PVCC student advances in GameStop's Halo tournament
By Oliver Campo, November 09
Staff Writer
Photo by Oliver Campo |
| Game Stop offers the best Halo players a chance to go to New York and win $5,000. |
Four players wait within the GameStop at Desert Ridge Market Place, one waits in the beauty shop next to the GameStop and one player is rushing to the store in order to be ready to play.
It is Oct. 2 at 9 p.m., and at Game Stops all over the United States, players are gathering for the Halo 3 ODST Tournament.
Seth Steward is waiting in the beauty shop with his younger brother, who already had his hopes crushed.
“They won’t let me play because you need to be 17 with a parent (or) guardian. (I) am 16,” Josh Steward sighed.
Seth is completely calm and does not worry about the upcoming tournament.
“I joined the tournament because I have been playing Halo 3 ODST a lot lately,” says Seth. “I play it every day, and I play nothing else.”
Intelli High School student Steven Dobkins and Paradise Valley Community College student Brandon Martel were the first to play in the store for the tournament. Both wanted to see how they would stand up against others.
Unfortunately, there would be no real challenge for either player with only six players showing up out of the 32 that had originally signed up.
The winners of round four get to go to New York and compete for the grand prize of $5,000.
“Yes I stand a chance to get to New York,” says Martel.
“No,” says Dobkins.
Martel, just like Dobkins, has been playing only Halo 3 ODST.
With such a low turnout, it was amazing how one-sided the three minute rounds were. Seth Steward and his purple
Spartan were up first against PVCC student Ryan Gilboy and his white Spartan. Seth was calm while Gilboy was doing “not too bad.”
The maps are random, and the weapon selection is set at default. Each round is three minutes long. Most kills win. In the event of a tie, players go into a two-minute overtime where the first kill wins.
Gilboy and Seth do not find each other for almost a full minute when Seth starts to attack Gilboy and kills him using the energy sword. The match would end with Gilboy getting two kills on Seth while Seth took the lead with six kills moving onto the next round.
PVCC student Brian Speed decided to try his luck against Dobkins, but luck would not be on Speed’s side. He was dominated 11-0.
Seth and Dobkins were up next for third place. Seth lost 6-0. After the loss, Seth says, “No biggy.”
First and second place were up for grabs now between Martel and Dobkins. Each scored two kills on one another.
The first tiebreaker of the night saw Martel get the win and a license plate cover and a spy glass. |
