Granado Espada ANZ Blog - Ocenia the Wizard

Hi guys,

Finally I can touch my blog again (even though I am not a really blogger ><). But still I can’t wait to release this field report about what happening on Brisbane’s RLE. Some of you must be waiting about this. This event is much more challenging than Melbourne one but of course we’re getting better. We have to admit that it’s not really close to a perfect event like WCG since this is more like gathering around with some players, attracting new players and have some fun all day and more fun during the contest. By the way, I will cut the intro and move directly into the highlights of the day.

Program List (21-22 June 2008)

On Saturday, 21st June 2008, we had the Leticia Booth set up a bit later than Melbourne’s event. At first, we were a bit relaxed as we thought it will be a quite morning like what happened in Melbourne. But, surprisingly not long after we finished setting up the booth, banners and posters, there was a player from Malaysia - he flew from Kuala Lumpur to participate our event. Can you imagine that? LOL… Actually this lucky lad is in Brisbane for a month for work and when he read about this event, he knew he has to come and be part of it. He is one of the first guys who experienced the CyberCafe Buff in the CyberCafe.
Thanks H! Our days were merrier with your accompany. I hope you had fun together with the Australian players at our small event.

I have to admit that it is surprisingly challenging to get other genre players to even try Granado Espada. I think some players who came on that day already have their own agenda or engagements so when we offered them free hour to try GE they were very reluctant and only some of them kindly say they will try it later. I really hope that they try it, since they can  make use of the CybeCafe Buff, anyway there is nothing I can do if they do not try, they will never know the difference  >< I bet it is just like our daily life, we have our ups and downs in a day. I consider that as our down point and of course we had our up point too. That is when we managed to run “Top Speed” Alpha Test smoothly without any problems. For one to two hours, we had fun with this alpha test. We gathered up around 10 people to try the game and had a car racing. It reminded me to watch “Speed Racer” in the cinema. Thanks to IAHGames who provided us the test accounts. TopSpeed is such as cute, relaxing and fun online car racing game. But have to warn you, it is very addictive. You may want to keep trying until you win ^^. We were there till 7 pm, and we have a champion for “TopSpeed” test who is a young handsome hardcore gamer and he is working at our host cybercafé. He played almost all PC games and what I envy the most is he has a collection of costumes in Granado Espada and he’s one of our ANZ vis-lionner that I know so far. I am thinking maybe we should put up a hall of fame for local players achievements in different categories: Richest player, most popular GE Family, etc. Anyway, let us discuss it again in the future. Psst… that night I am pretty sure that I was dreaming about having all those costumes and characters in all my servers. ^^

About the Competition

On Sunday morning, we had few others new players who came for the trials. GE has beautiful graphics and some of them just came because of the banner that we displayed at the main door. Well, time flies very fast and not long after that we have to get ready for levelution competition. But hold on, there was a problem. At the time when we should ready to start the briefing, we only had a quarter of registered participants turned up. So pre-competition was a bit tense, we had to ring up all other the participants who have not showed up. Well, this was another down point in the day. At the end, we started the competition about an hour later than schedule. Every minute was ticking slower than usual during the waiting. ^^* Luckily the rest of the day is getting much better. In Brisbane, we also have 50% - 50% of existing players and new players. I can see that some of the players were truly preparing themselves in advance. As results, we have 1st winner with level 18, 2nd winner with level 17 and 3rd winner with level 15. We had a funny story from our 3rd winner. She got “PK”ed during the competition. LOL… but she still can win the game. She’s so cool. Btw, have I mentioned I am so thrilled to finally meet other female players? I finally met female players in Brisbane.

Winners of Levelution

1st prize winner

2nd prize winner

3rd prize winner

Acknowledgement
Final words for you, Brisbane event’s participants, thank you for your participations in this event and I understand there are lots of rooms for improvement. We will try our best to give you better event in the future. Personally I hope to can meet you all again in-game soon. The last event will be in Sydney, 28 June 2008 – Sunday, 29 June 2008. Spread the news to your Sydney friends and also remind them to bring one or two friends along because we still have lots of freebies to give out. ^^

Let’s also gives credit for our local distributor OnlineGamez Australia who is preparing and managing this event with the supports and contributions from IAHGames, IPM CyberCafe, CheapCard.com.au and Next Media - without them there will be never a Granado Espada Real Life Event in Australia.

Click here to view all photos from the event.

Cheers!

Howdy ANZ community,

Are you waiting for my news about last weekend event? Well, simply say whoever asked me how was my weekend, I would say my last weekend was FUN-TASTIC. I was thrilled to be able to meet other players in real life (Yes yes.. you are right. They asked me why I seldom go online now…. So I have to spent my first few minutes doing the explanation session to gain their understanding and forgiveness because I “afk” most of the time or just disappear TT).

Click here below link to view all photos from the event.

Join in the post-event discussion here.

Check out next event here.

Anyway, if you would like to know in detailed what happened last weekend and get brief information about what the next event looks like, you can view the Program List below.

The Program Guide for Melbourne Event (14-15 June 2008)

I have to confess I was confused and a little bit stressed at the beginning of my first day because it was very quite and “dead” (remind me of grave yard – yeah… I am exaggerating a little bit ^^). For your info, it was the beginning of exams week, I have to admit it has huge impact on this event but slowly everything was changed and it was getting more exciting because I met a GE expert (I can only admire his collection of characters and equipments while wondering when I can have those nice collection of achievements ><) and also some cute and enthusiastic players (new and existing). Not all of our planned activities can be done accordingly like The Top Speed Alpha Test has to be cancelled due to technical problems. Everything else was getting better on the next day; more and more new players interested to join and try the First FREE Hour. Even though, there was a change of plan for the Competition time, we have to move it from 11 am to 1 pm, everything else was adjusted accordingly and it run smoothly afterwards.

About the competition
This competition was filled with a very well-balanced combination of players, the first halves were new players (some of them just opened their account on the day too) and the other halves were existing players (all of them were excited to be able to meet up and socialize with other players in the real life). It begun with a short briefing by our cute amateur MC ^^ (he’s actually the Manager of OnlineGamez Australia, GE distributor in ANZ). After a while, finally all players can be gathered up in front of the Queen’s Gate and then they started their journey to level up most in 45 minutes.

While waiting for other players to join up to the meeting point.

Click here below link to view all photos from the event.

Join in the post-event discussion here.

Check out next event here.

Winners of Levelution
CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN TO ALL THE WINNERS OF LEVELUTION!

The 1st prize is won by a cute and quiet bloke from Monash University (I think he’s quiet – as I did not have chance to really talk to him after the event because now he’s busy studying for exam). Yup…. He loves GE and he know it is worth it to come and try his luck to get that shiny and exclusive Limited Edition Box plus. His effort was not wasted because his point was proven by winning himself the 1st prize and memory of lifetime. He secured his position with level 16 for all of his characters.

1st Prize

The 2nd prize is won by a young and handsome executive who admits hasn’t been playing GE for a while because of work, but still loves GE and looking forward to play again, especially after he got his very own My Bellem Box now. He’s only 1 level lower than 1st winner and secures his 2nd best position on level 15 for all his characters.

2nd Prize

The 3rd prize is won by a very bright lad who will be the future architect from University of Melbourne. I know this guy in-game few months back, he’s one of the pioneers in Australia community, together with a group of friends, they play actively in Cervantes server. He secured his position as 3rd winner on level 14 for all his characters.

3rd Prize

All other contestants did not do too bad, as they were not too far away between each other’s level, all of them in the range of level 10-13 for their characters. They did not go back empty-handed. All levelution participants were rewarded with an eco-friendly GE goodies bag each, consists of a game magazine, movie tickets and some in-game items.

Farewell
We wrapped up the event with Lucky Draw event. Another special hamper was prepared and more freebies were given out on this time for those who stays behind. Btw, I got the honor to draw prizes for these lucky people. A special hamper was given to a very lucky “just come” participant. He just tried GE for couple minutes when I called his name. And again our Master of Leveler, Mr. Simon, won another prize from the lucky draw. That is a double luckiness. ^^ Not long after that, after few casual chats (I managed to interview few prominent players – reports coming up) and photo takings, finally its times for farewell. I was sad to know it’s time to farewell when I just started to feel some bond created and fun. Fun time sure flies very fast. We’re wishing each other all the best and hoping to see each other again in the future. I am so happy to hear that they are looking forward for the next event. Me too guys.

Acknowledgment
Thank you guys for your participations in this event and we’re definitely going to have future event. I hope to see you again in-game soon. And now, I have to get ready for the next event which will be held in Brisbane on Saturday, 21 – Sunday, 22 June 2008. Remember to spread this news around and be there on the event. Also don’t forget to bring one or two friends too because we have lots of freebies to give out. ^^

Let’s also gives credit for our local distributor OnlineGamez Australia who is preparing and managing this event with the supports and contributions from IAHGames Pte Ltd., N2C CyberCafe, CheapCard.com.au and Next Media - without them there will be never a Granado Espada Real Life Event in Australia.

Click here below link to view all photos from the event.

Join in the post-event discussion here.

Check out next event here.

Every year, 5 June, World Environment Day is celebrated around the world. Many people, countries, cities, towns and villages celebrate this day with United Nations.

Last year, 2007, more than 100 countries reported thousands of activities, not only on the day itself, but often for an entire week, and sometimes even a whole month. More and more activities are organized and it involves with many sectors of society, including governments, non-governmental organizations, business, industry, inter-governmental organizations, civil society, media and schools.

So on this special day, I would like invite you, your friends, or even your families to celebrate this day together. Register your activity to save the earth and share it with GE commuity here.