I stopped counting how many great tournaments that have taken place in China in the last 12 months, and also how many times I have been to eSports events in China. But the first memory that came to me was IEST 2007, which was the next big event after Dreamhack that I attended and which I still consider one of the best events as it was organized in a very professional way. Everyone - players, staff and the press - enjoyed a great relationship and experienced the magic of eSports.

The worst event so far might be the WC3L and PGL finals this year which were held earlier this year in Chengdu, the same city as the WCG finals. As this city is located in the south of China, it is not common that rooms and exhibition areas have heaters and so it didn't seem to be in any way surprising for the locals that the big hall in which both Warcraft 3 events were hold featured the same temperature as outside which was around zero degrees.

Luckily for me, everything seems to be much better this time as the weather here right now is pretty comfortable, approximately 20 degrees. The view from the 10th floor of our Holiday Inn hotel is almost dramatic and very grey as we neither can see that far nor that much overall. Fog everywhere (no, it is not smog), which is caused by mountains that surround this huge city where 10 million people are living (just for your comparison: in Denmark has 7 million people, and Germany 84 million). Even if Chengdu is not the nicest place, it has quickly risen to become a city filled with eSports tradition due to the events held here.

Our hotel is just five minutes walking distance from the venue, and we are sharing it with some other players, such as the Swedish Counter-Strike team fnatic, who almost got lost as they missed their flight from Amsterdam to Chengdu. Luckily they managed to arrive here last night in time for the WCG

The other hotel where Grubby, Cassandra and Co. are staying is around 5 kilometers away from the Chengdu eSports stadium, and the WCG provides a shuttle bus for them. If the players take a look outside a window during this quick bus ride they may see WCG signs everywhere - next to the streets, on shopping malls and high buildings. WCG made sure to create the ‘beyond the game' feeling here and turned at least parts of the city into the WCG mood, which reminds me of last year's WCG in Germany where it was similar and a whole city was focused for a few days only on one thing: the beauty of competitive gaming.

Despite that, already now, more than 6 hours before the opening ceremony, the first fans are making their way to the WCG venue, trying to get a first glance at the set up, even though they are not allowed to get in. Pictures are being taken, every player that is spotted outside the hotels is asked for a fan photo and two Chinese fans strike up the ‘beyond the game' song. They don't dare yet to sing it that loud, but it may change later on when thousands of people are expected to attend the opening ceremony and watch then the opening match of Sky vs yAws.

Chengdu is ready to kick off, WCG is ready to give you an awesome event, local fans can't wait for the start - everything looks like this will be after Germany 2008 yet another perfect World Cyber Games!

Written by The1Crow