Who said playing games never paid off?

Any kid who's played video games long enough has heard it over and
over - why don't you get a job and stop wasting your time playing
video games? The only thing gamers had to show in defense of their
hobby was the 90-minute Nintendo commercial/feature length movie
"The Wizard." And even then, you'd be hard pressed to convince anyone
you can legitimately make money playing "Super Mario 3."

That was, of course, until gamers like Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
and Tom "Tsquared" Taylor started getting signed to sponsorship
deals and contracts worth insane amounts of money. Well, insane for
just being great at video games. For example, Tsquared, most well
known for his skills at the "Halo" series, signed a $250,000 contract
with Major League Gaming while Fatal1ty is sponsored by such companies
as Full Tilt Poker, he also turned his professional gaming fame into
a brand that sells all manner of PC/gaming related equipment.

Most recently, the man who is recognized as one of the top "Street
Fighter" players in the world, Daigo Umehara, recently announced that
he is partnering with Mad Catz, a third-party peripheral manufacturer,
to be the official controller he uses in competitions. Hundred
thousand dollar contracts, sponsorships and lines of merchandise?
We are still talking about video games, right?

Don't get too excited yet. Though video games are becoming more and
more popular every day, don't expect to see any of these competitions
on TV any time soon (G4, a network devoted to video game/geek culture,
barely ever runs any) nor should you ever really expect to be able to
compete on their level. These guys are the elite of the elite and
even then there is only room at the top for a select few who can
actually make a living solely by playing video games. If you ever
need to be reminded of that fact, simply play any "Halo" or "Call of
Duty" on Xbox Live and you'll undoubtedly get dominated by a
14-year-old who's not only better than you at "Modern Warfare" but
can simultaneously question your sexuality and graphically describe
what he'd like to do to your mother. Isn't technology great?