Battle of the gamers
Soldiers of the Axis alliance dressed in military fatigues crouch in the shadows of architectural monuments lying in wait for a tank that moves between battered buildings with a Union Jack fluttering in the wind. Then a German soldier chewing on a quid of tobacco flings a hand grenade at the metallic beast.
Amidst the sound of artillery fire and explosions rise the excited voices of the gamers speaking strategy and shouting out “ela machan!” The atmosphere at the auditorium was electric as game fanatics came under one roof to celebrate what they love: computer gaming.
The Virtusan LAN challenge, the annual computer gaming competition organised by the Virtusa Corporation, a much anticipated event for all Sri Lankan gamers was held on January 22 and 23 at the company’s auditorium. The aim of the competition is to encourage people to be innovative and collaborate outside the conventions of life in a country with an anti-gamer mindset, said the Senior Director of Technology and Chief Architect at Virtusa, Thushera Kawdawhatta.
Intent on the screen: Participants at the challenge. Pix by Anuradha Bandara
“The main focus of course is fun!” he added. Though internal gaming competitions have been held since 2007, the Virtusan LAN challenge was initiated in 2011 and a university category included thus throwing it open up to the outside world. This year 14 university teams from all parts of Sri Lanka, each consisting of four players, battled it out with their game consoles and head sets. A striking feature of the Virtusan LAN challenge is that each team must have a female player. This rule was introduced to increase female participation in RPGs (Role Playing Games).
Wolfenstein- Enemy Territory was the multi-player RPG chosen by the organisers as the ideal battlefield. It is a FOS (Free and Open Source) game and the only one that has a local host server. The game is fully customizable and the Sri Lankan chapter is mainly maintained by Virtusans. A single mission that unravels on the “SW-Gold Rush” map was played by the teams in each round. Wolfenstein is popular for its virtual reality as the initial developers used cartography, era specific artillery and real historical events to simulate the World War.
“We chose this game because we wanted something we can play and develop. It teaches you to work as a team and improves your skill,” said Technology Engineer Nimashi Perera whose team advanced into the final round of the internal gaming challenge.
Matched up against each other, the team that wins a coin toss can choose to be an Allied or Axis force. Each round lasts 15 to 30 minutes and marks are allocated based on either a Stop Watch Basis or a Fixed Time Basis. The winners advance to the next round. The two finalists are chosen in this knockout manner.
Final rounds of the Virtusan LAN Challenge were held on January 23 from 2.30 pm onwards and the Jaffna University team “Immortal Assassins” emerged victorious defeating “50 Cal.” from the Moratuwa University. Chathuranga Marasinghe aka “Maraya” from the University of Jaffna was the best gamer of the university tournament.
“We are very happy to be here. This is a good opportunity for committed gamers like us,” said the beaming players of Immortal Assassins from Jaffna University. The finals of the internal gaming challenge saw the Serial Killers winning over the Cereal Killers. The winners were awarded cash prizes.