Of game freaks and animators

A brief respite before the final contest.. PHOTO: STAR

Organised by R M Systems and sponsored by Sparkle AGP, both the contests attracted a huge number of game freaks who lined up to grab a seat at the gaming contest, as there was no prior registration. A walk-in open registration took place prior to the contest, whereas online registration forms were available for the multimedia contest.

The gaming contest, the first of its kind for the country started on December 13, allocating the first two days for round one. Fifteen contestants vied in a single session adding up to a total of more than eighteen hundred contestants, who were allowed to participate in the first round. Only 150 contestants were able to make their way to the second round of the contest, which was held on December 15 and 16 consecutively.

Thirty-three gamers were able to get into the semi-finals and the lucky 15 competed in the finals on December 17. The first three contestants to finish the games were emerged winners.

The first person playing mode of Unreal Tournament 2000, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Quake III were chosen for the contests. An age limitation between 7 to 30 years allowed a wider span of participants, starting from students to professionals from various fields to take part in the gaming splash.

Asif, a 7-year-old first grader from the Government Laboratory School caught everyone's attention by reaching the semi-finals. "This shows how we were able to grab the attention of the gamers at the BCS show," says Ali Ashfaq, secretary general of BCS addressing how the gaming event was able to bring the young and talented game lovers on the same platform. Referring to the event as a success, Ashfaq promised more of such contests in the future, targeting a whole new generation of PC gamers of the country.

Science and ICT Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan attended the finals and mentioned how the event successfully created enthusiasm among the female population of the country, reflecting his hopes on how the growth of the ICT sector will not be limited to male-interactions.

Roger Mathu, an O' level student won the first place, winning a Dhaka-Malaysia-Dhaka round trip ticket. Two lucky brothers, Ahmed Zubair and Ahmed Numair, an O' level and a grade seven student took the second and third places winning a digital camera and an mp3 player respectively. The only female finalist, Sumaiya Sayed won fourth place.

While the 5-day gaming marathon was in full swing, the multimedia-animation contest held on December 16, took a different shape. The contestants were picked in two categories -- through on-spot registration and projects submitted to the BCS office through mail.

The theme of the contest was to design and create an animation based visual on the following topic: 'Tagar is a fifth grader at Green Leaf School. While he tends to have a bite on his sandwich, a crow snatches the food away, and Tagar starts to cry.' Materials including files, pictures and audio tracks were provided along with the selected applications to be used, which included Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Coral Draw. The three-hour long contest took place in the presence of a panel of judges.

"Thirty-two projects were submitted under the second category," said Anwar Hossain, an ex-SEDF consultant, who was also leading a team of fifteen that handled all organising events at the fair. "It is easy to say which of these projects are done by professionals and which are not," cited Hossain.

Software companies have already shown interest on the top three winners of the multimedia contest. "Webtech Ltd., Global Brand and Matra, all established software houses have asked for the winner profiles," informed Hossain, saying how this proves the internal growth of job pool in the country. He further added that how this sort of interaction between job seekers and employers is bound to enhance the focal IT industry of Bangladesh.

The prize giving ceremony for the event will be held in early 2005. In addition, a programming contest will also be held around the same time according to BCS.