When we were young and game pads came with less buttons than home phones, the best times were often spent at a friend’s house playing whatever new game blockbuster would lend us. As we grew older and personal computers became more and more powerful, we lost many nights playing Counter-Strike, Warcraft, or Starcraft. We even dragged our entire tower and rig to our friend’s house to play together in all night LAN parties. Well, finally, Montreal will be making us relive those all-nighters in a big way. Dreamhack is coming to Montreal.
If you are unfamiliar with Dreamhack, it is a giant three day affair where thousands of people bring their computer and set up to play with everyone present in a flurry of LAN games. Furthermore, as it is a massively sponsored event, there will be significant prize pools coming from Monster Energy Drink to Intel products and even cold hard cash. As a prime example, Dreamhack has officially announced a million dollar prize pool for CS:GO throughout its tournaments this summer. Get practicing. Furthermore, this event is already slated to host at least two major e-sports competitions with several others a distinct possibility. All of this will be happening in our very own Place Bonaventure from August 12th to 14th.
Dreamhack is more than just a giant LAN party, however. It is also the world’s largest digital gaming festival and will be host to showrooms for new games, tech displays, and hopefully many juicy reveals. With Montreal already hosting so many recognized game studios, we fully expect EA, Ubisoft, and Eidos, among others, to represent in their own back yard. When (not if) you go, expect to be immersed in all things gaming with wildly cheering fans and cosplay aplenty. People will be travelling from all over the world for this festival as it is only the 2nd city in North America to host it.
Tickets will be coming on sale shortly and vary in price depending on what kind of participant you will be. You will be able to either reserve a table for your PC rig and join in on the three day non-stop LAN party or just tour the booths and watch gamers destroy each other. Below, you can find a list of likely games to host LAN tournaments:
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Hearthstone
Heroes of the Storm
Starcraft 2
Street Fighter 5
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Expect to hear much more on the subject as it is a major coup for the first Canadian city to host this festival. We will absolutely be picking our way through the tens of thousands who will find their way to the Dreamhack floors this summer. Until then, get your team in order and get practicing.
Featured image by Gabriel Kuling.