Pepsi gaming tournament : The games that people play

Gamers busy playing during the tournament. PHOTO: EXPRESS / IJAZ MAHMOOD

The crowded basement, where the event took place, proved a hub for gamers of all ages trying their hand at multi-player gaming. The new game ‘cricket revolution’, being promoted by Pepsi, has been designed by Pakistani IT company Mind Storm Software.

“Multi-player gaming has been in vogue for sometime now. These games make the virtual experience much more exciting as they incorporate the gamers’ perspective,” said Neo-Matrix owner Salman Rashid. “It has been a huge hit among the gaming community.”

Rashid said that the game had proven a major step forward as the competition encouraged multi-player gaming instead of console gaming. “So many people can play a game but if you want real action, then one comes to a gaming centre where it is possible to compete with other experts,” he said. Online gaming and multi-player gaming are evolving into a part profession for many video game enthusiasts in Lahore.

Neo-Matrix operations manager Majid Mehmood explained that the e-gaming concept had become extremely popular. “Locally, we now have prize money and the Pepsi competition prize money in each city is Rs100,000. That’s a lot of cash for a video game competition,” he said, adding that the competition initially started with 50 players but there were 16 players competing in the final.

“On the first day, the lines were so long that we had people standing outside the door for a shot at the competition,” Mehmood said.”This is specialist level gaming. It requires a specially configured computer with a high-end graphics card.”

Engineer Bilal Hasan, one of the finalists in the tournament, said “this is one of my favourite cricket games because it is ‘glitch free’”. Hasan said that the tournament was extremely intense and well organised. “It is a point of pride that this game has been designed by a Pakistani and the fact that Pepsi is promoting it gives the game international exposure,” he added.

Owais Sohail, who also cruised into the final rounds, said that the competition was great. “Lahore is a famous court for gaming because the energy and talent is exceptional here,” Sohail said. “Age doesn’t matter in this tournament. It’s always important to remember that your opponent is never weak. I’ve competed against fourth graders with immense skill.”

Abdullah Khwaja, a ninth grader from Punjab School, was the youngest player in the tournament. Khwaja said that the competition was tough as many of the gamers were much older. He said, “Only the best play in this tournament. I need to practice a lot more. Today I ended up facing Bilal in my first match and I lost.”

Twenty-three-year-old Abdul Waheed won the competition. An IT professional, he said, he would use the prize money to pay off his debts.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.