If you believed that the international sporting calendar was completed with the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, is mistaken. This Monday the start of the new global tournament: the world of video games.

This is the World Cup Sports Electronics (ESWC, for its acronym in english), a championship in which several countries around the world compete in five different games ret to find the champion of each category.

The 2008 edition takes place in San Jose, California and is the first time that this tournament was not held in Paris, where he founded.

The games chosen by the organizers to compete are Counter Strike, Quake III Arena, Warcraft 3, Defense of The Ancients and TrackMania Nations.

They are all different: some are strategy games, put the other player instead of a sniper and more classics, presented racing cars.

The competition takes place in a huge hall where players compete across networked computers.

The action is projected on giant screens that are followed by those with thousands of spectators who congregate in the precinct.

Participants are grouped and qualified and then go to quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

“There is no doubt that there are very few who can reach the final. The games are like the olympics. It puts a lot of effort and sacrifice. This is a sport really is and why is increasingly recognized by most countries in the world, “said O’Dell.

And he went on: “We’ve won a tournament of half a million dollars. There are a lot of money on this. We come to tournaments every weekend in several sides. Between June and october there are many powers. It is crazy.”

And what players say to those who believe this is a waste of time?

“I am sure that my mother said that when I was 12 years. But now it is my job. I worked in an office eighteen years, but I left off three years ago and now earn more money,” stresses the director of Team Dignitas.