The year 2006 has finally come to a close. I have to say it was a great year for me personally, and X3O as a whole. We are now the only gaming center (PC/Console LAN) in the Rockville, MD area; and are quickly becoming the premiere gaming venue of choice on the east coast. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the past year.

In 2006, X3O Gaming Center held 10 tournaments for a variety of games from Counter-Strike 1.6 to Madden NFL 06. We also hosted 5 over-night lockINs and a ton of new game premieres. X3O had its 1 year anniversary, and just this past December, officially re-opened our Professional Gaming divisions.

Competitive gaming as a whole has grown a lot in the tri-state area. With the emergence of new event organizers and tournament directors, we have quickly become one of the hot-spots for gaming here in the United Sates. Part of this is due to the efforts of Jesse “wb” Dedmon (DC-LAN) and Steve "Ryu" Rattacasa (RYU LAN) who have both taken it upon themselves to host 100+ LAN events in MD/VA. Unknown to a lot of FPS gamers, the fighting game community (Street Fighter 3rd Strike, MVC2, T5, etc) is also very strong in Virginia, with monthly tournaments and the support of MAGFest, a gaming and music festival.

Team x3o playing at winter CPL.

The year 2007 is looking to be a very promising year for X3O. We are working hard to finalize our in-house tournament schedule for the year, which will blow you away. We are also working on finalizing some key strategic partnerships and alliances that will allow us to truly provide our customers with the ultimate gaming experience. Watch out for more tournaments, higher cash pots, and cooler product prizes. The re-launch of our Professional Gaming Division is also very

exciting for us. Team x3o’s (CS 1.6) had a great start with a 5th and 9th-16th place finish at Lethal Gamers Tournament and CPL Winter 06 respectively. We look forward to a very strong presence here in 2007.

Some of you may have noticed the website changes here on x3o-gaming.com this past year. The early months of 2007 will be home to the final re-design of our gaming website, which will include better coverage of all x3o events, a dedicated team area for Team x3o, and more user control over the content you view. Though X3O is not trying to become an e-sports site, we believe that to be successful, we need to provide our customers and fans with the best information, tools, and coverage possible.

I want to personally wish you all a great 2007, and thank you for making X3O what it is today. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Hope to see you all at X3O soon!

Nick Fitzsimmons
Manager of Marketing
X3O Emerging Technologies