The roar of virtual racing engines and rat-a-tat of screen killers echo in a Seattle arena, as 700 trigger-happy video game players from 74 countries flex their thumbs for bragging rights at the World Cyber Games (WCG). This is only the second time the WCG Grand Final has been held in the United States.
As gamers walk into the Qwest Field Exhibition Center in this northwestern US city, they are greeted by a sensory overload of music blaring, giant digital displays and LED screens pulsing with video games played all around the room.
A giant world globe made from a balloon hangs from the ceiling in the entryway. It's big enough to hold a Mini Cooper sports car.
But don't be fooled into thinking this young crowd and wall-to-wall gaming is just about fun and play. There is big money at stake.
Gamers of this e-Sport tournament are competing for gold medals, national glory and a share of 500,000 dollars in cash and prizes -- and the title of the "world's best" in 12 different gaming titles.
Nicholas Timmerman, 19, is representing Germany and will be playing the racing game "Need for Speed" with his team.
It's his fourth year in the tournament. He's not too worried about the competition.
"They suck," he says.
It took Ken Hartson and his team from the Netherlands 18 hours to make the trek to Seattle, in the Pacific coast state of Washington. His gaming tag name is "Experience."
"Gaming isn't as big in my country," Experience says. "At home, in my country, they think we are stupid or something" for playing video games.
That's not the case in other countries.
In South Korea, players are treated like rock stars, stadiums are named after videogames and many professional South Korean players make six-figure salaries.
Geoff Robinson is the only member of the US team from Washington state. The Oregon State University student says he has been playing the space battle game "StarCraft" for more than 10 years and looks forward to his family coming to the WCG to "see what I've been doing in their basement for the past 10 years."
In an Olympics-inspired opening ceremony, players from each of the 74 countries took to the stage waving the flag of their homeland.
While there is no Olympic Village at this event, there is a Players Lounge filled with bean-bag chairs for players to rest on between matches and a Players Restaurant.
Gamers proudly wear their country colors and in some cases even drape their country flag over their shoulders.
While playing in the game pit, teams scream, bang on their keyboards and yell into their headsets -- all in attempt to advance to the next round of games like "Command & Conquer-3," "Need for Speed," "Gears of War" and "Dead or Alive-4."
On the main stage players go head-to-head in a spaceship-like capsule to play their game without distraction.
The video game is projected on the stadium-sized screen, and close-up shots of the players can also be seen as an announcer gives a play-by-play of the action.
There are more than 50 game development companies in the Puget Sound area where Seattle is located.
This city is also home to major IT companies such as Microsoft and RealNetworks.
The tournament opened Thursday evening and runs through Sunday. The next WCG championship will be held in Cologne, Germany.
