Home › Webified › Blogs › Q-T3CH
Gamer Check: Jeremy Florence plays in the National Championship tonight
Rio Rancho star plays key role for Chicago team
Here's our story about Jeremy Florence running in the paper today:
By Sue Vorenberg
Monday, July 30, 2007
Brain Urlacher won't play in the epic matchup between Chicago and Carolina, but a New Mexican will still play a critical role if Chicago is to win.
That key player is 20-year-old Rio Rancho resident Jeremy Florence, and his team - which competes in four video games - is the Chicago Chimera.
Tonight Chicago (9-4) plays the Carolina Core (7-6) in the first North American final of the Championship Gaming Series, which will air at 8 p.m. on Direct TV Channel 101.
Florence, who's been in Los Angeles for the month-and-a-half-long season, plays the fighting game "Dead or Alive 4." His gamer tag is Black Mamba.
He'll play against Carolina's Ryan Ward, who's tag is OffbeatNinja - the top Dead or Alive 4 player in the nation.
Florence's play will be critical if his team is to win, the general managers of both teams said.
"Jeremy is an extremely talented and dedicated gamer," said Brian Flander, general manager of the Chimera. "He's lost every time against OffbeatNinja this year, but I think this time he's a lot better prepared. I think he'll do well."
Mark Dolven, general manager of the Core, said Florence is an impressive player, but he's not sure if he can beat Ward.
"Chicago is probably the best team on paper," Dolven said. "They really don't have any weaknesses. If Jeremy can keep it close, they could do very well."
Ward's character in the game, Ein, is powerful and solid, whereas Florence's, Helena, is more of a finesse player skilled at evading attack, Florence said.
"It will probably be an uphill battle," Florence said. "I basically just have to outplay him."
The other three games the teams will compete in are "CounterStrike: Source," "Project Gotham Racing 3" and "FIFA '07."
Chicago has the top "Project Gotham Racing 3" team, while Carolina has dominated in "Dead or Alive 4" this season. They're evenly matched in the other two games, Dolven and Flander said.
The Championship Gaming Series league will have finals in six other world regions later this year: Latin America, United Kingdom, Europe, Africa/Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Both Chicago and Carolina as the top two North American teams will automatically advance to the world championships this November.
"The Championship Gaming Series is definitely the first league that has treated gamers like athletes," Dolven said. "They're paid salaries. They are listened to by management. In other gaming leagues, as a gamer you just kind of show up. We had a draft."
Florence is paid $30,000 a year base salary as a professional gamer. He'll get bonuses and performance incentives in the North American final and when he plays in the world championship.
In the meantime, after the big game is over, Florence plans to head back to Rio Rancho so he can go to junior college. He wants to major in computers or film, he said.
"It's been a really fun experience," Florence said. "It's not just practicing and playing all the time, you get to hang out with friends, go to the beach and play with some really great people."
Posted by suevo at 11:22 AM | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.scripps.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/23362
Post a comment
