Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
ENLARGE
Brian Sweeney and Dylan Blount compete in the beginning of the June 28 tournament.
GRAND JUNCTION — Richard Krautheim described it as “the new father-son bonding experience”: Killing people with machine guns and rocket launchers.
He was one of the more experienced participants in a massacre Saturday afternoon at Gamer’s Planet, 644 North Ave., where about 16 local gamers gathered for a “Halo 2” tournament.
“Halo 2” is a popular first-person shooter game on the Xbox video game system.
A diverse group of competitors were in attendance — from warriors who could barely hold their weapons to seasoned veterans who play the game every night when they get home from full-time jobs, proving that hard-core video gaming isn’t just for teens.
This is the first of what will be many video game tournaments hosted by Gamer’s Planet. For $10, Saturday’s participants played in a double-elimination tournament lasting most of the afternoon. The field was seeded with teenagers, adults and children — some of whom competed with their parents. Participants from as far away as Colorado Springs joined serious local gamers in the tournament.
Most of them knew how to handle a game controller.
“I’ve been playing video games since birth,” Krautheim said. “I think my earliest memories are with a video game consol.”
The combat lasted nearly four hours.
Jacob Watkins, 11, had no trouble handling the grind.
“I kind of like playing fighting kinds of games,” he said. “Usually I play two to four hours a day.”
Watkins made it to the semifinals, an amazing feat considering he had never played
“Halo” until four days before the tournament.
The final round began well into the fifth hour of play.
There was tension in the air when it came down to the final four — Guardian, Blackout, Speed Racer and GetWorked.
Vanquished opponents of previous rounds gave words of encouragement to favorite gamers while a mother fidgeted and repeatedly crossed and uncrossed her arms as her son, Blackout, traded the lead with Guardian. After the 10 minutes of allotted playing time was up, the crowd gave a combined “Ohhhhhh!”
The object is to get the most kills, and at the end of regulation two players were tied with 23.
They were heading to overtime.
With sweaty hands and knees bouncing, the four duked it out in another round.
Again Guardian and Blackout traded the lead, killing anyone who stood in their way. As the countdown marched closer to zero the room became even more tense until it was cut by the fire from a machine gun marking the final kill.
Guardian won by one kill.
In real life, Guardian is Christopher Ray, a 2006 Central High School graduate who works as a heating and air conditioning technician. Guardian took home $125 for his first-place win.
“It’s cool, man, the whole time your adrenaline is pumping,” Ray said after the match. “I wanted to come out and have some fun. I didn’t think I was going to win, but it’s cool because me and the other guys were close.”
He was one of the more experienced participants in a massacre Saturday afternoon at Gamer’s Planet, 644 North Ave., where about 16 local gamers gathered for a “Halo 2” tournament.
“Halo 2” is a popular first-person shooter game on the Xbox video game system.
A diverse group of competitors were in attendance — from warriors who could barely hold their weapons to seasoned veterans who play the game every night when they get home from full-time jobs, proving that hard-core video gaming isn’t just for teens.
This is the first of what will be many video game tournaments hosted by Gamer’s Planet. For $10, Saturday’s participants played in a double-elimination tournament lasting most of the afternoon. The field was seeded with teenagers, adults and children — some of whom competed with their parents. Participants from as far away as Colorado Springs joined serious local gamers in the tournament.
Most of them knew how to handle a game controller.
“I’ve been playing video games since birth,” Krautheim said. “I think my earliest memories are with a video game consol.”
The combat lasted nearly four hours.
Jacob Watkins, 11, had no trouble handling the grind.
“I kind of like playing fighting kinds of games,” he said. “Usually I play two to four hours a day.”
Watkins made it to the semifinals, an amazing feat considering he had never played
“Halo” until four days before the tournament.
The final round began well into the fifth hour of play.
There was tension in the air when it came down to the final four — Guardian, Blackout, Speed Racer and GetWorked.
Vanquished opponents of previous rounds gave words of encouragement to favorite gamers while a mother fidgeted and repeatedly crossed and uncrossed her arms as her son, Blackout, traded the lead with Guardian. After the 10 minutes of allotted playing time was up, the crowd gave a combined “Ohhhhhh!”
The object is to get the most kills, and at the end of regulation two players were tied with 23.
They were heading to overtime.
With sweaty hands and knees bouncing, the four duked it out in another round.
Again Guardian and Blackout traded the lead, killing anyone who stood in their way. As the countdown marched closer to zero the room became even more tense until it was cut by the fire from a machine gun marking the final kill.
Guardian won by one kill.
In real life, Guardian is Christopher Ray, a 2006 Central High School graduate who works as a heating and air conditioning technician. Guardian took home $125 for his first-place win.
“It’s cool, man, the whole time your adrenaline is pumping,” Ray said after the match. “I wanted to come out and have some fun. I didn’t think I was going to win, but it’s cool because me and the other guys were close.”
