Yeah, you didn't read that wrong. Go ahead and read it again -- he played video games professionally. Now retired, Wendel makes appearances at tournaments around the globe, showing his latest and greatest branded mouse, headset, or keyboard. Below is a picture of Wendel with celebrity Michael J. Fox.
Until recently, Wendel once participated in video game tournaments -- most of the time winning. He was even given a lifetime achievement award at the Leipzig Games Convention in early 2009. He now spends his days promoting his products and coaching his team, Team Fatal1ty.
"The Fatal1ty team is extremely busy in all aspects of electronic sports," said Wendel in an interview with Fudzilla.com. "Even though I don’t compete directly, I feel I contribute in as many ways as I can through giving advice, counseling younger players, tutoring and even coaching."
Wendel isn't the only hot commodity in the world of electronic sports (e-sports). Currently World of Warcraft (WoW) is the biggest game around and also the subject of this blog. WoW is a massively-multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG). In laymen terms, its a virtual world where players choose a role (healer, fighter, spell caster, etc) and fight against other players or the game itself.
WoW currently has about 13 million subscribers world-wide. The e-sports community within the game is about one percent, but we still get by. Tournaments are usually bi-monthly and hosted by leagues such as Major League Gaming (MLG) and Electronic Sports League (ESL), but the developer of WoW, Blizzard Entertainment, even hosts its own annual tournament at BlizzCon in August.
Tournament formats vary from round-robin to double-elimination format. Sponsored teams are flown in from around the world for a weekend to compete against each other in a 3 vs. 3, last-man-standing battle. Different teams play different setups of classes, usually revolving around two damage dealing classes and one healer.
Speaking with play-by-play broadcaster (yes, we even have those) and friend Keith Trahan, he believes WoW to be a great e-sport.
"WoW is tough to follow there's no doubt," said Trahan. "Thankfully we have 13 million people who play the game as a potential audience."
WoW isn't the only game played in e-sports. Halo, Quake, Starcraft, Street Fighter -- they all have their respected communities and tournaments. In fact, popular PC real-time strategy game Starcraft, now 10 years old, has become the national (televised) sport of South Korea.
Matches consists of a one-on-one battle with each player choosing a race (either the insect-like Zerg, humanoid Terran, or technological Protoss). Nick Plot, a native of America, has made a living broadcasting these matches in English for fans around the world. He claims it to be "the best game to represent e-sports" and "can not wait" for Starcraft 2 to come out later this year.
Rather than telling you about the game, check below to see one of the most famous matches played at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.
One major criticism the sport receives is that it is hard to follow the games. I show those people the following video. It is from the fighting game tournament EVO. Daigo Umehara of Japan plays the male in white and Justin Wong, an American, plays the female. The match begins with Wong decimating the Japanese player but Umehara has an answer in the end. Watch it.
Hopefully this brief look at e-sports has helped decode what seems to be another language to many. Next week we'll be back with more World of Warcraft action. Make sure to check out the podcast this week to learn about the new team Fnatic. Remember to follow us on Twitter and Facebook as well.
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