Edwin Wong: 1st Half Gaming Review - “This Side of Earth”

July always seems a good time to review what has happened from January to June.

It also means that if I don’t do this now, and August comes along, I automatically become tardy and untimely in my review! So here goes…

MALAYSIA
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Gaming looking good all round, with increase in sales of designer games, retail stores and even online stores. After a wonderful Christmas, where Battlelore and Marvel Heroes made their debut, there was AT-43 (January), Lifeboats, Iliade, Formula De (May) and Tide of Iron (June). More than enough to keep gamers happy!

On the downside, the Singapore game cafe chain, Settlers Cafe, went out of business in KL late last year, almost at the same time they closed down their Bangkok branch. Although successful in Singapore, with 3 branches, perhaps gamers in Malaysia and Thailand weren’t quite ready to pay to play designer games?

Convention wise, the year kicked off with a bang in Melaka (1.5 hours from KL) where The Multimedia University held the 2nd GACC (Games, Animae, Comics Convention) in April. Packed to the brim, it was bigger and better than last year, and we know it will be even bigger and better next year! GAMECON-1.5, aka mini-GAMECON, took place in June as (the non-electronic) part of Asia Game Zone, the largest computer/console game convention in the country.

Competition wise, the 1st Settlers of Catan Qualifiers kicked-off during Asia Game Zone, the 2nd completed at Mage Cafe two weeks back, and the 3rd scheduled for this Sunday at Toybox. After that, another 3 qualifiers before the national finals in September, most likely at Starbucks - last year’s host. The inaugural FISTF Table Soccer League & Cup is also scheduled to kick-off next week, and the Formula De season is pending finalization.

On the awareness side, aside from The Star’s fortnightly “Cards & Boards” column, we now have the weekly “Think” column in the Saturday edition of The New Straits Times. Gamers have also been active conducting 3D miniature figure painting workshops, giving talks on designer games to large corporations including Standard Chartered Bank, and at the Regional English Language Teacher’s Conference.

SINGAPORE
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Cafe gaming continues to be popular with all 6 cafes keeping busy.

Sales has steadily increased, especially with more gift & novelty stores now carrying designer games.

The gamers continue to be very active, with the Singapore Meet-Up group now meeting more than twice monthly, and branching out into several different meet-up groups, including one just for wargames.

The competition scene is alive and kicking, with the Settlers Qualifiers running up around the same time as in Malaysia.

However, it is the inaugural Mensa Singapore Select Awards that steals the thunder in Singapore, as gamers in the country gear up to judge and select some worthy winners!

THAILAND
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Despite the closure of the Bangkok branch of Settlers Cafe, the regular Bangkok Meet-Up has continued, albeit in the private residences of its members.

After the closure, the game cafe was acutally taken over by local investors/operators and renamed “iStyle” cafe. Unfortunately, despite changing the business model, they also folded after a few months. By contrast, the investors/operators who took over the closed Malaysian branch is seeing brisk business as Mage Cafe.

There are still no retail outlets selling designer games, and most of the gamers order their games from the many online stores.

INDONESIA
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Two stores selling designer games have sprung up this year, one in Jakarta and the other in Surabaya. We wish them well!

© 2007 Edwin Wong

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