Alumni Jesse Rogers, who studied Game Design at UAT, had the chance to compete in the final stage of Oculus's The Unspoken VR Tournament for Oculus Rift Touch last month in New York City. Because Jesse made it to the Top 8, he won airfare and a hotel stay in New York City so he could participate in the finals.
See our previous blog on how Jesse earned a spot in the Top 8!
So how did the tournament go?
Jesse checked into the hotel and took a ride to the Microsoft Store on Fifth Avenue. At the studio, he met with Insomniac developers, broadcasters and the production team for the tournament. The tournament participants took professional photos and were given fancy game tournament t-shirts to look official.
On Saturday morning, the competitors had some time to practice and get the feel for the game before the competition began.
The tournament consisted of four matches and the best of three rounds wins. Jesse won one round, but was eliminated and did not place in the competition.
Jesse did learn a lot about competing in an eSports Tournament including setup, flow of the event, how to take a business trip alone, how to talk to people in the industry and he especially enjoyed exploring New York City and seeing a new city. Jesse said he met cool people, and he found it interesting the competitors had such different personalities.
Jesse said "Overall, participating in the VR Tournament was a fun experience, but wish I would have had more time to talk to the Insomniac team, because he's interested in working for them one day."