Sawt Falasteen - Gamers fight in France as Evo comes to Europe

Players and fans of top-selling fighter video games -- think Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter -- converged on Nice over the weekend for the first European edition of Evo, the biggest esports championship for this gaming category.

"It's a golden opportunity to see how you measure up to adversaries from the entire world," said Julien Thomas, a 23-year-old Parisian who is one of the top French players of Street Fighter 6.

In its 29-year history, US-based Evo -- short for the Evolution Championship Series -- has never had a European tournament, and the anticipation was evident.

Some 5,000 players from 93 countries were signed up for Evo France.

"The players have been waiting a long time for this tournament in Europe, it's a historic first," said Florent Gay, esports manager at Bandai Namco, maker of Tekken 8, one of the heavyweight games titles at the event.

The players were vying to win prize money of 100,000 euros ($116,000).

More importantly, though, the victor will qualify for the Capcom Cup 12 tournament in Tokyo in March next year, which has a prize pool of $1.2 million.

- 'Like the Olympics' -

The players competing in Evo France were plunged into a series of knockout rounds, with the top eight to play on the main stage on Sunday.

One disappointed controller-jockey, Nahil "Pepito" Gassim, made it through six rounds before being beaten by one of the best Chinese players, Zhen.

"I wanted to do better, but it's a long road to the top," said Gassim, who is sponsored by a French Web TV outfit, Solary.

"Winning Evo means becoming a gaming legend. It's the ultimate trophy," he said, adding that he would stay for the rest of the event to cheer on his friends.

One of the organisers of Evo France, Bertrand Amar, said: "If I had to compare it, it's like the Olympics of fighting video games. There are several disciplines, it's open to everyone and the path to winning is long and fraught."

He said planning was already under way for a second edition of Evo France next year, also to be held in Nice.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST