Cwi Nqani’s brush with video game greatness could’ve been mapped on the plot points of The Air Up There, Cool Runnings or The Gods Must Be Crazy or really any shallow movie where people from different cultures collide in an explosion of hilarity. As reported by CNN, the 32-year-old was selling his rural ethnic group’s crafts in Namibia’s capital city of Windhoek next to a tent where a World Cyber Games representative was hosting the country’s national championships. Despite never seeing or playing digital games before, Nqani was the only person to play the Asphalt 6 mobile racing game, which automatically qualified him for a spot in the world finals. Those finals happened two weeks ago.
I had arrived at Parramatta Riverside, the supposed location for the first leg of World Cyber Games Australian Championships. No-one was here and I was a little confused.
The sign read: “The WCG event is on the other side, on the East Side of the bridge.”
They could have at least made a ‘your WCG is in another castle’ joke. Come on guys – that gag was wide open.
With the Australian Cyber League‘s first Halo: Reach LAN in Brisbane, Battle Arena Melbourne at the same time, and the World Cyber Games finals kicking off, a lot is being decided this weekend in the world of eSports. Our CS1.6 and FIFA 10 representatives are off to a good start overseas. Click through for details of your local events, and the first lot of WCG results.
The Sci Fi Channel has given producers Granada America and World Cyber Games the green light to produce a new competitive gaming television series, tentatively titled GameQuest. The 8 episode series will bring together 12 gamers, who will compete in a variety of elimination events including both video games and game-themed physical challenges for the title of “best all-around gamer”, with a prize of $100,000 and trips to World Cyber Games events up for grabs. “With two out of every three American households playing video games, it’s clear that this mainstream phenomenon is a perfect arena for the channel’s agenda of broadening the brand while celebrating imagination,” Sci Fi channel president Dave Howe said.
This past Wednesday Erika “Skittles” Galegor, professional Project Gotham 3 gamer, was kind enough to meet me at the Flatiron mall in Broomfield, Colorado for an interview. We had to setup the interview pretty quick actually because as it turned out “Skittles” was leaving the next day for Los Angeles to compete in the World Cyber Games National Finals at ‘E for All. So I decided to employ the help of two of my very good friends Andrew Croft and Matt Schultz to shoot the segment. What she didn’t know was that we didn’t only bring the camera, we rigged Project Gotham Racing 3 in the back of the car.
Now this is odd. I’ve heard of energy bars and drinks “designed” specifically with gamers in mind, but food? Isn’t that called pizza?
Not according to Gamer Grub which just announced that they have been named the official snack supplier of the World Cyber Games USA 2008. That means they will be providing their brand of snack-things to the players in the Tournament Area and Player Lounge at E for All in LA this week.
Gamer Grub comes in three (atrocious) flavors:
In a breathless Christian Science Monitor article about pro-gaming (no doubt inspired by the proximity of the World Cyber Games to the Olympics), Gloria Goodale breaks the news to their readers that people actually get paid money to play video games competitively.
She even warns readers not to snicker, seeing that ESPN broadcasts the even less athletic pro poker tourneys. It doesn’t take long for the article to enter familiar territory, pinning the hopes of pro gaming on Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, who wraps up the shortish story with this doozie of a quote:
