Lights went down and screens went up as over 100 video gamers competed at the Digital Worlds Institute's Polymodal Immersive Theater (PIT) Thursday and Friday.
Halo, Left for Dead 2, Half-Life 2, Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, Rock Band and more were all available to play on five 20-foot projection screens with surround sound and several more flat screen TV's. Free to UF students, gamers came to compete or to just play in a whole new way.
Not only were there giant screens, but the PC games were played with a Falcon Pistol Grip set up instead of a mouse, a device shaped like a gun, making playing the game much more life-like. I was actually able to try it out, and I couldn't believe how I could feel the kick of the gun and feel the weight of whatever I picked up in the game.
By 7 p.m., the crowd lined up for the Halo tournament. A couple hours later, the teams of two (two of which were hilariously called "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob") were narrowed down to one.
"Florida Gators" was the winning team, with Derek Poirier, nuclear engineering freshman and Anthony Sousson, zoology freshman. Neither knew each other before the tournament. Both Poirier and Sousson said that Halo was the first and only serious game they've played, and can't wait for Halo 4 to be released.
Gator Gaming, an organization at UF that has been around for a year, worked with the Association of Digital Art and Media and UF's college of Fine Arts to put the event on.
Randy Bush, one of the founders of Gator Gaming, said he and his friends had LAN parties (a group of people come together to play the same game on their computers) in high school, and decided UF should should have the same thing. The organization's first event was Gator LAN in fall '09, and they plan to have their next big event the first week of the fall semester.
The club will also try to fill up the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom this fall with local game developers, gaming stores and anyone and everyone who markets to video games or enjoys them.
"Like our own E3 expo," Bush said.
Chris Tassin, assistant director of Digital Worlds (http://www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu/) , said he's really happy about the turn out because a lot of people don't know UF's Digital Worlds Institute is around. The institute offers undergrad and graduate classes, including Digital Production Studio, Interactive Design, 3D Modeling and Animation and more.
If you're interested in coming to another gaming event or would like to join Gator Gaming, visit gatorgaming.com to create an account and participate in their forums or e-mail membership@gatorgaming.com.
(Submitted to INsite magazine's blog)
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