KEY POINTS:
It may not be the America's Cup though it is a big deal in the gaming world.
This afternoon, 700 gamers start heading for Auckland's Trust Stadium Arena in Henderson for the NZ World Cyber Games Qualifiers 2007.
I dread the media coverage as I always do. All those non-gaming journalists finding some fat, pale-faced guy who happens to fit their view of a typical gaming nerd. They then proceed to do an interview about how this sad person spends hours and hours in a dark room competing against others in some overly-violent, mind-numbing game that just promotes Columbine copycats.
Let's hope they send a reporter over who gets what this is about (TV3 news anyone?) before they 'connect the dots' to the current "gaming is evil and addictive" argument.
Thankfully the media pack warns reporters "to refrain from engaging in such activities that may interfere with the nest (sic) interest of the players, particularly while they are in play.
"Not sure what the "nest" interest players have (net perhaps?) but maybe it's the word for a group of players huddled together playing, like a "flock" of sheep, or "herd" of cattle or maybe a pod of PC buffs strutting their RTS stuff.
Enough of that. On to the sport,
Gaming contests are growing so fast around the world, there have even been televised events in parts of Asia where the local champs are hailed as heroes.
NZ is part of an Asia/Pacific region that includes those from countries like Australia, Thailand and Vietnam but also against some of the world's hard core gamers of Korea and Japan.
The local event is now attracting healthy sponsors including Microsoft's Xbox, TelstraClear and Samsung -another sign it's becoming a big deal.
Key game tournaments include the classic ones we have all played against others online or in net cafes Half-Life, Counter-Strike and WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne but there is a good range across genres including Fifa Soccer 07, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, Dead or Alive 4 and Xbox 360's winner Gears of War.
There are double-elimination tournaments where if players lose twice, they're excluded from competing beyond their current ranks.
It may surprise the media to find the tournaments are intense and good fun to watch but then, maybe not. It may be just because I'm a gamer. And if you are, check it out over the weekend until the closing ceremony on Sunday afternoon.
There is also supposed to be an event commentary and shoutouts on Gamestah which could be fun to listen. More details can be found at Cyber Games homepage.
