It's 5:30am. Your alarm clock goes off and you press the snooze for those critical 5 extra minutes of sleep. It goes off again, this time you get out of bed and you're brain begins to ponder. No, you're not thinking about what to wear to work/school or what the weather is like outside. You're pondering the same thing that everyone else ponders when they first roll out of bed. What would it be like to play a 4 minute match in Quake 4 against Fatal1ty? Well today is your lucky day because I am going to tell you exactly what it's like!

At this year's CES show Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel (the world's most famous progamer) was at the Creative booth promoting his new keyboard and mouse products. He was also taking on random members of the crowd in 1v1 death matches on the Quake 4 map "The Longest Day" (also known as "The Longest Yard"). The goal of the competition was to finish the match with a positive score. If that goal was accomplished there was a pretty nice prize package as the award.

As I was passing by the booth I noticed the big Fatal1ty display setup and had to investigate. After learning that Fatal1ty was playing member of the crowd I quickly took a seat in front of the stage and anxiously awaited for his arrival. After some mediocre product demos he finally arrived. The first raffle ticket drawn was mine. At first I was nervous to claim my "prize" being unsure as to whether or not it was worth the humiliation. I quickly gathered myself, arose from the crowd, and walked toward the stage.

Click on the image above to see a video of the introduction.

Jon greeted me with a sportsmen like handshake. This simple gesture made him seem more like a human and less like a famous symbol. Once on stage the MC asked me what my expectations were of the match, was I looking to win or just to not humiliate myself. To that I replied "I don't think he is going to get a kill on me." Looking back, I'm not sure that was the brightest thing to have said but it felt right at the moment. Once the crowd had settled down from my ridiculous claim I managed to say "I'm joking." into the mic in hopes to undo any damage I had done. It didn't work. The MC turned to Jon and asked what he though of my comment and Jon replied "... I might play even harder now." Gulp.