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GameStart Asia dazzles fans in Singapore

The annual gaming event returns with a focus on e-sports this time around.

Aloysius Low
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low
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Singapore's own homegrown gaming show, GameStart Asia, returned for its third year last weekend. The event focused more on e-sports while still giving gamers a chance to try out the latest and greatest. With over 20,000 attendees, the gaming event beat last year's attendance figures despite a lack of major game announcements.

Gamers could play Final Fantasy XV or Gears of War 4, or watch pro gamers battle it out at the South East Asia Major Street Fighter V tournament.

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This was the first time Microsoft participated in the show, and the Xbox booth took over Blizzard's spot. The World of Warcraft and Overwatch developer chose not to participate this year.

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The Pixel Play arcade cabinet is powered by a Raspberry Pi processor and emulates the games you used to play using an open source emulator.

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Local game developer Kaiju Den shows off its new horror VR game Lunar Eclipse. The game will consist of five episodes and will feature an interactive story based on Eastern horror mythology. Expect plenty of Chinese vampires (Jiangshi) and other regional monsters to scare the living daylights out of you when it launches.

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Returning to GameStart Asia is Retro DNA, a retro gaming booth with old-school consoles from Sega and Nintendo such as the MegaDrive (or Genesis) and the NES. Attendees hankering for their childhood can play for free.

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Local gaming accessories maker Armageddon hosted the inaugural Overwatch Champions, a tournament based on Blizzard's popular first person shooter Overwatch.

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The Game Solutions Center featured made-in-Singapore games.

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Miu, a famous cosplayer from Vietnam, signed autographs and merchandise for fans.

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"Some say he's terribly bad at racing games, and that he once lost twenty times at Mario Kart, but all we know is, he's cosplaying the Stig."

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This cosplayer dressed as Tracer from Blizzard's Overwatch wowed the room.

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Another popular area at GameStart Asia was the doujin market, where artists could show off their wares or work on commissions.

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The big crowd-puller was the South East Asia Major 2016 Street Fighter V tournament. This featured big names such as Infiltration, currently the best player in the world, and homeboy Xian. The tournament was eventually won by Japan's Tokido.

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