The only thing that South Africa's rAge has in common with the now defunct E3 is that it's consistently swarmed by gamers looking to discuss and absorb every aspect of their favorite hobby. It's not nearly as big and overwhelming as other international shows, but it's open to the public and largely driven by a dedicated community. As such, it's difficult to emerge from the expo with witty headlines and snarky stories -- for the most part, it's an outlet for South African distributors to show off their existing wares amidst a backdrop of furious LAN competitions. Indeed, the PC gaming LAN is labeled as the largest in Africa, ensnaring 1,200 players for 54 hours of sharpshooting, Thompson-esque training.
With all of that firmly in mind, we present to you a selection of our favorite show snaps. Perhaps you'll find it interesting to see how similar (or different) gaming is on the other side of the world.
The Xbox 360's presence was inescapable and clearly highlighted by a complete no-show by Ster-Kinekor, Sony's official distributor in the country.
We're not entirely sure what scary jumping castles have to do with Intel processors, but it made the kids jump for joy. Oh, is that the marketing message?
A mysterious error message kindly informs us to contact Microsoft. That should be relatively simple, what with us standing in their booth.
Though walking around in circles can be extremely frustrating, the large dome structure housing the expo makes that sort of thing an inevitability.
Well, if this the Xbox 360 booth ...
... then this must be the Nintendo booth.
We were kidding. This is Nintendo's booth -- it actually folds up and rolls away at the end of the day.
No DS Lite love. A nearby promoter says "Nintendo didn't send us any DS Lites for those displays, but we have some on us for people to try out."
The crowd scattered in terror as soon as they realized we had grown to an enormous size for this picture.
Table Tennis and Top Spin 2 compete for the position of best back-and-forth ball-whacking simulation.
The Aviation Shop makes its money from a single genre. Its nearby competitor, The Kayaking Store (not seen here), is considerably less successful.
We used a grappling hook for this one.
Another compelling reason for not installing beanbags in plane cockpits.
Overheard: "This car looks so fake compared to the ones in Project Gotham Racing 3."
A local webcomic has its creator drawing the next strip on the show floor. Tragically, we missed out on the punchline.
You don't honestly expect us to come up with something silly for every single one of these, do you?
Dead Rising -- most people seem to agree that it's a good deal more fun than being eaten alive by a snarling, undead force.
EA's circular booth was quite possibly the loudest and flashiest of the bunch. It's how we knew it was an EA booth.
Our camera's flash wreaked havoc with some of the more twitchy gamers.
This completely non-hilarious sign watches over some of the competitors. The i's follow you around ...
Consuming and releasing food or drink are the only valid reasons for letting go of the mouse.
Mouse clicks are carefully timed so as to not coincide with each other. Not doing so may result in the Earth splitting in two.
NAG, in case you were wondering, is short for the local magazine, New Age Gaming. It's safe to say that rAge (Really Awesome Gaming Event) is the most acronymically diverse expo we've ever encountered.
We have no idea.
See also: HD era arrives, nobody tells Microsoft South Africa
