Today I ordered Painkiller. Sorry guys I sold out.

So do major tournaments sell copies of games? I wouldn't count my own experience as typical, I'm buying the game because there's going to be a million dollars of prize money and I want to try the game so that I understand what's going on when I'm watching the CPL demos. How many people are really going to do that, and will it repay whatever investment DC made to the CPL to take on their game (assuming that there was some investment made).

I know that the creators of Dawn of War paid a hefty sum to WCG so that their game would be included in the list, but was that really worth it. Will it drive game sales?

Is Starcraft so big in Korea because of the tournaments, or are the tournaments just there because Starcraft is so big?

The sceptics will say it's not going to make any difference. I'm slightly optimistic on this front though, I want to see tournaments like CPL, WCG and ESWC get more mainstream airtime. MTV covering CPL may drive a lot of gamers out to buy Painkiller, in the hope of becoming a pro gamer one day and taking a share of the incredible prize pot.

I guess I'm also thinking, in the back of my mind, that if I play a little I might like the game. Whilst I did enjoy Quake 3 (no really), I loved playing QuakeWorld. I never played for money or recognition in the beginning, I just played because it was what I wanted to do. Will Painkiller be the next game that I feel this way about? Heck I'm also wondering if I might get good at this game, and maybe score some prizes at a CPL event again. You see! The CPL motto is calling out to me - play hard, go pro. Run while you still can!