LOS ANGELES: South Korea retained the title of grand champion for the third straight year at the Olympics of the video game world. Four gold medals were awarded to South Korean gamers Sunday at the 10th annual World Cyber Games Grand Final, a four-day contest at the Los Angeles Convention Center of more than 400 competitors from 58 countries. South Korea previously dominated at the grand finals in Chengdu, China, and Cologne, Germany. This year's winning South Korean gold medalists were Young-Ho “Flash” Lee for “StarCraft,” Jae-Min “Knee” Bae for “Tekken 6,” Sung-Sik “ReMinD” Kim for “Warcraft III” and the three-man Sanarae team of Young-Ho Jeon, Hyun-Sub Kim and Tae-Kyung Park for “Lost Saga.” Gamers from the United States weren't far behind South Korea with three gold medals. Earning the accolade was the five-man CounterLogic team for “League Legends,” the six-man AmeriMiX team for “Quake Wars Online” and Alec “Acai28” Castillo for “Guitar Hero 5.” Castillo bested a player from the United Kingdom on Rush's “The Spirit of Radio” in the final round. “It's a really fun song,” he said after Sunday's closing ceremonies. “I beat him at the last second.” Players who previously qualified at regional competitions held across the globe faced off in tournament-style matches from 13 games for more than $250,000 in prize money, as well as televisions, netbooks and other gear. The five-man NaVi team from Ukraine toppled a team from Denmark to take $25,000 for dominating in the first-person shooter “Counter-Strike.” Other gold medalists were Fernando “Pantaneiro” Rogoski of Brazil for “Carom3D,” Charlie “Tenshii” Elliott of Australia for “Asphalt 5,” Kevin “daimonde” Santner of Germany for “FIFA 10,” David “d.Daveyskills” Kelly of the United Kingdom for “Forza Motorsport 3” and Kalle “Frostbeule” Moertlund Videkull of Sweden for “TrackMania Nations Forever.”
