Australia claims the Brink Euro community tournament

Earlier this month, representatives from across Europe and Australia travelled to Bromley, England, to compete in the Brink European community challenge. In total there were eight teams, with the Australian team made up of three GameSpot AU community members and one GS AU staff member.

Team Australia was up against the British team from EuroGamer during the first game of the tournament, and it was a close call. Despite getting their VIP a few meters further than the Brits during the game, it unfortunately came down to points, and the Brits claimed that victory, sending Team Australia into the loser's bracket.

Down, but not out, the Aussies fought their way out of the rut by flogging France, smashing Sweden, smoking Spain, and belting the Benelux to earn themselves a spot in the finals again Britain. The final showdown was to be played on a map called Critical Reactor, which had two objectives: to hack the fan access panel and to plant a bomb on the controls to blow the reactor. Easy enough, right?

After a coin toss, it was determined that Team Australia would defend first, and for 20 long minutes it held off the Brits at the fan access panel. There were a few hairy moments when the Brits managed to break through the green and gold lines, but sadly for them they were always fended off. Then it was Australia's turn at attacking, and for the majority of the game it looked like a finals rematch was in the cards, as nobody was budging. After 16 long minutes of fighting, the Aussies eventually managed to penetrate the British defences and successfully hacked the fan control unit.

While the game wasn't over, hacking the fan control unit meant that the tournament had been won by the Aussies, so there was plenty of mid-battle high-fiving! Unfortunately the British put up a strong defence around the final objective, and the Aussies failed to complete the entire mission, but they needed to do only one objective to win the tournament, and that's exactly what they did.

So not only are Team Australia now European champions (despite not being from Europe), but the boys who waved the green and gold over in merry old England also beat the Brits at their own game…literally. Stay tuned to Crosshairs this week to see a video diary of how the tournament played out, but in the meantime, check out some photos below:

Team Australia proudly display their new attire, purchased from the finest knockoff souvenir store that Sydney's Chinatown had to offer.

Splash Damage's office building from the outside is quiet and unassuming, but inside it's filled with monitors and gaming gear.

After spending more than 24 hours on a plane, it's only fair that Team Australia member Leo Stevenson smashed a can full of energy drink so that he could go back to focusing on crushing the Europeans.

Before the tournament kicked off, Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgewood gave competitors a tour of the office: "Before we shipped our first game, we could only afford doors this high so it made moving around the office awkward."

The Brink concept art wall.

Splash Damage's Richard Jolly explains how the tournament is going to work.

This is what the original tournament ladder looked like. As you can see, the losers had to fight a lot harder to redeem themselves.

There ain't no time for smiling here! Tournament fighting is serious business, and Team Australia had their serious faces on…as well as their snazzy team jackets!

After a hard day's work of playing Brink, Team Australia managed to claw their way back to find themselves up against the British again…

After a hard-fought match, Team Australia pose for a victory photo with Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgewood.

Team Australia left their land of golden toil as mere mortals but returned as European champions. How many European champions do you know?