Home Gaming rAge finally came to Cape Town, but did it live up to expectations?

rAge finally came to Cape Town, but did it live up to expectations?

8 min read
166

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They say that all good things come to those that wait. That wasn’t completely true this past weekend though as rAge, South Africa’s preeminent gaming expo, finally made its way down to Cape Town from its usual JHB haunts. For nearly a decade we Capies had to look on in envy (and not an insubstantial amount of disbelief) as we were repeatedly told that there just wasn’t a market for a gaming expo in Cape Town.

That all changed in mid-2015 though when out of nowhere, Cape Town suddenly got its own expo in EGE, the overwhelming success of which was near miraculous thanks to a lack of big name sponsors and almost non-existent marketing. But they built it and we came (not like that, you pervs). And just a scant few weeks later, it was announced that rAge was finally coming to Cape Town.

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The timing could not have been worse, as rAge’s timeous plan to venture down south now looked like nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to EGE’s success. A point that many folks were quick to point out – usually at the end of verbal jabs – on social media. But as the rAge organizers vehemently pointed out, this was all coincidental and they had in fact been working on Cape Town’s first rAge for two years already. And I believed them.

Now though, there’s a very small, very cynical part of myself that’s not so sure anymore. The source of my uncertainty stems from the fact that while Cape Town finally got a rAge, it definitely didn’t look like the gaming event that had been setting the other end of the country ablaze for years now. Boasting only a fraction of the attractions, with a head-scratching layout in a slightly inappropriate venue, rAge Cape Town was certainly not what local gamers had been waiting this long for. That doesn’t mean that it was bad though.

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Hosted at Grand West Casino’s event hall (no, not the Grand Arena, but rather the area next to Wonderland), rAge Cape Town actually saw all the necessary boxes ticked for an event like this. Vendors like BT Games, Evo Points and more were on hand with fantastic tech and video game specials (I actually scored an awesome Turtle Beach PS4 headset for half the price I was going to pay that very day at an online store), while geek novelty shops like Dark Carnival and T-Shirt Terrorists and more covered your geeky trinket/clothing needs. Microsoft and Sony had respective sections of Xbox Ones and PS4’s/PS Vitas lined up offering attendees play time with some of the latest games like The Division, Street Fighter V, Rise of the Tomb Raider and more. For the more physical gamers there were tons of board games on sale as well as being demoed, while Reader’s Den covered the comic book beat. There were overclocking demonstrations, indie games, animation studios, tech publications and – because it’s Cape Town and we need to be different – even an Oxygen Bar where you could get a 5 minute hit of flavoured O2 for R30. Yes, sir.

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On the competitive gaming side, the biggest attraction was the first leg of the Telkom DGL Masters series, which boasted an impressive staged setup, complete with big screen, private booths for the competing clans and ample tiered seating for fans to watch some of the best Counter Strike: Global Offensive teams in the country compete for their share of a whopping R100 000 prize pool. On a smaller scale but nowhere less thrilling was the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Astro Gaming Invitational Cup hosted by Zombiegamer and Clan Connection, which saw some incredible PS4 COD: BO3 teams competing for a R50 000 prize pool. Both events produced absolutely stellar, edge of your seat matches throughout the weekend, though my personal highlight was watching the impromptu media team of Grant Hinds, Tarryn Van der Byl, Samantha Wright and Nicholas Holden going toe to toe – and actually managing to pull off a win! – against one of the pro COD: BO3 clans.

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There was a whole lot more gaming happening over at the NAG LAN which saw nearly 500 attendees playing it out all weekend. And also playing with their rubber duckies. No, really. What the hell was the deal with the ducks? And for those folks who like to dress up, the cosplayers were out in full force with several very impressive getups turning plenty of heads.

And honestly all of that sounds rather good. So why the negative overtones at the start of this article? For one, while the vendors that were there were great, there simply wasn’t enough of them. I’ve unfortunately never had the pleasure of attending rAge up in JHB (I know, I know!), but I’ve always seen the pics and vids of all the goods on offer and this was nowhere close. Not that you could fit in many more vendors as the pretty small venue didn’t allow for any further expansion (it took me less than 20 mins to leisurely see every single stand, stopping and taking pics at most of them).

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Adding to the downsized feel of the event, for some bizarre reason the LAN and main expo areas were in two separate sections of Grand West. You actually had to walk through Wonderland and a section of the food court to get from one to the other. This split didn’t just make things feel like two separate small events instead of one big one, but also led to confusion as many people – myself included – didn’t even know where the LAN was happening.

And when it came to videogames – which is really what should be driving these expos – rAge also hit the same snag that EGE did last year: by holding it this early in the year, before any of the big international shows, there were no preview builds of upcoming games on hand. All the playable titles were ones you could have been playing at home by yourself for some time already.

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And continuing the trend of not learning from past experiences: JHB rAge had quickly realized years ago that the best way to maximize attendance was to have the event during the school holidays. Cape Town’s rAge, on the other hand, kicked off on 10am the last day of the school term. This meant that Friday saw a relatively sparse turnout for most of the day. Attendance definitely picked up considerably once we hit the later afternoon, but it was certainly nowhere near as buzzy as organizers would have hoped.

Things changed dramatically on Saturday though as visitors flocked in by the dozens, forming thick queues to get inside. I unfortunately missed out on Saturday as I had another engagement to attend, but by all accounts there was a palpable energy in the air, with throngs of people jamming up the walkways between stands. Unfortunately, while this massive upswing in attendance helped greatly with the energetic vibe that was a bit lacking from the day before (and which continued on into a surprisingly full Sunday session), it also helped to drive home the small size of the venue. But hey, at least the aircon kept working phenomenally!

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All considered, it’s clear that rAge’s organizers viewed this event as a scaled-down test of the waters, to see if there was indeed a viable market before committing big to a full-scale replication of the rAge we Capetonians have been hearing about for so long. And that’s all good and well. The problem is just that EGE already beat them to the punch when it came to first-time efforts, making this not feel like an exploratory venture two years in the making, but rather a second-rate slapdash effort. Now I know that’s neither true nor fair, but unfortunately that’s the impression that was received. Walking around, eavesdropping on conversations, “Is that it?” seemed to be the overriding theme of the day.

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But these are all things that can be easily rectified if… or rather when rAge returns to the Mother City next year though. The organizers already nailed the competitive gaming side of things (though a few high-profile fighting game tournaments added to the mix certainly wouldn’t hurt), so all they need is a bigger and better venue – the Grand Arena would have been a much better alternative – more vendors on display,  some real top-drawer exclusive gaming attractions, and a bit more variety to the vendors and this could definitely become all the… well, rage down here in Cape Town as well.

Last Updated: March 22, 2016

166 Comments

  1. Sadly, I had to skip it – the Banana Hulkster’s little one was sick with the flu, and I just didn’t feel it would be right to head off to rAge and leave the missus with the little banana.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      March 22, 2016 at 09:52

      Lies, you don’t exist

      Reply

      • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

        March 22, 2016 at 09:53

        🙁 Yeah, I’m actually in Pretoria and all of this is a ruse…

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          March 22, 2016 at 09:55

          Btw, my car needs another wash. Chop chop nana

          Reply

          • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

            March 22, 2016 at 09:57

            You’re not the boss of me!!

            Do you want citrus fresh or pine fresh in the interior?

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 09:59

            I’m feeling funky, make it PINEAPPLE

          • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

            March 22, 2016 at 10:02

            DUDE! YOU NEVER GO PINEAPPLE!!!

          • Skoobaz

            March 22, 2016 at 10:57

            Only Citrus mitigates funk

  2. Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

    March 22, 2016 at 09:35

    They are going to need a much bigger venue next time. This place was packed at 12 pm Saturday.

    Reply

    • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

      March 22, 2016 at 09:38

      So, rAge paled in comparison to EGE? Hopefully EGE 2016 will deliver an amazing second expo, which means rAge 2017 will have to bring their A-game.

      Competition for the win!

      Reply

  3. Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

    March 22, 2016 at 09:36

    Oh god… Grant Hinds has rainbow hair?

    Reply

    • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

      March 22, 2016 at 09:50

      Kervyn.. do you have rainbow hair? If so… why? WHY? WHY??? It’s the macklemore of the fauxberals.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 22, 2016 at 09:51

        His hair was THE MOST rainbow.

        Reply

        • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

          March 22, 2016 at 09:51

          Did you touch it? Did you lick his head? He kind of looks like human candy floss….

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 22, 2016 at 09:53

            LOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!

      • Kervyn Cloete

        March 22, 2016 at 10:42

        Pink hair? Me? I’d get stabbed in the hood, man!

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      March 22, 2016 at 10:51

      One day we will capture and shave him!

      Reply

  4. oVg

    March 22, 2016 at 09:38

    Massive WIN. MIKU was there 🙂

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      March 22, 2016 at 09:43

      Hi Umar!

      Reply

      • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

        March 22, 2016 at 09:43

        Umar in an OVG skin…? Did someone divide by zero again?

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      March 22, 2016 at 10:51

      Oi! This is for another article you cretin!

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 22, 2016 at 10:52

        Pot calling the kettle black?

        *RUNS

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          March 22, 2016 at 10:55

          Que? And I took the damn picture!

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 22, 2016 at 10:56

            “You cretin!”

            Lel, attempt foiled by obscurity. MEH.

            Looking forward to the cosplay article (which I’m assuming is coming, from your comments). Was the only real highlight of the day. 🙂

          • RinceThis

            March 22, 2016 at 10:57

            Tracy is writing something up. Not THAT much cosplay but some damn good attempts I must say!

          • Pariah

            March 22, 2016 at 10:58

            Yeah it was far more quality vs quantity, but still the highlight of the day. 🙂

          • RinceThis

            March 22, 2016 at 11:01

            Me being there was the highlight!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:01

            Let’s not get carried away.

          • RinceThis

            March 22, 2016 at 11:02

            I was not carried away, merely dragged!

  5. Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

    March 22, 2016 at 09:41

    I was sad to see that there was no actual VR display anywhere

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      March 22, 2016 at 09:43

      Really? That’s a big surprise.

      Reply

      • miaau

        March 22, 2016 at 09:45

        the sadness or the lack of VR displays?

        Also, I can build a good argument for all the booths being VR displays, as they are trying to sell a lifestyle.

        But I am busy now.

        Reply

    • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

      March 22, 2016 at 09:44

      Wow.. that’s a huge omission….

      Reply

    • HvR

      March 22, 2016 at 10:27

      No VR gaming display but there 2 tech “display”, one at the Google cardboard stand and CT College stand.

      Reply

    • CypherGate

      March 22, 2016 at 13:40

      I KNOW RIGHT. That samsung card board VR stuff wasnt what i was looking forward to at all.

      Reply

  6. Unavengedavo

    March 22, 2016 at 09:44

    The O2 bar is something I would imagine in The Expanse… But here we have it in 2016 and of course it would be in Cape Town O_o

    Reply

    • miaau

      March 22, 2016 at 09:45

      Can we bring our own, flat beer, to the O2 bar?

      Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      March 22, 2016 at 09:45

      Goes to show the differing markets – CT has an O2 bar, JHB has the Attraction Academy. heh.

      Reply

      • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

        March 22, 2016 at 09:47

        Cough! Jo’burg has the post-apocalyptic “Mad Max” wasteland vibe…

        Reply

  7. Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

    March 22, 2016 at 09:46

    Since this was held in Cape Town… where are the craft beer stands? Damnit, it’s like these northerners don’t understand those who live in the Republic of Cape Town.

    Reply

    • HvR

      March 22, 2016 at 10:29

      Not GrandWest where all the beer sales belong to them.

      As I found sipping my R45 Castle Lite sitting with Bobby van Jaarsveld and Arno Carsten on on end and my son in pirate get up on the other. #only_at_CTrAge

      Reply

  8. Pariah

    March 22, 2016 at 09:46

    I left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth (just an expression, don’t get all worked up kids). It wasn’t worth the R100 ticket price, and there was basically nothing there besides the eSports competition which I could’ve watched on Twitch. Some merch was cool, and the cosplay was excellent – but it’s really sad that the highlight of the day had nothing to do with the organised stuff – but rather the people who attended.

    I feel 2 major things were missing: 1) Local indie devs. There are plenty studios in Cape Town, why was there no presence at the event? 2) preview code – there was literally nothing on show that made me want to queue to play. Nothing.

    If they don’t pick up their game next year, that’ll be the end of rAge Cape Town – and it’ll be entirely the organiser’s fault.

    Reply

    • Unavengedavo

      March 22, 2016 at 09:48

      Hope ege has more to offer this year. Would like to seem both of these grow here in Cape Town.

      Reply

      • Jim Hogan (Banana Hulk Hogan)

        March 22, 2016 at 09:48

        Hopefully the EGE organisers take note of all of this, and deliver something magical in July…

        Reply

      • Pariah

        March 22, 2016 at 09:49

        Hopefully EGE picks a bigger venue this year 🙂 I’d be happy to attend that

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      March 22, 2016 at 09:51

      That’s exactly why I didn’t go, and I was planning to go on Sat. Us movie folk met up for dinner on Fri night & when I asked if it’s worth the ticket price & time considering I don’t give a crap about the LAN, the basic answer was “no”.

      Reply

      • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

        March 22, 2016 at 09:53

        And because of that I had to randomly select another person to talk about Warframe, his face was full of horror and mystery…but mostly horror

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          March 22, 2016 at 09:53

          xD

          Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          March 22, 2016 at 09:53

          lol – you found Hammersteyn?

          Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          March 22, 2016 at 09:53

          At least we have Llew now to horrify

          Reply

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 09:54

            Once you lick the rainbow, it’s hard going back to normal games

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 09:55

            His response after that lvl 37-42 ceres farmfest…..I nearly died laughing

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:27

            I saw he’s suddenly got a lot of Warframe achievements.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:28

            Admiral was showing him the ropes this weekend and I was being fabulously pink as usual

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:34

            I did heavy syndicate rep farming this weekend because of the double drops. Only syndicate item I’m missing out of the ones I’m in is the Perrin syndana. All weapons & mods bought. 😀

            I also embarrassed myself during the melee-only MD 3rd sortie mission. Haven’t died that many times in a mission since I don’t know when. Damn sapping ospreys nailed the hell out of me every 5 seconds.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:35

            I found valkyr as the only way out on those mission, did quite a few of them this weekend when helping out friends 😛

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:39

            Heh. A remarkably patient Valkyr kept on reviving me. Presumably because I was doing a crapload of damage with shield polarise when I was managing to stay alive long enough to use it.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:43

            When Valkyr stack reaches 1000 all the things just melt with a simple slide swipe. Inaros is building and only need systems for Atlas and Nezha, got to try and complete those 2 soon. Admiral already overtook me xD

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 10:43

            WOOOOT

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:44

            O, I am chasing you this weekend 😛

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 10:44

            Level 16 is so, so close!

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:45

            I am crafting a butt load of stuff to level in one go. Get some good music and a beer and let the leveling begin !

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 10:56

            Hahaha, I have about 8 things waiting for me, as well as the Ash frame, Inaros is almost there, so then I’ll have two.

            Going to be so far ahead you’d need a week’s leave to catch up!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:59

            I had enough Ash parts to build him 30/40 times over. Made a ton of credits selling them heh.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:00

            Yeah I only needed the helmet, I still have a truckload of the other parts

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:00

            I have no idea how you get those leveled up so fast, I always a have a new secondary and melee on me at all times.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:00

            I
            R
            SPAAAAACE
            NIIIIIIINJAAAAAAAAAAAAA

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:00

            I
            R
            Smell a space rat

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:01

            Lies, Rince doesn’t play Warframe!

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:01

            xD

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:03

            Actually he does lol – that’s probably why there’s infestation leaking into our orbiter compartments.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:04

            Ewwwwwwwwwwww

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:03

            I spent a lot of my in game time formaing a lot and upgrading mods to get the most boom out my guns and bows. So my leveling was put on the back burner. But that time is done, now only leveling awaits MUHAHAHAHA!

          • Yvette

            March 23, 2016 at 12:19

            Sooo glad you guys are actually still playing this since I finally have my own laptop and am no longer that girl who just plays on her man’s pc or ps4! SPACE NINJAS FTW

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 23, 2016 at 13:28

            Awwwwyeah!

            PC?

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:00

            Draco? ;P

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:01

            I don’t think he uses Draco

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:02

            What is Draco?

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:06

            Draco is a mission we use to level stuff fast, mind numbingly boring, but it gets the job done.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:10

            Planet?

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:11

            Ceres, I have taken you there a lot, you will recognize it fast.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:11

            Oh THAT one!

            LOL

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:11

            I have the money one on ceres and just above it is Draco for leveling.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:13

            I’ve still got SO many normal missions to complete as well as the campaign etc, so yeah, gonna be far ahead!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:02

            Anyway, just wait until you both experience the pleasure of Archwing grinding. I mean, I like Archwing, but damn – that is some time-consuming crap.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:04

            Don’t remind me!

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:07

            I will focus on that if I ever get all the frames.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:10

            I sell some of them, but keep the Prime ones

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:14

            Now if only we knew someone who is good with AW to help get us the Atlas frame…

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:14

            Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:15

            I actually have a new AW built, just needs to be taken out for a….spin

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:18

            Which one? Itzal? That’s my favourite one.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:26

            Indeed!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:17

            Who was that masked man?!

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:19

            I also have to start looking out for mutalist alad V keys so I can get Mesa

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:25

            I’ve got one key I think. Got 5 or 6 T3Cs again now as well. Maybe we can all spend some time on good old farming on Friday again. I’ve been hitting the T2Surv every other day or so looking for the Nikana P blade, no luck bah.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:27

            Yup good old fasioned farming runs sound fun. Also hitting the T2 surv for blade, just got a bunch of kek so far

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:35

            I don’t mind the ducat fodder after Baro bankrupted me. I even got the noggle heh. T2Surv is so boring though. I spend the first 10 min exploring the whole map looking for rare crates & looting everything. Next 10 is running around 1 room in figure 8’s blowing everything to bits. Yay.

          • Ottokie

            March 22, 2016 at 11:50

            Also got myself the noggle, but luckily I had all the slash mods from a previous event, but I am still broke on ducats

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:27

            I have one spare actually

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 11:27

            I also have a key ready

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:55

            I have a BLADE spare, not a key.

            NOW, which one of you monkeys to give it to?

            Seeing as you gave me a Simulor, you might just get it…

          • Ottokie

            March 22, 2016 at 11:58

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 12:00

            AT gif to schway me? Dammit you know me too well!

            Just keep the pink things away from me

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 12:00

            Unless it is PB

          • Ottokie

            March 22, 2016 at 12:02

            PB = Prime Blade I guess 😛

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 12:35

            Princess Bubblegum you noob!

          • Ottokie

            March 22, 2016 at 12:43

            Awww damn, well it was an honest mistake and a coincidence PB had multiple meanings in this chat xD

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 12:46

            Hahaha

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:11

            I literally need 3 parts to have every bit of Archwing gear. 1 from Formorian alerts, 1 from the high-lvl interception… and one from the high-lvl defense – and that one is painful. Looking at 30/40 minutes to go 4 rounds.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:47

            Inaros is very cool – was owning the tac alert with him. Did the last mission 10 times & ended up with around 50 revives in total, but not one for me.

            Nehza is the only basic frame I’m missing, been doing sorties again to try get his parts, been getting cores, Sheev parts & lenses instead bah.

            I’ve barely used Valkyr. It’s funny how quick you lose sense of your frames. Took Zephyr out for a spin the other day & it took me a while to get the hang of the floaty movement again… and she’s my most played frame.

          • Ottokie vs the forces of Evil

            March 22, 2016 at 10:50

            LOL, Zephyr is kind of your iconic frame for me, and your rackta cernos. I need to get back into Sorties soon.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 10:53

            I don’t I’ve taken her on a sortie, I should rectify that. Normally it’s Loki, Nyx or Mag. It’s not like she can be shot.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 10:57

            Same

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:12

            It was quite fun teaching him the advanced moves and dropping little hints as to what to pick up and to shoot the security cams and NOT run through the yellow beams lol

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 22, 2016 at 11:31

            Now take him on a sortie. 😀

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            March 22, 2016 at 11:55

            Hahaha, he needs a level 30 frame first!

    • HvR

      March 22, 2016 at 10:31

      For me it was worth it as a first event as a person who have never been to gaming expo.

      But if they do not get bigger venue and all the things you mentioned + cosplay competition I won;t be going next year.

      Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 22, 2016 at 10:46

      The indie dev section at EGE was fantastic last year (that 4-player mech game was the shit!). It’s a pity they didn’t have something similar at rAge, especially considering how many devs we have down here.

      Reply

    • Darren Peach

      March 22, 2016 at 12:01

      When you peel back the layers of expectation, You will soon find it’s just a trade show with a huge lan and not much else.

      Reply

  9. Admiral Chief in New York

    March 22, 2016 at 09:51

  10. DragonSpirit009

    March 22, 2016 at 09:51

    I enjoyed rAge! It was my first one so I have nothing to compare. But for me it was fun. Played on both the Xbox and PS4 which made me super happy and I got a Toothless hat and a mug with the Targaryen Crest on it. Luckily Sunday wasn’t so packed!

    Reply

  11. Umar

    March 22, 2016 at 09:54

    It’s going to be VERY interesting to see what EGE does this year.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      March 22, 2016 at 09:54

      The build-up will have us on the EGE of our seats. It’s going to be THE MOST entertaining.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief in New York

        March 22, 2016 at 09:56

        ^This

        Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 22, 2016 at 10:43

      Well they already changed the dates so that it will be after E3 to score some preview code, and they’ve already doubled in size for their venue.

      Reply

  12. iusedtobe(a)regular

    March 22, 2016 at 10:02

    Sucks that it was in CT though. Would have loved to have made it 4 years in a row.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      March 22, 2016 at 10:03

      There’s still a Jhb one later this year. It’ll be the full experience.

      Reply

      • iusedtobe(a)regular

        March 22, 2016 at 11:56

        Cool, thanks! I did not know this.

        Reply

  13. PoisonedBelial

    March 22, 2016 at 10:24

    They worked on rAge for 2 years and that is what we got? It was pretty much the same as EGE!

    Personally, I felt very disappointed. It seemed, to me at least, like an afterthought.

    There were way too few stalls, and the 1’s that were there were all pretty much selling the same type of things.

    If I wanted to go somewhere to watch people playing games, I’d stay home and watch it on twitch.

    If it is like this again next year, I’ll definitely give it a skip.

    Reply

  14. ZenoDiac

    March 22, 2016 at 10:43

    Oh so true, I totally agree with this article even though I too was not yet at rAge, Jo’burg. The expo was a real downer from what I expected – man I would have been pissed if I bought a weekend pass! As you said, 20 min, then you’ve seen everything. I did, however, managed to get my hands on a nifty Google Cardboard.
    At least I was not the only cosplayer and the LAN was fun!
    But those rubber duckies… omgosh, plz no, not again.

    Reply

  15. Kervyn Cloete

    March 22, 2016 at 10:48

    I completely forgot to mention, Saddest Booth Award goes to Takealot. It was literally just one guy standing in a 1m x 1m alcove sandwiched between two other stands sadly looking at people walk by. No banners, no flyers, nothing. I was almost moved to give the guy a warm blanket and a home cooked meal, just to make myself feel better about walking past him.

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      March 22, 2016 at 10:50

      Lol. Saw that. Also, no signage outside whatsoever.

      Reply

  16. RinceThis

    March 22, 2016 at 10:52

    The timing was rubbish. Why put this in March when there are bugger all games about to land I don’t know.

    Reply

  17. Darren Peach

    March 22, 2016 at 11:59

    It is a novelty at best these days. Cape Town, Give it 3 or 4 years and you will realise that it is not something that adds much value to your life. But if you ask yourself, Do I want a Rage that I can easily contemplate not going to with a small chance that I might…..Then it’s totally worth it.

    Reply

  18. Graham Fielies

    March 22, 2016 at 14:42

    Good report, nailed it actually.
    Looking forward to a better rage in 2016…

    Reply

  19. Jack

    March 22, 2016 at 20:27

    I agree that event was down right boring but at least I got my money back at the more fun side at black jack tables

    Reply

  20. NoTyp3

    March 23, 2016 at 06:53

    This article is so accurate Lol my 2 year old son advised me after 30 minutes to take him home to play games rather.

    Reply

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