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Some of the world's greatest fighters will make their way to Toronto next week to compete in an honest-to-goodness death match. And although the competition, the thousands of spectators, the ringside announcer, the professional light show and theatrics all set the stage for a main event akin to a championship boxing match, no blood will be spilled – this smack-down will be completely virtual.

The World Series of Video Games, operated by Games Media Properties of New York, will be making a stop at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this Friday for a three-day showcase of high-stakes online competition that will see an army of futuristic soldiers on the hunt, guitar heroes vamping it up, and orcs, trolls and dwarves working together to slay dragons.

Bringing video games out of basements and into the big leagues is just the next step in the booming industry. According to market research firm NPD Group, the total retail sales in Canada for video games reached $498-million during the first half of this year, a 61-per-cent increase over the same period last year. And organizers of the WSVG are betting that video games can work as a spectator sport, landing a CBS deal last year that puts WSVG up there with other non-traditional TV “sports” like poker. (In 2006, the first season, the WSVG produced 250 hours of broadband video, and 20 hours of programming on CBS, MTV, CSTV and GamePlay HD.)

Mississauga native Mike Calabretta, 19, along with a pair of high-school friends who teamed up under the moniker “Canadian Bacon,” hopes to bag prize money as his team takes on the best World of Warcraft players. “I'm really looking forward to getting there and having some fun. Maybe I'll win some money, who knows?” he said.

Mr. Calabretta, a second-year tool-and-die student at George Brown College, has been playing the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for two hours a day since he downloaded a beta copy in 2004. He is confident that the Canadian Bacon team can hold its own in the coming tournament. “We're definitely good players,” said Mr. Calabretta, who'll be competing as a Level 70 warlock named Woplock. “But we're going up against some really good players. Our goal is to be in the top five and anything more would be amazing.”

Organizers are hoping that next week's tournament will be as successful as it's been in China and the United States this year, where thousands of fans came out to watch 250 of the world's top video-game players duke it out in one of three popular games: World of Warcraft, first-person shoot-'em-up Quake 4 and music simulator Guitar Hero II. The WSVG, launched last year in Louisville, Ky., is a six-tournament series.

A collection of cult movie and TV stars such as Hayden Christensen from Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer and Sean Astin, who starred as a hobbit in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will all be in attendance in the Fan Expo Canada area, also included in the $15 WSVG entrance fee.

“It's the culmination of a sport that is able to be launched on the backs of so many participants globally,” WSVG commissioner Matt Ringel said.

Competitors have to meet age requirements set by the Entertainment Software Rating Board and pay a fee of about $50. Players will compete in a tournament-style bracket, complete with seedings, and the matches will be streamed online on the WSVG website.

Winners won't just get bragging rights. There is $70,000 (U.S.) in prize money, and an all-expenses-paid trip to the next WSVG event in Los Angeles. Top players will have the chance to compete at the final tournament in Sweden later this year.

It's not money, but the thrill of the fight that is bringing Bradford, Ont.'s Thomas “Griffin” Wall to face off along with other players in the WSVG's Quake 4 tournament. “I played soccer for seven years and the feeling I got from the last match of the season, I get every time I play Quake 4,” said Mr. Wall, who, at 18, is one of the youngest competitors. “The atmosphere is unreal. The competition is so much better and stronger than a … game of soccer.”

Even though Mr. Wall is still not old enough to legally purchase alcohol, he's already considered a veteran in gaming circles. Starting with Tetris on a Nintendo when he was 8, Mr. Wall quickly fell in love with first-person shooters when a friend brought a game over to his house, much to his parents' chagrin.

A decade later, Mr. Wall is now in top form. Turning pro earlier this year, he was quickly recruited into the Dallas-based Quake 4 collective, Team LoSt-CaUzE, headed by Rafik Bryant. Mr. Bryant is one of the few online gamers who has landed a six-figure sponsorship deal. Training his team with eight-hour practice sessions, he calls Mr. Wall one of the best Quake 4 players he's ever seen.

Still, Mr. Wall has to make sacrifices to pursue his dream of being a professional gamer. He's taking a year off after graduating high school to see how far he can go, and he'll be spending most of his summer away from home as he tours the world on the WSVG circuit.

“My friends think what I'm doing is pretty cool. I haven't seen them in a few months, but they're jealous of how I get to travel the world and play video games for a living,” said Mr. Wall, who hopes to earn about $10,000 in prize money by the end of the year, plus the $3,000 he's already been awarded.

That kind of prize money improves the profile of gamers, often mocked for their perceived basement lifestyle andnerdy, anti-social behaviour.

Xtreme Games Interactive owner Sandra Perry on Dundas Street West agrees: “Ten years ago, it used to be what nerds did. But now you're seeing kids as young as three playing video games,” she said.

And Mr. Calabretta feels that the release of video games that are community-based with a strong social component have been successful in quashing the nerd stereotype. “I know one of the old groups I used to play in were all family members,” he said.

“Sons, daughters – there was even grandfather playing. It was pretty cool how it brings people together.”

As will the WSVG next weekend.