Joystiq at rAge expo: in pictures
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Oct 3rd 2006 at 9:50PM }
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
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Redbugz007 @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:10PM
in the last picture i think thats a dreamcast logo behind it
azesino @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:10PM
ludwing I bet you had fun :(
Yardarm51 @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:13PM
That was brilliant. An expo basically servicing the fans instead of big corporate bucks. Thanks for the tour guys. If you guys can do it I'd love to see one from somewhere in South America as well at somepoint.
GalileoAce @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:32PM
I wish Australia had something like this..Or maybe it does and I'm just clueless..either way I wish I could go to such an event.
aureulis @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:45PM
does anyone else notice the obscenely bright neon case in the LAN pics?
i want one =)
Ryoji @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:58PM
That Nintendo booth trickery completely fooled me. Confound you! >O
Superdotman @ Oct 4th 2006 12:00AM
"A mysterious error message kindly informs us to contact Microsoft. That should be relatively simple, what with us standing in their booth."
Brilliant.
Also, I second Ryoji's comment. :P
Me again @ Oct 4th 2006 12:24AM
You guys want to know where the PS3 is headed ??!!! Go check out IGN...go to the PS3 section and read about nba 2K7.....The devlopers are saying straight up that the PS3 is more powerful (something i already knew) and is cappable of more detailed, more lifelike EVERYTHING !!!! Go and read the whole article and you will begin to understand why the guys over at Sony have been saying "NEXT GEN GAMING DOESN'T START UNTIL 11.17.06" !!!!!!!!! :)
Eggman @ Oct 4th 2006 1:09AM
To be honest, I didn't know there would be that many gamers in south africa... or even all of africa. Iono, seems media portrayal of that continent seems to be one where almost all the population is living under extreme poverty. These pix prove otherwise, there seem to be a lot of normal (as in atleast middle income, educated, tech savvy, etc.) people there. Again, just comes as a shock to me where all i've ever seen of
Africa before are huge jungles or those charity infomercials.
Anyway, good to know theres a large gaming population in Africa (makes me wonder whats REALLY going on in antarctica lol).
@ #8... who r u trying to convince, us or urself?
@ #1 good call man, I'm not sure what that green alien thing is but I wonder what a big silver metalic box with a dreamcast logo could be holding.... could it be DREAMCAST 2?!!?1 Looks like we have our first RAGE expo rumor lol.
aZn_1080p @ Oct 4th 2006 3:08AM
i love the ps3, i will coat it white in my juices when i get mine....
just think of all then get porn games i can wank off with that controler.... HMMMMMM
nintendo_loyalty @ Oct 5th 2006 11:51AM
I was somewhat disappointed to see that Nintendo pulled in the trailers and opened up with no more than the usual displays. And what a disappointment it was not to see any DS Lites or coming soon posters for the Wii. Nintendo need to get the awareness out there about the Wii's existence before the launch. This should be a product that needs to be pumped out there with no strings attached.Nintendo will always be the best,even if the marketing is non-existent
Scart @ Oct 4th 2006 5:06AM
I'm in one of those pics! :)
Third pic from the bottom, on the bottom left of the pic. I'm the one sitting in front of the guy with the weird blue hat.
This years rAge was a bit of a let down compared to last year. They may as well have renamed it "rAge X360". Other than that it was great fun.
Ripper 121 @ Oct 9th 2006 10:41PM
Pretty cool, I've actually been there a few times before I came to Australia.
Anyway, yeah eggman there are plenty of tech-savvy people there.
Probably over 75% of PC software is pirated their (in africa), microsoft actually pulled out of a few countries because they couldn't make a profit as even businesses pirated software. It's probably less the case in South Africa because it's a lot more 'first world' than some of the other countries in Africa.
[url]http://www.satravelguide.com/images/durban-night.jpg[/url]
I think that 'dreamcast logo' is actually a fire-hose symbol, actually looking at it, it's definitely a fire -hose symbol.
[url]http://www.signcenterinc.com/1.Symbols/5.Emergency/SE_24.gif[/url]
Miktar @ Oct 4th 2006 5:54AM
The swirl, is a 'firehose' label.
Gory51 @ Oct 4th 2006 6:39AM
I was there, played in the Battlefield 2 Comp and yes it was Awesome.
Gaming FTW!
Belisarius @ Oct 4th 2006 10:50AM
Oh my word, who's that sexy shaved-bald guy in the red shirt in the fourth last pic!? :D
otakucode @ Oct 4th 2006 9:05AM
I will admit straight up that I do not know very much about Africa. The only knowledge I have about the whole continent is the news stories I see reported from there. So please, educate me... is South Africa much more technologically advanced than the rest of the continent? Most of the news stories I read are of things like people buying anti-bullet charms (and testing them to find they don't work), people kidnapping and castrating 12 year old boys because there's a rumor that their balls can cure AIDS, and similar superstitious stuff.
Royale @ Oct 4th 2006 9:28AM
CRT. Monitors. Are. Huge.
flymolo @ Oct 4th 2006 11:45AM
It must be the Dreamcast 2!
Dominic @ Oct 4th 2006 12:26PM
@ 9 The media portrayl of South Africa is that of a poor nation because the majority of those are living in poverty. South Africa boasts one of the largest gaps between classes it is ridiculous. I use the word class for lack of a better word. There are basically two seperate cultures in South Africa, you have the middle to upper class white population who are well off, which you see here. Then you have the majority of the population who live like the other 3rd world countries. Ravaged by aids, malnutrition, little to no healthcare. These people are tribes that live like the Native Americans used too. Hunting and gathering for themselves to survive. That is why from these pictures it may seem like South Africa is different than it is depicted but trust me, you are only seeing one small section of the population.
PIZZA @ Oct 5th 2006 11:56AM
5.I was there and that bright pc gave me a tan from sitting next to it all lan.
9. the only thing behinde the alien is a fire extingusher
18. All I can say to that is LOL.
Antioch @ Oct 4th 2006 5:01PM
@18:
Snrk. Haha. Hi, I live in Parkview, in Johannesburg. South African culture is incredibly diverse. There are not two seperate cultures, there are hundreds. Every class has people of every race, culture and background. Ironically, gaming is a remarkably "white" thing. It's nothing to do with the class structure, or with who has the money. It's just a very "white" thing to be interested in computers or video games. I have a bunch of black, indian, white and asian friends who own game consoles and play them, but in the case of the black guys, their main interest usually lies in... well, the black social scene.
This country is nothing like it was 20 years ago, it's just that computers and gaming is maintained to be primarily a "white" thing, with a few black guys taking interest, just as kwaito is primarily a "Black" thing, with a few white guys taking interest. The segregation is entirely self-imposed. The common types of people tend to coagulate in specific clubs, restaurants, events and malls, without anyone setting up so much as a guideline.
Don't preach the evils of a country when you obviously don't know shit about it.
doobiwan @ Oct 5th 2006 3:06AM
@19, spot on.
@14, South Africa is pretty advanced, and is the economic powerhouse of Africa. Considering that it has no oil (although it has other resources, gold, platinum, titanium etc) it constitutes 40% of the total African economy, and it's only 10% of the population.
Yes it has problems with poverty, unemployment and lack of infrastructure in rural area's, but the goverment is trying to solve these problems with a free market approach as oppossed to just forking out cash. Whether that's right or not is another issue.
Come visit one day, you be very pleasantly surprised, it's a beautiful, interesting place to live.
On the "White" gaming thing, seriously don't read too much into it. It's like American basketball is a "Black" thing.
tim @ Oct 8th 2006 12:21AM
GHEI i missed rage this yr cos i was in calgary, canada... it looked so awesome. most of my friends say it wasn't as good as last yr on the expo side but the gaming was awesome. lol and yeah sa is quite high tech in some ways... dsl... no.... cellphones yes. on my trip to usa and canada (in toronto rite now) like everyone was like wow ur cellphone does video calling :| was pretty funny. and in sa u dont really still get ppl hunting for their food, yes u do get really poor living in poverty but living in mud huts and hunting to survive :| not so sure on that one... anyway i love sa and after being in the usa and canada for the last 2 months i can't wait to get home (2 more weeks!), sa rocks!