pro gamers

The MTV Game Awards is this weekend in Berlin, Germany and we’ve been invited to attend thanks to our nominaton for the “Let’s Play Together Award” for Best Multiplayer Game. Regretfully, we won’t be able to make it out to Berlin for the live show, but we’ll be recording a little video tomorrow morning to show our appreciation and thanks to all of our German players who voted and supported the game in the awards, just in case. So if you’re part of our German game community, be sure to check the show this weekend, more info here www.mtvgameawards.de.  

My Fallout 3 character. (Feral Mask + Chinese Spy Uniform)

Over 60 hours of gameplay later, and I’ve finally finished Fallout 3 this weekend; Holy hell was that an amazing game. You can definitely beat it in half that time, but I savored the gameplay, and completed every main and side quest before beating the main story line - as well as maxing out my character at the level 20 cap. I love the amount of detail and thought that went into every aspect of this game. Bethesda did a great job of really immersing you in their world and I’m kind of depressed it’s over. I still need to find a few bobbleheads and do a few random achievements, but for the most part it’s over, and I’m gonna miss it. 

Although, thankfully I can get back to living a productive life now that it’s over, not to mention focus on finishing up Gears of War 2 (on the last level) and Mirrors Edge (on Chapter 6).

Hopefully I can finish them both up before Friday, because my entire weekend is being spent in Vegas. I’ll be flying in to attend the first ever LIVE tournament for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare at the MLG’s National Championships. There will be over $340,000 in cash prizing up for grabs overall this weekend - which will promptly be blown on hookers and blow immediately following the event. So be sure to drop me a line if you’re in Vegas or competing in the tournament. I’ll be held up at the Hard Rock where the event is taking place, so stop by and say hey. We can get together and gamble our life savings away in a horrible drunken rage. 

The Major League Gaming (MLG) announced their 2008 Pro-Circuit today, announcing that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would be their first Online-only Pro Circuit title. According to their official announcement:

Call of Duty 4 to be MLG’s First Online-Only Pro Circuit Title!
You asked and we answered: Call of Duty 4 will be featured as an official Online Pro Circuit Title! The Call of Duty 4 Online Pro Circuit season will consist of a series of online qualifying ladders and tournaments in pursuit of the 2008 MLG Season Title, complete with cash prizes, MLG pro players and in-depth editorial coverage on mlgpro.com. The details of the CoD 4 Online Pro Circuit Season are currently being finalized and will be announced soon so stay tuned for more! While we are considering adding CoD 4 to our Live Competitions, the game is not currently structured for competitive LAN play.

Which is awesome news, as it will allow our competitive players an opportunity to compete for cash and press coverage and if the arena’s on GameBattles is any indication we have a fantastic competitive community with the Call of Duty 4 Arena on Gamebattles.com currently holding the #1 spot. It is a little disappointed to see the last part of the quote, that the game won’t be included in the lan events of the circuit as I know Call of Duty 4 can be the #1 online competitive game both online and via LAN.

Keep reading for more ranting…

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I’ll be speaking at this year’s SXSW Interactive festival on March 7th on a panel discussing:

 Pro Gamers: Extreme Athletes of the 21st Century

The event takes place in Austin, TX in March 7th - 16th, so if you’re in the area or will already be attending the festival drop me a line and let me know. More details on the actual event to come once it gets closer, meanwhile though I wanted to pose a question to you.

What are your thoughts on Professional Gaming and Pro Gamers?

Do you consider it a sport, do you think it has the potential to become a mainstream sport, and if so what could be done to better secure it’s spot as one?

With the new blog IM (see: right), I’ve been having a lot of great direct conversations with the community.  About 100 messages a day on average. A lot of which have sparked some really great convo regarding the game, feedback, suggestions, and just gaming in general. So I’m anxious to see what some of you have to say on this subject.

Hit the jump for my rant on the subject as well as some more questions to sulk over.

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