Dagen begynder omkring middagstid. Fatal1ty står op, spiller computer i fire timer, tager en rask løbetur på 3-4 kilometer, og spiller så to timer til. Han slapper af med vennerne og får sig et par grin, tager måske en diskussion om spilstrategier, og nyder livet til langt ud på natten. Inden klokken tikker 4:00 om morgenen har han nået at spille endnu 2 timer, hvorefter han sover otte timer som alle andre mennesker.

Sådan ser hverdagen ud for pro-gameren, Johnathan Wendel, som mange hardcore gamers allerede kender under gamernavnet ’Fatal1ty’. Han deltager i gamingfestivalen Copenhagen eSport Challenge, og du får mulighed for at spille mod ham i et Guinness World Records rekordforsøg!

I løbet af de seneste år har Johnathan ’Fatal1ty’ Wendel slået sit navn fast som en af de bedste pro-gamere på kloden. Han har erobret en samlet præmiesum på over $500.000. For mange, endda for Johnathan selv, lyder det som et fuldstændig vanvittigt beløb, men han har også arbejdet hårdt for sagen:

”Throughout my career I’ve won 12 world titles in 5 different games; Quake 3, Aliens vs. Predator 2, Unreal Tournament 2003, Doom 3 & PainkilleR. It’s been an amazing ride and to say I’ve won over $500,000 from playing video games just sounds insane, but true… Been very lucky to be given this opportunity to play games for a living, but don’t think for a second I didn’t give it my all every moment. I trained about 8 hours a day in combat working on every skill I needed to give me my edge.”

Et liv som professionel gamer
Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel begyndte dog sin gamingkarriere ved et tilfælde. Han voksede op i Kansas City, Missouri (USA) hos en landsbrugsfamilie. Derfor gik barndommen snarere med at fodre køer end at hamre løs
på keyboardet. Faktisk var computerspil ifølge Fatal1ty kun underholdning, når vejret udenfor var for dårligt til at dyrke sport og være aktiv. Det var først, da han blev 15, at Fatal1tys gamingkarriere for alvor tog fart. Han vandt alle lokale turneringer, og da han fyldte 18 år, deltog han i den første, professionelle gamingturnering. Her vandt han $4.000 og begyndte sin karriere som pro-gamer. I tiden herefter er det blevet til $500.000 i pengepræmier og sit eget Fatal1ty Inc. firma. Fatal1ty samarbejder også med Creative, Sound Blaster, OCZ og XFX.


Fatal1ty1Forberedelserne til de store turneringer
I øjeblikket spiller ’Fatal1ty’ Quake Live, Call of Duty: World at War, og Street Fighter 4 med vennerne. Når spilverdenens World Championship står for døren, forbereder han sig intensivt i 2-6 uger op til begivenhedens begyndelse. Hver dag
med otte timers gaming. Det er dog ikke keyboard og tastatur alene, der skaber en gamingverdensmester. Også løbeskoene er en del af Fatal1tys arsenal. Han påpeger, at det er vigtigt at holde sig i fysisk god form og have sit centralnervesystem i orden.

”I think it definitely will take you to the necessary level to be the best at any given moment. Having the stamina in these long tournaments and always being fresh has helped me a ton. I contribute a lot of my success to being healthy and physically fit.”

”Just working out will stimulate your neurotransmitters. So I ran a lot to do this, and I always put a lot of challenge on my mind to record 3 – 5 things at once while in the game. By timing 5 different items at once and having awareness of where your opponent is at all times is a massive advantage over your opponent whereas he might not be able to think on this level.”

Blandt hardcore gamers er Johnathan ’Fatal1ty’ Wendel også kendt for sine ekstremt hurtige hånd-til-øje koordination. Han reagerer simpelthen hurtigere og mere præcist end andre gamere, hvilket giver ham en klar fordel i konkurrencesituationer. Medicinsk er han endnu ikke blevet testet for overmenneskelige evner på det punkt, men folk har altid lagt mærke til hans særlige evner:

”I have a knack though, for being really fast and very accurate in everything I do… I personally always thought I had a special talent with my hands and eyes, but it just took time to figure out where I could showcase these skills on a bigger scale than just locally in my city… As a teenager, I was pretty well known in my city for playing pool and tennis.”

Som international talsmand glæder Fatal1ty sig til påsken i København


Fatal1ty deltager naturligvis i Copenhagen eSport Challenge, og kaster international gamerstjerneglans over begivenheden. Du kan blandt andet spille mod ham i et Guinness World Records rekordforsøg – og Fatal1ty ser frem til Copen
hagen eSport Challenge:

”I’ve visited there before and it seemed the community really liked Counter-Strike a lot. I look forward to hanging with everyone and getting a chance to experience the culture there in Denmark.” Fatal1ty2
”Should be very exciting having a lot of the best of the best there playing their respective games. Should be very entertaining.”

Jonathan Wendel sætter også pris på, at gaming er blevet mere og mere udbredt igennem de seneste år. For ham har det været den bedste underholdningskilde helt tilbage fra de yngste år. Han er også glad for, at flere og flere får kendskab til gaming som underholdning. I sine medieoptrædener har han forsøgt at nedbryde de klassiske fordomme om gamere:

”I’ve been doing it as a source of entertainment since I was 5… But even more so when I was a teenager. Gaming is the BEST! I personally feel sorry though for all the people who didn’t know back in 1995-2000 about the internet and how you could play on the net so seamlessly with people all over the world… It’s like we had 5 years where no one knew what was going on besides the people who were already in it… Best time of my LIFE!”

”So many people know of gaming now, and a lot of times they definitely know you can make money from it now. I really think as a team, all of us did our part to make gaming more popular, and with the media chances I have had, I definitely tried to kill the stereotype that people usually of gamers.”
Fatal1ty fortsætter også med at udbrede sporten som talsperson for World Gaming:

”Well, I’ve always been promoting gaming throughout my whole career. I always try to talk highly about our e-sport and what we love to do. Nothing will change my love for gaming and my on-going goal to keep promoting it.”

Fremtiden for Fatal1ty
Efter Fatal1tys deltagelse i Copenhagen eSport Challenge venter en sommer, hvor han skal promovere et af sine nye produkter. Sammen med Creative har han udviklet et nyt sæt høretelefoner, Creative Fatal1ty Headphones, som er skræddersyet til intens gaming:

”The newest products that I’m super excited about are my new Creative Fatal1ty Headphones coming out this summer. We have this new technology called Silencer Technology that will allow your voice to be transmitted over the microphone without the background noise. It’s the next step after noise-cancelling microphones. Now your teammates and foes will definitely hear exactly what you’re saying.”

Generelt mener Fatal1ty, at gaminghardware er essentielt for konkurrencegamere. Det er vigtigt at have det rigtige udstyr:

”It’s huge. I always approached gaming as I needed my equipment to work. So I knew when I won or lost, it wasn’t my equipment that failed, but more that I won or lost the match because of me and not my equipment. So everything I make has that same purpose; to give me the max advantage and then just play my game. “

Hvornår kan du opleve Fatal1ty?
– Søndag d.12. april fra kl. 14 – 16 vil der være interview og testning i Guinnessrekord med Fatal1ty i Akvariefoyeren. – Mandag d. 13. april fra kl. 12 – 13 vil der være Fatal1ty ”tech-talk” i Akvariefoyeren.

Kilde : cec2k