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.
