DNA is getting in on the gaming action – with HotShotz

• Sony Interactive Entertainment, MDEC headline DNA’s inaugural eGames festival
• eSports with 6 games, Cosplay, PC Modding, Indie Publishers & Publishers Showcase

FIRST it was Patrick Grove becoming a property developer and now a serious tech news site like Digital News Asia (DNA) is organising an eGames festival? With cosplay as well? What could be next? Karamjit as Gandalf?

I can assure you, DNA has no intention of upending the natural balance in the tech ecosystem.  Instead, we aim to play a role in speeding up the pace of development of Malaysia’s eSports ecosystem, through organising the largest eGames festival in Malaysia, HotShotz.

To be held from July 21-23, the event is supported by KDU University College as Venue Host, Astro as Media Partner, Sony Interactive Entertainment Hong Kong Limited Singapore Branch (SIES) as Sponsor and Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) as co-sponsor.

At DNA, we feel there are enough events for serious gamers in our gaming ecosystem, but the competitive game play element is just one part of the gaming ecosystem and we wanted to touch a few of those other parts through HotShotz.

And we are fortunate enough to get some big names excited about what we hope to achieve as well. “Sony Interactive Entertainment is excited to be part of the inaugural HotShotz to reach out and to engage Malaysian youth and university students throughout the country” said Teoh Wah Keong, marketing manager of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “For HotShotz 2017, we are showcasing our competitive PlayStation 4 titles from key genres that are popular in Malaysia: soccer, shooter and fighting, and we are looking forward to hosting exciting and fun tournaments in HotShotz.”

In our aim to touch a few parts of the gaming ecosystem, we have created HotShotz with five components to it:

Game Publishers Showcase

Various top game titles to be available for visitors to enjoy. Sony Interactive Entertainment, is not only an anchor participant here, but coming in as a sponsor as well. Other game publishers such as Codemasters will also be showcasing their games.

Indie Games Showcase

All the big games started out small and here, through the showcase presenter, MDEC, 10 independent game developers will be showing their games for all to play. Could one of them become the next big thing in the gaming industry?

Cosplay competition

Seen as very much at the periphery of the gaming ecosystem, nonetheless it was Cosplay players, many of them gamers themselves, who helped take the fantasy characters of the gaming world into the real and, indirectly, helped create a sense of excitement and reality around the games. Oh, and, I will not be appearing as Gandalf.

PC Modding

You’ve heard of how some people love to modify their cars, well, meet the geek equivalents and be blown away by how far some will go to turbo charge their machines. There will also be a hands on area where visitors can assemble their own dream gaming machine.

eSports competition

Strictly for amateurs, with a total of seven games, both PC and console players who fancy themselves to be the next Malaysian world champion, should pencil in HotShotz as their breakout debut on to the main stage.

The games to be played are:

Counter Strike PC

Street Fighter V – PlayStation 4

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – PlayStation 4

Overwatch PC

PES 2017 (Winning Eleven 2017) – PlayStation 4

Dota2

Tekken 7 – PlayStation 4 (in July)

An exciting aspect of HotShotz is that there will be a qualifying round held in 6 universities in the Klang Valley from end April to early July with University Malaya playing host to the kick-off qualifiers on April 29 (Sat). The other universities that have been confirmed so far are:

• Asia Pacific University of Science & Technology (May 13, Sat)
• KDU, Glenmarie campus (July 1, Sat)

On its involvement, MDEC’s Director of Creative Content & Technologies Division, Hasnul Hadi Samsudin says, “We are proud to be part of Hotshotz 2017 – and excited to showcase what our independent game studios and developers have to offer. We hope with the support of the indies for HotShotz this will create greater awareness of the Malaysian Game Industry and #MYGameOn.”

KDU University College’s Tan Chin Ike, head of school for its School of Computing and Creative Media is delighted to lend their support to Hotshotz 2017. “Our objective at KDU's Game Development Department is to provide talents for this growing industry as well as to support the other areas within this field. We hope that by supporting HotShotz, we can spark interest in young talented Malaysians in this field and also create an awareness for this industry that goes beyond just creating games or playing them, which is why we really like the fact that HotShotz has other elements such as Cosplay, PC Modding and Indie games publishers.”

As the host for one of the qualifying rounds on May 13, APIIT Education Group CEO Datuk Dr Parmjit Singh says, “Having launched the pioneer eSports Malaysia Academy this year that aims to prepare students for future careers in the eSports and gaming industry​, we see a natural synergy with DNA's exciting eGames festival, HotShotz, which covers a broad scope of events, such as introducing indie games developers, having a PC modding competition and a publishers showcase with some of the hottest games in Malaysia."

Media partner, Astro, with its highly popular eGG network, which has a presence in five countries is anticipating an exciting event as well.

"Our eGG Network takes pride in championing eSports in Asean. We are excited to be a part of HotShotz and hope that by supporting such gaming events the eGG Network can further grow the eSports scene in Malaysia and the region," says its vice president, sports business content group, CK Lee.

Further details on HotShotz can be obtained at www.hotshotz.asia and of course we will keep bringing you updates as well.

For further information please contact [email protected]