STUDENTS BATTLE FOR SCHOOL TITLE IN VIDEO GAME TOURNEY AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA - SAN FRANCISCO
Posted by Ben on Tuesday, August 20 2002

SAN FRANCISCO (Aug. 19, 2002) - Following virtual street racing and a virtual rumble in downtown San Francisco, two students emerged as champions in the student video game tournament held recently at The Art Institute of California - San Francisco (www.aicasf.aii.edu). The students competed on the martial arts game Tekken and popular 3D racing simulation game Gran Turismo 3 A-spec using PlayStation 2 consoles.

In the final round, Don Berger, 24, of San Jose, Calif., won the Tekken title by beating fellow student Brandon Zamora. Tournament organizer Bernard Woo, 21, of Union City, Calif., won the Gran Turismo 3 A-spec title crown by beating John Cubit.

The Aug. 15 tournament attracted a record crowd of students studying in the school's Game Art & Design, Media Arts & Animation, Graphic Design and Multimedia & Web Design programs.

"We designed these tournaments to find out who our top game geeks are for the quarter and for students to show off their game mojo," said Tournament Director Bernard Woo, a Graphic Design student and game enthusiast since childhood. "There were plenty of oohs and aahs from our crowd of players and supporters, and the free pizza didn't hurt attendance either."

"I love games and I play hard," said Don Berger, a student in the school's Game Art & Design program who has been playing games since he was 6 years old. "I play all types of genres and platforms. I'll look forward to even more challengers next quarter."

The school hosts a video game tournament each quarter for students to practice their game skills and compete for prizes. The students also use the sessions to study the latest computer graphics, animation and strategies used in video games.

The Game Art & Design program at The Art Institute of California - San Francisco takes the study of games one step further. Students are taught a range of artistic and computer skills used in creating content for interactive entertainment and video games. The bachelor's degree program offers courses in color theory, drawing, sculpture and other art fundamentals, as well as 3D modeling, animation, texturing, scripting, other aspects of character design and game level design. Students also take general education courses in mathematics, the social sciences, psychology, art history, philosophy, the humanities and other areas.

For more information about the school or its game tournaments, call (888) 493-3261, (415) 865-0198 or visit www.aicasf.aii.edu.