K3YGUN
02-11-2008, 09:33 AM
Gamers battle it out in Halo 3 tournament
Janet French, The StarPhoenix
Published: Monday, February 11, 2008
Gavin Cummins drove 22 hours from Blackfoot, Idaho, and spent a chilly night sleeping in his car getting to Saskatoon.
Edmonton teenager Mikey Karrage practised six hours a day for two weeks at his friends' house before making the road trip with brothers Moses and Josh Davis.
Staten Island's Andrew Connors couldn't point to Saskatoon on a map before he bought his plane ticket to come here.
On Sunday, however, all of them had their digital alter-egos loading ammunition with black-gloved hands, jumping and dodging around the walls of rusting warehouses and taking aim at alien enemies -- and each other.
"It's so competitive and it takes skill," said Connors, an 18-year-old university student from New York, while taking a break from playing the video game Halo 3.
The weekend-long tournament was run by Kyle Gronning, a University of Regina engineering student who's trying to make competitive gaming into a business. The 23-year-old and some of his friends bought a roomful of XBox 360 video game consoles and flat screen TVs to start up a professional video gaming league where gamers pay to enter and compete for cash prizes. They call it Pro Gaming League.
Similar U.S. tournaments are already attracting hundreds of gamers and big prizes, and Gronning is trying to do the same in Canada. Gronning estimates as many as 800 people trickled in and out of a room at TCU Place on Friday and Saturday where the consoles and screens were lined up back to back.
His first tournament last month in Regina attracted 600 people, and Gronning has planned more events in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
What he needs -- before he maxes out all his credit cards -- are sponsors for future events to help pay off equipment costs and cover tournament expenses.
Gronning's business, could someday give players a chance to earn a living from their button-mashing skills, rather than just bragging rights.
"Guys make so much money playing poker," Gronning said. "Why can't they do that with video games?"
Players entered the Halo 3 tournament in three categories: Four players versus another four players, two-on-two and "free-for-all," which is every player for himself or herself. (One female gamer did come to the Saskatoon tournament, which Gronning welcomed).
It's $30 to enter the free-for-all, $80 for a team of two and $120 for each team of four in the competition.
The winnings for first, second and third place in each category depended on how many gamers entered the contest.
Why travel to a tournament when XBox owners can battle other players online from home?
First, there's a lag in the game when it's played over the Internet, Gronning said. Also, it's a chance for the players to meet new people.
Connors met Regina man Brett Duncan two years ago through online gaming. Last month in Regina was the first time they'd met in person, when they hooked up with Cummins and Ben Broberg from Edmonton to win the four-player tournament as Team SiMPLi Fi.
On Sunday in Saskatoon, they returned to defend their title.
Cummins said he chose his teammates from the online realm because they were cheerful and co-operative."A lot of it is how chilled people are," he said. "It's all about attitude."
"You've got to put your teammates before yourself," Connors said. "It's just like life -- if you're selfish, you lose."
By Saturday evening, Cummins had already won $300 as the top prize in the free-for-all tournament, and hoped to be on the podium for the two-on-two and four-on-four challenges.
As the top four finalists in each category gathered to practise Sunday morning, rivalry was brewing among the teams.
Karrage said his team came to Saskatoon to "beat the Americans."
"They think they can come to Canadian tournaments and win," he said.
That kind of talk isn't unheard of when the gamers gather, Gronning said.
"The top guys brag a lot," he said. "There's a lot of smack."
Fort Qu'Appelle players Rheal Czernick and Mike Desnomie made the trip to Saskatoon to improve their standings after a previous competition.
"We got owned," Czernick, 18, said. (That's gamer-speak for losing pitifully).
Any money won in Saskatoon will go towards going to Calgary for the next PGL tournament, Czernick says.
That was a common refrain among tournament-goers, who said they spend winnings covering travel costs, paying rent and on consoles and games.
It was Team SiMPLi Fi who won the coveted four-on-four competition, taking home $1,600. Karrage and the Davis brothers' team Ownage Juice came in second -- not bad, Moses Davis said, for a team who had never practised together.
Connors and Duncan also split another $800 for winning the two-on-two event and the Davis brothers took $500 for second place.
This article can be found in the Feb. 11 paper and at http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=c48d0c87-64d8-49aa-8ed9-683813a68ee9&p=1
Janet French, The StarPhoenix
Published: Monday, February 11, 2008
Gavin Cummins drove 22 hours from Blackfoot, Idaho, and spent a chilly night sleeping in his car getting to Saskatoon.
Edmonton teenager Mikey Karrage practised six hours a day for two weeks at his friends' house before making the road trip with brothers Moses and Josh Davis.
Staten Island's Andrew Connors couldn't point to Saskatoon on a map before he bought his plane ticket to come here.
On Sunday, however, all of them had their digital alter-egos loading ammunition with black-gloved hands, jumping and dodging around the walls of rusting warehouses and taking aim at alien enemies -- and each other.
"It's so competitive and it takes skill," said Connors, an 18-year-old university student from New York, while taking a break from playing the video game Halo 3.
The weekend-long tournament was run by Kyle Gronning, a University of Regina engineering student who's trying to make competitive gaming into a business. The 23-year-old and some of his friends bought a roomful of XBox 360 video game consoles and flat screen TVs to start up a professional video gaming league where gamers pay to enter and compete for cash prizes. They call it Pro Gaming League.
Similar U.S. tournaments are already attracting hundreds of gamers and big prizes, and Gronning is trying to do the same in Canada. Gronning estimates as many as 800 people trickled in and out of a room at TCU Place on Friday and Saturday where the consoles and screens were lined up back to back.
His first tournament last month in Regina attracted 600 people, and Gronning has planned more events in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
What he needs -- before he maxes out all his credit cards -- are sponsors for future events to help pay off equipment costs and cover tournament expenses.
Gronning's business, could someday give players a chance to earn a living from their button-mashing skills, rather than just bragging rights.
"Guys make so much money playing poker," Gronning said. "Why can't they do that with video games?"
Players entered the Halo 3 tournament in three categories: Four players versus another four players, two-on-two and "free-for-all," which is every player for himself or herself. (One female gamer did come to the Saskatoon tournament, which Gronning welcomed).
It's $30 to enter the free-for-all, $80 for a team of two and $120 for each team of four in the competition.
The winnings for first, second and third place in each category depended on how many gamers entered the contest.
Why travel to a tournament when XBox owners can battle other players online from home?
First, there's a lag in the game when it's played over the Internet, Gronning said. Also, it's a chance for the players to meet new people.
Connors met Regina man Brett Duncan two years ago through online gaming. Last month in Regina was the first time they'd met in person, when they hooked up with Cummins and Ben Broberg from Edmonton to win the four-player tournament as Team SiMPLi Fi.
On Sunday in Saskatoon, they returned to defend their title.
Cummins said he chose his teammates from the online realm because they were cheerful and co-operative."A lot of it is how chilled people are," he said. "It's all about attitude."
"You've got to put your teammates before yourself," Connors said. "It's just like life -- if you're selfish, you lose."
By Saturday evening, Cummins had already won $300 as the top prize in the free-for-all tournament, and hoped to be on the podium for the two-on-two and four-on-four challenges.
As the top four finalists in each category gathered to practise Sunday morning, rivalry was brewing among the teams.
Karrage said his team came to Saskatoon to "beat the Americans."
"They think they can come to Canadian tournaments and win," he said.
That kind of talk isn't unheard of when the gamers gather, Gronning said.
"The top guys brag a lot," he said. "There's a lot of smack."
Fort Qu'Appelle players Rheal Czernick and Mike Desnomie made the trip to Saskatoon to improve their standings after a previous competition.
"We got owned," Czernick, 18, said. (That's gamer-speak for losing pitifully).
Any money won in Saskatoon will go towards going to Calgary for the next PGL tournament, Czernick says.
That was a common refrain among tournament-goers, who said they spend winnings covering travel costs, paying rent and on consoles and games.
It was Team SiMPLi Fi who won the coveted four-on-four competition, taking home $1,600. Karrage and the Davis brothers' team Ownage Juice came in second -- not bad, Moses Davis said, for a team who had never practised together.
Connors and Duncan also split another $800 for winning the two-on-two event and the Davis brothers took $500 for second place.
This article can be found in the Feb. 11 paper and at http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=c48d0c87-64d8-49aa-8ed9-683813a68ee9&p=1