World Cyber Games 2009 World Champion  Jesper "KarjeN" Karjalainen was at DreamHack (the biggest LAN event in the world) this weekend, and while he was there Swedish national television (SVT) conducted an interview with him (you may notice the interviewer as  Caesuz the caster).

Watch the interview

Click the image to go to the interview

The interview is naturally in Swedish, so for those who don't understand the language, here's a translation in English:

SVT:

I'm standing here with KarjeN who is one of Sweden's best TrackMania players, hello KarjeN!

KarjeN:

Yo Caesuz!

SVT:

Nice touch mentioning my nickname there... So as mentioned, you are one of Sweden's top TrackMania players, and also one of the best TrackMania players in the world, how did that happen? Can you tell a bit about your background and so on?

KarjeN:

Well I've mostly been playing just for fun most of the time, and that I became good and got to compete was a bit of a bonus for me. But it's been a lot of fun as well; met a lot of cool people, got to go to events... and won a lot as well in both team and individual competitions, so it's been a lot of fun.

SVT:

Right now you're not playing that much, focus is on something else (studies), would you ever come back and compete seriously in TrackMania again in the future?

KarjeN:

Well I don't really know, I'm going to think about it during the summer what I want to do next year, because I'm studying right now at the university, so either I continue my studies in autumn, or I take a year off and do something else, and maybe play TrackMania, who knows (laughs).

SVT:

So in TrackMania you have over 9000 records on different maps, how does it feel to have that many records?

KarjeN:

I suppose it's pretty fun (laughs)... I don't really know what to say... yeah it's pretty fun. But all the records aren't worth as much. Some maps are more popular and they are more fun to play, so it's pretty fun.

SVT:

So your nickname "KarjeN", where does that come from?

KarjeN:

Yeah that's from my last name "Karjalainen" which is Finnish.

SVT:

..Not more complicated than that I see (laughs)... So outside of TrackMania, is there any other game you have played a lot or want to play?

KarjeN:

I do play HoN (Heroes of Neworth) just for fun, I'm not in any team or anything. Then I've also played Counter-Strike, but never on the same level as in TrackMania.

SVT:

For those who don't know about TrackMania, can you describe it for us?

KarjeN:

TrackMania is a racing game where you drive your car and try to drive into the finish as fast as possible. It's a bit of a Formula 1 feeling in the game, it's a lot of fun. Then you can also build maps and play those maps.

SVT:

In TrackMania you can play team tournaments but also individual tournaments. What do you prefer personally?

KarjeN:

I probably think team tournaments are the most fun. But of course winning WCG (World Cyber Games) that I did in 2009 isn't that bad either. But overall I think team tournaments where you for example play 4 vs. 4 or 5 vs. 5 creates an awesome feeling when you win.

SVT:

This is not your first time on DreamHack, what do you think about this edition of DreamHack?

KarjeN:

It's fun, it's always fun to be at DreamHack. We came here earlier today so we haven't really had time to do that much yet, but it's always fun to walk around amongst the nerds (laughs).

SVT:

Do you feel any difference about the event since this is the biggest DreamHack so far?

KarjeN:

Well, I don't really know if I've noticed it personally, but it's cool that it's growing a lot.

SVT:

What would you say to people to convince them to go to DreamHack?

KarjeN:

Well if you are a gamer it's great, but you can also just go here to enjoy the festivities. Also to play with others, and to see people IRL and not just be a nickname on the computer screen is fun.

SVT:

Nice, well good luck with TrackMania, and hope you come back to play it seriously since you're one of Sweden's best players.

KarjeN:

Thanks.