REv Major is a fighting game event featuring several fighting game titles including Tekken 7, which has the biggest scene in the Philippines when it comes to the concerned genre. It debuted last year with its audiences singing it praises, even getting marketed with #DoItAgain. This year, they have stood to indeed, bring in everyone for a second round. This time with more at stake, with more names to feature, and even bring it live on national TV. So was the event as insane as last year? Maybe even better than that, but not without its own hiccups. So let’s break it down.

Entrance and Registration

Getting into the event really wasn’t much trouble. If you made it in time. Considering that fighting games is quite a niche genre, a huge line isn’t something you’d expect to see, with long lines piling up during the morning, but everything becomes a bearable state in the afternoon. However, the venue will generally be only able to seat mostly those who are actually playing in any of the event’s tournaments, spectator passes were available but limited to the capacity of the event. Once that number was met, the organizers no longer allowed entry. Considering how there was barely any elbow room by that time, it was an understandable decision.

Event Site and Booths

Like last time, REV Major had two setups for its 2 day event. Day one would have the entire place lined with PS4s (and some Wii Us/Gamecubes) to make sure all of the tournament organizers had enough stations to grind their brackets to be ready by the finals on day 2. The second would be a setup with bleachers mainly focused for the competitors of the final stages of the featured games. There were also a few shops that featured parts for fighter sticks, general merch from Long Live Play, Rage Drive, and an artist’s corner handled by Richard Suwono.

While the venue was already selling drinks on day 1, they added a shawarma stand just outside the venue on day 2. So in case you didn’t have time to wander the mall for food, it was entirely possible to keep yourself sustained on the go (though I’m fairly sure everyone was on-board the ‘Josiebee’ train). There were also promo girls walking around offering free Redbull, that was pleasant. When you got staff walking around handing freebies to exhausted attendees and competitors, you really feel taken care of.

Event Stage

The event had 2 separate hosts this time around, Billy of 99.5 PlayFM and Eri Neeman. Both of these personalities were well-known in the gaming community, and were able to keep the crowd engaged if they even needed help with that. One thing of note would be Eri’s surprise video feature on FilipinoChamp, which is something you should have seen last week.

The stage itself was well-lit and had a great theme running for the 1 versus 1 setting that each fighting game has. Behind the players was a gigantic LED screen that got everyone in on the action no matter where you are in the venue. Commentators, especially with Jiyuna at the helm, helped highlight each moment to the Filipino crowd who’s been known around the world to be the hypest one around. It was a bit of a shame that the audio was basically a blast to the past for the twitch stream, with clipping mics, badly balanced mixing and a dozen other unpleasant surprises. Thankfully most of these issues were fixed by the second day.

Security

At the time of this writing I haven’t caught wind of any untoward incidents for anyone who attended the event, no stolen/missing items or inappropriate behavior, except maybe a few incidents of people trying to move past each other in a seriously packed venue. The presence of bouncers kept things in order and the stage safe from unnecessary disturbances.

One problem, however, was how some of the guests were constantly requested for photos and autographs despite being obviously still invested in the tournament. Yes, this was later fixed by simply having a bouncer assigned to them, allowing the guests to interact with fans on their terms, but it didn’t reflect very well for the PH crowd. Certainly, nobody actually wants to be described as a ‘thirsty fanboy,’ so let’s not give the public ammo to make that claim, Ok?

Perhaps it would be better in the future for the event to make an official avenue for fans and guests to interact properly. This could be simply an area near the venue and maybe it can be a tie-up with those selling merchandise. Set a schedule for fans to meet those who they look up to so the competitors won’t have to divide their attention so much when the stakes are getting higher during the event.

Overall

While the event was clearly more interested in fighting games, as it should be, there’s evidence that it’s trying to expand and grow, but never forgetting to account for how the experience would be for every attendee. It has however, become evident that should REV Major plan to upscale what they have currently going on, they’re going to have to change how they’ll tackle the problems that came about during their second round.

I do however, tip my hat to what they’ve managed to achieve this time around, and look forward to what they’ll have in store next year.

Bonus

I’m not sure why, but everytime a major gaming event is happening and PH is involved, memes are inevitable. The hype the PH crowd brings is like no other, from calling players for games, fast food ads, a tribute to FilipinoChamp, heck even just getting a few cans of Red Bulls. It’s a crowd just capable of making everything that much more fun. So while I did call out a part of that crowd for inconveniencing the guests at some point, they just make the best memes. Thanks for that.

If TI8 had ‘Lakad Matatag,’ REV Major 2018 has ‘Pool E.’