Oh, video games. The thrill of Mario Karts shooting red shells, the sound of Guitar Hero playing the tunes, and the power of Jigglypuff getting thrown off the edge in Smash Brothers makes my world go round. As a gamer I love knowing what the hottest new games are on campus as much as going back to the classics that started them all; and now I have finally competed with some of the talented and rigorous gamers at Emmanuel Bible College.

The (R) Evolution of Gaming Tournament took place on February 10, 2010 from 7-9 pm. The games that were used in this tournament included Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Mario Karts 64 for the Nintendo 64 (N64), Super Smash Brothers (Bros) Brawl for the Nintendo Wii (Wii), and Guitar Hero for the X-Box 360. There were also numerous card games such as Dutch Blitz and Euchre and board games such as Cranium. Whether the game was played via cards or console, the competition was high and people played to have their names recognized within the school.

In the end the winners were found. The winner of the Emmanuel Bible College Video Game Trophy was Leanne Knechtel and the winner of the Movie Ticket raffle was Andrena LeBlanc. The champion for Mario Kart was Lindsay Prowd. Brawl’s champion was Leanne Knechtel and the champion for Guitar Hero was Trevor Jacobs. However, in many ways and at many times the competition came close and the gamers at EBC had a chance to compete with one another while enjoying pizza, pop, chips, snack mixes, brownies and Smarty’s.
To the Student Council:

This was a fun event and I think all of us participants recommend that it happen again next year! Another suggestion I may have in that regard is perhaps a course on media. After all, video games, television, the Internet are an intrinsic part of our society; especially youth culture. Perhaps it would be a benefit to the students at Emmanuel Bible College to have the option of taking a course on media and society as the media affects everyone in North America. This course could educate students about the media, the different theoretical approaches to the media and the different views that Christians have of it.

In conclusion, this was an excellent event that should be repeated in the years to come by the Student Council. I thank all of those people who helped make it a reality. Finally, I think that a course on the media would make a wonderful addition to EBC’s course selections.

By Andrena LeBlanc