Sep 15
Victor De Leon III, an 8 year old from Long Island, is offering coaching lessons in Halo 2 for a whopping $25 an hour. Victor isn’t a novice when it comes to Halo 2, though. He may only be a youngster, but he’s won several Halo 2 touraments that have seen him walking away with thousands of dollars in cash prizes.. The young prodigy is part of the Gaminglessons.com group, where struggling gamers are able to pay upto $65 for one of 12 instructors to teach them the in and outs of Halo 2. The boy clearly has some skills, as he has students raining from all over the globe.
The boy is only 8 years old, and already earning $25 an hour playing video games? Why do I suddenly feel so depressed?
anyone can be a master when they use the charged beam and the battle rifle…
I can still beat him up.
GAH! Just when I think I am good at a game, some kid prodigy pops up!
Unless this is some OTHER prodigy kid, isn’t his gamertag Lil’ Poison?
good lord parents, why are you letting your 8 year old play an “M” rated game!
But can he actually teach? There are a lot of people who are good at something that have no idea how to teach those skills to another person. Teaching is much more than “being the best”…
Indeed … it is a M-rated game. I really wonder why he hasn’t been banned from the tournaments yet.
This is exactly the kind of thing that we don’t need with the likes of Jack around.
I heard he hax.
Well, he must be able to teach if he gets 25 big ones for an hour.
Ah yes. LiL Poison as they call him on the MLG scene. He plays in MLG tournaments which stands for Major League Gaming.
It’s basically a company that runs Halo 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments for thousands of dollars in cash prizes. Some people have contracts with other companies to continue playing the tournaments. This makes them ‘pro’. MLG found the best most balanced and competitive format for both games and it has become a huge phenomena, especially on the Halo 2 scene.
Some people practice on Halo 2 and go to tournaments (including amateurs and pros), even more just play MLG for fun with friends, and even MORE have heard about MLG and have played a game or two.
It’s really great fun, once you get the hang of the rules and become proficient with the weapons available.
Sheesh, whoever pays this kid $25 a hour is a freakin’ sucker.
Genious, Tourament…
more spellcheckin’ please!
Whoever pays $25 a hour for gaming lessons is a freakin’ idiot. But if you have money to spend like that you’re better off burning it.
As far as paying $25/hr for lessons, well, people pay a lot for tennis and golf pros too. But unless you plan on going pro or semi-pro at something, you need to find something you’re naturally good at, or work hard at getting better. Take that 2 hour training session and find a game you don’t suck at.
The question is, can he teach? Teaching and explaining the concepts behind gaming is really hard. I just don’t see an 8-year-old having the ability to effectively do this. I’m pretty sure all of us are capable of adding single digits and writing simple sentences — but that doesn’t mean you are qualified to teach first grade.
And what were we all doing when we were his age? Poking things with sticks…
haha, M-80… so true.
I think the better question will be : is he going to keep the money or are his ‘parents’ keeping most of it ?
Earning any kind of money at that age is considered child labour and comes with very strict guidelines.
Then again … it’s an american kid, so slave labour probably is alright by those laws.
The only reason he’s good is cause when your younger you have better reflexes, and that’s all Halo 2 is, is reflexes.
“And what were we all doing when we were his age? Poking things with sticks”
I was playing in the creek trying to catch tadpols or riding bikes and using our imaginations while playing outside. But then again, I’m an old fart, what do I know? I grew up in the 60′s and 70′s and by 10am on Saturday and Sunday, mom was kicking us kids out the front door to go play.
Why are so many people getting up tight about this? He’s a kind whos good at something. When i was 8 I was tring to figure out how the hell to get threw Super Mario Bros.
You mispelled Genius…
Doesn’t matter how good he is in the virtual world, unless he is spending that easy-earned dough on some serious muscles, I can still kick his ass in the physical world, you know, the one people live in…I have no problem beating up small helpless children.
The first guy’s beat’em up comment was kinda funny… that second one is a little disturbing… like he thought about it.
Anyway, I’ll throw my hat into the cries against the 8 year old playing M-rated games. What does he get for his 9th birthday, porn?
Halo 2 has so much strategy in it, its insane.