The Newest Trend in Sports: ESports

Come May 11, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) will officially launch its World Tour. Debuting in Verona, Italy, the tour will host a multitude of video games where competitors will compete for their share of the combined $550,000 purse. The CPL World Tour starts in Italy, but will include competitions in Australia, Brazil, the United States, and professional gaming hot-spot Sweden. The tour will conclude with the Grand Prize Final event hosted in New York City.

Sierra Entertainment, a huge partner with the CPL in this World Tour, will be showcasing two of their most popular games in this May's CPL World Tour debut in Italy. "F.E.A.R.," a futuristic first-person shooter that launched in 2005, will be one of the two feature games for CPL competition. Seirra's newest title, "World In Conflict," is an action-packed strategy thriller that will serve as the second of the two feature titles. If you are interested in intense team-based video game action, no matter the genre, these two games are at the top of the market. Professional gamers from around the world will compete in these feature titles for a combined prize of $40,000 in May.

"Counter-Strike," originally an off-shoot of Valve Entertainment's "Half Life," is another game that is often showcased in professional competition. The very best teams from around the world compete in this strategic, team-based first-person shooter, often for a pretty serious purse. Consider the Swedish domination in this game where six of the seven "Counter-Strike" champions have gone to the Swedes. Most recently, Swedish team "fnatic" banked $30,000 dollars for their first place finish in the 2006 CPL Championship finals.

Team games are not alone in competition, though. Individual games such a DreamCatcher Interactive's "Painkiller," id Software's "Quake III," as well as Epic Game's "Unreal Tournament 2003" have highlighted the individual competition in CPL events. Although competitors play alone, these solo games are just as popular among professional gaming fans, and the prize money dictates that. Paul "czm" Nelson won the $15,000 prize for his first place finish in the 2006 finals.

While the CPL attracts the best individual players and teams in their chosen games. Sometimes, though, you get a single player that succeeds in many events. It is not uncommon to see teams compete in several different games, however it is rarely ever the same players that compete. For instance, Swedish based "SK Gaming" competes in "Counter-Strike," "Warcraft III," as well as "Quake IV," however different players make up the rosters for each game. A young man named Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel of the United States, though, is one of the very few people to have world-wide success in a variety of games. He has four individual CPL titles to his credit, spanning three different games. His most recent title came in 2005 with a thrilling victory over arch-rival Sander "Vo0" Kaasjger of the Netherlands in the game "Painkiller."

If this all sounds a little bit out of your league, there is an alternative for those of you interested in competitive gaming. If you are not quite ready for the big time and big prizes, consider the Cyberathlete Amateur League, commonly referred to as CAL. This is an online-based league where teams and individual players to compete against each other with the main goal of winning a CAL championship, and earning a spot in a CPL professional event for their chosen game. There are no cash prizes in the Amateur league, but a trip to a CPL event is well worth the competition. Become a true cyberathlete today and start your trek to the big time.

So whether you are a causal gamer or a dedicated one, the events of the CPL are sure to strike your interest. They provide large screens for spectators to watch some of the best players in the world, as well as many small competitions for people who just come to watch. There is also often a BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) section where casual gamers meet to compete against each other in weekend long competitions just for the thrill of competing. The entire CPL World Tour schedule will be announced soon, so make plans to visit one of these events and experience the rapidly growing world of professional video gaming.