
Nelson "GSpot" Triana
|
As
I mentioned in the Halo
3 Midnight Launch Event article, Major League Gaming Canada was
at the event promoting the upcoming MLG Canadian Open. Their crew
handed out prize money flyers to passers by and talked with people
about the open. I also got the chance to speak with Nelson “G-SpOt”
Triana, Canada's top rated gamer (number two in the world) and MLG
Canada's spokesperson, about the Open and tournament gaming in
Canada. Here's what he had to say.
Comic
Book Bin : So Nelson, first of all, what's it like to be Canada's
top gamer?
Nelson
"G-SpOt" Triana : It's stressful, to be honest.
Everyone's always trying to gun for you, right? When you're at the
top everyone wants to bring you down. For the past year, there are a
lot of Canadian gamers that have stepped up, and there's a lot of
good Canadian gamers out there now. So I have to keep up with my
game, which means a lot of practice, and it's getting pretty
stressful, I'm not going to lie.
CBB
: Over the past few years, how have you seen gaming grow in Canada
compared to what it's been?
G-SpOt
: Well, the past few years I haven't seen it growing at all. That's
why I always have to go to the States to compete. I mean, there's a
tournament in Toronto that they have every so often, but it doesn't
bring out the members. They'll bring maybe like, five people. There's
just not enough. In the States they're bringing over a thousand

GSpot with other MLG Canada members
|
something
every tournament that they have. That's the numbers that we need
here. So with the announcement of MLG Canada coming to Toronto,
November 2
nd
,
that's a huge leap for Major League Gaming in general, and hopefully
that will just boost up Canadian gaming for everyone across Canada.
CBB
: With the MLG Canadian Open coming to the Direct Energy Centre in
November, what do you expect to see as far as Canadian gamers coming
and stepping up?
G-SpOt
: What I'm hoping to see is as many Canadian gamers, across Canada,
attending this event, because they've been asking for an MLG event in
Canada for the past four years, since MLG started. You know, now it's
here, and I expect all those guys that wanted it, to be there. You
know, that's my number one expectation. Number two is, a lot of
people can't go to the States for numerous reasons. It's too
expensive. Flights are always $500 plus anywhere in the States. The
currency exchange used to be terrible, now it's good, but before that
it used to be a problem.
Getting
a passport can also cause problems because you have to have one now
to travel. I mean, if you're going to fly anywhere. And then hotel,
that's another big deal. We were in Orlando, it was like $800 for
four nights. A lot of that stuff adds up, and a lot of the gamers are
teenagers so they don't really have that kind of money, and
sponsorship in Canada is not as big, just because they're not
familiar with it just yet.
Now,
with MLG coming to Canada, there's no excuses for them not to go to
events now, you know? Toronto's so easy to get to. You could fly
there, direct flight pretty much from anywhere. You can access it by
train, bus. It's just, it's Toronto. It's the central city of Canada.
And the currency's Canadian Dollars, there's no problems there. I'm
pretty sure hotel rates are just as good. So now all the excuses
anyone had before, they're not there anymore. Everyone has to come to
MLG Canada.
CBB
: And as far as tonight goes, are you having fun? What are you doing
here tonight?
G-SpOt
: Well, just like everybody else, I'm playing
Halo 3 for the
first time, but because I'm Canada's top gamer, I have to play
against the challengers. So they have my section and a different
section. Whoever wins in the different section comes to me and I play
against them one-on-one. And so far I haven't lost. The only person
that I've actually lost to is, actually, my teammates, TheBo. He's
pretty nasty at
Halo 3
.
CBB
: He's from N49?
G-SpOt
: That's correct. He's also on North
of 49. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely a good player, but I'll get to
him. I'm very smart, so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to outsmart him
sooner or later.
CBB
: And you're excited for the
Halo
3
launch?
G-SpOt
:
I'm very excited. As soon as I get the game, I'm not even going to go
on Xbox Live to play the multiplayer. I'm going to play the campaign
story first, until I finish it, just because I'm curious to see what
happens. From then I'm probably end up playing on Xbox Live to play
against the rest of the world.
CBB
:
Thank you.