Welcome to the first Sk88z FTW!, my blog taking a whirl around
the EA SPORTS universe bringing you all the big winners and cool events that
come across my path.
This past weekend saw two more regional winners join the
eight that have already won their regions in this year's NBA LIVE
Challenge. At the Best Buy store in New
York, NY Ryan Dawson from Walkersville, MD came out on the winning end while
Steffon Dunlop of Queens, NY made a name for himself taking the Washington, DC
title at the Fashion Center at Pentagon City.
They will be joining the following regional winners for a shot at the
Championship Grand prize of $25,000 in cash and prizes:
Jamiah
"J-Swith" Anderson - Sacramento
Marcus
"Live Boss" Smith - San Francisco
Jordan
"Hands" Simmons - Los Angeles
Trace
"Kilirugi" Kieliszewski - Indianapolis
Bill
"Wakka" Patschak - Chicago
Derek
"Ace-Duece-King" Patrick - Minneapolis - Defending Champion
Anthony
"Kid Gorgeous" DiNardi - Philadelphia
Anthony
"Boy Wonder" Caruso - Boston
I'll be out
with our EA SPORTS World crew to cover the Phoenix
Regional this Friday along with the Championships Finals on Saturday at the
All-Star Jam Session. For those in
Phoenix who want to take part in the Regional event, click on the jump and register
for a ticket to get into the Jam Session.
You'll still need to be there early (5PM start) to be one of the 128
players entered. Will Ace-Deuce-King be
able to repeat as Challenge Champion or will one of the newcomers continue to
live the dream and make his way to the top of the pyramid? Who's your pick ftw?
While in Phoenix we'll also be covering a story around Tim
Ahmed. Tim created the design for
the Rookie & Sophomore jerseys which not only garnered him a ticket to a
Knicks game, but he will also be taking part in the T-Mobile
Rookie Challenge where the players will be donning his creation.
If you're in
Phoenix, look for me running around with Rob Thompson, Eric Gray, and Nate
Lundy who'll be all over the events and looking for community stories to
include with these. As for the big game,
my bet is on the West ftw, 138-129. If
you can't make it to Phoenix, we'll bring you as much news as we can on our
Inside EA Sports blog, so keep tuned in!
Looks like a big win for the NHL team as early reviews of
3-On-3 NHL Arcade released last week have been pretty good. Check out reviews by Pasta
Padre, ARS
Techica, Gamerzone,
and the Virtual
Sports Network as well as a recent Q&A
Video from Producer Matt Mahar. As
well, a small article by my man, Derek Fobe who I've had some epic battles on
the sticks with this game and his look at the EA Sports' first arcade title in It's
Christmas in February.
I have to say that since Ryan
Kesler's visit to EA over a week ago, the Canucks have looked to have
turned their game around with a couple of big wins including a 7-3
victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday night. Kesler himself has eight points (five goals)
in three games and seems to be the spark on the newly formed line with Matt
Sundin and Pavel Dimitra who have been feeding off the youthful leader's
energy. Not only has he been on fire,
his work on the penalty kill helped the 'nucks keep a very strong 'hawks power
play to just 1/5. Pick the Canucks ftw
going into the playoffs as they're looking at getting hot at just the right
time.
For you soccer fans, the North American qualifiers begin for
the 09 FIFA Interactive World Cup. The FIWC has become one of the largest and
fastest growing sports gaming competitions in the world with players from
around the globe battling it out on EA
Sports FIFA Soccer 09 in a bid to be crowned the best virtual soccer player
in the world and receive the $20,000 1st place prize. The best
interactive soccer players in North America will be competing for one of 32
berths in the FIWC Grand Final in May in Barcelona, Spain. For more details check out last week's
press release. Are you ready to go
ftw footy style?
That's it for now, but check out the next FTW! where I'll be
looking into some of the nominees in our Toughest College Basketball Arena
competition, an inside look at our upcoming Fight Night Round 4 Community
Event, and whatever else I can fit in.
Until then gamers, Go FTW!