In GAME BOYS, Team 3D and Team CompLexity, the top two American "clans" competing in the game Counter-Strike, are in the throes of a rivalry as deep as the Yankees vs. Red Sox. Team 3D are the wonder boys, the team with the #1 ranking, the corporate sponsorships, and the ruthless owner who poaches players from other teams to win. CompLexity are the underdogs chasing the top spot, loyal to their coach who, in the absence of a big sponsor, has spent close to $400,000 of his own money to keep the team alive. Through these players, most of which are barely in their twenties, Kane chronicles a year of tournaments, "boot camp" practices, and home visits to find out what a life devoted to gaming is really like.
Kane has unprecedented access to the players and coaches that make up the gaming world, during a watershed moment in the business of gaming. He reports with great detail about Team 3D's coach, Craig Levine, working with Direct TV to put gaming on television, and even selling Team CompLexity as the underdog that everyone will root for. It's a classic sports matchup, engrossing to the last shot of the buzzer.
Like a pixilated Friday Night Lights meets Moneyball, GAME BOYS paints an engrossing picture of an industry on the cusp of big things, and the individual players for whom gaming is serious business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Kane is an entertainment features writer for the New York Post. Prior to his position at the Post, Kane was a sports writer and editor at the Denver Post, where he covered a wide range of subjects, from the NBA and Major League Baseball to offbeat sports like bicycle polo and ultimate Frisbee. His writing has appeared in ESPN Magazine, and Sport Magazine.