University of Toronto Student FPS Night

By Keadin

Down the corridors of the University of Toronto campus plasma rifles and energy swords could be heard – it was the school's first total FPS night and gamers were getting their fill of mayhem. Hosted by GeneralGames.ca and the Video Game Society, the event gave students a chance to vent their pre-exam tension with a little friendly competition.

If only they paid this much attention during lectures…

Members brought in their Xbox 360 consoles and games for a fun little event, but when word got around limited edition Gears of War faceplates would be up for grabs, the crowds came rolling in.

As the event kicked off, the crowd was clearly divided into two distinct groups; Call of Duty junkies, andHalo-heads. Dispute over which game would get prime time on the Student Lounge's biggest TV quickly ensued as tournament rosters were filling up.

Not unlike Xbox LIVE, the Student Lounge turned into a battleground for fanboys to dispute which game was superior. Combat realism versus weapon balance, Theatre game saves versus Killcam replays, Spartan armour versus Apache helicopters, the debates raged on and on. If only R1ch's game actually existed, the whole mess could have been avoided.

While the two parties duked it out in their fanboy frenzy, something rather interesting happened. Newcomers to the club, who weren’t well versed in either game, simply began playing and alternating titles. They were both phenomenal games, why shouldn't they both be played?

Small screen, big competition

The night rolled on and the newbies enjoyed their hassle-free playing, and when the hardcore crowd realized they were missing out on game time, the debate calmed right down. The night was all about coming together as a group to enjoy the games together, the Halo fans were introduced to the joys of F-16 air strikes and the CoD4 gang finally met the Warthog.

Before long, everyone forgot about the quarrel and just relaxed and played, enjoying each other's company and the excellent games on Xbox 360. Everyone had a great time rocking the best games of 2007 and walked away with at least a few new Friend Requests.

The moral of the day seemed to be that, regardless of which games you love, don't be afraid to try something new. If someone else is playing it, it can't be all that bad.