Video Game Competition Draws a Crowd

Gary B. Gray - Knight Ridder/Tribune

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- On your mark, get set -- don't forget the fate of the galaxy hinges on your every move -- and GO!

And so it was Saturday inside Bristol Motor Speedway's crowded Bruton Smith Building as about 200 "gamers" fought for supremacy in a very competitive video game tournament.

Their cyber-athletic battlefield: the mysterious world of Halo 3. The spoils: $1,000 to the individual, or "free-for-all" champ, and the same for the winning four-member team.

They came from near and far to enter the interstellar war between 26th Century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant.

The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity assisted by human Marines as well as allied alien Elites led by the Arbiter.

Devin Seymore, a 14-year-old player from Damascus, Va., fixed his eyes on a monitor as he began the third of three rounds in the free-for-all. When asked how the last round went, he could only manage a "not so good."

Devin hunkered down, an empty bottle of Dr Pepper nearby. His knit pullover hat nudged down below his eyebrows. His eyes constantly jerked, left, right, up, left again.

His tongue wiggled out of his mouth, moving from side-to-side. But alas, Devin was eliminated.

"Oh well," he said with a grin.

The tournament is organized by Ultimate Gamers International, founded by Meghan Hall, a 28-year-old Blacksburg, Va., native and King College business major.

Showtime and a few other cable operations are pondering the idea of a reality series featuring the gamers and their escapades at various tournaments across the nation, she said.

"We're taping today's event, and we'll be sending them edited copies" Hall said. "We had to turn away people at the door this morning. I'd like to hold these every few weeks. Imagine something like this in Chicago. They were lined up here at 8 a.m."

"The contestants don't play football; they play video games," she added. "They need somewhere to go to be in competition like this."

To take part in the competition, pre-registered participants had to bring their own Xbox 360 console, controller and copy of the Halo 3 video game.

"It's not about saving the world; it's about killing your friends," said 18-year-old Knoxville resident D.J. Skeene, who had just been knocked out of competition. "It was a sudden death-type match, and I got hit with a shotgun."

Meanwhile, Kylie Henegar, 19, and a few of her friends sported T-shirts that read: "Sick & Twisted."

"It's the name of a team we came here to support," she said. "They were in another Halo clan, but they got out of that and started Sick & Twisted."

Hall, said the idea for the tournaments came after seeing how popular video games have become and how they bring groups of friends together.

"I was almost too afraid to do this while in school, but I knew that if I was going to do it, I had to do it now," she admitted. "The market and desire for gaming tournaments is there, and I didn't want to sit on the sidelines in the business world."

Hall, who came to King College on a soccer scholarship, says her professors and coaches see great potential in her events and they are supportive of her efforts.

Jeff Byrd, BMS president and general manager, was on hand Saturday taking in the cyber-buzz and praising Hall's efforts.

"Our facility is actually not big enough for what she wants to do," Byrd said. "Looking in that room, I see a demographic that companies are trying to reach. I grew up in an athletic environment, but there's nobody more competitive than those folks in there."

At the end of the day, Anthony Austin, 16, of Kingsport, took home the individual honors.

"You have to be good at everything -- steady aim, reflexes -- the game is really mental," he said.

Austin plans to spend some of his winnings on a big dinner for he and his buddies. He also plans to enter a similar tournament in Washington, D.C., in about a month.

BMS, Mountain Dew and Pepsi were the event's main sponsors.

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Copyright 2012 by Knight Ridder/Tribune