rAge Postmortem: Share your experience

Pleasure, I kinda forgot to take pics so at the end I ran around getting some pics when it was emptier.
 
I went through yesterday afternoon. There were a few interesting things but I was also a bit underwhelmed by the PS4 and Xbone exhibits, they could have done a lot more to generate hype.

What I'm really sad about is the decline in PC displays - no R100 000 monster rigs flying through benchmarks, no 6 screen setups showing off eye-finity / 3D etc. I guess those are old news these days but it's still pretty cool to see.

I enjoyed playing BF4 on the alienware machines - and the new map. If my PC could handle the game like those machines do I'd definitely be preordering it!

After walking out at the end of the day I wondered if it was worth it - probably not but maybe I'll feel different when the next expo comes round.
 
One thing I can take away from rAge as a good thing, is that I managed to convert a friend to become a gamer. She is now quite interested to get into gaming and even started looking at specials to buy a console. We ended up buying her an Xbox with some games on special at the event.
 
As 1st time rAger, entering The Dome was a bit overwhelming with all the people and stands- so many people:eek:- my 1st thought was "Oh shit, we're here, what now???"

Got to see some cosplay (not as much as I would've liked, since we got there a bit late), and I deeply respect the people who put so much effort in their cosplay, it was something to marvel at.

Saw a bit of The Crew, NFS, CoD: Ghosts, Ryse, FIFA 14. Also managed to get in some game time with Arkham Origins and BF4.

Overall it was a great experience, but I was a bit underwhelmed the amount of stuff on show.

Also, soooooooo many people :eek:.
 
Saint_Dee said:
As 1st time rAger, entering The Dome was a bit overwhelming with all the people and stands- so many people:eek:- my 1st thought was "Oh shit, we're here, what now???"

Got to see some cosplay (not as much as I would've liked, since we got there a bit late), and I deeply respect the people who put so much effort in their cosplay, it was something to marvel at.

Saw a bit of The Crew, NFS, CoD: Ghosts, Ryse, FIFA 14. Also managed to get in some game time with Arkham Origins and BF4.

Overall it was a great experience, but I was a bit underwhelmed the amount of stuff on show.

Also, soooooooo many people :eek:.
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Dude I was highly impressed with the cosplay attendance this year. It was muuuuuuuch bigger than the previous years. :)
 
Rage 2013 what i think about it ...

From the LAN side.

Got to the dome at 7pm Thursday and people had queued from early afternoon, the line was ok but then people started to push in and what was 80 people in front became 200+. They opened a lot earlier from the normal 7-8 am they opened at 5am. That was awesome got into the dome at 6am set up and gamed till 10am when the expo opened for Friday.

The Lan its self The Good side

The Friday morning till the late after was great they really made the network have good internet this year. We had around 5-10 ping 10-15 meg download and a crazy 30-60 meg Upload. Being able to go onto log onto the game you wanted and being able to play with no lag was good. The poster " Try blame it on LAG now noob " was epic. Will try track a pic of the speeds we got at the LAN. The night played a lot good and bad games and some really epic matches was really fun. Network was slowing down at night but had alot of people on it and still being able to play.

Lan started slowing down Saturday night and people started getting board and trying to do a harlem shake (never really worked) and then a rAge snake -.-' being asked when they walk past "join us". The lan started dieing on Sunday and people started going at 9- 10 am.

Bad side !!!

The lan became slow at times and even with the crazy speeds they should have blocked some sites being used. Like Youtube,Omg how many people i saw streaming on youtube... who knows what else was used. Being allowed to go on some sites would be good but block some at least.

The lan did not feel like a lan. I played Unreal 3, COD MW 3, Starcraft 2, Dota 2 (abit). But this has one flaw. COD MW3 and Unreal 3 had awsome time playing that but cod became fail over time with same thing over, not many people played Unreal 3. Starcraft 2 and Dota was epic playing with friends sitting next to you but then played against people not in the dome. I could do this at home as well. Also saw people playing LOL, War3 DOTA, CS GO, Minecraft, Battle field 3. Not many of these are LAN only games.

So it had a feel of playing at a game at a home but being at a LAN. No real hype to join games at the lan. The Lan feels more and more like a leech fest and that's all you can really do some times. Due to nothing else going on or to play at times.
I mean really how board must you be to start a snake and walk around the dome for 1 hour...

Closing about the Nag Lan

One highlight about rAge is the LAN and it would not be what it is with out it. Jamming a game with friends meeting the guys you play with online is awesome that's what its about. You see then online but don't know them in person maybe learn a few tips on how they play and putting a face to the online name. The LAN is getting bigger and cool but the lack of games to play on LAN's is killing it.


The Expo

One Main thing about rAge is the Expo and when having looked at if from the top i could see... not a lot really. This was not the best rAge at all. They moved the main stage away from the lan area +1 but the main expo was kinda fail. The Main stage was to small i think last years was bigger.

The Dome is killing rAge its just to small and i don't even want to know what they spend to even go to get a stand at the dome. On Friday when walking in the expo it was... nothing to run into and throw you money at kind of thing. The Main stage was cool was always something going some news and gaming intros. Some small game play, and getting people to play the games on stage. But no real shows nothing to run to it for to see whats going on. ( Some go for free stuff but that's not what it should be for. ) I went 40 minutes early to catch a good seat for the cosplay but nothing else. Went to sit for the COD Ghost preview.

I could see by some cosplay people that they worked hard on the outfits and they got pushed away due to 70% of the people being there for free stuff. (not saying free stuff is bad but it has to be a side factor i guess )

The stands are getting smaller and fewer each year. Looked like a lot of stuff but was not really. To few Anime stands and merchandise. The PC stand prices are the same as out side ( so why am i here if i can go to you in the week to buy it at the same price... ) For Xbox and PS4 being at the rAge they could have been bigger. 4-6 PS4 ?? wtf it was the same for Xbox stand. Was really fail the amount of people on Saturday was insane full jam packed but nothing going on other wise. People walked in and walked out.

The lack of tech at the expo was fail. No epic rigs not a lot of hardware. Friend wanted to buy a mouse and had a really hard time to see what would be good or bad. Could not see it and feel it before buying it. some things just having a feel makes you want to buy it. Eg Mouse, keyboard, Case, CPU heat sinks, headphones ( look and touch depending on person putting them on would be idk >< ) we bought a keyboard and was not happy with it lol was kinda funny.

In short

Xbox stand : fail could be better having it been released not so long ago
PS4 stand : fail same as Xbox
Cosplay : really good alot of people more and better cosplay every year
PC stands : really fail no big special prices, was more like buy the stuff and move on feel to it.
Tech stand : fail only a few things on display.
Game stand : some really awesome some fail. Not eye catching and o man need to try this feel to it.
Event it self : like a bland plate of food that tastes like cardboard. same thing over no creative aspect and same thing over and over.



The comps being played at rAge

Now this i don't get how the hell they do things but its really crap. I don't play in the DGL don't think ever will. But The news on the games is really bad. Only way to find out is to really big for it (They did have some things on Facebook and twitter) trying to get into the spectator area was close to impossible. Being told had to register week ago to get a pass and then being told had to register online and they would give them out a few times a day to maybe be able to get in... WTF that's stupid, maybe its just me but then i spoke to others and they said the same. We some how got into the DGL area and then missed the SC comp and then found the spectator area and.... WOW... WOW .... what a total fail. Really fail. wish i had a picture but then would piss me off more. Small room few chairs and 2 screens. We got there and no one was in the spectator area. So who had the passes and wtf was going on. We got into the Spec area and then it Lagged. Why because they are running that area with Twitch i don't get it.

We went back to our PC and watched the Dota game from there was better than the spec area. Casters are there why did they stream the games in the spec area when they could hook up the same pc onto the projector, and then speakers ect. Really stupid and no effort put into it. I don't blame the casters for how they cast have to learn somehow at least they tryed. I would never expect the same level as Over seas but dam. We all know how they do it we watch them cast cant people even put in the same effort. Apart of having to find the spectator area it was a joke. And im sure it could have been handled better.



What I think can be done to make rAge a lot better than what it is now.

1st get rid of the Dome. Its too small now and costs a crap load for stands to be there. At night cant even turn off the lights because the domes rules are fail.

More Events at the expo.

Anime corner have a few projectors running AMVs have a chill area for anime fans to watch anime. Have people introduce the craze to people that don't know what it is. This would make the anime community grow, I struggle to know what anime is good and not. Would be awesome to talk to people that know whats what and suggest whats good.

Make the art area bigger was so hard to talk to the guys when people walking over you was really small.

More Tech at the expo. Corex, rectron, Esquire they not even at the expo.
More Brands at the expo. Where is Razor, Logitech, LG, Samsung, Cyborg, HTC, HP (some that came to mind) ect ect

Shows at the expo: Why not have dancers at the expo make a performance before something big. EG have a brand not be at the expo and then boom at 12 am there is a big show about it and then say all these items are on sale now at all stands... stuff to make it sell.

Have a small Rock band show like battle of the bands thing but gaming style. be on stage make some crowd members join on stage have a good time.

Have a small comp thing happen at different times of the day at stands.
what i mean by that is the small stand where SC was being played have a small price game say you vs him and who ever wins at random times of the day wins something. dont make it all the time people will rAge to go play it. The FPS games have same thing happen there. why do this this makes the odd or random gamer who is playing have a chance to win just for having fun.

The Comps at rAge !!

Have a Screen with the DCG games that are being played in the Lan Area. Make the spectating part open have the Final games being played in the expo area. or have it being showed so when the game is done prices can be given out. So that the people can see who played and how they play. If you hid the games and the players from the expo/outside people be exposed to the players. Esports has grown in the world and its big but people think is small in SA but its really not. How many of you here watch SC 2,Dota, LOL games ?

This year was not the best but not the worst but it can do better and not do worse ever year
Its there rAge is a big name all that has to be done is bring it to life. It feels more like its dieing
 
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I must agree that rAge this year was lacklustre. I competed at the DGC and didn't even make an effort to see every stand at the expo, nothing really caught my eye.

rAge is suppose to be an expo of the next best thing in gaming and technology. Where were the PC's with SLI Titans, car radiators and CPUs pomping at 4.8 GHz plus? Where were all the high quality brands exhibiting their brand new tech, internationally MSI and the like have big stands showcasing their gaming level components.

rAge needs to get a much larger venue! Look at other expo's that are hosted at the Pretoria show grounds. Those venues are massive! Get two of those warehouses for rAge and one for the DGC! That would be one epic expo.

In regards to the DGC... As a competitor it was amazing experience! Yet, the arrangements made for spectators were rather pathetic. Even competitors were not allowed to stand behind teams and support the other teams. The crowd getting really involved in the games is what made DGC 2012 so memorable. The shout casting for the major games were a very positive addition to the DGC, but the technical oversights rendered the streams obsolete. The streams were in high definition and thus competitors, lanners and the public with limited bandwidth were unable to spectate the games. The battlefield players resorted to watching the live feed in battlelog!

Lastly, the starting time for the Battlefield games on Friday should have been at 18:30 or so. Starting play @ 20:00 and having to be ready to play at 09:00 the next morning prevented the loser bracket teams from being well rested for a long day of competitive gameplay. 20:00 sounds early, but if a game continues until 23:00 and then stil needed to eat dinner, commute to accommodation etc. resulted in most of us only getting to bed @ 01:30
 
Another big gripe for me is the eSports coverage. The entire process of having to get spectator passes prior to the event is a bit much (you actually had to apply a week in advance ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Basically, if you didn't know about the DGL you wouldn't actually know there were championships taking place at rAge.

I asked one of the participants where the DGL area was (I'd been searching for about 20 minutes and I hadn't known about the application process), and I was told it was happening in the basement area and I would actually need a spectator pass to gain access. I initially thought, "Okay, let me get one of those."

Well, it turned out you couldn't simply get a spec pass at the event unless you were one of the lucky few to win passes at the Telkom stand (which were a fast and limited few:rolleyes:). This means if you went to rAge not knowing much about eSports in general, you probably would've left none the wiser. The was pretty much nothing alluding to eSports on the main floor of the expo, and from what I hear, the spectator area wasn't filled to the brim (the opposite rather). Rather disappointing, as I wouldn't have minded too much if they'd sold spec passes separately, maybe it would've been better if they'd had a screen showcasing the wide array of competitive games taking place (COD, BF3, CS, DotA 2, LoL, and SC2) or something of the sort (I'm not expecting MLG or TI3 level coverage but some coverage wouldn't have gone amiss). This actually makes me question the venue, but that's a rant for another"whistling:

eSports is a huge phenomenon in the world and it's largely on the rise in SA, so it strikes me as strange when an expo centered around gaming and geek culture doesn't showcase eSports or some facet of it, especially when the biggest eSports tournament in the country is taking place at said expo, with hurdles that make it hard for fans to watch and pretty much don't invite new people to the culture.

Seriously, how many of you- those who had no prior knowledge- were aware that the biggest tournament playoffs for various games were taking place just underneath you?
 
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Saint_Dee said:
Another big gripe for me is the eSports coverage. The entire process of having to get spectator passes prior to the event is bit much (you actually had to apply a week in advance). Basically, if you didn't know about the DGL you wouldn't actually know there were championships taking place rAge.

I asked one of the participants where the DGL area was (I'd been searching for about 20 minutes and I hadn't known about the application process), and I was told it was happening in the basement area and I would actually need a spectator pass to gain access. I initially thought, "Okay, let me get one of those."

Well, it turned out you couldn't simply get a spec pass at the event unless you were one of the lucky few to win passes at the Telkom stand (which were a fast and limited few:rolleyes:). This means if you went to rAge not knowing much about eSports in general, you probably would've left none the wiser. The was pretty much nothing alluding to eSports on the main floor of the expo, and from what I hear, the spectator area wasn't filled to the brim (the opposite rather). Rather disappointing, as I wouldn't have minded too much if they'd sold spec passes separately, maybe it would've been better if they'd had a screen showcasing the wide array of competitive games taking place (COD, BF3, CS, DotA 2, LoL, and SC2) or something of the sort (I'm not expecting MLG or TI3 level coverage but some coverage wouldn't have gone amiss). This actually makes me question the venue, but that's a rant for another"whistling:

eSports is a huge phenomenon in the world and it's largely on the rise in SA, so it strikes me as strange when an expo centered around gaming and geek culture doesn't showcase eSports or some facet of it, especially when the biggest eSports tournament in the country in taking place at said expo, with hurdles that make it hard for fans to watch and pretty much don't invite new people to the culture.

Seriously, how many of you- those who had no prior knowledge- were aware that the biggest tournament playoffs for various games were taking place just underneath you?
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I didn't know that there was a basement in the Dome. I know something about a competition being held there. Don't understand any of it, though.
 
Yea man

It was so lame you had to win to watch a game ??? What wizardry is this, Rather had it at the main expo around some place on the side. Have around some people spec the games and show it in the expo. Have some big clan names be show cased. If someone knows nothing about gaming they would see this and be like wow we have Clans/teams playing in a comp. get them Known i dont even think some CEOs know that this is going on and maybe grow the sport. I dont even want to talk about Colin Webster who was at rAge most likely wanting to take over the LAN/Comp.

Its so fail on how the spectator thing was done and it could have done alot better. With the technical issues, well shit can happen and this is how we learn but listen to the community take ideas. The start can be hard but it has to get better from here so that the gaming community can grow and more comps can be held in SA so to promote the gaming growth in South Africa
 
You make a very good point Dee, I knew of the DGL being held at rAge, as its always done, but I didn't even know of the spectators area, let alone that you had to register for it. :wtf:
 
Went on Sat. Was pretty boring.

Tried to get into the Watchdogs demo. As it was our group's turn to enter the room the guys manning the door let some people push in and my friend and I just didn't make it. They then told us that because of the volume of people there will be another session in 15 to 20 minutes - that was not the case. When the session ended they told us to wait another 45 minutes because the developer had to do an interview. We were getting a bit ticked off because we've been waiting for almost an hour already.

My friend made a bit of a scene (more voicing his frustration than anything else). Then one of the guys manning the door came and said that it is a "privilege" to see the demo and should you get the opportunity you should count yourself lucky. At this stage even I wanted to smack the kid. We left after that :(


The cosplay was pretty cool, some people put some real effort into it.

PS4 and XBox one stands were disappointing (especially PS4). I suppose it was because the flagship games aren't out yet to demo.

Other than that is was hot, over crowded and the felt like the "I've seen this all before" :/
 
z1oc said:
Yea man

It was so lame you had to win to watch a game ??? What wizardry is this, Rather had it at the main expo around some place on the side. Have around some people spec the games and show it in the expo. Have some big clan names be show cased. If someone knows nothing about gaming they would see this and be like wow we have Clans/teams playing in a comp. get them Known i dont even think some CEOs know that this is going on and maybe grow the sport. I dont even want to talk about Colin Webster who was at rAge most likely wanting to take over the LAN/Comp.

Its so fail on how the spectator thing was done and it could have done alot better. With the technical issues, well shit can happen and this is how we learn but listen to the community take ideas. The start can be hard but it has to get better from here so that the gaming community can grow and more comps can be held in SA so to promote the gaming growth in South Africa
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TheAvenged87 said:
I didn't know that there was a basement in the Dome. I know something about a competition being held there. Don't understand any of it, though.
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DieGrootH@mmer said:
You make a very good point Dee, I knew of the DGL being held at rAge, as its always done, but I didn't even know of the spectators area, let alone that you had to register for it. :wtf:
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The DGL Spec area, "packed to the brim":rolleyes:

dgl-spectators-rage-600x450.jpg
 
yup that's packed bro no seats available

man i hate being negative but rAge can be a lot better than what it was
 
I think if the spectator aspect must wake up in RSA with it growing will add to more comps and then more events more events more fun more fun more friends and places for nerds to go on weekends :D
 
Had no idea about any matches being played. I assumed they would be at the main stage? That just makes more sense. I heard some hype early on about esprts but had no idea about any DGL.

It's rAge! Make those seats free and available for anyone
 
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