Annual games summit returns to Goldsboro
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 4, 2018 3:05 AM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Nicholas Wiley and Gabby Sorto play in the Halo free play room during the Carolina Games Summit in downtown Goldsboro Saturday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Teams compete in League of Legends during the annual Carolina Games Summit Saturday in downtown Goldsboro.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Britni McNeill has her photo taken by Chris Yarborough dressed in her Black Cat cosplay from Spider-Man.
The offensive line gets into position.
The defense adjusts.
Excitement mounts among the spectators and armchair quarterbacks.
"You see what they are doing?" one spectator shouts. "Do you see what they are doing? They are eating up time."
The tactic works, time expires, and the Baltimore Ravens notch a 31-24 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Falcons -- at least in the cyberworld of the 10th annual Carolina Games Summit.
The Madden NFL 2018 tournament was one of several video game tournaments being played Saturday at the Wayne National Building on West Walnut Street.
The Summit will continue today starting at 11 a.m. at the Wayne National Building.
It also includes card games such as Magic the Gathering Standard, Magic the Gathering: Commander and Yu-Gi-Oh Constructed.
Saturday's keynote speaker was Craig Morgan of Providence Law in Charlotte. The title of the presentation was "How to Protect Yourself and Make More Money -- Sponsorship and Contractual Issues in Esports." It was held at the Paramount Theater.
Vendors offered a variety of items and services related to gamers.
Cosplayers gathered at the Paramount Theatre during the day. Cosplay is a hobby in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a certain character.
Optimus Prime from the Transformers stood in front of the theater Saturday, and characters from the Star Wars franchise strolled downtown.
The judging was Saturday night, but the cosplay will continue today.
An awards ceremony will be held later today as well.
Carolina Games Summit started in Goldsboro in 2006 and was held annually at Wayne Community College through 2013. The event has been in Raleigh and Durham in recent years before local efforts were made to bring the two-day event back to the city.
New this year was a two-day Art Showcase located at the Art Council of Wayne County.
The exhibit also will be open from noon to 5 p.m. today.
The exhibit features work by some of the southeast's best artists, explores the creativity of comics, games, and other modern media.
Zangar Freeman, 22, a Marine stationed at Cherry Point, had just defeated Wonder Woman, or rather his Joker had in Injustice II, and was waiting for a chance to play Mortal Kombat, one of his favorite games.
"This is my second time coming out here," he said. "I came, I think it was two years ago for the Mortal Kombat XL tournament. It was pretty good, and I met a couple of friends out here, too. So we have a little group that always gets together and plays fighting games."
They try to play in as many tournaments as they can and have traveled as far as Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte for events, he said.
Freeman, who is originally from Boston, said he and his roommate play video games all of the time.
He said he likes to do free play prior to a tournament to feel out the competition and check out playing styles so he can adjust to them.
"I think the Summit is great," he said. "The venue downstairs is great. The last time I came I spent like over $300. I am a big collector of figurines and fan art.
Johnna Koonce, executive producer for the event, has been with the Summit since its start at Wayne Community College while she was a student there.
"We are trying to just bring more of the community downtown," she said. "There are things and events to come to so we are located here in the Wayne National Building. We are also in the Paramount Theatre and then we do have stuff going on down at the Arts Council.
"So for our 10th anniversary we slashed our ticket prices from $20 for two days to $10 for two days."
The city of Goldsboro is one of the sponsors, she said.
The number of attendees will not be available until later today, but by noon Saturday Koonce estimated the crowd between 500 and 750.
"I hope a lot of people come out and enjoy it so we can bring it back year after year, and make it bigger and better," she said.
For more information and today's schedule of events, visit www.carolinagamessummit.com.