JHBGamers first 2012 meet-up after action report

JHBGamers is an initiative forged to unite the Gauteng gaming community, the gaming media and the publishers.

On 18 January, the fledgling movement had its first meeting of 2012 – and it was a roaring success.

Sponsored by EA South Africa, everything was taken care of. Snacks and drinks, gaming, and loads of prizes waited for the attendees.

Four consoles were set up by Jimmy and Bradley from Toll, featuring Need For Speed: The Run and FIFA 12.

I am sad to report a 0:3 loss in FIFA 12 for your faithful MyGaming reporter against Graeme Selvan from MSN Gaming – the only defence I have is never having played FIFA before. However, Graeme was later beaten 2:0 by Jarred Milner from G3arnet – there’s a bit of consolation in everything.

Wayne Rooney was sorely disappointed to not have won a copy of Mass Effect 2.

The highlight of the evening was the visit of Brad Pidgeon, the EA Community Manager for Asia, Pacific and Southern Africa. He came all the way from Sydney to attend the JHBGamers meeting, as well as a similar one in Cape Town.

Pidgeon made a short speech during which he emphasized his excitement at reaching out to the SA community, and gathering direct feedback, suggestions and criticism. He encouraged everyone to get in touch via Twitter and Facebook, then mingled with the crowd and chatted to everyone who had something to say.

Credit must go to Bianca McFayden from EA South Africa for assisting with the organization of the event and providing a truckload of prizes and giveaways. Like Brad, she was open to anyone who approached her for a chat.

Alexia Scotten of Apex Interactive and Brad Pidgeon, EA Community Manager

El33tonline and Afrihost were also present and threw a few prizes at the gamers. A number of people left the event with new T-Shirts, games and all kinds of other trinkets.

Later in the evening, a Need For Speed competition took place, looking for the best time on the Desert Run challenge. The winner, Miles Abrahams, posted a time of 2:35 and went home with an extremely limited NFS cap, a Sims pet collar and a PS3 game of his choice. Congratulations!

According to Jarrod Lane, the man behind JHBGamers, the event was a huge success. “The attendance was very high with 50+ people. We hope to host more events that have local gaming companies wanting to get involved with the community. The goal of JHBGamers is to build a strong bond between gamers, media and publishers. Last night’s success shows that we are heading in the right direction,” said Lane.

Jarrod Lane: "So I just landed my jet, knifed the tank driver, then captured the point while killing 10 guys with my Magnum. True story."

Efforts similar to JHBGamers are currently underway in Cape Town and Durban, and the idea is to create partnerships and collaboration between the communities. Having publishers in the boat can only be a good thing, as the direct contact between gamers and publisher creates synergy effects which are positive for both sides.

Judging by last night’s attendance and feedback, there is great demand for this kind of event, and we hope to see another one of this calibre very soon.