The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) for many Canadians marks the beginning of the end of Summer and is the last hoorah before the kids head back to school. In the 18 days leading up to and including Labour Day, approximately 1.5 million visitors come to Canada’s largest annual fair.
In 2017 the world of video games came to the CNE with the very first CNE Gaming Garage event. The event is centered around gaming, technology, education, community, and student outreach. Moreover, the CNE Gaming Garage is a 3-day event that features esports gaming tournaments, local video game developers and exhibitors, pinball tournaments, trading card games, retro arcade games and much more.
CNE Gaming Garage 2019 events
This year, the CNE Gaming Garage is bigger and better than ever before! The 60 000 square foot area will have more than 200 PCs and consoles. Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller will be there hosting panels over the 3-day event. Topics include the biggest news in video games, the best gamer in Canada, and the top 10 games from Canada. Additionally, Greg will be interviewing Capybara Games Co-Founder and President Nathan Vella. And, they will be talking about what it takes to make a video game.
Local indie developer Drinkbox Studios, best known for Guacamelee and Served, will take stage to share their journey from the early days of a bunch of friends getting together to getting a game published by PlayStation. Furthermore, Creative Director Clint Hocking from Ubisoft Toronto will be at the CNE Gaming Garage talking about the upcoming Ubisoft game Watch Dogs: Legion.
Esports fans have plenty to be excited about. Each of the 3-days there are tournaments to compete in: Rainbow 6 Siege, League of Legends, and Overwatch. The last day of the event will have an Overwatch Party. It will be hosted by the Toronto Defiant, Canada’s very own professional Overwatch esports team. Furthermore, KarQ from the Toronto Defiant will be hosting an Overwatch 101 discussion.
Interview with AMD’s Corporate VP SoftwareÂ
The CNE Gaming Garage is sponsored by AMD and I’ll be attending this year for the first time. AMD is known for making some of the world’s fastest and highest performing computer processors and graphics processors. AMD is a key innovator of gaming technologies and has supplied custom APUs for multiple console generations including the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and graphics processors for the upcoming Google Stadia gaming platform.
Check out our E3 2019 coverage of AMD’s Next Horizon Gaming event and you’ll see AMD is a major force in the technology arena. I’ll have the esteemed pleasure of interviewing Andrej Zdravkovic, Corporate VP Software at AMD. First and foremost, I’ll be talking with Andrej about the CNE Gaming Garage. And, we’ll be discussing recent AMD product announcements, and what’s in store for the future. Additionally, I’ll be asking Andrej about AMD’s involvement and support for the GTA community.
Do you have any questions that you’d like me to ask Andrej? If so, let me know in the comments section below. I hope to see you at the CNE Gaming Garage this weekend, August 16 to 18. In the meantime, stay tuned to the Best Buy Blog for my full interview with AMD’s Andrej Zdravkovic.
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Hi Ian,
Maybe when you plan your trip to Toronto you can plan around the Gaming Garage. It sure would be fun to attend with you. I’ll ask and see what I came find out from Andrej for you.
This is so cool! I wish I could make it! I’ve followed Greg Miller since he was at IGN and he even lent his voice to one of my favourite podcasts, the audio drama We’re Alive!
I would be curious to know if AMD has had any discussions with Nintendo about Nintendo going back to AMD for either the Switch successor or the rumoured Switch Pro!
I look forward to checking out your interview!
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