2K Sports awards best NHL gamer new Dodge Nitro
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2K Sports flew in the top four gamers from its North American NHL 2K8 All-Star Challenge Tournament Presented by Dodge Nitro to take in the festivities at the 56th NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. The Final Four competed on the red carpet in front of thousands of screaming fans just before the NHL stars entered Philips Arena for the Dodge NHL SuperSkills Challenge Saturday night. NHL 2K8 cover athlete and NHL All-Star Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators served as emcee for the event, taking time to sign autographs for the fans who waited hours for key positions on the red carpet.
All of the Xbox 360 action was captured on multiple high definition TVs as well as an outdoor JumboTron as the brand new 2008 Dodge Nitro sat next to the stage with its own HDTV in the back for fans to play NHL 2K8 on Xbox 360.
"There's a lot at stake and them getting a new car just adds to the excitement of the whole weekend here," said Spezza. "I didn't want to get in the way of these guys because there's a lot at stake, but you could tell they were pretty zoned in."
After an extended break in the second Semi-Final game that occurred when the NHL stars' buses arrived early and the stage had to be used for player interviews, the four gamers returned to the stage. What started in daylight ended in the frigid cold as an intense battle between Zane Zukowski, 29, of Long Island, N.Y. (plays as the Anaheim Ducks) and Kevin Poole, 17, of Shirley, N.Y. (playing as the St. Louis Blues) resulted in a 6-4 victory by the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Ducks.
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"I definitely need a new car," said Zukowski, who added that he zoned out the screaming fans and just heard the sounds from the video game during the competition. "I'm going to sell the beat up old one and bring in this new one."
For Poole, who competed in his second straight Finals, there's always next year. The gamer came this close to winning the first Dodge Nitro in Dallas, but wasn't able to fend off Anaheim's defense this year. Zukowski actually beat last year's contest winner, Vincent Herelle of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in the final round before making it to the Final Four.
"The fact that I had more experience this year it was a little easier to get through the competition," said Poole. "Last year I went with the Ducks, this year I went with the Blues because they're a really rough team. They have power and they can hit and my style of play is very physical."
When it came to the Final Four video games, which also included Canadians Chuck Koller, 38, of Victoria, British Columbia and Chris Ryan, 20, of Brampton, Ontario, Spezza said he thinks these guys are a little too good for him.
"They seem to react pretty quickly to everything that happens," said Spezza, who enjoys playing video games in his free time. "It takes me a little more time to figure things out."
During the first intermission of the 56th NHL All-Star Game on Sunday night, Spezza and Thornton awarded Zukowski the new Dodge Nitro at center ice in front of the packed crowd at Philips Arena. Sitting in the back of the Nitro, Zukowski and Poole played a short shoot-out contest on an HDTV, which was shown on the arena JumboTron. Zokowski won 2-1.
The NHL 2K8 video game competition was part of a full weekend of exposure for 2K Sports. The game publisher had NHL 2K8 on Xbox 360 set up in the Player's Lounge downstairs in the media area, where the All-Stars did all of their interviews. In addition, during the new SuperSkills competitions, NHL 2K8 gameplay was used to explain the new challenges to both the arena crowd on the JumboTron as well as to the viewing audience on Versus.
"The NHL All-Star Weekend is a great place to celebrate the best players in the league and a chance for us to show hockey fans NHL 2K8," said Chris Synder, director of marketing, 2K Sports. "Many of today's NHL All-Stars play our games and this venue also provides a great opportunity to partner with the NHL and Dodge to give back to the best hockey game players in the world with our annual competition."
