DreamHack 2024 – ONE TO REMEMBER
What a weekend that was! A-Booyah! DreamHack, an annual gaming, anime and pop culture festival held at Melbourne Park from April 26-28, drew in over 35,000 attendees! Up from a record 25,851 last year, 2024’s event was a resounding success. From cosplay competitions to scintillating speedruns, there were more than a few attractions to keep people busy.
A Striking Introduction
As I walked through the front gates on Saturday, the very first thing that caught my eye was the sprawling Artist Alley looping around Rod Laver Arena’s entrance. Fellow TBN member, Sam and I kept stopping to take photos as the incredible local talent on display completely entranced us. Vendors, please forgive us for openly gawking at these exhibits (and any people we backed into), but we were so dazzled with all of the quality art on show—double the amount of vendors over 2023 too! Give yourselves a big slap on the back, Melbourne!
We soon found ourselves walking downstairs into Rod Laver Arena, admiring the awesome arcade games and those red and blue RGB lights that scream “I’m a gamer!” along the way. Once we were standing on the famous tennis court, I posed for an MSI laptop giveaway in front of a smoke (not fire) breathing dragon and got a free bag! Plus, the Monster Energy booth nearby was handing out free drinks. Mega cha-ching!
Once I started sipping on those juicy, ultra-caffeinated flavours, a content creator called Grim began belting out some sweet metal guitar solos on stage, skeleton mask and all. This is when Sam and I helped ourselves to some Monster Hunter Rise and Rocket League free play, as well as a 3D air hockey-like game of Pong. It took a bit of fiddling about to grasp the controls and slipperiness of the ball, but it was nothing but pure entertainment afterwards.
From Strength to Strength
Our next stop was just past DreamHack’s colourful Rainbow Road, where catchy dance and R&B music blared through the speakers, as all the cosplay folk gathered to take photos and gallivant around in their outfits. Following some short sightseeing, we eventually arrived at the main panels/Q&A area. We sat for a whole hour listening to another fellow YouTuber named Snugboy (Max) talk about the ins and outs of video editing and how to enter the scene. It was quite cathartic for us, especially since we encountered a lot of the same problems. I’m glad we’re not suffering alone!
After a quick hot chocolate and coffee next door at the quaint ‘Charge & Chill’ area, filled with computers featuring The Sims, a Nintendo Switch setup and people racing each other in Mario Kart DS (of all things), we walked back over to Rod Laver Arena to check out the main cosplay showcase. It was mighty impressive seeing the level of detail and game representation on stage, with a dedicated 2 hours’ worth of costume explanations in tow. Perfect for those interested in the cosplay/costume industry, while giving viewers a detailed insight into how these designs went from concept to creation. Awesomesauce!
We couldn’t stick around for the whole showcase though, as two specific speedruns demanded our attention: Super Mario 64 (Ability Randomizer) and The Simpsons Hit & Run (All Story Missions). The skill levels on display were ridiculously good. Plus, hearing a fellow crowd member yell “So long, ey Bowser?!” right before the Mario 64 run finished had everyone cracking up. Honestly, I don’t think any gaming convention is complete without a dedicated speedrunning area, and this was arguably one of the best lineups I’ve ever seen at an Australian gaming convention.
While we didn’t get to watch the Counter-Strike 2 ESL Challenger event, we heard that the competition got fierce. A juicy $100,000 USD prize pool was up for grabs, featuring eSports teams from all across the world—I could imagine it getting sweaty. Team MIBR from Brazil triumphantly came out on top at the end of the day, winning a cushy $50,000 USD for their squad. Aurora Gaming and Apeks followed closely behind with a solid $20,000 USD and $10,000 USD respectively. Not bad, I’ll say.
The “Live” Anime Concert
Before things wrapped up on the Saturday, there was one more event that Sam and I wanted to check out: a holographic concert by international VTuber group, Hololive. As nighttime took over Melbourne Park, revellers made their way over to Rod Laver Arena to close out the day—ourselves included. We wanted to see what all the hubbub was about, since Sam and I had never witnessed a virtual live concert like this before.
Once the clocks struck 07:00PM, everyone picked up their glowsticks seemingly out of nowhere and started frantically moving them up and down like they were watching the most hype game of soccer they’d ever seen. Suddenly, various anime characters were introduced on screen and the crowd went wild! We had no idea what was going on, but everyone else seemed to be having the time of their lives. As the music began playing, the frantic hand gestures went into overdrive. Lights were flashing everywhere, anime characters were bopping on stage and Sam and I just kept looking at each other in an utter state of confusion. We didn’t quite like the music, nor did we think the visuals were particularly exciting (or live), but we’re glad everyone else had a great experience!
And that’s the main takeaway from DreamHack 2024; it was just a good ol’ grand time! There was so much to soak in, with all sorts of different setups and panels appealing to the inner nerd buried deep within our souls. It’s no accident that 10,000 extra attendees this year, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d love to see this event flourish even further.
