Gamers and game developers gathered at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City to be part of one of the Philippines’, maybe even Southeast Asia’s biggest gaming convention of the year. Presented by PLDT Home Fibr, co-sponsored by MSI, the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit treated gamers and game devs in a 3-day convention full of fun-filled activities, merchandises, first-look at unreleased titles and unforgettable experiences.
PLDT Home Fibr showcased how their latest Fibr offerings go hand-in-hand with online gaming. PLDT Home Fibr offers fiber optics solution to residential customers that demand the fastest connection for their gaming needs. Gamers were able to experience seamless online gaming on Sony’s Playstation 4 set up on PLDT Home Fibr’s booth.
MSI presented their latest offerings for enthusiasts who demand nothing but power. Also present at the MSI booth was the MSI Rig Modding 2016, where custom-made desktop PCs armed to the teeth with MSI Gaming components were showcased. MSI also hosted their own E-sports tournament, the MSI Sudden Death. Three games were slated for each day of the tournament. Day 1 was for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Day 2 was for League of Legends, and Day 3 was for Dota 2. The champions for each game took home P12,000.
The biggest studios in the gaming industry made their presence felt at ESGS 2016. Ubisoft put up a huge Just Dance 2017 booth where you and your friends can dance your heart out with the latest version of this arcade hit. Sony PlayStation treated attendees with sneak previews of upcoming and highly-anticipated titles like Final Fantasy XV and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The Bandai-Namco booth set-up play areas where you can just pick up a controller and battle it out in Tekken 7, or experience the mystical world of Sword Art Online, or tickle your mind with the puzzle horror game Little Nightmares. They also have Capcom gave attendees a sneak peek to the publisher’s hottest zombie franchise, Resident Evil with Resident Evil VII.
Small studios were also represented at ESGS. The Indie Arena, presented by X-Split, gave recognition to independent games from various developers. Featured Indie games were the following:
| Game | Developer |
| Adarna: Alamat ni Maria Blanca | Senshi Labs |
| Agent Aliens by | Indigo Entertainment |
| Change Heroes | L3 Game Atelier |
| Flippy Bottle Extreme | Most Played Game |
| Hello World | Most Played Game |
| High Noon Revolver | Mike Studios |
| Hitogotchi+ | Veggiestew |
| Lost Castle | Hunter Studio |
| Mokai Adventure | Werold |
| Path of Badass | Beat Log Studios |
| Play Day | Indigo Entertainment |
| Praesidium | Impact Games |
| Purgatorium | Team Rage Quit |
| Shots Fired | Chryse |
| Spectrum 6 | DuskyDrones |
| SpellStrike | Sudden Interactive |
| Thesision Making | Glasses Games |
| Tower Tales | Five Fingers |
| Warstache | Figment Games |
Other exhibitors featured were the studios of Ranida Games & 2D Creatives, with a demo of their upcoming fighting game Bayani Kanino Ka Kakampi, which features two playable characters named Joe and Andre, we’ll let you figure out who they are. There’s also a teaser of a future Combatron game/series/animation, we don’t know yet, in their booth. Koji Igarashi, assistant director and producer of the Castlevania series, was also present at the ArtPlay booth. Koji showcased his upcoming project Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, which will surely tickle the fancies of Castlevania fans everywhere. There’s also Project Xandata, an FPS made by the studio Secret 6, which challenged attendees to compete against the game devs to win special prizes.
Of course, what’s an E-Sport event without competitive gaming? Aside from MOBAs and FPS, ESGS 2016 featured Brawlfest. Brawlfest is an official event of ESGS which features different fighting game competitions, organized by different gaming organizations and exhibitors. Tournaments for Tekken, Mortal Kombat XL, Gundam EXVS Full Boost, and King of Fighter XIV were held.
Since the Boston Majors were being held simultaneously, MineskiTV organized a viewing party for Filipino fans to support their Filipino DotA 2 teams, or their favorite international team. MineskiTV also hosted tournaments for mobile games like Clash of Clans, mobile MOBA Vainglory: Stormguard.
Alongside game booths, merchandise, apparel and PC components were also present at the event. The organizers and exhibitors made sure that you won’t go home empty-handed. Different manufacturers and distributors held raffles and giveaways for ESGS attendees. AGON, AOC Gaming’s lineup of monitors, and Philips Monitors raffled a monitor each day. The PLDT Home Fibr booth gave away a brand new PlayStation 4, you even get freebies just by signing up.
One word to describe ESGS 2016, COLOSSAL. Don’t fret if you missed ESGS 2016, you’ve got a year to prepare yourself, build a team, create a game, work on your aim or plan your cosplay outfit because ESGS will be back, hopefully bigger and grander the third time around.
