Totton College student, Jack Parker, and five of his online teammates, have spent an all-expenses-paid weekend in Los Angeles, after qualifying for the finals of a video games tournament, with a prize pot of $300,000, on Sunday 19 March.
The 18 year old BTEC Level 3, Video Games Development student and his co-players, ranked the second highest score in the world, in the video game, H1Z1, making them one of 15 teams, selected to compete in the international gaming competition, Fight for the Crown.
H1Z1 is a survival challenge, based on a similar concept to the blockbuster movie, The Hunger Games, where teams compete against other teams in order to dodge danger, overcome obstacles and ultimately be the last ones standing.
The tournament is being televised by American CW Channel on 20 April and the players are contracted to keep the results secret before it is aired.
Before jetting off to his L.A. hotel on Thursday 16 March, Jack said he was feeling excited about the trip ahead and confident that he and his co-players would win:
“We were so happy to be selected to represent Britain as one of the top 15 teams in the world, we’ve been practising every night and we are feeling positive about our chances of winning. It is going to be a cool trip and we are really fired-up and ready to go.
The Video Games Development course here at Totton College is complex and it’s challenging but it has really helped me understand the mechanics of video games which has improved my handle on them.”
The competition prizes consist of $180,000 for first place, $60,000 for second place, $18,000 for fourth place and fifth place a prize of $12,000.
For more information about the Video Games Development course at Totton College visit: totton.ac.uk or to find out more about the tournament, go to www.h1z1fightforthecrown.com
