cash. When we got back, the jerseys were sold out much to my dismay. I really, really wanted the jersey and since I won’t be able to come back tomorrow, the man  told me to wait and he will see if they could get some from their stocks for tomorrow. He returned with another man who then asked me what size I wanted. I said “Medium†because it was the smallest one available at the time.
“Okay. Wait for me here. I will get some shirts and be back in around 15 minutes.†He said. I agreed. I really thought it was awesome of them to get some stocks. When he left, the man whom I was speaking to earlier told me:
That is the man who owns Orange eSports.
Wait… Holy loard! What!? I cannot begin to explain my feelings upon meeting “the man who owns Orange eSports” and not being able to say anything fruitful when he got back except, “Thank you for bringing these jerseys to the Philippines! Thank you for bringing Orange to the Philippines! Thank you for bringing Mushi to the Philippines!† I really should prepare myself mentally and emotionally next time.
In the end, we weren’t able to take a picture with the rest of Neolution Orange. We did manage to get a couple of signatures, though!
I sincerely wish I could’ve gone both days. I wanted to go back the next day because I wanted to buy gaming gear. I wanted to take a picture with Neolution Orange and get their signatures, too. I wanted to ask about those awesome computer units with cooling systems and stuff. But I couldn’t anymore.
So what is the moral lesson here?
- Invest on and bring a better camera. AND USE IT.
- Prepare self mentally, physically and emotionally and have a talk with inner fangirl self to not get distracted during important moments.
- SEIZE THE MOMENT. EVERY MOMENT.
Oh, and I also reealized that if this had been TI3 and I came with this level of preparedness, I would’ve just died of a seizure on the spot.
1 Comment
When I got to the hotel on day 1 I saw these guys eating breakfast. I checked in and immediately went back down to have a photo with them (they were done eating of course :P). http://i.imgur.com/gYrxw0m.jpg