The Gamer’s Litter Box

The World GameMaster Tournament 2008 kicks off! Mini event report and pictures after the jump!

Earlier in the afternoon I heard that some roads would be closed off due to a race, so I left early for the event at Basil Restaurant at Jalan Damai. I initially got a bit lost since I thought I could simply turn into Jalan Damai from Jalan Tun Razak according to the map attached to the press release but instead I went circles around Ampang area. Eventually, I managed to find my way there.

The official Asus WGT 2008 Gaming PC

Once I reached there, I realized that I forgot to wear red as stipulated in the invite, so I went back to my car and wore the red T-shirt that I so happened to have in my car backseat. When I entered the restaurant, there was already a good sizable crowd in the restaurant. Several mini carnival-like games were already set up in the restaurant, including a mini LAN setup for players to play Counter-Strike and Call of Duty 4.

Team LZ:V2 already comfortably settled into their seats for a friendly bout of CS

After the emcee asked us all to take our seats, the VIPs were invited to the front to give their speech. First to go up was Ethan Hung of Asus APAC, followed by Sunny Ooi from Intel Malaysia, and finally K.T. Ng of Microsoft Malaysia. The emcee later invited the VIPs to officially ‘kick off’ WGT 2008 by kicking soccer balls into the mini goal post set up in the garden next to the restaurant.

From left to right: K.T. Ng, Ethan Hung, and Sunny Ooi

After the launch, we got a little product tour of the various Asus products displayed around the restaurant.

The buffet dinner was open after that. But some gamer clans like LZ:V2 went straight to the LAN island to play some CS since it was still fairly early in the evening. Others tried their hand at the various game challenges around the restaurant.

Chapree trying his luck at the Speed Puzzle task…which was kinda tough

“Fore!”

During this time, the emcee also announced the start of the treasure hunt, where scattered around the restaurant were various envelopes that contained the names of the prizes. I immediately spotted one in a potted plant and opened it. Mine said “Mystery Prize” so I was fairly excited, especially since some gamers had found envelopes that said they won 22″ LCD monitors and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Forza won a 22″ LCD monitor, the lucky bugger

As the emcee announced the winners and prizes such as watches, Vista Ultimate, and leather-skinned mouse, me and the other people who found the Mystery Prize envelopes were feeling a little excited since we were the second-last prize to be announced before the LCD monitors. Imagine our disappointment when they pulled out a basket of popcorn bags, pineapples, and papayas. I got the bag of popcorn, which still had the price tag on it (RM1.99 - Cold Storage!).

Haiz…I don’t know what the organizers were thinking - you raised our hopes so much by leaving it as the second-last prize to be announced, and then revealed a bunch of joke prizes. Please lah don’t do this again - I thought it was a rather mean prank, especially for us who had high expectations after the leather mouse and Vista Ultimate prizes were given away. Anyway, after the prizes were given out, I hung around a little longer to chat to the other media and gamers over a beer. Then I went home. In sum, it was a pretty nice kickoff event, but the joke treasure hunt prize that I got at the end left a rather sour taste in my mouth.

 

Tags: asus, wgt 2008, world gamemaster tournament 2008