Vendetta - V for Victory -- Success !!
Monday the 13th October saw Kwa-zulu Natal host the first Major Exhibition and Gaming event in its history. The best gamers in the country from Gauteng and Western Province voluntarily made the trip to this unique event, creating high quality and intensely competitive games. The Cyber Week opened on the 13th, with exhibitors boasting their latest equipment as a build up the weekend’s main events. Competitors competed in Defence of the Ancients (DotA) and Call of Duty 4 (CoD4) in an attempt to grab their hands on a portion of the R170 000 prize pool, the most attractive at any event in recent years.
The competition was indeed very fierce, the CoD4 tournament saw the three top ranked teams in the country compete, FiB, BFB and Pantheon Gaming. FiB were flying the home flag against their counterparts who all had players from Gauteng/Western Province.
The DotA saw current top ranked Team, Bravado fly up from Cape Town to compete against the KZN and Gauteng mixes of team Rainbow and team CNC.
With the competition starting on Friday evening, it was clear from the word go that the teams were well prepared and raring to go. The boys from Cape Town showed they meant business with a crunching opening round victory against local team, TiG. A strong title contender, CNC and RBW threw down the gauntlet shortly after with easy wins over STD and GAN respectively. This put tension in the air as the players rested for Saturdays fixtures.
CNC pulled off the first big win by knocking Rainbow down to the losers bracket, but were stopped in their tracks as Bravado drew first blood against CNC and booked their spot in the Grand Final. Once again it was CNC versus Rainbow, both teams edging for the remaining spot in the final. It was the semi final we all wanted, the longest match of the tournament that eventually saw CNC take victory and move on to the Grand Final on Sunday morning.
The CoD4 competition began with a round robin group stage, teams earned points for victories or losses, the top two teams left would move on to the final on Sunday. With three incredibly strong teams and only two spots available, matches got heated quickly. Team BFB from Johannesburg made the first big move with a draw against FiB, a match BFB were destined to lose. Pantheon however made their arrival known with a convincing victory over BFB. With the competition looking like it was all about Pantheon, FiB found some form and pulled off a stunning come-from-behind draw against Pantheon to secure their spot in the final. With the final games over, Pantheon and FiB were left to compete for the grand prize on Sunday afternoon while BFB secured third place.
Sunday was finals day, the exhibition area was buzzing with predictions and excitement at the possible outcomes of the upcoming matches. First up was Bravado versus CNC in the DotA final. Bravado’s experience and determination showed early on as they took control from the start and denied CNC any chance of getting back into the match, CNC did fight hard but despite efforts that for brief moments made it look as if they would turn it around, Bravado still walked away with the victory and R60 000 worth of prizes.
Each member of the five man Bravado team walked away with:
1x Gigabyte® Intel® GA-EP45-DQ6 Motherboard - Socket 775 Retail @ R3,999 each
1x Gigabyte® NVIDIA® GeForce 8800GT, 256MB 256Bit GDD Retail @ R2,199 each
1x LG L226WTQ-BF 22 inch Wide Screen LCD Monitor Retail @ R3,000 each
1x Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse Retail @ R930 each
2x Transcend 2GB DDR2 Overclocking Memory 240Pin Long-DIMM DDR2-1066+ Retail @ R999 each
CNC were still smiling as their prize was worth over R35 000 for second place.
The CoD4 final, FiB versus Pantheon gaming was without doubt the most exhilarating 45 minutes of the whole weekend. From the very first round of the 24 round match, the game was tight. With scores tied at the half way mark, the advantage was slightly in favour of Pantheon who were now moving into defence. FiB were unable to break through the Pantheon defence as effectively as their opponents, through consistently strong defence and some superb tactics Pantheon secured victory and the R40 000 grand prize while FiB walked away with a handy R16 000 in prizes.
Each member of the five man Pantheon team walked away with:
1x Gigabyte® Intel® GA-EP45-DQ6 Motherboard - Socket 775 (Info) Retail @ R3,999 each
1x LG L226WTQ-BF 22 inch Wide Screen LCD Monitor (Info) Retail @ R3,000 each
1x Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse (Info) Retail @ R930 each
The huge success of this event must be credited to the outstanding sponsorships from Rectron, Gigabyte, Logitech, LG, Transcend, GijimaAst, Neotel, Ipeg and finally the master behind it all Sheri G Promotions.
In conjunction with this exhibition event, an Open LAN or Bring your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN had been taking place with over 100 gamers playing all through Friday and Saturday evening. R36 000 worth of Thermal Take cooling equipment was given away at the Open LAN. The eight man Administration team ensured that all Open LAN competitors had a memorable experience and enjoyed the weekend’s activities to their fullest. All credit to these men who worked from Monday till the last gamer left and the last bit of equipment was packed away on Sunday evening. A huge thanks must go out to all those who participated in this event, especially those that traveled from far and wide. Further thanks to all the sponsors who not only made this event possible, but turned it into the incredible success that it was.
Lastly, a special thanks to Lasarith for all the planning an organisation before the event, during the event and after the event.
Credit to him for the article above. Thanks to SiD24 who assisted at the exhibition event making it run flawlessly and also to Vitrolic for running the CoD 4 timelessly.
All the galleries are finally up, and can be seen here.
Regards
The Vendetta Team
