16th October 2008

Email this Page |

A University of Ulster student is competing in the inaugural World Mind Sports Games in Beijing. 

Shane McCosker, a final-year Computer Games Development student  in the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems at Magee, is one of 3000 people from more than 100 countries competing for 35 medals in chess, bridge, Go, and draughts - which is Shane's specialism. 

Shane, from Sion Mills in County Tyrone, is the current Northern Ireland Open Draughts Champion, and is an International Master. A member of the North West Draughts Federation, he is ranked 19th in the world and second in Ireland. Last year he won the Arthur Niederhoffer US National Youth Championship in Las Vegas Nevada and was the highest rated teenage player worldwide.

Mind Sports Games are considered to be advantageous in the areas of health and education and the BEng student says his course at Magee has been very useful. 

"The Computer Games Development course has really improved my understanding of games theory and the industry and has taught me how the fundamental principles of games, such as draughts, can be applied to video games,” he said. 

Shane joins a long line of distinguished international competitors to take part in a multi sports event in the National Convention Centre in the heart of the 2008 Olympics site in Beijing. Ireland has a team of four draughts players competing at the World Mind Sports Games and Shane will be joined by Hugh Devlin (Donegal), Garret Owens (Louth) and Patricia Breen (Carlow). Myles Hannigan (Tyrone) is a member of the Great Britain team.  

Dr Shane Wilson, Shane’s dissertation supervisor, said: “Modern computer game design is a multi-disciplinary activity. It is great to see how students on the BEng Computer Games Development course at Magee such as Shane have applied their knowledge, understanding and passion for traditional games to the design and development of modern computer and video games.”

The World Mind Sports Games are taking place from 3rd - 18th October.

 

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter