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As the day of competition inched closer, the city also started to get prepared for the event. There were two big events that were going to happen in the city, first the gaming competition and second the San Diego comic con, which attracts thousands of people from all over the world to itself.
As such the city was mainly covered with big posters everywhere. Everyone tried to do their best to make the comic con a success but this time the comic con wasn’t the major thing that were pulling the people and the gaming company also tried their best to cash upon the growing hush among the people.
From huge posters to small radio show promotions, the gaming company nearly covered every possible area of advertisements. They went one step ahead and launched an online channel of their own to telecast on the web.
Thus, making sure that everything is covered for the big event. At the end, the company nearly spent more than half of their asset on the game development and its promotions.
“ Wake up! Wake up! “ an alarm in the mobile phone rang breaking the silence in the room.
“ Will you shut up! Dizzy… Let me sleep for 5 minutes more”.
“ Sorry sir! But according to your calendar, it’s The day today” a computerised voice from the smartphone said.
“ The day!…. What is that”. Suddenly the smartphone rang as the half sleepy, half pissed off man picked up the phone from the side table and answered the call.
“ Good morning Ken! It’s time to get ready… It’s the competition day today” a charming and caring voice came from the other side of the receiver.
“ Oh! Shit…. I totally forget about it! “ the man said suddenly getting off his bed. The man was no other but our own Ken only who had no idea that it was finally the day for which he was preparing for a long time with Marvin
“ I knew you will forget!.. Now hurry up and meet me at the arcade centre by 10”.
“ Yes! Ellie “. And with this, Ken hurried himself and reached the arcade centre on time.
“I guess i am early “.
“ No! You are 15 minutes late sir! “ as Ken turned around in the direction of the voice, he saw a beautiful, purple haired lady with a purple skirt and white shirt with matching jewellery and black short heels. This beautiful lady was none other then our own Ellie who was a bit healthier then a few weeks back. “ So then let’s walk “.
With Ken meeting Ellie at the bus stop, both of them started walking towards the centre.
“ How is miss Ayako, Ken? “.
“ She is fine! And currently busy with the participant’s in Japan”.
“ Oh! Yes, i forgot that she was handling the competition in Japan! “. With these lively chit-chat’s they walked down to the arcade center.
“ Look Ken! It’s so beautiful! “ Ellie exclaimed with joy as her eyes got lit up with the magnificence of the decoration there.
“ Yes! It looks a bit lively then before “ Ken said in a dull tone contrary to Ellie’s. Although Ken wasn’t too excited about the expo, but surely it was a moment to capture. The main center building was covered by a huge cloth tent which had alternate red and yellow strips. The tent was similar to that in a circus and was supported on huge steel pillars.
The steel pillars were fully covered with advertisements of various comics and manga’s. The arcade, as the name suggests wasn’t actually a building. Instead, it was a huge concrete compound which was lent out to agencies for organizing events like comic cons etc.
Apart from the huge tent, the center also had other displays of attraction. From different cosplayers to various comics and manga kiosks, the comic con had everything which would keep a person hooked. But the biggest attractions of the comic con was undoubted “ the game of emotions “.
The VALDRO gaming corporation, who developed the game “Porticon” had a separate place of their own on the arcade premises. It was a huge semicircular metal dome which was painted red from outside and had a huge entrance which was made up of a black metal frame embedded with bulbs which glowed alternatively and a regular fashion.
The inside of the wasn’t too fancy and it had black painted walls with stairs leading down to the main stage.
Beside the stairs were seats which were arranged regularly on each stair along its length. The only thing inside the dome which was worth a look was the stage. The stage was huge in size and it had huge mechanical capsules arranged closely to each another in a circle. The capsules were basically metal cases with a glass opening frame. They were white from outside and had black soft foam and a dim orange bulb in the inside.
They had a fully air-conditioned ventilation system in the inside and were huge enough to accommodate a person. Apart from the capsules, the stage area had a huge curved OLED screen in the wall which nearly covered the diameter of the dome horizontally.
“ We are finally here Ken! “ [pointing towards the dome]. Just beside the entrance was the ticket counter on which a wooden signboard of “Sold out” was hanging. The counter opened an hour ago at 11 and as expected was sold out within minutes.
Ellie stooped at the counter for once but before she could ask anything, Ken dragged her into the dome saying that entry for participants is free and they are allowed to bring a person with them.
They both walked inside the dome and settled at a corner near the wall. The place was heavily flooded with people from different parts of the country and there were security and cameras all around the place to manage the crowd. No media and press person was allowed inside the dome and their entry was limited to the entrance itself.
By the time clock stuck 12, everyone was already in their place agitating with eagerness and curiosity. The doors of the dome closed and the giant screen lit up with a message “Welcome to the VALDRO dome”.
“ Welcome to one and all present here “ a voice came as the stage lit up with lasers and a hologram popped up at the stage. The hologram was of a middle-aged man who was of average height and was wearing a blue coat with a yellow shirt on the inside and brown old-fashioned shoes. He had black hair, a nice and presentable voice and seemed to be well versed with what he was doing.
“Good morning to one and all present here. I am Nick Jovan and on behalf of the VALDRO gaming corporation, I would like to welcome everyone out there. Well first of all i would like to apologize for not being in person there at the stage as events like these are happening simultaneously in over 200 countries of the world and for me to be everywhere is impossible, so we are making use of holograms
Before starting off anything, i would like to congratulate the participants for making it through the tests. You guys really did well and deserve to be here. “
[ the announcer continued] “ As you all know that today we are gathered here to witness the game of emotions, PORTICON (with confetti popping up at the stage with a bang). This game of emotions is built upon the concept of human emotions and about the extent to which an emotion dominate a person.
This game is unique in its own way as it will be displaying a whole new concept of using a Porti. Well! Till now porti was just a device which wasn’t of much significance to normal day to day human but today this small insignificant thing could help you to win 10 million dollars”. (sounds of claps all around the dome).
“So this game, Porticons, as you all know is a MMORPG game which is based upon the concept of the ‘racing’ mixed with some modern methods. The game consists of a single round in which the players will land in the play area and fighting the obstacles, they had to reach the stronghold which holds the buzzer to the area and its affairs.
In short, the one who reaches first, will become the winner of the game.
[ the announcer paused to catch his breath and then continued] “ So that’s the way this game is played. But I would like to tell you a little secret to this game. The title of winner of this game can be achieved in two ways.
first one is what I told you before….. and the second one [the announcer paused abruptly for half of a second and with a defiant smile he continued] is via kills.
Well, statically the server on which the game will take place will be hosting over a million people from different parts of the world. [suddenly a roar filled with amazement came from the crowd].
That’s right, our server is built by new technology and modern standards and it has the capacity of hosting over a million players in real time. As such the one who gets a million kills in the game could also get a chance to become the king.
So, in other words, it a game of strategy vs power. Either get to the stronghold first or kill over a million people. The one which is done faster will get you the title of the winner.