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Friends and More at the Granado Espada PH Black Party
[There will be pictures in this post - lots and lots of pictures! I'll be resizing them so as not to completely kill your browsers dead, but it's well worth it to wait while all the pictures are loading since they're pretty much integral to the story. In fact, as I often do for these after-action reports, the pictures and the captions ARE the story. Hope you can stick around to wait for them, since they're quite worth it.]
In order to celebrate its first year since commercial launch in the Philippines, IP e-Games piggybacked onto a Globe Telecoms event, hosting a Gaming Arena area on the first floor of the SMX Convention Center, the pet exhibit center of the SM Mall of Asia. The Gaming Arena boasted about a hundred or so PCs, and was intended to host the games being promoted that day: CABAL Online, Top Speed, Dance Battle Audition, and of course Granado Espada.
The Granado Espada banner at the Gaming Arena.
PCs! Lots of PCs!
Unfortunately all those PCs wound up becoming so much dead things. How ironic that a telecoms promotion that was supposed to extol added connectivity via both computers and mobile phones wound up providing an extremely inadequate Internet connection to this whole lot of computers. The lack of a reliable Internet connection had several repercussions for the event; the biggest casualty was this:
The Granado Espada PvP go-round, and any other tournaments that the other games might have wanted to put on, was unceremoniously bricked because there was no actual connection. Too bad since the GE tourney was supposed to take place on the Test Servers! I can only hope the PvP teams found the rest of the day at least as eventful as the tourney would have been. At least everyone who registered for the tournament was given a prize ^^
There was no PvP, but there was a lot of People Meeting People, in many cases for the first time, and in a few cases after a long time! Here's one of the surprise participants at the rest of the event: Sigrid!
[With thanks to Alex Crosse who took this pretty cool candid shot of me and Sigrid talking.]
The Black Party kicked off in earnest with the Trivia Contest, hosted by Grantoza and CM Aethrin.
[The telecom company also did not provide microphones, so we had to make do with that megaphone - and that prompted several rounds of jokes about being right back in Granado Espada, what with the game having Megaphone items to talk to an entire map at once, and the Microphone item to talk to the entire server.]
Part of the crowd that hung around the stage to join the Trivia Contest. Is it any wonder they were crowded so thickly when the prizes included video cards and such?
Lucky me to win one of the major prizes at this Trivia Contest; details here.
After a break, during which this cake was revealed and eaten with much relish, Aethrin got back on stage [I hope he enjoyed his chunk of the cake!] to hand out certificates of appreciation to the GE PH bloggers for, once again, going above and beyond the call of duty to keep the community informed and up to date with the game's latest developments.
As the certificate itself says:
For [their] stupendous efforts in chronicling events, news and features pertinent to the Granado Espada community.
The first group of bloggers honored: from left to right, Fiksdotter, Blacksword, Christus, CM Aethrin, Sigrid, and Southernsky.
The second group of bloggers honored: standing, from left to right, Churvanesska, Welling, CM Aethrin, Mena, and Artaxerxes. Kneeling, well, that's me [NineMoons].
Other bloggers were called but were not around, including Ogasawara and Craeon. [Craeon, that's the second certificate you've missed....]
The fan art competition drew a few contestants, and the prizes were won by StreyCat and Serpentes [a/k/a Hahaziah].
As a parting shot at the close of the Black Party, CM Aethrin suddenly yelled, "Okay, everyone who showed up in black, line up in front of the stage!" One scrum later, people walked away carrying GE mousepads [with Pirate Adelina on them] and other random real-life goodies. Whiteships a/k/a the lovely Feng Ling cosplayer snagged a limited-edition shirt, to her joy, after she'd been unable to buy anything in her size. I also got a shirt - but was able to trade it to Blacksword in exchange for his GE lanyard!
My parting photo: the Carracci crowd what attended the event, in what will likely be the last picture of this group under that name! [Since in two weeks' time Pachelbel and Carracci will cease to exist and instead become the single server Rembrandt....]
[Next Post: Friends and more - and pictures of us eating that cake!]
I was going to do just a post-event picspam as I did with the post-GE PH Tribute to the Ladies entry, but I thought you might like a little more commentary with the 100-plus pics I took of the event.
Again, I'll be posting the pics at a slightly smaller size so as not to kill your browsers too much. Please click on the photos to go to the Photobucket archive, where you can view all of them.
***
Previous entry: Post-Dom1nation II, recap and review, part 1: Cosplay and Factions
After the faction honors, it was time to give due recognition to the Granado Espada PH Community Heroes.
First came the individual honors for the winners of the first Fantazzztic Film Awards:
Artaxerxes.
Behringer.
deEspania.
Familier.
Fetuccini.
Fiksdotter.
iCez.
Kincaid.
Mena.
Mortreux.
NineMoons.
Reclusion.
Sigrid.
Weisswritter.
And then the Philippine sweep of the first FFA was made clear, as the three PH teams that made the finals were given their prizes!
Veterans, Perdonato: Mortreux, Weisswritter, and Fetuccini.
Experts, Le Blanc (White): Fiksdotter, iCez, and Reclusion.
Grand Masters, Not Another Love Story: Ze Muzical!: Behringer, NineMoons, and Reclusion.
Next to be honored were the PH heroes of the GE Forums:
AUGLab, Community Crew. [IGN: Castiglione]
BlackSheep, Community Crew. [IGN: RavenBlitz]
The Colony Wars reporters were honored as well:
NineMoons, for Cervantes.
Reclusion, for Carracci.
And the GE PH bloggers with outstanding contributions to the community, not to mention all of whom were blogspotted:
Fiksdotter.
Mena.
NineMoons.
Reclusion.
Welling.
Not in photos: Craeon, Deniva.
It was just too bad that the fan artists were not present at the venue!
And I hope that Blacksword and Arcleaumont receive recognition for their fan work too! [They were the PH community members most recently honored on the main site: Blacksword for his Player's Guide to Conventions and Events, and Arcleaumont for his War of the Factions 2 poster.]
***
While the awards were going on, several activities were taking place around the GE booth and elsewhere: the Battle of the Champions 2v2 Face-Off, won by the Visayas team; the New Settlers' Battle, the War of the Factions 5v5 PvP, and the live Adelina's Booty Search.
Unfortunately, the New World Trivia Quiz did not push through, for reasons yet unknown.
RCM Hrin and pCM Veya announced that Version 2.6 of sGE, as previously hinted at in one of Hrin's earlier blog entries, would be released on 12 June! That patch will have MAJOR consequences for Colony Wars, and introduce at least 3 new RNPCs - support/bard Vicente Rio, crossbow-user Calyce, and taekwondo martial artist Bai Hu.
In the background, bands such as Imago, Rivermaya, and Sugarfree played their hearts out for the audience. The event hosts were DJs Tado and Ramon Bautista of Magic 89.9, and Nancy Castiglione.
***
After Dom1nation II, the bloggers, several faction leaders and companions, and other players went to dinner with pCM Veya, Ivee Feria, RCM Hrin, and the guests from IAHGames. Someone ordered a dish of balut and invited the guests to try it out ^^
***
I'll be writing an article on Dom1nation II and Granado Espada for a future issue of the print edition of Game! magazine, so I hope you pick that one up too!
Event Plug Time.
What: e-Games Domination II
Where: SMX Convention Center, next to the SM Mall of Asia. See the map:
When: 6 April 2008, from 10am onwards
Why: A crapload of Granado Espada events.
EVENTS RUNDOWN [these events are pretty much confirmed, as they have appeared at http://granadoespadaph.multiply.com]
*Live Events* [i.e., NOT online]
New World Quiz Bee - answer trivia questions about Granado Espada in the Easy, Intermediate, and Difficult questions, and win Granado Espada pens with ID holders! [If that means a lanyard that says Granado Espada, Iwantone *grabby hands*]
Adelina's Booty - Live! - participate in an Amazing Race-style run around the venue and stand a chance to win Item of the Month codes and Adelina's Booty searches!
*Online Events* [i.e., taking place WITHIN the game servers]
Tournament of the Champions >> Face/Off 2v2 PvP - representatives from Baguio, the NCR, Cebu, and Davao will compete against each other in the Internal Test Server for major prizes, both in-game and real-life.
New Settlers Battle 2v2 PvP
War of the Factions 5v5 PvP
New Settlers Race for the New World - Register for this freeplay event and race to achieve the highest level among the competitors in one hour to win prizes!
UPDATE
*Offline Activities* [i.e., forums, the venue, and elsewhere]
Faction Recognitions / Best Factions in Granado Espada PH - Vie to be the Most Loyal Faction or the Most Active Faction by hauling as many of your faction members as you can to the venue! Win certificates and in-game costumes of your choice!
Faction Banner-Making Contest - Bring your pre-made faction banners, or make your own at the venue, and compete to have the best faction banner to win Item of the Month codes and Pwnage Packages!
Granado Espada PH Community Heroes - Nominate the players and community members who you think have made significant contributions to the GE PH community, and they will receive certificates and costumes of their choice - plus be recognized in front of everyone at the event!
Baron and Baroness - The best male and female GE cosplayers can win Andre's or Karja's vanity boxes, Field Tactics Manuals, and goody bags!
Granado Espada Mobile Raffle - Win external hard drives and video cards by texting in!
The Captain's Treasure Chest - Buy GVCs and stand a chance to pick a prize!
***
More details and more events, hopefully, as that site gets updated, or as I hear about them.
The awarding ceremony for the FFA Grand Finale winners is supposed to take place during this event.
And please join me in hoping that someone very special drops by from IAHGames in Singapore to grace this event, just like she did last year!
WARNING: Lots of pictures. For browsers' sake I've tried to put up smaller thumbnails of the pics. Please visit the Photobucket album where they're all archived here.
Okay, here's my excuse for not going to Colony Wars last night: I spent nearly the entire day at a mall called TriNoma, covering one of the year's first gaming events: the Philippine Online Gaming Summit. I sort of had an obligation to go to this one, since I work for Game! Magazine and they were the ones who put this whole shebang together.
Malls in my country normally open at 10am, but I bluffed my way in an hour earlier. Technically, I'm part of Game! staff so I pretty much had a good reason to come in early.
The first booth on the right at the entrance turned out to be that of IP e-Games, and they were setting up as I arrived. pCM Veya was thinking about playing the FFA films Not Another Love Story?, Lonely Hearts Club II, and Relapse on the flatscreen monitors strung up around the booth.
Booth set-up.
Opening time and everyone at the venue - the central activity area of TriNoma - got ready for the influx of gamers, cosplayers, and the just plain curious. The price of admission was a copy of either the Nov 2007 or the Dec 2007-Jan 2008 issues, and the latter were being sold at the gate for those who hadn't got their copies yet. Gamers lined up for entrance and immediately swarmed the game outfits' booths.
[CRUMMY entrance procedure though. Filling out forms before letting people in for the lose. Also, why were the Game! servers down for the weekend?]
In front of the stage were several cordoned-off areas hosting about a couple dozen high-end Intel PCs each. These were the free-play/tournament areas where all the games at the show could be tried on for size. The IP e-Games/Granado Espada portion was located at front right, facing the stage.
The GE area. Nice machines, eh?
Soon after the program started I ran into DeSanggria, and when we came back from breakfast we promptly gathered up Darrick and Nate of Casa Reclusion, Fiksdotter, and Mena. Another of the early arrivals was Charles/Device. Later on, we ran into Sigrid, and MUCH later on, Alex Crosse. After lunch we also saw the arrival of the AdeptasFraternas contingent, led by none other than their faction leader Welling.
[Whew, that's a lot of link love =3]
Left to right: DeSanggria, Darrick, Mena, NineMoons, Device, Veya, Nate, and Fiksdotter.
The Bahia Island banner that marked the GE PC area.
Left to right: Device, NineMoons, Darrick, Fiksdotter, Mena, Sigrid, Anne, Nate, and Blacksword.
NineMoons, DeSanggria and Sigrid strike a pose.
Left to right: Blacksword, Nate, Darrick, Mena, Fiksdotter, Device, and Fiksdotter's friend.
DeSanggria got the tech crew to play the FFA film entries on stage after lunch: first came Not Another Love Story?, then Lonely Hearts Club II [and Nate, Darrick and Fiksdotter indulged in several mock squabbles over the subtitles while we were watching], and then Relapse late in the afternoon.
[Not nice that that movie was played so late, after its creators had left! They should have simply run all three films together instead of sticking to whatever list they had!]
After the cosplay event we had the PvP tournament. Several teams of two signed up to play [the Reclusion brothers made one team, and Fiksdotter and Mena another], but in the end, the Welling and •™ families emerged victorious.
Fiksdotter and Mena get into battle mode.
The Reclusion brothers prepare for PvP.
Team Welling and •™ on the way to the championship.
Finally, as the events of the day wound down, all of us remaining bloggers ran off to ToastBox for a round of drinks and some very interesting things to talk about.
Left to right: DeSanggria, NineMoons, Mena, Nate, Darrick and Fiksdotter.
It was a great day full of bonding and friendship - and Granado Espada too!
For more about POGS, please visit the following blogs:
Casa Reclusion: POGS 2k8 Photo Story
Fiksdotter's Box: Post Philippine On-line Gaming Summit (POGS)
Tales from Granado Espada: The Philippine Online Gaming Summit (POGS) 2008 event
Tres Mujeres: [Picspam Aftermath] POGS 2008 + Thoughts on CW
Diario el Familia Sigrid: Sigrid Invades POGS 2008!
Lady Veya's Musings: Aftermath: POGS 2008
The Deniva Chronicles: The Philippine Online Gaming Summit
