Well... what a weekend! As you may know if you've read my PAX or TGX articles, I travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne to check out yet another gaming event, and this time I flew in to suss out DreamHack during April 28 - April 30.
This was my first DreamHack, and I think I can confidently say it was a huge success, with a lot of great memories attached to it. With massive crowds spanning across the 3 days, lots of goodies given away, and just a general sense of a love for all things gaming - be it video games, board games or Esports. From a large range of freeplay on gaming PC's and laptops, to watching intense matches of CS:GO, there was lots to see and play.
Oh, and not to mention when you walked down the concourse or went to the bathroom, video game soundtracks were playing on loop. From Assassin's Creed to Halo Reach, there was something for everyone to enjoy! So, here's my wrap up from DreamHack Melbourne 2023, and what went down.
ESL Challenge CS:GO Tournament
Throughout the 3 days, eight e-sport teams from around the globe competed in this CS:GO Tournament. These teams included Grayhound Gaming (Australia), Vertex ESC (Australia), Ecstatic (Denmark), Complexity (USA), Evil Geniuses Black (Canada\USA), Movistar Riders (Spain), Bad News Eagles (Kosovo) and Rare Atom (China) battled it out to claim the ultimate victory.
Throughout my schedule, I was able to sit in on a few matches and watch each team play at least once. All matches were genuinely a great watch, some a little intense, and the atmosphere from the crowd made the experience even better. I previously hadn't watched a tonne of Esports, but I think from now on I'm going to make more of an effort to do so.
After many intense matches, it boiled down to Movistar Riders and Bad News Eagles. Ultimately though, it was Movistar Riders who played their way to victory with a 2-0 win! Also a fun fact in case you weren't aware, Movistar Riders were actually a last minute replacement as Mongolian team, The MongulZ, were no longer able to compete in this tournament. So, yeah, well done Movistar Riders! (and also well done to each team that competed)
Meet and Greet
Meet and Greets/Signings included Esport teams to content creators, including;
Mop Garden
owldamone
Misfits
LCO GF Teams
Click Crew
Grayhound Signing
Trash Taste
LexiGraham, Ashanyx and Briziana
Vertex Signing
ToastRack
Bad News Eagles Signing
Movistar Riders signing
SideLogic
TSM
And our friend from Attack on Geek!
Check it out, and win a few goodies
Dispersed throughout the venue with gaming pc's, laptops and goodies to win included;
Monster Energy corner - Free cans of different Monster flavours, plus a haircut if you wanted!
DreamHack RPG = Spin to Win wheel. Players had to scan various QR codes around the event and collect points in order to spin that wheeeel (Yours truly managed to get a few prizes)
AOC
AORUS
ASUS ROG
GOAT Club
LG Booth
UMART/MSY
MSI
Get your game on
Here's what players watched and played;
Valorant 5v5 Bracket play
Fortnite Bracket Play
Rocket League
Counter-Strike 2
Street Fighter
FGC casuals
Fortnite Solos Block #1
BYOC - Call of Duty 4v4 Bracket play | Fortnite Solos Heat #1
Smash Ultimate: Arcadian
Smash Ultimate Pool Play
Dragon Ball fighters Casuals/Pool
Guilty Gear Casuals
Street Fighter V | Tekken 7 Casuals
Archery Warz
Just Dance
Various board games
+ consoles with various games
But that's not all!
Cosplay Iron Chef
Guilty Gear Strive Stream
Trash Taste Podcast
Twitch Streamer Battle
and even Trivia
Music Acts
On Friday and Saturday night, these music artists ended the night with a bang;
Brambles
Jade Zoe
Mashd N Kutcher
Godlands
Taffa
Luke Million
Foura
Panels
(Not sure if all ended up going ahead)
Strike a Pose! A Beginners Guide to posing for photos in costume
Building a community on twitch
LCO Allstars vs TSM
Gamergirls in streaming
Cosplay photography and posing
TeamOCE's guide to live streaming & content creation: A Q&A panel
The tools and techniques used to improve Esports teams
A guide to Overwatch Esports
LARP/immersive experiences
Michelle Pain Esports Psych
The Rise of Mobile Esports
JustBeCos presents the Wonderful, Exciting. Entertaining Beautiful Show
Parents in Esports - (We love supportive parents!)
DreamHack Melbourne Students Day
Plus of course, cosplay, videography and photography!
Overall, the three days were exciting, fun and tiring (but worth it). The best part about DreamHack though was whether you've been gaming since arcade machines, memory cards or if you're new to gaming - there was a bit of something for all types of players.
We hope you had an excellent time, managed to score some goodies, and made some awesome memories. Oh, and if you saw a person in a blue flannel dabbing on the 360 Photo Both on the Saturday - no you didn't lol. Until the next gaming event, happy gaming whatever platform you're playing on!
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