Humber College gamers can now compete in Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournaments thanks to a new weekly event hosted by Humber College Esports.
The event happens every Friday between 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at Humber North campus. After its third week, Humber Esports event coordinator Eric Buchyns said the event has seen plenty of success, with many new players entering the event each week.
“This is our third week of doing this event, and every single time we’ve had more and more people come,” Buchyns said. “The first time we had around 15 people, and then we had 20, and now, it’s almost like we have over 40 people in the room right now.”
The success of this weekly event also brings in students from outside the college to join alongside their friends in the Humber’s Esports scene.
“I’m just a supporter of the community, it’s only my second time here, but honestly, it’s already surpassed my expectations of most college and university events,” Humber College Esports supporter Marion Abiendo said.
“So I’m having a good time here whenever I come out, and just seeing my friends here is cool too,” Abiendo said.
Humber College Esports staff hopes this event becomes a welcoming space for both casual and competitive gamers to build up a positive scene for esports at the college.
Humber College Esports student Ismael Morales Estella said they host this event for the community to help bring students into gaming together and build a positive environment for the college’s Esports scene as a whole.
“I do it for the community, so they can have a good time and see how it’s a little bit of an experience of going to a competitive tournament without being pressured,” Morales Estella said.
“It’s just like when other people don’t go on vacation because they are under that pressure, realizing the high prices, and then they go,” he said. “Except here, you go inside, everything’s fine, and you can keep enjoying playing with friends.”
Esports staff plans to continue improving the event to bring in more players and have an even more active community since they see the rise in popularity of this event and want to continue forward.
“Now that we’ve passed so many people, we can’t fit them in such a small room. So we’re moving over to one of the biggest rooms on campus,” Buchyns said.
“We’re updating our stream each week. We’re going to get casters for them, a whole bunch of stuff.”
After the huge success of Super Smash Bros Ultimate Weeklies, Humber Esports staff plan to offer more events focusing on other genres of video games.
“We’re going to try and get into every type of genre. If there’s ever anyone who wants to give a suggestion, absolutely go for it,” Buchyns said.
“We’re going to be doing more Esports games, bringing all of them together with sports games or shooting games, this is just the first of many events, so keep an eye out.”