GameIndustry.ph

Written by: Yasunari Ramon Suarez Taguchi
Publication: Philstar.com - The Freeman
Date published: October 15, 2014

CEBU, Philippines – The third iteration of the Philippine e Sports Organization (PeSO)-spearheaded "eSports Festival" in Cebu went its course without encountering any snags - effectively living up to its goals of being one of the biggest electronic sporting events to take place in the city.

Held in the SM City Cebu Tradehall on September 12 to 14, one of the highlights of the three-day event took shape in the Asian Championship for the 2014 International e-Sports Federation (IeSF) World Championships - which is slated to take place in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan on November 12 to 17.

Gathering the best "Defense of the Ancients 2" (DoTA 2), "StarCraft II," "Ultra Street Fighter 4," "Tekken Tag Tournament 2," and "Hearthstone," players in Asia, teams from six Asian countries and over 500 players from different parts of the Philippines participated in the event - besting each other in tourney-elimination rules.

Cebu's team "Arcanys" managed to place third in this year's Asian Championship's DoTA 2 tourney, with South Korea's team "MVP.Phoenix" and Manila's "MSI evoGT" respectively placing in first and second.

The winners of this year's Asian Championship's tournaments earned a spot in the upcoming world championship this November.

As with the previous years' eSports Festivals in Cebu, this year's festival was not only about games - as events like a Cosplay competition, a PC Rig exhibition, photography competitions, and a Clash of Clans meet-up was also part of its scheduled itinerary.

Organized by the PeSO with the support of GameX and Sun Cellular, this year's eSports Festival is easily a step up from its previous iterations - as it hosted the 2014 Asian Championships for the upcoming 2014 World Championships, a step up from the previous years' eSports Festivals which hosted the Philippine Qualifiers for the IeSF World Championships.