Visiting ASSEMBLY '07 in Finland

Feature

1000 gaming geeks duking it out for 10.000 euro in cold, hard cash.

May 7th, 2007 by Marko Susimets�

A bit of the background

ASSEMBLY, which started in 1992, has traditionally been the biggest and most popular event focussing on the demo scene in the world. Beginning this year, ASSEMBLY was split into two events, the winter event in Tampere focussing on gaming and the summer event in Helsinki on the demo scene. Probably due to some difficulties in organising the event, this first appearance of ASSEMBLY Winter took place in late spring, but we suspect that in the future the event will be organised during a snowier season.

Marking this great occasion, HookedGamers decided to send two of their reporters to take a look at the ASSEMBLY Winter 2007 (it was going to be three of us, but Falconer had to cancel at the last moment). This event attracted over 1000 gamers, including international teams competing for the grand prize of � 10 000 in the Battlefield 2142: Whoop Ass Challenge. In addition to all the gaming competitions, the event also featured remote-controlled robot fights and expert lectures.

Our impressions

We found our way to the Pirkkahalli on Friday afternoon when the gamers were just gathering to the location and setting up their computers and gaming rigs in the dark interiors of the great hall, hiding from the bright sunshine outside. Equipped with various sorts of energy and battery drinks, the gamers were clearly hard set on spending the entire weekend at their computers, playing games on the local network, PartyVerkko, and taking part in various competitions. We suspect that the rare individual who carried regular orange juice etc. with them were counting on their chances to get some downtime with their sleeping bags.

Unfortunately, the press representatives were not allowed their own computer places, so we had to settle on watching as the real gamers started up their Supreme Commanders and other current hit titles. Although it was interesting to see the plethora of equipment that the gamers brought with them (including microwave ovens, sleeping bags etc.), there was fortunately more to see at the other end of the great hall where some of the sponsors held their own competitions and introduced their products. Here, we saw more or less enthusiastic guitar players taking part in a Guitar Hero II competition while others danced In the Groove.

For old-timers like us one of the most emotional experiences was the chance to see and actually play classic Commodore 64, Vic-20 and Amiga games, such as Commando and International Karate +. Seeing these old computers still in action was the icing on the ASSEMBLY cake for us. In addition, there were several public X-box 360 consoles around, running this game and that. Not having touched one of these consoles before (what an excuse, eh?), we didn�t even get the soldier in one of those games to fire his weapon although all the other controls seemed to be present.

So, who won the grand prize? Well, although we didn�t have a chance to be on the location at the time of the final competition, we dug up the information for you. The winning team was from Poland and call themselves Team Wilda D-Link. You can find a picture of the happy troupe with our other photos of the event on the right side panel.

Final thoughts
Overall, it seems that this first gaming-oriented ASSEMBLY was a success. The next year�s event has already been confirmed and we are sure that it will attract even more gamers as the word spreads. For gamers, this is one of the rare opportunities to meet fellow gamers face-to-face instead of as online nicks, so we are glad to see such events organised. Now, our next goal is to hit the main ASSEMBLY event this summer, if it only fits into our schedules.