Dreamhack Montreal 2019 - Overview

The Beginning

From September 6-8 I was in Montreal for Dreamhack and I wanted to talk about the event. First thing is first, if readers have never been to a LAN or a Dreamhack event, I highly encourage everyone to do so because there are a lot of benefits to attendance.

For one thing, spectators can meet their online friends in person. When I first went to an event, I met some of the people that I moderate for. In fact, I met a lot of Starcraft people since that is why we were there. Awesome people like Temp0, Eseipha, ZombieGrub (who wasn't an official Blizzard caster at that time), Rifkin of BasetradeTV, and WinterGaming were all there that year. It was definitely an event that I'm glad I had the opportunity to make. This was also the first time I had KBBQ, which was a fantastic experience.

I would say the second thing that people go for is the atmosphere. Drawing a comparison, the esports scene is very much like a comic con. People are there for the same reasons as you, and they tend to be quite knowledgable about the game. Also, it's great to be able to nerd out about the things you enjoy, regardless of your level of play.

The last thing I will touch on are the promotions that vendors have. Sometimes there are discounts on merchandise like at Canada Computers that are only available during Dreamhack. Other vendors will host other types of giveaways. Even further than that, each year there is a treasure hunt that people can participate in.

While there are many benefits to attending an event like Dreamhack, there are certain things that are staple to the experience.

BYOC

The biggest attraction for many people in the gaming industry are the BYOCers. These people bring their rigs to the event to participate in the open brackets. At the back of the stadium, there is an entire large section devoted specifically for the BYOC players. In fact, they are allowed to sleep at the event and as such, there is a dedicated area where they cannot be disturbed. I've never had the pleasure of being part of a LAN where I wasn't working in some capacity, so I can't elaborate more on that.

Indie Zone

James "Kaelaris" Carrol being funny

I would say the next biggest thing about Dreamhack would be the Indie Zone. Many game developers will showcase their games at Dreamhack and they offer players a chance to play. Not only do people get to play the games that might not be out, but they get the opportunity to speak query the game devs. This is a great way to engage with the prospective community, and for players, it's a great way to discover upcoming games. Once in a while, games that are already released are showcased at Dreamhack Montreal. I say this because it's the second year in a row that I've been meaning to play A Hat in Time and keep getting side tracked by other things. Whoops! Other games like Tech Support Unknown or The Darwin Project (which I did get to try out) have been featured at Dreamhack. As a person in the media, I love being able to discover new games in this way.

Cosplay Contest

The Rocket League Production Team

Of course, no event is complete without a cosplay competition. Each year I setup to record the cosplayers because they are amazing. This year, one of my personal favorite cosplayers was the gentleman that showed up as Cayde-6 from Destiny 2. While I didn't get everyone that was on stage, I did get several pictures and some clips for you guys to see that are included in my video below. Part of the reason I enjoy watching the cosplay contest is because people choose to showcase all kinds of characters, be it from movies or video games or anime. I also enjoy it because of the performances that people have. This year we had two fighting characters, a female Thor, and a brilliant cosplayer that portrayed Hellblade Senua. Not only does it take a lot of work to make these costumes but the performance adds to a cosplayers score. In the end, there are first, second, and third place winners. I'm sad that Cayde didn't win any of them. (It was all because he didn't have a crucial item to the character, imo. Watch the video to understand why.)

Major Esports

Jessica "ZombieGrub" C. and Nathan "Nathanias" Fabrikant

At every Dreamhack, there are various esports that can be seen. Not only do gamers get to see their favorite esport live, but they get to see the pro players. Sometimes, they can get autographs too!

The major esports shown at Dreamhack were games like Rocket League, Starcraft 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Brawlhalla, Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter Arcade, and Super Smash Bros Melee. There were areas dedicated to Clash of Clans and a stage devoted to a show match between Team Livid and Miss Harvey in CS:GO. Also, there was a Beat Sabre invitational that I sadly missed watching.

Each esport has their own brackets and Dreamhack had streams set up for many of them. Check out the various Dreamhack Twitch channels to catch up on the games from the last weekend!

Vendors

I can't write up something about Dreamhack without talking about some of the vendors and sponsors. As always, Dreamhack is sponsored by Omen, who always has an epic pillar which made me laugh for reasons I'm not going to go into. Also present were staple names like Canada Computers, MSI, Corsair, NVIDIA, Fire and Steel, and Monster (which you could get free drinks), just to name a few.
Of course, Loto Quebec has been apart of Dreamhack for quite some time because they sponsor the Indie Zone.

Left to Right: Me, FauxPawRL, and Liefx

And if I could say more more thing about the indies featured at Dreamhack, it would be that some of the showcased games can win awards! One title that had previously won the Pitch Championship is titled Mythic Ocean and they proudly tweeted about it in July 2018. For more information about the types of games that are on the list, please take a look at this site. Also note that on the list is a little game called Buoyancy which we recently reviewed.

Anyways, there are a ton of other vendors like ones that can customize any type of mousepad, pop culture LED lighting, and ModMyMods who have a prototype gaming desk specifically for streamers. A picture of that 300lbs desk is shown in the video below (with three monitors).

Overall Thoughts

I think this year I had the best time at Dreamhack. That may have been influenced by the fact that I had a lot to do, and I was able to watch Rocket League live, for the first time. (I've never made it to an RLCS or anything like that - shameful, I know.) I was glad to finally meet a bunch of people in the RL community.

As I said before, if Dreamhack has never been on your radar before, I highly encourage you to attend one. It's a fantastic time because you will be able to meet your online friends and perhaps chat with some of the pro players!

Check out Dreamhack's website, Twitter, and Twitch pages to keep up to date on the largest LAN event.




Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner - The Dreamhack Experience

From September 7 - 9th I attended Dreamhack in Montreal, which is a video gaming convention and competition for a number of esports. Prize pools were offered for Rainbow 6, Starcraft 2 (WCS Circuit), Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Shadowverse, Dreamhack Grand Prix (Hearthstone), and DreamHack Fighting Game Championship (Brawlhalla, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Street Fighter V). Each competition had its own prize pool.

This was the third time that I've attended Dreamhack in Montreal and I was impressed with certain things while other things were annoying.

The Venue - Pros and Cons

The location and layout of the venue had a bit of everything. The Olympic Stadium is designed with an extremely high capacity and had plenty of parking to facilitate such a crowd. The space was large enough to carry a ton of exhibitors as well as a full stage setup for at least eight different competitions.

Here are some of the pros and cons I found about the venue, but don't let this be a reflection of my whole experience. DreamHack was a ton of fun and quite chaotic. These points are simply observation so take this with a grain of salt.

Pros

• Had the capacity to support thousands of people
• The main floor was designed rather well
• The acoustics of the stages did not, for the most part, conflict with other stages
• It didn't feel as crowded as other events
• The venue wasn't as loud as other events
• Plentiful parking (unless you get lost because you parked in a garage far from the actual DH entrance. That was rectified the next day...)

Cons

• It was annoying to go up and down stairs just to see individual game stages
• The venue had extremely expensive food.
• The Stadium is not close to other food establishments
• The media room was hard to find
• The lighting in the venue was challenging to take awesome pictures (seriously.. although, next time I plan to have a much better camera)

Day 1

On day one, my friend and I arrived fairly late. This is practically a tradition at this point. Anyways, it wouldn't be DreamHack if there wasn't a little drama right when we arrived. (That will be an article for later. Trust me.)

The Sc2 stage was located close to the entrance. It also happened to be right next to the Rainbow 6 stage, which could have been an issue, but it wasn't. There was a point where our crowd was in competition with their crowd, but that was fine. (We won that battle.)

In fact, this is one of the reasons I liked the layout of the Olympic Stadium. So, props to whomever came up with the idea to face the stages towards the upper seats. As in, most of the stages were not facing the exhibition floor. By setting up the venue in this way, the acoustics of the stages spread out and away from each other, allowing the audience to hear their respective game stage.

Unlike the other Dreamhack events in Montreal, the first day was the time when I ran into most of my friends. Because of the layout and because I was taking a ton of video and pictures, I hardly saw people. This was the only day that I saw the biggest number of my friends. Considering that most of these people I only see once a year, that is a huge deal. Also, part of the reason I didn't get a chance to see them all was because of that same stage layout that I just praised in the above paragraph. True story.

Overall, I watched a whopping two matches of Starcraft and chatted with people. A lot of the reason for that is due to our arrival time which was roughly 5pm. We walked around, took pictures, then escaped for dinner.

Day 2

On day two, I spent more time running around than any other day. Not only did we arrive early, but there were tons of things to see. Rocket League had their BOYC tournament, the Bell Stage hosted the cosplay competition, and there was a ton of Starcraft. This was the day I realized which pro players were in the competition. (Even media people can fangirl sometimes...) Basically, I was over the moon.

I took a tour around the various exhibitors like Corsair, Canada Computers, Monster, and Omen. I encountered a vendor "Fire and Steel" that I've seen at other events during the year. They sell replica weapons from video games and pop culture. Anyways, a complete list of exhibitors can be found on the Dreamhack website so be sure to check them out.

I spent some time in the Indie Zone watching King of the Hat. This is a game where players have to kill their opponents by crushing their hat. It's essentially a fighting game but it looks fun as hell.

Also, Saturday was so busy for me that I ended up seeing only one match of Rocket League, one series of Starcraft, and the cosplay competition. The rest of the time I ended up tracking down people or food. Honestly, it was a noble quest!

Anyways, later that night, several of us ended up at the Meltdown. The owner remembers some of us from previous years, which is always nice. The people who hang out at the Meltdown are all gamers and are like family. Everyone is there to relax, drink, and chat with other esports people. So, if you haven't been to the Meltdown before, check out their website and try the Blue Flame Hellion. That is all. Just do that.

Day 3

Since we had a monstrously early day on Saturday, Sunday ended up being a bit of a lazy day... sort of. Once again I spent time taking more video footage, chatting with exhibitors, and then making it back to Starcraft for the Grand Finals. In fact, my phone was on the verge of death. So when the finals hit game six (which was a 30+ minute game), my battery had died. Thank goodness for the fact that the casters took a five minute break, which was just long enough for me to run back to the media room to partially charge my phone. I ran back out to the stage managing to get the winner and the interview on film.

Final Thoughts and Video

Dreamhack once again impressed me. There were tons of exhibitors, great friends, a distinct lack of sleep, and plenty of interesting things to see. In fact, when my friend and I went searching for dinner on Saturday, we ended up in a little community garden that was on the property of the Olympic Stadium. This small piece of heaven was much quieter and was hosting an open mic night. Truly this is part of Montreal's charm because it isn't for their driving...

Don't forget that DreamHack hosts several events each year and in many different countries. Be sure to follow their Twitter for future events!

Here is a video I put together from the event. Enjoy!

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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