I’ve been to both of these events in the last few weekends, and I felt I should write about them before covering Street Fest which occurred only last weekend.
They’re not getting dedicated posts though since they were actually pretty meh, more on that later.
Licence2Play
Licence2Play was held from the 28th to the 30th of May. It’s a local gaming convention held annually, and this year it was held at the Expo.
I’ll be completely honest though. I went to the Expo for one reason (and one reason only):
No %^$#, GameAxis.
The StarCraft 2 beta is actually pretty cool; you can pull a lot more “stunts” with all the new abilities and units Blizzard put into the game. I mean, Supply Depots that double as gates? Whoa.
…of course being terrible at RTSes, I got trashed in both my online matches. ^_^;
The other thing I tried was Samsung’s 3D LED TV technology. On paper, adding a 3rd dimension you can actually see (i.e. depth) to your 2-dimensional games sounds good and all, but I found it’s rather disorienting me after a while. Looking straight down into the ground (in-game) somehow also causes it to look unnaturally uneven.
Moving on, the rest of the booths were either:
- Online gaming
- Technology (including unrelated stuff like printers, etc), taking up about half the entire hall
- Competition areas
There’s really nothing else noteworthy; I didn’t stick around long enough to watch any of the, except for NLB which somehow managed to earn itself a booth there. You could actually borrow books from the booth (which is kinda digressing from the point of a gaming convention).
I had hoped the event would have at least wow-ed me, but it actually felt more boring than last year. Now that I think about it, there wasn’t much of a crowd at this year’s event too.
STARFEST
STARFEST is an anime/toy fair organized by the Singapore Cosplay Club, and it was held between the 31st of May to the 6th of June. Despite partly being an anime fair, the fair held a cosplay event only on the 5th of June. In fact, all the “good stuff” (maid cafe photoshoot, doujinshi booths) all coincided on that day, so (naturally) I went to take a look on that day.
Before I continue, I must confess that the quality of the photos absolutely suck, thanks to the fabulous combination my shaky hands and an iPhone camera. I won’t be held responsible, though, if your eyes bleed from the blurriness and/or pixelation.
The “toy” part involved several exhibitors putting up their items on sale. There were Alice88th, selling their jointed dolls, and Black Tactical, showcasing their replica weapon series.
Custom Workz was also there, selling their load of Masked Rider merchandise, and showing scenes from the net spinoffs of the All Riders vs. Great Shocker movie. I really should get around to watching that.
There was a small booth showcasing some remote-controlled model itasha. Fortunately (for me), they weren’t being driven around, so I could take this clear shot of the Miku-themed ones. Why no Rin love? ( *A*)
Anyway, yes, there was a maid cafe photoshoot booth. It was just a promotion for a maid cafe, officially named “Cawaii Koohii Maid Cafe”, that will open in September this year, on the fifth floor of Funan. Yeah, very “Akihabara”, I know. >_>
And yes, I know it’s supposed to be spelt “Kawaii Koohii”, unless there’s some deep meaning behind the ‘C’ that I haven’t quite grasped.
The cosplay event was actually a series of performances held by the semi-finalists of the World Cosplay Summit. While their outfits were accurate (as far as I could tell), their performances felt really lacking and a little rushed. It wasn’t until much later when I found out that they weren’t doing their best that day; they did way better during the actual competition in Korea.
Also, there was apparently no space for a backstage area, so the organisers had little choice but to have the performing cosplayers set themselves up out in front of the stage. This also meant photographers had to squeeze into a small section in front of the stage to snap photos. Someone obviously didn’t think this one through.
That’s not to say the performers were the only ones cosplaying though; there were a lot more cosplayers roaming around that day. Once again, apologies for the crappy quality.
All in all, cosplay aside, this event was okay, but felt a little…lacking. Hearing that the performers weren’t exactly doing their best was also a major turnoff. The toy booths didn’t really appeal to me either. The cosplayers didn’t have much room to work with in the mall; it was impossible to take a clear photo without any interference whatsoever (i.e. people in the background).
While I did mention there were supposed to be doujinshi booths that day, I failed to see any of them. Did anyone else who attended see them and their merchandise? Just curious.
You can also check out additional coverage at The Banzai! Effect.
4 Responses to “Double Event Impressions: Licence2Play & STARFEST 2010”
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Thanks for the report. I know now I didn’t missed anything. LOL
Didn’t went for both the events, since I heard from my friends (who went there) that both of them wasn’t exactly very exciting. But thanks for the report.
heh well FYI that the kind of air you get in a cosplay here(hellish place ever = Philippine)
anyway Starcraft was great oh yeah pictures aren’t that bad at all maybe get a “EOS 500D” that my pro camera for cosplay (and for regular days i use a Casio Exilim EX-Z500) thanks for the post. (^^,)
~menroko~
the doujin booths were on the last day i recall…