Austin Guerrero of Gresham, OR placed third with his dramatic action thriller “Initial Testing,” in which a night playing video games veers into the unknown, in the tradition of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.
After complaining that he’s bored with “easy” shooter games, a friend gives Grant a challenge like he’s never imagined. What will Grant do when the lines between simulation and reality are indistinguishably blurred? And what will his decision mean for the future of gaming?
“Games can allow you to ‘buy into’ them. But there is always a disconnect. They aren’t real. Shooting and slicing may be second nature on joysticks but when tasked to actually do it… it’s far from normal. That’s what this film is about.”