Pinoy Gaming World

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines is hoping to win a medal in the Beijing Olympics, a Filipino has already brought home a medal but for a different competition.

Luis Benesa won a silver medal in the Microsoft Xbox 360 game “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” at the World Cyber Games (WCG) Asian Championships held in Singapore on August 8 to 10.

Benesa beat China, Vietnam and Korea to reach the semi-finals. He was beaten by a player from New Zealand for the top spot.

The 18-year-old Ateneo De Manila University student is the first Filipino player to win a silver medal in an international competition of WCG, and the second overall to win a medal.

The first medal the Philippines garnered was a bronze medal by the five-man team Flow playing Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients in last year’s WCG Asian Championships.

This is also the first time Benesa competed in an international gaming competition. He was second place in the WCG Philippines competition after Rafael Formoso who will compete in the WCG Finals in Germany in November.

The rest of the Filipino contingent to this year’s WCG Asian Championships did not make it to the final rounds. The Philippine contingent is composed of players for Virtua Fighter 5, FIFA 08, and DotA.

Mike Vinluan, general manager for WCG Philippines organizer eSports, said the group is proud yet surprised that a young player for a new game that they introduced would take home a silver medal.

“This is a step closer to a gold medal. Hopefully, we win one either in this year’s WCG Finals or next year,” Vinluan said.