What was it like at the Garena Carnival? (PICS!)

Were you able to make it down to the Garena Carnival last weekend? Held in Suntec City’s Hall 406, this year’s carnival was the publisher’s first ticketed event, but boy, did it exceed expectations.

If you don’t already know from our previous expositions, Singaporean gamers are a miserly bunch. People don’t like paying for tournaments and events. So it was a nice surprise to see a good crowd at the Garena Carnival on Saturday.

(See: Singaporeans don’t attend local gaming events and we’re suffering for it)

It was even nicer to see the showfloor packed with visitors on Sunday, the day of the League of Legends The Legends Circuit tournament grand finals. It’s tough to estimate the total number of attendees, but as an observer who entered the hall intermittently, I’d say the attendance for Garena Carnival 2014 would make any organizer or partner very happy.

Booths and exhibits

Garena Carnival obviously focused only on Garena-published games, but the showfloor still managed to retain a sense of hubbub and excitement. Garena had activities lined up for all of its games, even its low-profile K-pop rhythm game, Mstar Online, and its recent action-RPG addition, Path of Exile. Players who participated in each game booth’s activity was rewarded either with a physical freebie or an in-game cash shop item.

(See: Mstar Online review: a rhythm game drenched in K-pop)

Garena also took the chance to show off its new Dota-themed mobile game, Dao Ta Yin Xiong, or Dota Hero in English. The game is reportedly very popular in China, and I can see why. Dao Ta Yin Xiong is extremely polished and has very cute characters (and some overly-familiar ones too). We’re looking to do a preview of it before it goes live on the app stores, so watch out for that.

Apart from its own games, Garena also had partner booths set up. Logitech, Intel, Starhub, Aftershock PC, and Steelseries all made appearances, as did some Instagram booth that let you print out your photos hashtagged with “#playitred”. There was also a small photo wall where cosplayers could hang out and have their photos taken. Garena also offered cosplayers free entry, but I only counted less than 20 individuals in costume.