"You have to be smart. You can't just run around doing whatever you want. You have to plan things. Like in tennis - or any sport - you have to plan out the attack. You can't just go out there and kick the ball in the goal, or hit the ball over the net, and expect to win. You have to set up the point. You have to set up before the kill.Any athlete who plays sport and knows how to win at the highest level can easily transfer to these kinds of games and play at the highest level. They automatically have an advantage over a gamer who just sits there and plays around for fun."
These are the words of one of the greatest athletes of our times, Jonathan 'Fata1ity' Wendel, well as a matter of fact of a very different milieu-the cyberarena.He is what every computer frenzy youngster would dream to be- to play the game of their choice and get paid for that! When our parents badgered seeing us glued to out computer screens fragging off aliens or building an empire with Huns or Teutons they should see this guy in full swing. At 25 he is considered by many as the greatest cyber-athlete ever and probably the only person of our civilization to take gaming as a full-time profession. Till date he has amassed approximately US $500,000 in cash and prizes from professional competitions. Born in Kansas City, Mo., Wendel , as many of us would be tempted to visualize, is not a computer super-nerd , rather he relishes quite a array of sports like baseball, football, golf, hockey, tennis, whatever he can lay his hands upon.At the age of 12 t0 14 he frequented to videogame parlours and played games like Mortal Kombat to whet his appetite for gaming.
Wendel has been a successful competitor in several first-person shooter games. He debuted as a professional gamer in October 1999 by placing 3rd in the Quake III Arena tournament at the CPL's FRAG 3 event. Although he has played with top Counter-Strike and Call of Duty teams, most of his successes have been with one-versus-one deathmatch games including Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Painkiller, the game in which he nearly invincible. The basic idea of Painkiller is pretty simple. U shall get ultra-violent guns , well as a matter of fact lottsa them with deadly precision and kool names.U see ur opponent , frag em' with little mercy lest he shall get u. Basic theory" show no mercy for u shall receive none!"...and thats where Wendel is really Fatal!!Asked if he is the best in the world, he replies, "If you say so. I'm trying to be modest here but, yes. I'm pretty good."
With worldwide sales of video game consoles and software are expected to reach $30 billion this year – which is more than twice the revenue of the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball combined professionnal gamers have lot to cheer for.Having 41 tournaments under his belt, playing the same shoot’em-up video games that you can buy in most stores travelling, all-expenses paid, to every continent except Antarctica, at the age of 25 he's he is an over-achiever and still hungry for more!!. He has played in Moscow's Red Square, and on the Great Wall of China. And everywhere he goes, he is besieged by fans who hail him as some kinda demi-god.
With cyber-gaming fad is growing loud it won't be long that pc-gamers will be eyeing a mega-gaming event like Cyber-Olympics encompassing all nations.Events like CPL and WCG are pretty popular in India but we not even close as to nations like Singapore , Malaysia , Japan has to offer. With internet penetration at every nook and corner in those country India can only hope to reach that level in near future.Professional gaming is very new-fang led notion and there are not many Wendel's out there. But in the presence of an Mega-cyber event more and more gamer will be prompted to take it as a profession. The initial infra-structure is pretty low-cost compared to outdoor events.All u need is a monster 0f a console with latest graphics card offering blazing fast frame rate , a decent mouse and keyboard and an original copy of a game u wud play which can be found in any computer store.With increasing level of competitiveness u might think of having a coach at ur disposal to keep u updated of the strategies of ur competitors! " Gaming is waste of time"- critics ( mostly parents and doting girl-friends, who has least affection to this trade) wud sneer but what they ignore is that like any professional spoting it needs skills like quick-silver hand-and-eye co-ordination, timing, strategy and ability to measure up ur opponent- the full package.Also u need to be physically fit to coz sitting in front of computer for 8-12 hours put the body under a lot of stress.But that can be easily sorted out coz every sport has a quota of injuries and gaming being a sedentary trade shall spare u with a lot of bruises and pains!!
Right, so wat is the point wat I am making!! This goes for those find PC-gaming convulsive and obnoxious.Next time when u see some one sitting in front of the TFT monitor blasting off monsters or counter-terrorists with aplomb then u can be sure of that this cud be the making of probably another Jonathan ' Fata1ty' Wendel!!!
Watch out for Fata1ty in action!!!!-
