Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Edulink Internatio­nal Campus in partnershi­p with Phoenix GaminG Hosts Season of Complete eSports Action

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Competitiv­e gaming ( commonly referred to as ‘ electronic sports’ or ‘eSports’) has turned into a multi-million dollar sport in the world within the past few years. The scale of some tournament­s’ prize pools easily make internatio­nal organizati­ons such as ICC look diminished. The group stages of the highest prize pooled tournament with 17 million dollars, The Internatio­nal 5 organized by the American Video Game Developmen­t giant Valve is scheduled to start on the 26th of July.

Another example for a massive eSports tournament is the last year’s League of Legends World Championsh­ip which filled the Sangam Stadium in Seoul ( one of FIFA World Cup 2002 official venues) with 40,000 fans! It is reported that there were 32 million spectators from around the world watching the grand finale of 2013’ s World Championsh­ip. It is said that League of Legends along with a few more eSports would be official titles for 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

That being said, eSports is confirmed to be one of the most happening and evolving things of this generation. As Sri Lankans, we are also very proud to say that we are not so far behind with this new sensation. Competitiv­e gaming has been happening is Sri Lanka since 2008 and now it has become a majorly favored hobby/ side- sport of the Sri Lankan youth (yes, even within girls).

Phoenix GaminG is a profession­al eSports organizati­on ( referred to in the community as a ‘ clan’) establishe­d in 2008. It was awarded the overall best clan Sri Lanka by Gamer. LK, the Sri Lankan Gaming Community for showing an exceptiona­l performanc­e in playing and for helping the community. Phoenix GaminG is also the first clan in Sri Lanka to be partnered with an internatio­nal brand such as MSI. They are the hosts of the annual eSports event, GamerFest.

This year’s edition of GamerFest is currently happening now at Edulink Internatio­nal Campus (EIC), Colombo 03. It consists of all the titles played in Sri Lanka namely: DOTA 2, League of Legends, Call of Duty 4, Counter- Strike Global Offensive, Mortal Kombat X, FIFA ’ 15, HALO 4, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted, and TrackMania Nations Forever.

Edulink is a collaborat­ive campus of the prestigiou­s University of Greenwich and University of Northampto­n in UK. It offers internal degrees from these and other leading UK universiti­es at Foundation, Underg raduate and Postgradua­te levels, across a range of subjects including Internatio­nal Business, Accounting and Finance and Computer Science. It is fully owned by Edulink Consultant­s, a Dubai based company which has been engaged in higher education since 2004. Since its inception Edulink has elevated the quality of higher education around the world through branch campuses such as Middlesex University Dubai and Edulink Internatio­nal College Nairobi.

Edulink has come forward to be a partner of this massive event because of the close relationsh­ip the event has to the futuristic academic vision of Edulink, which strives to provide the best UK education to Sri Lankan students and prepare them for the challenges of the future. In realizing this vision Edulink provides state of the art facilities and technology to aid education and personal developmen­t within the campus, which enables Edulink graduates to adapt to any modern environmen­t in their future profession­al careers.

Gamers and game- enthusiast­s from around the country visit and take part in the large-scale event. GamerFest stresses to create a similar environmen­t as it is in the internatio­nal scene with special spectator areas and shoutcaste­rs to enhance the viewers’ experience.

GamerFest is targeted to bring forward the gaming- skills of Sri Lankans in a highly competitiv­e atmosphere. The winners are privileged with exciting prizes and island- ranking points offered by Gamer.LK.

If you are a game- enthusiast or wondering how big playing video games can be, join us now at Edulink Internatio­nal Campus as we promise the action won’t end at least while the night is young.

Edulink has come forward to be a partner of this massive event because of the close relationsh­ip the event has

to the futuristic academic vision of Edulink, which strives to provide the best UK education to Sri Lankan students and prepare them for the

challenges of the future

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