Teams go to war at Valley Mall
A vacant Spokane Valley Mall storefront turned into a war zone Saturday.
Screams, explosions and the rat-a-tat-tat crackle of gunfire filled the room as warriors in various forms went to battle.
Blood was shed. Thousands died. And the winners went home with $1,000.
The drama and suspense unfolded all day and through the night on 32 television screens as hundreds watched or took part in the third annual Halo 2 Tournament – a gathering for fans of the wildly popular Xbox game.
Fifty teams, each made up of four players, competed against each other in this violent, virtual world of Halo 2, a place where participants engage in a death match using weapons such as energy swords, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and plasma grenades.
The object of the game sounded simple enough: Kill or be killed. But players at Saturday’s tournament said that the best among them are the ones who understand stealth and strategy.
“Make sure your team stays together,” advised Joshua Munkers, of Spokane, team captain for INWGS, Inland Northwest Gaming Systems. “The more guns on one target make the target dead faster.”
The sequel of “Halo: Combat Evolved,” Halo 2 has drawn a massive worldwide following since it was first introduced in November 2004. During the first 24 hours of its release, sales soared to $125 million.
Spokane’s first Halo 2 tournament drew only 34 competitors, said Tim Mitchell, the event’s organizer. But the numbers have grown exponentially in the past year and the tournament now has some big-name sponsors. Halo 2 has become so popular that Mitchell hopes to start a local gaming league in the near future.
“There’s a lot of emotion involved in this game,” said Mitchell, 21 and owner of Trendz, a downtown store that sells contemporary furniture and funky accessories.
Each team paid $150 to participate in the tournament. While some had innocuous-sounding names like “Mr. Rogers and Co.” and “Spokanites,” others had monikers that reflected the nature of Halo 2: Gods of War, Geeks with Guns, Kill or Die.
Nearly all the players Saturday were male, mostly in their late teens to early 20s. “It’s the whole testosterone thing,” explained Mitchell. “We like to shoot guns and blow things up.”
Still, the event managed to attract a few teenage girls and a couple of teams made up of family members.
“It’s an adrenaline rush,” explained Raelynn Lopez, a 16-year-old from Spokane who caused heads to turn the minute she walked into the door.
She and her teammate, 15-year-old Katie Wagner, describe themselves as die-hard Halo fans and often play for hours after school and on the weekends. “It feels good when you beat all the guys,” said Wagner, a sophomore at Lewis and Clark High School.
One of the more competitive teams is Halo Legends, also known as the Aguilar family, of Spokane.
Playing Halo 2 helps them connect as a family, explained Gabe Aguilar, captain of this squad made up of his two children and a nephew. It bonds him not only to his own kids, he said, but also to relatives throughout the country thanks to Xbox Live, which allows people from all over the world to play the same game.
Aguilar has been playing video games with his children – 15-year-old Gabrielle and 12-year-old Thomas – since they were toddlers, he said. They started out with Mario Brothers and progressed to more challenging and sophisticated games as they got older. The two, who are both home-schooled, hope to compete in national gaming competitions someday.
“I can still hold my own, but they’ve become too good for me,” said the proud father. “I’m like their sensei, but the students are now better than the teacher.”