Xavier alumni win top prize in Microsoft world tilt

MANILA, Philippines - The winning team in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2010, made up of Xavier School alumni, paid a courtesy visit to the school president, Fr. Johnny Go, SJ, last July 13. The team, “By Implication”, is composed of graduates from the Class of 2006; namely, Rodrick Tan, Levi Tan-Ong, Wilhansen Li, Philip Cheang, and mentor Kenneth Yu. After competing with over 400 teams worldwide, By Implication prevailed against fellow finalists from Belgium and France in the Game Design Category. Their entry, Wildfire, uses simple mechanics, emergent gameplay, a striking minimalist aesthetic, and integrated social networking to promote realistic methods of saving the world, through acts of volunteerism and positive social action.

Fr. Go extended the congratulations of the entire Xavier community. “We are proud of your achievement, not only because of your excellent IT skills nurtured here in Xavier School, but also because of your innovative use of video games to reinforce the importance of civic involvement and social action.” The top award comes with a $25,000 cash prize, which the boys will use to fund a start-up game design company.

Imagine Cup is now on its 8th year and is the world’s premier student technology competition. For 2010, 400 students from 70 countries competed in Warsaw, Poland. In this year’s staging, more than 325,000 high school, college, and university students in 113 countries and regions competed.