rAge Expo is all done for 2020 and if you couldn’t make it don’t worry we have your back. Here are the highlights of all the amazing events that occurred during this purely digital weekend.
rAge Digital Expo 2020 is over and the first-ever digital edition was filled with fun, insightful chats, prizes, tournaments, Cosplay, and so many more interactive elements that made this event a huge success in all aspects.
Here are the highlights of events that happened over the rAge Digital Expo 2020 weekend :
Day 1
The expo started on Friday at 9:15 with everyone’s favourite commentator/ YouTube star Grant Hinds hosting the show, bringing us the happenings throughout the weekend.
The first discussion was about The Africa Game + Esports Careers Day and was hosted by Kevin Meltzer and Glenn Kisela. An insightful discussion ensued with guest speakers, from around the world and locally. Talking about careers in gaming and Esports and how you can go about starting a career in the industry, with helpful tips for those gamers wanting to get into the Gaming and Esports industries.
There were also discussions about Journalism in the Gaming and Esports industry with insightful talks with representatives from Esport Insider and The Afro Gamer giving us their tips on becoming a Gaming and Esports journalist and what it takes to make it in the industry.
There was also some fun had with the Marbles Grand Prix hosted by Haylstorm_za. The winners received prizes from Incredible connection and Razer.
Friday’s schedule continued with talks about the rAge event itself and what it means to members of the Gaming and Esports communities as well as celebrities in the industry. These included Sam “Techgirl” Wright and Grant Hinds showing their appreciation for all that rAge represents.
We were even introduced to the new and improved rAge Mascot Roxy, who is looking more ravaging than ever.
There was also some digital “T-shirt throwing” by the Organizer of rAge and head of Nag Magazine Michael James along with some insight into the rAge event itself.
ThendoPlays hosted The Plays Handbook to Streaming in South Africa with a three-part discussion spread over the three days of the expo and discussed some tips on how to become a streamer in this ever-expanding industry.
Regardt van der Berg gave us an interesting insight into the world of mobile gaming and all the latest and greatest games that are available on mobile platforms. His discussion was split into a 3 part show spread over the three days of the Expo. We learned that some of his favourite mobile game titles include:
- Dead By Daylight
- PUBG mobile
- Sadhana
- Mario Kart Live
- Jenson Impact
- Pac-Man
The day ended off with an after hours session with D.J. Sin
Day 2
On day 2 Grant Hinds was back to guide us through the day starting at 10:00, he then navigated us through some interviews with Some of South-Africa’s best Cosplayers taking a closer look at Cosplaying in South-Africa.
We saw a throwback segment on rAge through the last 17 years, as this year marked the 18th year of this incredible Gaming expo.
There was then a speedrunning interview with Hazeblade before ThendoPlays gave us some more insight out his Streaming Playbook.
We then had an insightful look at the future of Esports with Sam “Techgirl” Wright, who gave us a positive tour through Esports in South-Africa.
Following this, they had a segment on the Colleges and Tertiary institutions that offer courses in all things Gaming, From Game development to the more design and art side of developing games.
After this was a short session with Regardt van der Berg and Neo Sibeko regarding all things Tech and Hardware related, including the newest graphics cards and what they mean for the future of gaming.
We then saw Regardt van der Berg chatting more about Mobile Gaming to us, showcasing some amazing games that can be played on mobile platforms.
To end the official schedule off there were some amazing prize giveaways awarded to those in the Twitch chats. Among the prizes on offer were a Cooler Master MM711 gaming mouse, a Lenovo Ideapad Laptop a Logitech G635 Lightsync RGB gaming headset, and a Thronmax Streaming and recording Mic.
Throughout the weekend we saw rAge Drive tournaments which was completely online this year and saw numerous competitors competing in various games such as, Street Fighter 5, and Tekken 7 to win the amazing prizes on offer.
Day 3
Day 3 started a little earlier at 8:45 with our friendly welcome from Grant Hinds. and then we went on to watch an awesome stream by Haylstorm_za, showcasing her digital drawing skills as she drew a cartoon version of a female Viking warrior from the upcoming Assassins Creed Valhalla soon to grace our screens. She took us through the whole process from sketching to adding colour layers to eventually adding all the shading to the finished product which she then raffled off to one lucky winner.
From here they moved on to the Cosplay contest where our eyes were met with the absolutely breath-taking costumes worn and hand made by the contestants. The judges who are three of the best cosplayers in South-Africa Cynthia Mey “Sin Bin”, Miguel Lima (six ways of the ninja), and Maoukami Cosplay really had a tough job, and here were the final results:
- Judges Favourite: Tyjet Cosplay
- Best Wig: Nekomon Cosplay (which made her amazing wig entirely out of wool).
- Representation: Tyjet Cosplay
- Skits Winner: Mittelelfcat Cosplay
- 4th place: Slade Cosplay as Dracula Untold
- 3rd Place: Justplainchris as HeMan
- 2nd Place: Nekomon Cosplay as Kasuki Bakugou
- 1st Place (Best In Show): Ludus Cosplay as Puss in Boots.
For a full list of the Prizes click here.
Thendoplays then chatted with us about streaming in South-Africa and explained about marketing yourself in the industry and networking to get your name out there if LiveStreaming is the career path you want to take.
Grant Hinds then showcased the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S and the differences between the two, the Pros and Cons of each, and price ranges of the next-gen consoles.
Regardt van der Berg spoke to us a little more about Mobile Gaming and then we dived right into the prize giveaways.
Besides the front end productions, there were also tournaments happening behind the scenes with many amazing prizes that were won.
There was also a Minecraft Build-A-Thing space where people could go and create anything they wished. There was a KFC Bucket and Chani_za herself created some mini-donuts which nearly everyone was missing from the physical event.
After all is said and done The rAge Digital Expo 2020 was a huge success and attended by thousands of people, with 24 000 viewers on Friday alone.
Next year will undoubtedly be even bigger and better and not to be missed.