The SXSW 2018 Gaming Expo

The SXSW Gaming Expo was from March 15th through the 17th at the Austin Convention Center. The SXSW Gaming Expo had hundreds of gaming exhibitors and this year they had over 46,000 attendees! It is clear SXSW attendees take gaming seriously. The SXSW Gaming Expo had an Esports Tournament Stage, Indie Corner, Tabletop Experience, PC Arena, Arcade Bunker, Discovery Stage and Pitch Competition. Though we wanted to highlight all the SXSW Gaming Expo exhibits we weren’t able to make it to every exhibit. We were able to make it to the The esports Tournament Stage and The Arcade Bunker which were both one of the busiest areas in the Austin Convention Center. Below are the highlights for both The esports Tournament Stage and The Arcade Bunker plus the winner of the Pitch competition.The esports Tournament Stage featured trending esports titled tournaments with competitors in their respective scenes. The SXSW Gaming tournaments included:

  • Arena of Valor Collegiate Showdown
    • In the Arena of Valor Collegiate Showdown at SXSW Gaming, top players from the University of Texas’ Longhorn Gaming team and Texas A&M University’s A&M Esports will battle as a team with their school’s pride on the line.
  • Injustice 2 Ground Zero
    • Injustice 2 Ground Zero is a single-day open tournament on the SXSW Gaming Tournament Stage, a traditional FGC open competition for a cool $20,000 USD prize pool.
  • Super Magical Cup: Kings of the Hill
    • Super Magical Cup: Kings of the Hill is a fresh and fun take on a King of the Hill 3v3 format, pitting the world’s best Clash Royale teams against one another in a battle for Super Magical Bragging Right.
  • Super Magical Cup: Open Play
    • Super Magical Cup: Open Play is an open format where any SXSW Gaming attendees can join the competition, claim the $20,000 prize pool, and get the attention of the professional organizations who will be live at the event (as well as those tuning in online).

The Arcade Bunker exhibit included gaming tournaments, classic arcade cabinets, and several newly-fitted rigs featuring the latest games. Their gaming tournaments carried on throughout SXSW included:

  • Dragon Ball FighterZ Arcade Tournament
  • Catherine Tournament
  • Street Fighter V Arcade Tournament
  • Super Mario Strikers Tournament
  • Super Smash Bros. Wii U Tournament
  • Windjammers Neo Geo Tournament
  • Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo Tournament
  • WWE 2K18 Tournament
  • GoldenEye 007 Tournament
  • Killer Queen Arcade Tournament

SXSW Gaming Play Sessions Included:

  • Air Hockey Ultimate Icebreakers
  • Donkey Kong High Score Challenge
  • Pac-Man High Score Challenge
  • Pinball High Score Challenge
  • Arcade Nostalgia with The Attack
  • Mortal Kombat II Challenge: Defeat Mortal Tombat

The Arcade also had Open Play and Fun Times where attendees can play classic arcade games and current games every day of the SXSW Gaming Expo. This is where we spent most of our time, how can you turn down playing free classic games?

The SXSW Gaming Pitch Competition format was two part of the first round pitches before a panel of judges who provided additional mentorship and guidance and the second before a live audience. This year and after a competitive day of pitches Disembodied took home the win in the 2018 SXSW Gaming Pitch Competition.

Before I left I had to check out the HyperX Cloud Headset as audio is one of my favorite accessories. I tried on a few and tested the audio and my mind was blown! Per HyperX, each Cloud model is designed to keep you on top of your game longer by providing award-winning comfort through its signature HyperX™ memory foam. 53mm drivers and closed ear cups team up to deliver total audio immersion and pump out precision sound. Built with a durable aluminum frame, every headset in the Cloud line is engineered to tank daily damage and keep coming back for more. Cloud’s detachable noise-cancelling mic transmits loud and clear. I hope they send me one to do a product review so stay tuned! To learn more about HyperX Cloud Headsets click here.

They haven’t posted the winners of the SXSW Gaming Awards yet however if you want to check out the nominees please visit: https://gaming.sxsw.com/awards/. If you want to learn more about the Indie Corner, Tabletop Experience, Discovery Stage and PC Arena during SXSW Gaming click here. For more information about SXSW Gaming Expo please visit: https://gaming.sxsw.com/.

We had a blast at the SXSW Gaming Expo and can’t wait for next year!

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Source: SXSW, HyperX, AMD, esports