Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011: Days 1 and 3

Wilonah Chan as Rinoa Heartilly at the PGF 2011

What: Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011

Where: SM Cyberzone, SM City North Edsa

When: Oct. 28-31, 2011

I've often wondered how far the local gaming scene has gotten... and with the PGF 2011 which was held last week, I took the chance to witness and experience what was touted to be the biggest competitive gaming expo and e-sports event in the Philippines. So please read on for my short coverage and for a few photos from Days 1 & 3 of the event.

Day 1 at the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011

Day 1: I got to the venue at about 4pm. There was a Starcraft II match going on between a player from Cebu and a Mineski rep (if I remember correctly). It was a close and exciting game, with the Cebu player winning 2 to 1 in a best of 3 series.

Alodia Gosiengfiao did a pretty good job in co-hosting the event. She knew enough about RTS games and it  showed when she did some back-up commentary for the match.

I took a few photos of her, but I was too immersed in watching the game that I failed to get a good angle, even as she walked right past me a few times. If you'd like to see them anyway, please check my previous post.

Day 3 at the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011

Day 3: Got there really late (as usual). There were definitely more spectators on the last day of the PGF compared to the first, and being held on a Sunday of a long weekend, in one of the busiest malls in Metro Manila sure contributed to the huge crowd turnout.

I didn't bother to try and watch the DOTA finals, since I couldn't find a good spot to watch it from anyway. Plus, the live commentary was a bit of a turnoff for me. I don't know about anyone else, but it's hard to appreciate a good game when you have to listen to sub-standard commentary. 

I instead took the time to try and check out some of the exhibits and took a few photos of the cosplayers who were around. After that, I didn't really have any other reason to stay so I decided to call it a day.

Rinoa Heartilly cosplay by Wilonah Chan

Wilonah Chan at the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011

Gender bent Capt. America cosplay at Day 3 of the PGF 2011

Captain America crossplay

Tiny - The Stone Giant Cosplay at the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011

Yurina Toyoda

It's good to see that the Filipino gaming scene is as healthy as it is. Maybe a few more years of constant exposure through events such as this, should help further develop e-sports in the country. And congratulations to the winners of the Starcraft 2 and DotA tournament! Let's support them as they represent the Philippines in the coming WCG and SMM tournaments.