Ah yes. Another week has flown by and we sit again with the task of looking both backward and forward in the weekly SA Gaming New Wrap.
Let’s start with a few things you may have missed elsewhere:
- Critical Hit: Wesely “oDu” Rose joins White Rabbit Gaming in Dota 2 roster change
- Critical Hit: Orena’s Championship Series gets a date change
- Critical Hit: Fullbright’s Nina Freeman will kick off this years A MAZE Johannesburg Festival
- Critical Hit: It may be a while until we get the Xbox One X locally
- Critical Hit: Bravado Gaming shakes up the Dota 2 scene with new roster
- GLHF: North vs South With Axtremes
- HTXT Africa: SA game Semblance is coming to the Nintendo Switch
- MWEB GameZone: Everything you need to know about the A MAZE Festival in Johannesburg this September
- MWEB GameZone: Con.ect is Port Elizabeth’s Gaming and Geek convention – Everything you need to know
- MWEB GameZone: Acer Africa launches dedicated online store and a 50% off sale to celebrate
- NAG: Acer Africa launches online shopping portal with a big sale
- NAG: Podcast: Episode 55 – Axtremes and GrimBanshee
- Nexus: xTc Gaming Announces New Dota 2 Roster
- Orena: OCS – REMASTERED
- Red Bull: Amaryllis Gaming is SA’s 1st all female CSGO team
- SA Gamer: Like games? A MAZE is just around the corner
- SA Gamer: Xbox One X local release date unclear, and ZA cost removed from official site
Upcoming Events
There’s some regular CS:GO and Hearthstone action happening with season two of the ESL African Championships. We suggest hitting the ESL Africa Facebook page for stream details.
Kosta Games has their latest FIFA 17 season running. This is the third season of the Xbox One league and runs until 9 September.
There’s quite a few other activities happening this weekend around the country:
- Xbox Playdates ZA are hosting their playdates series in August. Thursday events start at 8pm, while the Friday F1 events begin at 9pm. You can get more information here about the regular gaming play dates.
- 31st – Forza Horizon 3 (you can join the others online from home or at The Nexus).
- Durban Gamers are back with their ‘Day of the Gamers’ event in KwaZulu-Natal. Entry is free and the event starts at 6pm on Friday (1 September). For more on the event, you can head to the event page.
- Orena Fight Nights week two for Street Fighter V is happening at the Orena Gaming Lounge at Emperor’s Palace this Saturday. Time is… unknown but should you prevail at the end of the entire series, you can secure the lion’s share oof R20,000 in cash. Details are available here.
- MSSA has the Sedibeng Regional Championships scheduled for this Saturday (2 September). It’s due to start at 9am at NWU. Interested parties should check Facebook for more.
- The Luckshack in Cape Town plays host to a Tekken 7 tournament this Saturday. Registrations are from 9am and will cost you R50. Up for grabs is over R2,000 in cash. Interested combatants should head here for more.
- Con.ect hits Port Elizabeth this weekend. Geek culture and gaming is being celebrated over the two day event at Fairview Sports and Community Centre. Doors open at 10am on Saturday and Sunday with day passes costing only R50 and 24-hour LAN tickets costing R200. Additional information can be found here.
- The Nexus is hosting a PUBG tournament on Saturday from 10am. Up for grabs is a Ryzen 5 1600X with spots limited to 16 players. Additional information can be found here.
Stelcon is the Stellenbosch geek and gaming event. From 10am until 5pm on Saturday, head to the Academia Hall and secure entry for R40. We zombies will be there sharing some gaming and Raru vouchers. Additional event information can be found here.
- You can join Nick ‘HoldenZA’ Holden and some friends for a livestream of weekend two of the Call of Duty World War II beta this Saturday. The stream will start at 10am and run until the last soldier has been killed.
- Timeline E-Sport Centre are hosting a BYOC LAN on Sunday (3 September) from 9am until 5am on the 4th of September. Tickets are R100 a person and more details are available on the event page.
Remember to keep these days open for some upcoming action a little further in the future:
- 13 to 16 September 2017: A Maze.
- 6 to 8 October 2017: rAge JHB
- More 2017 Gaming and Geek Expos can be found here.
Competitions & Giveaways
Team Roster Changes
Team changes are all the rage in South Africa it seems with a number happening around some of the big teams and players – most notably White Rabbit Gaming, Sinister5 and xTc Gaming in recent weeks.
The new look WRG Dota 2 team is:
- Nicholas “Schlinks” Dammert
- Ryan “ChiDoWi” Lancaster (Captain)
- Travis “CastawaY” Waters
- Charl “Welp” Geldenhuys
- Wesley “Odu” Rose
The new look WRG CS:GO team is:
- Nicholas “CiNNe” Farrant
- Matthew “SyNoPTiCaL” Hill
- Eden “Hulkies” De Allende
- Sean “PuFFy” Hedenskog
- Gareth “FreakY” Glanville
The new look xTc Gaming Dota 2 team is:
- Jeffrey Impackt Waller ( C ) – Position 5
- Rynhardt RDK De Kock – Safe lane
- Nash Mikasa Dong – Mid
- Donal 225 Quinn – Offlane
- Teddy Bluecat Wang – Position 4
Exdee Gaming
There’s been a bit of drama recently in the local Dota 2 scene with Exdee Gaming player Claus ‘Jappa’ von Thelemann taking things public as the player tries to get out of the team for reasons as mentioned in this Facebook post.
Since then, there has been an official statement from the MGO.
eXdee Gaming official statement regarding Claus "Jappa" von Thelemann:As many of you no doubt already know one of our…
Posted by Exdee Gaming on Monday, 28 August 2017
The saddest thing about it all is that it needed to be dragged into the public realm and as with a Ventus Gaming contractual issue a few months back, I wonder if the contracts in place are sufficient as money and sponsorship becomes the motivator locally.
Hopefully, everything can get resolved soon and everyone can get back to competing and providing local supporters with quality esports and not politics.
Overwatch
Looking for some local tournament action for Overwatch? With prizes? Then the upcoming Nacon Community Cup is for you.
Registrations close on 3 September (to the first 16 teams) with the group phase kicking off on 4 September. The finals are scheduled for 10 September.
Up for grabs is a variety of Nacon peripherals.
Ghana
If you’re in West Africa then the farewell FIFA 17 tournament by Madagastar should be in your diary on 2 and 9 September. Registrations are capped at 64 players and both tournament legs will be hosted at the West Hills Mall.
The two qualifier winners will face off on the 9th of September to determine who will walk off with the $400 cash prize.
You can find out more on the event page.
Videos
Ax Out Loud: The battle for Best in Africa
by axtremes
The NEWS EP 4: The Great Migration (Roster changes 2017/08/25)
by Kaameel Chicktay
You can find out about even more events happening in South Africa in our events calendar. If you want all the news about goings on in South Africa, simply click on the SA flag to be whisked to the most comprehensive coverage of South African gaming that you will find on the internet. You may just be surprised by how much is happening around the country.
Know of anything gaming related happening or happened in South Africa? Drop us an email at info@zombiegamer.co.za and we will do our best to cover it.
