At the stroke of midnight, hundreds of dedicated gamers who attended the Doom 3 launch party at Northgate became among the first people in the country to walk away with legitimate copies of this controversial PC title.
Four years in the making, Doom 3 has been generating unprecedented media hype in recent weeks when developer id Software and publisher Activision announced last month that the game would be released in the US on 3 August and the rest of the world on 13 August.
Local e-tailers have described it as the best-selling PC game they have ever stocked, with hundreds of pre-orders.
Gamers from across Gauteng converged on the Budget Technologies store for the launch last night, where a 96-player multiplayer competition organised by Arena 77 occupied gamers until midnight and gave buyers a glimpse of what this title has to offer.
Contestants, featuring nicknames such as dislekcia and Mooce, were all impressed by the in-game graphics and how well the game ran.
A world first
[VIDEO]Lauren Das Neves, event organiser of Arena 77, said the competition was a world first.
"This is the first official competitive multiplayer Doom 3 event in the world. The second one is only scheduled to take place at QuakeCon 2004 in the US on Saturday," Das Neves added.
Carl "Mburr" Buys walked away as the first South African Doom 3 champion.
"The event was brilliant. It is great to see companies in SA support software titles in such a direct-to-public way and not the boring straightforward advertising way. Buys walked away with R5 000 worth of prizes and there was not even an entrance fee," said Len Nery, owner of Arena 77.
Hot seller
"It was a wonderful event, with us selling 250 copies on the night," said Shannon Rogotzki, sales director of Budget Technologies.
"Serious gamers have got their copies now so we will be focusing on the general gaming public. This weekend is probably going to be huge from a sales perspective.
"Doom 3 will be big in this country. It has a cult following with gamers waiting for this title for a very long time."
Nery also believes it will be the most successful game the country has seen in a long time.
"This is the most anticipated game I can remember."
[VIDEO]Jason Borea, marketing manager at game distributor Megarom, was equally impressed by the attendance.
"I am very happy with the number of people here tonight. While I have not played the game yet, the feeling I get from gamers here is that they are really enjoying Doom 3."
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