Swanner wins International XBox Live Tournament

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
June 1, 2004
Nicholas Swanner proved to thousands he knows how to drive fast at the controls of an XBox video game for which he won an international tournament.
Swanner, 21, of the Clarkdale community, defeated six other finalists at NASCAR's Food Lion Speed Street festival in Charlotte, N.C., where they competed in the first-ever Project Gotham 2 International Tournament.
Project Gotham 2 is a popular XBox game. Swanner won the Saturday night tournament and a $5,000 grand prize after he played the game in front of thousands of devoted race fans and video gamers.
Swanner recorded a record-setting time of 1:23.617 on the Washington, D.C., "Capitol Thrill" Project Gotham 2 race course.
The Project Gotham 2 International Tournament, which was played online through Microsoft's award winning online gaming service, XBox Live, from April 17-May 17, featured the best online racing gamers from the United States, Canada and Europe.
In a community of more than 750,000 XBox Live members, the field was narrowed to seven finalists who competed against each other Saturday to determine the ultimate champion.
The seven finalists were Swanner, Eric Earley of Noblesville, Ind.; James Beaman of Halifax, Nova Scotia; Reuben Mallory of Belleville, Ontario; and Marko Hartikainen, Janne Airaksinen and Ilkka Haukijarvi, all of Finland.
All seven finalists won all-expense paid trips to Charlotte for the final round, as well as passes to the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.