KATHY CHANG With his new Web site ProHaloLeague.com and organized LAN tournaments, Ryan Gellis, 17, of Brick, hopes to turn gaming into a competition rather than just a leisure activity. Gellis is pictured at one of the LAN tournaments held at the Time Zone Gaming center in Fords. WOODBRIDGE – With his new Web site ProHaloLeague.com and organized LAN (local area network) tournaments, Ryan Gellis, 17, hopes to move gaming from leisure to outright competition.
“The kids can play in teams with each other and can play against each other from all over the country in the comfort of their own home,” said Gellis, a freshman at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. “We have people as far as California participate in the tournaments.”
Gellis held a LAN tournament at the Time Zone Gaming center in Fords, which brought out approximately 30 gamers in an October 13 event.
“Our tournaments right now gear to the game Halo 3,” said Gellis, who said the tournaments range from four to eight hours. “The tournaments are kind of stuck with that game for now, which is for the more mature age of 17 years old and up. We do have consent forms that are sent out to parents for the younger kids who want to participate.”
Halo 3, which was released on Sept. 25 in the United States, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360 game system. The story in the game centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant, who after a decades-long war have begun the invasion of Earth. Halo 3 follows Halo 2, which followed the original game, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Gellis said he hopes to add the game Guitar Hero 3 to their tournaments.
Mike Manning, 15, of Neptune, came out to compete in the Halo 3 tournament at the Time Game Zoning center with the name ‘HANZ.’
“I played in my first tournament in 2006 at the Meadowlands [Arena] and lost badly,” he said. “I saw how good everybody else was and wanted to be good as they were.”
Manning won the first free-for-all round, showing off his multiple triple-kills and clever game play and made it into the championship two-on-two tournament as part of the team We Ride Ponies. However, Manning and his partner lost to the other team, On Fire.
Some people came for their first tournament.
“I was a little nervous because I don’t know what to expect,” said Leo Cabrera, 29, of Newark, who came with his friend Mike Nazon, 28, of Newark.
Although Halo 3 is geared to a more mature audience, Gellis said he invites “skeptical” parents to the tournaments with their kids.
“Our tournaments emphasize teamwork and leadership skills,” said Gellis. “If parents are worried, they should come out and see how the tournaments run. Since the tournaments have started, I haven’t run into any problems.”
Gellis said his Web site, which was started in March, is slowly forming a community of gamers.
“There have been others who have started gaming Web sites; however, some people have just done them for their own profit and would steal money,” he said. “It’s important for people to trust us and build that trust from the outside. We are legitimate.”
Gellis added that he could monitor everything on his Web site.
“We have a dispute center and we have disqualified players before,” he said.
The Web site also features a place where players can chat with their challengers.
Gellis started the LAN tournaments in October with four tournaments in Fords, a campus of DeVry University, the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, and in Wayne.
“There was a great turn out at the Sovereign Bank Arena,” he said. “It was a bigger tournament where we just ran the Halo section of the tournament. We had about 60 to 70 kids compete. There was a 50-kid turnout at DeVry.”
Gellis, who resides in Brick Township, said the whole idea of starting his own gaming Web site began three years ago.
“I started traveling to gaming tournaments with a team three years ago,” he said. “We traveled within New Jersey to Charlotte, North Carolina. I have met so many friends through the tournaments. I just decided to take the idea online.”
Gellis’ father, Rick, who travels with his son to the LAN tournaments, said he wasn’t surprised his son took on the entrepreneurship challenge.
“He’s just been that type of person … he started to read and write at a really young age, he’s musically adept and is creative with Web sites,” he said.
The Halo 3 FFA Tournament was slated to be held from 3-9:30 p.m. at The Game Lounge, 912 Hazelwood Road, Toms River, Nov. 7. It is a charity tournament with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society as part of “Finish the Fight for Breast Cancer.”
The Cyber ConXion tournament will be held on Dec. 1.
For more information, visit www.pro- Haloleague.com.