Photo courtesy RAZER

If you caught the huge crowds at the Razer booth at the IT Show over the weekend and wondered what it was all about (other than the booth babes), Razer was holding their very own e-Sports competition featuring the long waited DOTA 2, a tower-defence real-time strategy game and sequel to the very popular DOTA. Featuring teams from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, these gamers got together to take aim at the big prize - a total of US$15,000 was up for grabs. The finals involved Orange e-Sports, from Malaysia, and Mineski, from the Philippines. It's always fun to be in the midst of the crowd for spectator sports, and this was no different: From the tense moments where one hero was about to be taken down, to when a hero barely escapes with his health in the red - the crowd was on their toes constantly. It was a fiercely fought battle, but wasn't the longest one - after 47 minutes, Mineski beat Orange to be crowned champions.

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan giving away the 1st place cheque to Mineski. Photo courtesy RAZER But that wasn't all for Razer at the IT Show - they brought down their much awaited (in Singapore) Razer Blade - a full powered, ultra-slim laptop that has a specialised keyboard which we've taken a look at before. For those who are waiting in Singapore, it looks like you're going to have to wait some more, as Razer CEO Tan Min-Liang himself said that they're hoping to launch it "next year". Count that - that's going to be all of at least 9 months. If you were hoping to touch one before next year, you just missed your chance - the IT show has already ended. Also on display was the much awaited 7.1 channel headphones, the Razer Tiamat. It was used for the DOTA 2 tournament, and should be seeing release in Singapore soon. Like the Blade, the focus for Razer is to fulfill orders in the US market first. Still, Mr Tan's declaration that he wants to make sure that there is a strong support system for customers in the region first before releasing the Blade here shows his commitment to the fans, and to him the gold standard is to one day match the US release dates for the products. Even then, with the Blade in the wild in the US already, next year just seems too cruel a wait.