With the skies almost blackened by the Reaper invasion, around 50 Cape Town gamers, press and other VIPs saw fit to ignore the call to arms and rather head to MWEB’s HQ for a spot of socialising, eating and getting our kit off. Hell, it was the end of the world wasn’t it? May as well go out with a bang.
Of course, I first had an obstacle to overcome. MWEB security were apparently under strict instructions to detain and thoroughly search me. I can’t fathom how a zombie could ever be considered a “high risk”, but what exactly did you need the rubber gloves for? It’s my teeth that are the weapon you know.
Composure re-established, general greetings and niceties out of the way, the rabble was led to MWEB’s (now permanent and upgraded) MCave. With the obligatory consoles, screens and PCs lined up against almost every available wall (well, we were there for a game launch of course) and with very little encouragement, it didn’t take too long to see the stations occupied. Attempting to get the attention of this now completely distracted bunch was Desmond Kurz. Someone had to welcome everyone and MWEB’s Head of Gaming was tasked to do so. Introductions were made. Bianca McFadyen from EA South Africa thanked those that deserved to be thanked. People applauded. People laughed. Others took pictures. But frankly no-one wanted to listen to talking. There were alien invaders to dispatch, and all the wannabe Commander Shepards were only happy to oblige.
Between all the shooting, explosions and cursing (look, it’s only a game, you’ll respawn again. Promise) prizes were being handed out with gay abandon. Rectron were on hand to hand out Hard Drives, MWEB were giving away items for using the “get along table” – a space where an Xbox 360 and PS3 co-existed in happy harmony. Aw. Sweet – and EA were giving out some copies of that little known game called… erm… the name escapes me right now.
All these free goodies were on top of the goodie bag given out to all attendees which contained a copy of GamesTM (gaming magazine new to SA), a copy of NAG, MWEB branded goodies, an EA game (not that one however), a R100 Kalahari voucher and a 30% off voucher for GamersGate – a locally hosted site with 3500 game titles to download. Of course, some people were not content with that and were (again) willing to get semi-naked for an N7 copy of… erm…the game. Now kids, anyone who tells you that you will amount to nothing if you take your clothes off is wrong. [Name withheld] will attest to the opposite in fact. It’s likely to amount to over R2000 worth for all of four minutes work…
How – after that – it was going to be possible to keep food down was a mystery, but I was not about to see end of the world at the hands of the Reapers on an empty stomach. Pizza?! As the last meal?! What, where’s the caviar, lobster and prawns?! Write it off to a business meeting, there’d be no-one to answer to after we’re wiped out. And I have to wash it down with Red Bull?! No. Really should’ve been champagne. Vintage of course.
As usual, there are plenty of people that need thanking after these events, and this time, we would love to thank the following awesome people: EA and Bianca McFadyen, MWEB and Desmond Kurz, Rectron, Red Bull, all the people that made the event happen and everyone that this sieve of a mind might have forgotten. Also, thanks to those gamers that didn’t run screaming from me. And a massive thanks to those gamers that saved us from the Reapers by playing… Mass Effect 3.
By the numbers:
4
Number of Xbox’s and PlayStation’s
8
Number of PCs
11
Number of TVs when we entered the MCave
10
Number of TVs after we left the Mcave. That’ll teach you for searching me before going in…
1
Number of tables dedicated to “getting along”
30
Probably the number of pizzas consumed
150
Probably the number of Red Bulls consumed
6
What the topless attendee thought was his “pack”
0
Number of unhappy human attendees
1
Number of unhappy undead attendees. Next time I’m going to bite someone if I don’t win a prize. Really.
For more pictures from the event, check out our Facebook Page.
