Gitex: Day 01 Coverage

Turtle Entertainment’s Electronic Sports League, a pro gaming tournament held at this year’s Gitex Expo, had a launch of sorts today with a round of exhibition matches in Counter-strike 1.6, in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying rounds.

Visitors to the Expo took turns demonstrating their frag skills (or lack thereof) on a stage set up to prepare for what the organizers expect to be a decent turnout of gaming aficionados over the next few days. The League is expected to feature qualification rounds, the regional debut of world-class CS teams, and a $50,000 top prize.

Commentators added a backdrop of colorful observations and smack talk. The joust almost resembled a football match, until the surrealism of pitting two guys called Xeqtr and Tosspot against each other, and a commentator yelling that “Respawn took down Retard,” begins to sink in.

A large screen behind the players depicted the action in the Etisalat-sponsored theatre, bouncing rather erratically from one player to the next. A camera crew filmed the intense, enraptured faces of the actual skirmishers, but that took up less screen time in favor of the carnage their avatars engaged in. The isolated side-shots took a backseat to in-game headshots.

CS 1.6 is still holding its own, and de_Dust didn’t look half bad on the big screen. Still, imagine instead the hilarity of showing off a bout of Heavy-beating in Team Fortress 2 in front of a packed audience to realize that the only thing lacking is a bit of charm. But maybe that’s the point of professional gaming.

Update #1:

The Electronic Sports League and its subsidiary tournament, Intel Extreme Masters, are German company Turtle Entertainment’s first foray into eSports in the region, as they set up a large ground operation at this year’s GITEX exhibit.

The League is scheduled to kick off on Monday with a qualifier round, before top Counter-strike teams from around the world, including Sweden and the US, take to the stage to compete for top honors – a US$50,000 grand prize.

Turtle’s presence in GITEX is only one in a series of trade fair appearances that the company hopes will add a bit of flair to electronics shows – by making sure they’re not entirely about electronics, says Philipp Saedler, Turtle Entertainment’s community manager. “We’re giving it a new aspect,” he adds.

Saedler feels the League won’t have much trouble attracting crowds, pointing out that today’s Middle Eastern youth “grew up with new technologies and new things,” and so would be open to watching professional gaming. He explains this as he pulls up photos from a jam-packed League event in Montreal on his laptop.

There’s another reason. Saedler says Dubai shows up on German TV almost every other day. “Dubai is the place to be,” he says, seeming mildly aware of the cliché.

Update #2:

Publisher Activision is promoting Guitar Hero: World Tour, its latest installment in the Guitar Hero franchise, at a booth run by Red Entertainment at this year’s GITEX exhibit.

The stand was set up to prepare for a competition that will run throughout the event, sponsored by Charged magazine, where players competing within bands fight for the top score, making them eligible to enter a draw for an Xbox 360 console.

If you reacted to this with cognitive dissonance stemming from the fact that someone good enough to master Guitar Hero: World Tour on the Xbox 360 probably already owns one, you aren’t alone.

Battling low turnout on the early afternoon of a weekday, some of the stand’s staff took turns playing the instruments of this popular rhythm game, sealing the deal on the “Most Fun Job on the Floor” award. Visitors and staff working at the show sneaked in a few rounds of play themselves.

Activision clearly sees the potential for the franchise in this liberal and conservative amalgamation of a state, having set up a booth in last month’s GAMES 2008 convention that saw everyone from a young lady in a veil shyly playing the guitar to a pudgy teenager rocking out to Aerosmith tracks. A room set up for World Tour at GAMES 2008 drew a respectable crowd.

Update #3:

In between bouts of being tricked into game deals and stuffing offer leaflets into an increasingly ballooning bag, the MEGamers.com booth at GITEX offered a rare quantum of solace in the early afternoon.

It turns out that sharing the floor space with Electronic Sporting League arenas, which was not quite under way yet, was rather pleasant.

Visitors looking for a measure of respite from the noise and glare of the rest of the show floor could sit back and enjoy a round of guiltless, cartoon violence with Facebreaker, a boxing game that this journalist was utterly destroyed in. Those with a milder taste for carnage (or who didn’t feel like waiting) took up the mantle of the soccer game.

The stand (which was more like a mini-lounge, really) transformed into a hive of activity as the winners at the MEGamers.com draws were announced every hour. As the lottery champions pored over their loot, a female gamer who was working at the exhibit with Acer picked out FIFA 09. I asked her if she was a gamer. She said yes, adding that her sibling’s obsession became hers. “My elder brother plays all the time,” said Rebecca.

She also said she was into adventure games like Myst and Dreamfall, and as she hurried off to her stand I turned around and saw another veiled gamer get ready for a Facebreaker duel.

Everyone’s gaming. Get with the times.