Gaming has become quite the phenomenon in Bangladesh. So much so that the World Cyber Games this year at the China Bangladesh Friendship Center had a turnout of over 5000 people on the first day. This near-banijjo-mela crowd did not deter from everyone and anyone even remotely interested in gaming to join in the festivities(and there was free coffee to boot).

The event was truly one to behold. It was like the Olympics shrunk down. There were enough computers to make any boy's dream come true. There was a huge projector to showcase the player's computer screens to people who were not too keen on standing behind the players to watch. The four corners of the conference hall, were occupied by the sponsors. F1 Management had a stall with modified CPU casings. Gigabyte, Intel and True broadband had their own respective stalls selling products and services. Djuice, Channel I and Radio Foorti joined in the mix to provide the publicity. And Nescafe kept the player's eyes open with a free coffee stand. Nothing attracts crowds more than something with the words 'free' and 'stand' in it.

The games that were played were Counter Strike 1.6, NFS Pro Street, Warcraft and Fifa 2008.The event started on 22nd of August and ended on the 24th. The turnout for the preliminary rounds this time around were mind boggling. More than 700 players for Fifa, 360 for NFS, 12 teams for Counter Strike and 70 players for Warcraft were put into the gaming ring where they tried to race, maim, decapitate, bludgeon, outrun, outsmart, and outplay each other to reach the ultimate goal: 1000 dollars and an all expenses paid trip to Germany to battle it out with the best of the best of the best. The competition was fierce, the hall was packed, and the prize was worth every penny invested. The preliminary rounds were held in both Dhaka and Chittagong during May and June, where everybody from all over the country was invited to participate. Thousands of players battled it out to bring together the grand finale that took place on Sunday.
The grand finale was, needless to say, quite grand. There was music, lights and ridiculously big checks that made the short winners disappear behind it. The winners are Xtreme Lungis for Counter Strike, Mainman for Warcraft, Shafi for NFS, and Shohan for Fifa. The winners are all going to Germany for the WCG world finals, where they will have a chance to put Bangladesh on the map in the world of gaming.

By Naveed C