Reaktor and Supercell get behind "Hello World Open"

    This spring Finnish creative technology company Reaktor and gaming giant Supercell are getting behind a new event, called Hello World Open, designed to bring programming skills into the world spotlight. Consider it a programming competition that hopes to reach wide with Supercell’s weight behind it. The way it works is that contenters will form teams of 1-3 top coders, who will compete to create artificial intelegence for a virtual car race. Signups are now open, and a complete rule set can be found on their website.

    “By simplifying a hard-to-grasp concept such as coding, we want to make coding sexy and take it to a level where the general public can enjoy it too”, says Reaktor’s Ville Valtonen, the main organiser of Hello World Open. “Our aim is to create the Sebastian Vettels and Jeff Gordons of coding — true national superheroes worth looking up to. We want the audience to take pride in their own countries’ competitors and to cheer them on to victory.”

    So far over 700 teams have registered. The most teams are at the moment from Finland (156) and the U.S. (134) followed by India (51), Germany (39) and Russia (36), according to the Hello World blog.

    In total, the organizers say that 10,000 teams are expected to compete in the battle. The qualifying rounds will be driven during May. Three regions will be divided up for the Finals, where six teams will make it to the finals, which will take place in Helsinki on June 5th at the Cable Factory. Before the event, Supercell will hold its second annual gaming summit.

    Registration is already open, and here are the significant dates:

    May 6th – Hello Region 1
    May 7th – Hello Region 2
    May 8th – Hello Region 3