The 2-day Cherry Convention 2013 held in SM Megatrade Hall marked the Philippine’s gaming convention scene with its stimulating on-site events, eye-candy cosplay, speed match and PvP tournaments, flying plushies and pure rock entertainment – yes in what gaming event would you hear “We will Rock You – Queen” and “It’s My Life by Bon Jovi” sung by the Game Master Adriano himself? Not to mention Producer Addison Kang had his first time singing in front of the large crowd!
Day 1 – Saturday, everyone’s ecstatic to see the faces behind Dragon Nest’s boom! And how the SG based company will electrify Filipino gamers – having captious sense in terms of gaming conventions. Dragon Nest SEA, bearing a very huge player base here in the Philippines – yes, and by huge means 70-80% of DN Sea’s population – long queue lines were anticipated but fret not, these gamers wouldn’t just chicken out because of this snake-like queue lines. In the venue, everything was organized without any compromises. Two human-sized action figures of Gerraint and Velskud (heroes from the game) in their battle stance were such eye candies. Half of the venue was occupied by hundreds of gaming PCs/Laptops dedicated for the speed match and PvP tournaments; each of it was optimized to unleash the prominence of Cherry Credits’ featured games (Dragon Nest and Avatar Star [NEW]). Food stalls and exclusive merchandise were also present in the venue.
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Moving on to the main stage, the composition and lighting was superb as well as the sound system. The program proper commenced by the alluring and spontaneous host Jasmine and after some chit-chat with the crowd she introduced one of the most known Dragon Nest Player in SEA, well known for his very informative guides, self-organized in-game events and utmost dedication for the Dragon Nest, AikawaKazu or in real life, Nathan facilitating the first event for the day, the lucky stick-on card event.
After doing couple of rounds, they proceeded to one of the main event that day, Alodia’s Birthday Celebration. The crowd especially the men and her own fan’s club Alodians, went uproar cheering for the birthday girl to come out. Moments later, Alodia Gosiengfiao herself was revealed stunning as ever; cosplaying as Events Planner Irene one of the most alluring NPC in game. Everyone was delighted to see the “Cosplay Goddess” giving away in-game titles and flying kisses. She even prepared a Pick-Up line event for the audience and a dance number performing one of the songs of her own J-Pop group, Super Dolls.
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Cosplay Concerto: Open Category, fearless cosplayers showcased their crafted costumes aiming to take home 75,000 pesos worth of prizes. Some of the participants portrayed: Iron Man, Cydea – Spider Queen in Diablo 3, Mecha characters and many more! Day 2: exclusively for Dragon Nest category was phenomenal! The cosplayers’ craftsmanship, characterization and stage performance were admirable. The winner cosplaying as Gigantes Maha (The boss in level 50 Gigantes Nest) barely fit in the entrance of the stage due to his armor/costume was really gigantic!
On the other side of the event hall, heat builds because of the tension produced by PvP Tourneys on-going: Alienware Arena Season 2, Gigabyte Mineski Pro-Gaming League Season 5 and Speedmatch supervised by Lyzbeth (Kazu’s very girlfriend) various gaming gears awaits the top speed match players courtesy of Ttesports.
The Meet the Player (MPS) Session with Producer Addison Kang and GM Adriano revealed the future updates and rich contents Dragon Nest SEA will be offering. It was a mix of UI Enhancements, Game balancing and the most awaited release of the new class, Kali together with its two subclasses Dancer and Screamer. Day 2 ended around 20:30 everyone seems still enthusiastic and wanting for more – entertainment and those cute plushies!
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Overall, the event was great as anticipated and it’s a proof that Cherry Credits know how to keep and reciprocate their avid gamers and most likely Pinoy gamers will stick not only because of the awesome event but for the ‘killer’ future updates most especially in Dragon Nest!
Cherry Convention 2013 wouldn’t made possible without its sponsors and partners: SM tickets, SM Cinemas, Snack Time, digiPost, RedFox, Gigabyte, 7-Eleven, Intel, MSI, Alienware, Mineski, Netopia, Lean & Mean Machines, Ttesports, PC Express, Otakultura, Rapture Gaming Network, Shuffle, Tempest Productions, Zen Otaku, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Anime Alliance, Smart, GameHaunt and PLDT Home.
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