Source: IGN

Video game tournaments have always been a huge part of my life, all the way back to the Nintendo days of “The Wizard” (circa 1989). Nothing quite compares to being the last one standing after battling it out in your favorite title…and taking home some sweet, sweet swag doesn’t hurt either.

As of December 15th, the best sport in the world will take its first baby steps towards becoming mainstream thanks to GameStop; those stores we love-to-hate, that dominate the video game retail market.

Starting with their new location in San Jose, California, the uber game retailer will be setting aside space in stores for new tournament centers. The new San Jose center will have 24 networked game stations, all with plasma monitors. Tournaments are planned for “most weekends” and championship matches will occur quarterly. The first such tournament will have gamers playing Madden NFL 08 (ewwww) with the winner receiving a $1,000 gift card to GameStop.

Ok, so maybe Madden isn’t the game most of us would choose to play, but at least it’s a start. It will still be a long while before the new model spreads (and who knows if it will spread to EB Games up here in Canada), but at least tournaments will be much more open and easy to get to than they are now. The centralized 360 and PS3 online tournaments already provide a modest amount of access , but I think this will be a great way to really push the E-Sport craze that is already huge overseas.

No definite word on PC support, though one can hope we will be included too. Anyone who has tried to follow the WCG’s or travel around the semi-underground LAN circuit knows how much time and money it can take to stay in the scene. However, we live in the console age now, so I guess I’ll just have to be happy that easy access to tournaments is on the horizon.

Who knows, I may have to brush off my dusty passport and travel stateside to lay the smack down on any noob who thinks they can challenge PMPB!

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