Record Crowd Expected to Brawl and

Play at UC San Diego’s Winter Game Fest

College tradition is now region’s largest video game festival

January 6, 2011

By Christine Clark

Players will also be able to "rock out" to other games such as, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

More video games, sponsors, attendees and $7,000 worth of prizes, will be featured at the seventh annual Winter Game Fest Jan. 22 and 23 on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. The two-day video game tournament is free and open to the public and has become in one of the largest competitions of its kind in Southern California.

More than 50 Gamecubes and Wii stations, 10 Playstation 3s, 16 Xbox 360 consoles, 100 computers and 20 projectors will run beginner-friendly games and professional video game tournaments. Gamers will compete for prizes from sponsors, such as Microsoft, Blizzard Entertainment and Aksys Games.

The event will take place 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.  in the Price Center East Ballroom and this year, a second location at the multipurpose room in the Student Services Center has been added.

“Because of the success and the popularity of previous Winter Game Fests we wanted to make it bigger this year,” said Andrew Wu, director of the Sixth College Tech Committee. “We will have more sponsors, more prizes, bigger tournaments and most importantly, more fun.”

More than 2,500 video game enthusiasts are expected to attend the fest where there will be nine tournaments for games such as, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Halo Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Players will also be able to “rock out” to other games such as, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

More than 50 Gamecubes and Wii stations, 10 Playstation 3s, 16 Xbox 360 consoles, 100 computers and 20 projectors will be running beginner-friendly games and professional video game tournaments.

Event attendance has skyrocketed from a crowd of 30 since the first Winter Game Fest in 2005. Last year, more than 2,000 players competed, some of whom traveled from outside of the U.S. to attend.

“The Winter Game Fest is hugely popular at UC San Diego and has become a major event for the community and surrounding region,” Wu said. 

The student-run festival is organized by the Sixth College Tech Committee. Sixth College is a part of the university’s unique six-college system which offers undergraduate students the benefits of a small-campus neighborhood atmosphere for social life, housing and dining along with opportunities for involvement in student government and community activities – while retaining the academic advantages of a major research university.

Media Contacts:
Christine Clark, 858-534-7618 or ceclark@ucsd.edu