Battle begins in search for top Kiwi gamer

Gunfire, laser beams and explosions will leave hundreds of Kiwis virtually bloodied and bruised in Auckland this week. Ambulance services won’t be extraordinarily busy though, because the carnage is all online.

Over three days from Friday, gamers from across the country will descend on Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds to win their share of over $60,000 in prizes.

Not everything at TelstraClear-sponsored xLAN 2011, New Zealand’s biggest gaming competition, is digital blood and virtual gunfire from popular first person shooter titles such as Counter-Strike and Call of Duty. The 500 attendees can also challenge each other across real time strategy games including Heroes of Newerth and StarCraft 2, those with superior actions per minute coming out on top. Others, with focus and concentration, will take top honours on high-speed tracks in racing games like Track Mania Nations.

“Some people will be surprised at the wide range of people playing,” says Steve Jackson, TelstraClear’s consumer head. “While some would argue there are your stereotypical geeks, most of the players are from all backgrounds and ages.

“Gaming as a social and competitive environment has come a long way into the mainstream psyche of our culture in the last decade thanks to the introduction of powerful, online enabled consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3. Global world championships like WCG (www.wcg.com), where hundreds of thousands of dollars are given out to the world's best, have also taken gaming from the realm of kids into a skilled, sometimes professional, pursuit.

“Today’s high definition, high-speed, multi-player, multi-million dollar games are the height of computing technology and require immense skill and extraordinarily quick reactions, rivalling those of a jet fighter pilot. A robust and stable network is important to gamers and we provide that.

“TelstraClear will be making some exciting announcements at the event for its gaming customers.”