[projekktor id=’12768′]
(Update)
(Note: This event was interrupted Friday evening for what turned out to be a fake bomb threat. See the story ‘Bomb scare’ on our site)
If you’re into gaming then Niagara Falls is the place to be this weekend. The District School Board of Niagara and Brock University are hosting The Ultimate Gaming Challenge Niagara which attracts competitors from across North America. And there’s 10-thousand dollars up for grabs.
The Ultimate Gaming Competition puts teams of four against one another all playing the popular game Call of Duty. The Scotiabank ballroom is buzzing as competition is just about an hour old. With 10 thousand dollars on the line, there are player’s who make their living at events like this, and some pull in over 6 figures.
The format has teams going head to head, double-elimination. But with these competitors, you don’t want to make many mistakes.
Let the games begin. It’s do or die for gamers this weekend and players are ready.
Gamer Ryan Hart: “Oh I’m feeling great, I’m not gonna lose, it won’t happen.”
Ryan and his team called Fracture are from Michigan. They finished 8th last year and are looking to improve. But the event is growing rapidly. Halina Malik is from Pittsburgh. She’s part of an all-female team called Dressed to Kill. They have members from Canada and several states: “There’s a big girl commuinity with Call of Duty and especially on Twitter you connect with anybody across the world so you just play with a lot of girls and eventually you find the right teammates.”
While many of the players look and are young, but they hope to become part of the new professional gamers.
Halina said: “A lot of sponsors like female teams and they like having female teams here. So it’s a lot about money but it’s a lot about finding awesome friends and coming to events and having a good time.”
Matt Froese is a UGC pro: “Basically there’s these pro gamers who, they travel around the world, and compete in tournaments and they are at the top of their game.”
This afternoon set up was hectic because the event has grown considerably with 32 teams in year one — now there are 108 teams entered. But it’s not just the competition that is full. More than 450 spectators have paid to watch the pros, and even more will watch online.
“Gamers come from all over the place just to see to learn to learn tips from them and see how it’s done.”
Javan Friedel is an event organizer: “It’s mostly practice like any other sport, or any of that, but it’s also how you can work with your teammates.”
They will compete friday night, all day saturday, and then the finals are on sunday… not everyone will win, but most are confident…
There is a lot more going on here than the 4-man competition. For anyone under the age of 18, there is a singles competition where they play NHL ’14 with cash prizes and for the spectators there are raffle prizes like an iPad mini or a new X-box console. But if you want to get in, it will be tough — because this place is sold out.
