Canadians Crowned Halo 3 Champions at Samsung Sponsored World Cyber Games Grand Final

For four young Canadians known as team “EndResult” in the gaming community, the sweetest of all end results was a gold-medal finish in the Halo 3 tournament for XBOX 360 at the 2008 World Cyber Games Grand Finals in Cologne, Germany in November. Title and worldwide sponsor Samsung Electronics has been helping to bring the world’s best cyber athletes together since 2000 through its technology.

The team, comprised of Kevin Garcia (19) of Keswick, ON, Max Rawal (17) of Scarborough, ON, Chris Kerluke (20) of Vancouver, BC and Mark James (20) of Mississauga, ON, went undefeated in all of their matches before entering the gold medal round. EndResult then went on to defeat team SSK of France to secure the top prize in a best-of-three competition.

“We are absolutely thrilled for Kevin, Max, Chris and Mark,” said Benjamin Lee, President of Samsung Electronics Canada. “As the title sponsor of this global event, we are very proud of these four young men, and of Team Canada as a whole. They showcased their skills brilliantly on the world stage and maintained a true spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship throughout the entire competition.”

More than 700 top gamers and 58,000 spectators from around the world descended on Cologne from November 5-9 to take part in five days of intense competition at the world’s largest video game event and e-sports festival. While teams from South Korea, the Netherlands and the United States clinched the top three spots, Team Canada was a very strong contender, placing ninth overall from a total of 83 participating countries.

“It was such an honour to represent our country at the World Cyber Games Grand Final in Germany,” said Kevin Garcia. “Thanks to Samsung, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime – a chance for my passion for video games to take me halfway around the world where I competed against today’s best gamers and was crowned a World Champion.”

With their gold medal, the members of team EndResult received a cash prize worth $40,000 USD. Each player also received a new Samsung notebook computer. Raising the competitive bar this year in the international tournament, Samsung’s stunning Syncmaster T200 20-inch monitor and LE32A557P 32-inch LCD TV (Full HD) were selected as the official monitor and TV for the event. Fans and event attendees were also given access to the highest level of Samsung products and the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of events and activities. Samsung Sports World featured popular sports including soccer, golf, NASCAR, fencing, field hockey and horse jumping, through which participants had the opportunity to win prizes for scoring goals, hitting the longest drive or getting closest to the hole in one-on-one and group competition.

Adding to the excitement of EndResult’s winning Halo 3 performance, Team Canada also met with well-deserved success in the Counter-Strike 1.6 PC game competition. The five young men that made up team NoPression, whose members all hail from the province of Quebec, faced some fierce competition, making it all the way to the quarter-finals before being knocked out of the tournament by team x30 from the US.

Team Canada was comprised of 13 young men from across the country who qualified to represent Canada after winning the national titles in their respective games at the WCG Canadian Championship in Montreal in September. The winning gamers in each of the single-player games (a total of four winners), as well as two winning teams from this year’s team games (a total of nine winners), each received paid airfare and accommodations in Cologne, Germany, where they competed for more than $400,000 USD in cash and prizes.

Although the World Cyber Games has drawn to a close for the 2008 season, gamers from around the world are already training for competition in 2009. Canadian gamers will begin competing in official WCG qualifying events across the country next summer by participating in online and terrestrial competitions. Winners will earn invitations to the WCG 2009 Canadian Championship where they will compete for a chance to represent Canada at next year’s WCG Grand Final in Chengdu, China.

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