This year’s main stage, under construction
Continuing our tradition of World Cyber Games day-before previews, we bring you directly to the floor of Suntec Convention Centre Halls 402 and 403 to offer a glimpse into the setup process and the activities that will be happening over the four tournament days.
Before we take a closer look at the booths, here’s the floor plan for this year, lifted directly from the event directory boards being setup around the hall.
Floor plan
The very first thing you’ll notice is that the faux-brick printed walls and wooden props are giving way to a more modern, metallic look in the event hall this year. This is in line with this year’s WCG Asian Championship theme of racing, and a striking contrast from 2007’s medival theme.
The main stage is heavily influenced by the race theme, with metal grids and strobe lighting dominating the backdrop. There is also a pair of "cockpits" taking the shape of race tyres, to be used for the 1v1 stage games.
The cockpit
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 booth makes heavy use of corrugated metal and offers an "Xbox ProShop", keeping in line with the racing theme.
Xbox 360 booth
As I’m typing this, workers have just brought in a bona fide Formula One racecar for display in the Intel booth. It’s still a mystery as to what the final plans for the Intel booth are, but the car is sure to up the cool factor by quite a bit.
F1 Racecar being brought in
The tournament area this year is more compact than in last year. The PC being used feature Intel Core 2 Quad processors, 2GB of RAM, GF 9600GT and are topped off with Samsung’s gorgeous T220 22" LCD monitors. The PCs are also available for sale after the event. For more details on the tournament computers and sales promotion, click here.
Tournament Area
Apart from the usual gaming-related exhibitors, there are also auto-related booths this year. There is a souped up Honda Integra and a Mitsubishi Lancer on display, and some auto workshops have set up shop here too.
We’ll bring you another preview later tonight, when the hall is more settled and finalized.
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