Devastation players Nicholas Cucio (left) and Brian Valez. Valez runs Street Fighter tournaments at his Las Vegas-based game store "Game Over" and came out to support some of his hometown players at Devastation. Jonathan McNamara

Determined to grasp victory, two warriors step onto an airfield unconcerned that a nearby military transport plane maneuvering to take off may disturb their encounter. On the right is Rufus, a fighter whose undulating belly and spandex outfit masks his deadly potential. On the left is Ryu, a wandering fighter from Japan who can toss enough fireballs to make Super Mario jealous. He charges up and tosses one at Rufus to begin the fight. Rufus counters with a flurry of punches. There were ninety seconds on the clock, but they're clicking away with every block, every connect and every second of fierce determination.

"Fighting games are at their core, the most competitive games ever," said Devastation Coordinator Robb "Jedirobb" Chiarini "It's the first one [type of game] where you go head-to-head with another person to kick their butt. For that not to have the spotlight at a competitive gaming event is a little funny."

Robb Chiarini (right) competes with a friend to see how many taunts they can make in a single match. Jonathan McNamara

Devastation did have a few representatives from the first-person shooter (Halo, Gears of War), sports (Madden '09) and music simulation (Rock Band World Tour) genres of video games, but one-on-one virtual fights was what lined the tournament area's seats with players.

To make sure there were enough brawls to go around, Devastation had tournaments for several fighting games including:

A tense crowd watches every move during Devastation's Street Fighter IV finals on Sunday, June 21, 2009 Jonathan McNamara

Chiarini said

Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez fights for glory in the Street Fighter IV tournament.

Gootecks agrees with Wong's point that just about anyone can pick up and play

Justin Wong took home the number one spot in Street Fighter IV by taking out John Choi. Jonathan McNamara

Their geography may be different, but the commonality among all combatants was their desire to take home the top spot. On the line (in addition to their egos) were cash prizes in amounts as high as $2,000 for Street Fighter IV, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Tekken 6 and Guitar Hero World Tour.

Hold on. $2,000 for playing a video game?

Believe it. If you speak with Robb Chiarini it's not hard to see why. Five years ago Devastation was a game tournament he ran out of his house. Now it inhabits the Phoenix Convention Center and attracts hundreds of Gamers; a word Chiarini is reluctant to use himself because in a society where the average gamer age is 35 and the Nintendo Wii has replaced your gym membership, the word ceases to be relevant.

"Back when I was a kid you had 'gamers', you had those weirdoes that would play games," he said. "Now it's so mainstream. How many people do you know that have a PlayStation, an Xbox or a Wii in their house? It's Everybody."