Eurogamer Readers vs. MotorStorm Apocalypse

The first playoff is easy - Razz and AndyK are quibbling over top spot, and AndyK nips it on virtually the last corner. But the bigger spectacle will be Myiagros, Ligurmatic and Podling, the three joint runners-up in Group Badass, who must be separated in a pre-planned, thoroughly well-anticipated and not at all thought-up-on-the-spot three-player split-screen showdown. Podling, who is a notably nice man in a room full of nice men, is the unlikely winner despite a slow start.

As promised before we began, however, every competitor is given a chance to redeem himself in the second stage of the tournament - it's just that it will take some doing. The group placings are used to seed competitors, meaning that respective group winners AndyK and Ignatius get relatively easy fixtures against the fourth-placed racers in each other's groups. Will the losers so far be able to overcome the form book and make it through to London?

Jetset is the first to make it through to the final, losing out to the superbly bearded Myiagros initially but hauling him in over the course of an extended three-lap race. Then it's over to Razz and Podling, who is encouraged by increasingly well-watered onlookers to use a Monster Truck on the crumbling terrain of Mile High Club.

(It turns out that if you stand behind Eurogamer readers when they play MotorStorm and say things like, "If anyone uses a motorbike here, I will be well impressed," some are actually compelled to take you up on it. Must try this on girls.)

Improbably, unbelievably and slightly concerningly, it is Razz who emerges victorious, joining Jetset on Team Eurogamer. He beats Podling on Mile High Club, which turns out to be the standout track of the evening. It's so precarious that even on the straights you feel like you're clinging for dear life to the crumbling terrain, and the developers use steep, multi-stepped jumps and canned collapses to inject additional tension.

Having been the only competitor to win all his group stage races, Ignatius Cheese adds humility (or hubris, perhaps) to his CV by agreeing to let Andee choose the track for their showdown - and surprise surprise, it's Mile High Club. Supercar vs. Racing Truck. And it is anything but plain sailing for Ignatius, who finds it tricky to transfer his early-evening dominance to the biggest of big stages, labouring behind Andee for several laps.

It's neck and neck as they close in on the final corner on separate strands, so their progress is hard to compare directly, but despite Andee's valiant effort, Ignatius holds his nerve and pulls it out. He will join Razz and Jetset in London. (No one can quite believe they are getting the chance to visit The Big Smoke in the name of Eurogamer. Goosebumps.)

There is still one place to fill though, so pre-tournament favourite AndyK - the only competitor to ask deep technical questions of the organisers - takes up his pad against Ligurmatic. On Mile High Club. Ligurmatic makes the early running, but drops it in lap two, and while there is tension amid skyscraper collapses, AndyK maintains his momentum and joins Team Eurogamer for next month's London showdown.

Only one member of Team Eurogamer can win the TV and holiday though (we're discounting all the other websites' competitors on instinct - after all, those chickens aren't going to count themselves before they hatch), but all four members will definitely receive Uncharted 3, Killzone 3, Resistance 3 and inFamous 2 when they are released - and all eight attendees can expect copies of MotorStorm Apocalypse in the post too, along with free tickets to the Eurogamer Expo later this year.

Thanks to everyone who came down and we hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. We'll be joining Team Eurogamer - leading it, we should say - at a secret, slightly more upmarket location in London on 10th March, where competitors will have to beat each other at MotorStorm Apocalypse while people on social networks vote to have them electrocuted, drenched and generally embarrassed. And we're not making that part up. Join us then to find out how everyone does and who wins/survives. Boom!