Want to learn
more about esports, meet and talk to pro
players, watch SA’s top teams compete, and maybe even enter a competition
yourself and win some prizes? Then Rush is where you want to be next weekend.'
Designed by the
creators of the legendary rAge (really Awesome gaming expo), the inaugural Rush
event, powered by HP OMEN, is a first for esports
in South Africa and is set to become an annual showcase of all things esports.
Taking place between 21 and 23 July at the Sandton
Convention Centre in Johannesburg, Rush
will feature a variety of competitive esports tournaments hosted by leading
local organisations across dedicated
esports stages, with live shoutcasting (commentary) by some of South Africa's
top shoutcasters. South Africa's best competitive gamers and clans will compete
for the honour of taking home the glory, as well as for a host of incredible
prizes.
Four main stages will be showcasing popular titles
such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
(CS:GO), FIFA 17, League of Legends, and
Street Fighter V. Fans, supporters
and enthusiasts will be able to watch all the competitions live on big screens,
with dedicated seating areas at all the stages. In addition, visitors will also
be able to sign to enter exciting tournaments across a range of games like Hearthstone, FIFA 17, Street Fighter V
and Metal Slug. There are some
awesome prizes up for grabs, so anyone with even a passing interest in video
games is encouraged to come and take part.
“Rush is
an exciting, compelling showcase of everything that South African esports
currently has to offer. We’ve created a unique experience that will appeal to
both casual and hardcore gamers, and one that will serve as a visual
introduction to anyone who doesn’t know what all this esports fuss is about,”
said Lauren Das Neves, marketing manager for Rush, NAG and rAge. “Having been actively involved in the local
gaming industry for the past 20 years through NAG and rAge, Rush is a great
platform for us to build,
empower and connect with new and existing esports communities.”
Big news for Kaizer Chiefs supporters is that they’ve announced their
participation at Rush. The club has
partnered with sponsors Vodacom and Nike for the event, giving gamers a chance
to battle it out at the Kaizer Chiefs esports stage. Gamers will go
head-to-head in the FIFA 17 tournament
in a bid to be the ultimate winner. To enter the Kaizer Chiefs tournament at Rush, visit www.acgl.co.za/kaizerchiefs to sign up. Entry to the tournament is
free.
For Warcraft and Hearthstone fans, Kwesé
will be hosting a Hearthstone
Fireside Gathering at Rush. There is
R30,000 cash in prizes for winners across the weekend, with the player in the daily
top spot walking away with R5,000. Second and third place get R3,000 and R2,000
respectively. There’s also a gaming notebook from MSI up for grabs, so all you
need to do is shuffle those decks. In addition, there’s a casual tournament for
those keen for some arrive-and-play fun.
Other activities include PlayStation VR, arcade
cabinets and retail stands, so there’ll be plenty to do while you’re taking a
break from all the esports action!
If you’re a fan
of old-school, arcade-style gaming, then be sure to visit the NAG Arcade /
Eurasian Entertainment stand. Try your hand at Metal Slug, set a high score, and the player with the highest score
at the end of the weekend will win an arcade machine that oozes retro coolness.
Matrix Warehouse will be running a fastest-lap
challenge on their stand with mystery prizes up for grabs each day.
Orena is ramping up its Fight Night offering at
Rush, with the casual Street Fighter V
tournament set for an EFC-sized boost. EFC Worldwide welterweight champion
Dricus du Plessis and bantamweight champion Demarte Pena will battle it out in
an exhibition match in the OFN octagon at 11:00 on Sunday 23 July, with other
EFC athletes waiting in the wings to challenge them. You won’t want to miss
this epic battle! Gamers can enter the Orena Fight Night challenge and stand to
win R20,000 at the end of the season.
Orena is also offering the chance to qualify for
ESWC for CS:GO on one of the main stages. “The country’s best esports teams
will be fighting it out in a world-class arena, for the opportunity to take on
some of the best players on the planet,” says Luca Tucconi, Operating Executive
at Orena. “The competition is fierce and the prize is massive – and we have one
or two surprises up our sleeves for the winners”.
Alongside this high-adrenaline
and hugely entertaining line-up, one of the other exciting features of Rush is
South Africa’s first Winter NAG LAN – an opportunity to experience multiplayer gaming with hundreds of
likeminded gaming enthusiasts packed into a single venue. A NAG LAN ticket also gives you access to the
Rush event for the full weekend. Casual competitions for Dota 2 and Rocket League
will be hosted in the NAG LAN, with hardware peripheral prizes up for grabs,
kindly sponsored by Apex Interactive. A formal competition for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will also
be hosted in the NAG LAN for 16 teams on PS4 in the NAG LAN with a total of
R19,000 in prizes to be won.
If you haven’t yet bought your ticket for
the NAG LAN at Rush, there are still some available at Computicket. As part of
the NAG LAN Rush launch offer, upon purchase of your NAG LAN Rush ticket for
R600 you will automatically qualify for, and be guaranteed, a NAG LAN at rAge
ticket, which will then only cost you R450. This once-off offer applies to any
NAG LAN at Rush tickets that have already been bought.
Pink-IT will hold its first annual summit at
Rush over the course of three days. Pink-IT is designed to build a
supportive and inspiring community for women in technology and foster a culture
of sharing, collaboration, discussion and inspiration for female software
developers. The first annual summit will bring together companies interested in
hiring female software developers in South Africa, opening up opportunities for
women in the industry. The summit will be a jam packed weekend for all
female software developers, game developers, UX designers, graphic
designers and animators who also want to learn how to build a mobile-based esports
game using BlueMix.
If you, your friends and your family
want to come and watch all the esports action as it happens, you will need to
either purchase a Day Ticket (valid for entry for one day only), which costs
R50, or a Weekend Ticket (valid for entry for all three days), which costs
R100. Tickets are available at the door or at Computicket.
For more information on the NAG LAN you can
email info@naglan.co.za.
For more information on how to enter into
any of the tournaments being hosted at Rush email lauren@nag.co.za.
21, 22, 23
July
Exhibition
Hall 2, Sandton Convention Centre, Maude Street, Sandton
Friday:
10am-8pm
Saturday:
9am-9pm
Sunday:
9am-4pm
About
Rush:
Rush is a rAge esports Initiative, formed
by NAG and rAge in 2016 to help build and nurture the emergent esports
community in South Africa and beyond. Our mission is to expand the growing
esports fan base as well as the local esports community by promoting esports
tournaments, competitions and events to hardcore and casual audiences, as well
as by bringing a level of professionalism to local events we host or are
associated with. The goal of this initiative is to significantly accelerate the
development of the South African esports industry as a whole. In 2016 we launched
and hosted Africa’s first Esports Branding Summit at last year’s rAge Expo in
Johannesburg, in partnership with GAMeS (Global Assembly Marketing eSports).
#rushesports2017
About
HP OMEN:
The HP OMEN unified gaming portfolio, launched in
2016, delivers over-engineered products meant to bring bold innovation in the
gaming space. HP OMEN has reinvented gaming, by delivering extreme performance
and unprecedented PC customisation for gamers who crave to dominate games. The
funky looking OMEN 17 laptops are equipped with the latest CPUs and GPUs for
the best gaming and virtual reality experiences.
#DominateTheGame
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