Event: ESWC'07
I'm sitting at Heathrow's Terminal 2 watching BBC News 24 on the screen near me. There's reports of terrorist bombs, people being arrested all over the world, and the UK threat level being critical. But here I am, early for my flight and hanging around wondering what to do with myself. You see I was expecting massive delays on the drive in, a long walk to get to the terminal, long queues at check in, and a huge wait at security. I was almost hoping to see tanks parked outside Heathrow and every other car stopped and searched. Yes I understand that these aren't things you should really hope for, but I couldn't help feeling disappointed in my uneventful and suprisingly short journey from my door to the airport gate where I'm not sitting writing this. Let's face it, it doesn't make for an interesting opening to this journal. Woke up, went to the airport, had no problems. It just doesn't have the same story-telling punch as dodging tanks, being strip searched and sprinting to the airport gate just in time to slide through the closing plane doors, glancing back only to grab my Indiana Jones hat in the nick of time. They're calling our flight now so I'd better get a move on, will continue writing when I reach Paris.

In the space between paragraphs, here I am in the Île-de-France! Paris in July can only mean one thing... on ESR at any rate. That is, of course, The Electronic Sports World Cup. As one of the world's biggest and most successful video game tournaments, ESWC has won a place at least in my heart for holding on to a 1v1 First Person Shooter throughout its five-year history. I won't try to prove it here since that would be an article in itself, but I truly believe 1v1 FPS games are the root of all esports at least in the western world. And yes, I am biased.

Unfortunately this year we see ESWC07 clashing with WSVG Dallas, meaning that the Quake 4 talent is split across continents. Unfortunate as that is, the bright side is that we are likely to see a different set of players shine without being smothered by the downright efficiency of some of the top professionals. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Purri play and hopefully get a good result in a big International final. I did have to mention Purri in particular because he is staying in my room and I'm hoping for some late night spooning.

All the gaming action is still two days away! I got to my hotel across the road from the ESWC hall, and promptly logged in to MSN to boast that I was in Paris to my friends. Unfortunately I was in Paris sitting at my computer, and therefore not worthy of a whole lot of jealousy. To correct this problem I hit the streets and went to do some sight-seeing while the sun was still out. I decided to try the Louvre, being a big art fan. Ok I give in... I just wanted to see stuff from the Da Vinci Code, I'm a philistine. Turned out that the gallery was shut, so I just spent some time wandering around and taking photos. I just got back to the hotel now to upload photos and finish this journal entry. I'm hoping that when I wander down to the lobby again in a few minutes there'll be some greasy looking gamers talking about rocket jumping. Wish me luck!

Photos from today: