Blasting expectations

Photo by: Millie Schreibman

Explosions and gunfire brought crowds of CMU students to the University Center Game Room Thursday night for the first ever Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 tournament, hosted by PAC. With previous tournament attempts yielding small turnouts, this year’s joint effort anticipated only 24 students. Tournament officials were overwhelmed when they had to accommodate over 52 people, forcing latecomers to watch from the sidelines.

“Last year’s tournament only had around 15 people,” UC Game Room attendant Paul Jensen said in reaction to the droves of people.

Really wanting to reach out to the male audience, Mackenzie Eikamp and Tess Matsukawa of PAC sent out the call of duty, to enlist as many contestants as possible.

The 52 initial contestants were set up in four player free-for-all matches with the top 24 scores advancing to the next round. In the male-dominated tournament, three ladies joined the fray.

Cheyenne, a first year art student, tallied nine kills to advance to the second round. Displaying confidence despite her male counterparts’ overwhelming numbers, she proudly stated, “I normally play on PS3, but I also normally win.”

Four-player matches continued until only six remained to face off in one-on-one combat. The solemnity that settled over the crowd going into the championship rounds was in stark contrast to the trash talk and hysteria at the onset of the tournament. The final three competed for prizes in a best of three game modes: deathmatch, sticks and stones and free-for-all. After two rounds, a dramatic three-way tie was broken in free-for-all mode.

Gamerz Planet sponsored the event, providing $100 in gift cards, divided amongst the three finalists: $50 going to the champion, $30 to the runner up and $20 to the third place finalist. PAC also held a raffle for participants, giving away a controller modification and a Nintendo 64 system with GoldenEye 007.

John O’Donner, a freshman Mechanical Engineering student, emerged victorious, racking up over 30 kills in a single seven-minute match. O’Donner, a last-minute entrant and Grand Junction native, spends his time outside of school playing Call of Duty with his friends. After he fragged them out of the tournament, O’Donner’s friends rallied to his side, cheering him on to victory.

When questioned about his triumph, John simply replied, “O’Donner Rules.”

The unexpected turnout has prompted PAC to host similar events every month in the UC Game Room. Rumors of a Madden 2013 tournament in February are already brewing.

Categorised in: Features

This post was written by critedev