The following is an editorial and does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of X3O, X3O Staff, or X3O Affiliates

I would like to start off by really thanking everyone that helped make this event possible. Not in any particular order, but Jeff Suckow with GotFrag.com did a tremendous job with the coverage. In the last 2 years I have never seen event scores, brackets, or match demos be uploaded/updated as fast and efficiently as he made it happen. Having that great coverage made this event exciting and entertaining for all the spectators at home. Jeshua, Giovanni, and Scott also helped a lot getting teams set up and ready to play. I want to thank Dust-Off ® and our other sponsors for helping us have our prizes/purse and keeping our systems at peak performance. Last but not least, I want to thank all of the players and teams that traveled (far and near) to attend this event and all of our past events, because without you, it would never have happened.

How did this event turn out?
Overall the event was a great success. The twenty four teams that attended all came ready to play, were on-time, and excited to be there. I was a little disappointed that we could not get thirty two teams; because I know that they are out there – just not ready to play. Outside of a few traffic delays, all three days of the tournament ran on-time and with minimal to no computer hardware or server issues.

What is the future for X3O Gaming Centers?
X3O is growing exponentially every day. To my knowledge, we just held the largest(purse to attendance ratio) Gaming Center organized and executed tournament ever in the United States. That is an amazing accomplishment – and we are still looking to do it bigger and better. We are looking to do a complete overhaul of our gaming stations in preparation for our 2008 gaming season and are also looking to expand to 4 additional centers in the MD/VA area by Quarter 1 2008.

I think that one of the biggest questions for me here at the center is what will be our main competition title for 2008. Depending on the success of the remaining CGS Season 1, we may transition into Counter-Strike: Source tournaments. We will of course also keep in mind CSP and its impending release. SOURCE!!!?!?!?!?!? WTF…as you can see so far, we haven’t just jumped on the CSS bandwagon; however if teams don’t attend 1.6 – you are leaving event organizers with no options. How I see it is that since The CGS announced their source league, the entire Counter-Strike community essentially split into two, with a lot of the higher caliber teams switching to source. For CS 1.6 to continue being played, new teams need to step up to the plate and attend LAN events. Win or lose, the most valuable gaming experience you will ever get is from competing in a LAN environment, as often as possible. Not having 32 teams at this past event will cause serious discussion and re-consideration of doing a larger CS 1.6 even this winter. Regardless of where we go from here – we will always strive to host the best, most efficient, professional, and player friendly events possible.

What’s going on with Team x3o?
Team x3o is a whole different story. X3O and myself have actually worked with several lower local teams over the past 2 years – however really only went after a top caliber team in December of 2006. Since the conception of our Professional Gaming Divisions there have been quite a few roster changes and the addition of Quake 4. Ultimately, through all of the events that we have attended across the country, the team has improved tremendously from Day 1 and in my opinion based against the current pool of 1.6 teams are in the top 4 with Turmoil, Check-Six (iDemise) and eMg. All four of these teams trade games regularly, however WCG U.S. Finals this year will really set the record straight. David, icel0re, our current Quake 4 player is a leader in the Quake community and is fighting to get Quake, or any 1v1 shooter into CEVO.

In regards to the team’s recent LAN performances at Virtual Rush, CCX, and Dust-Off – there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, in a short period of time. X3O fully supports both of our gaming divisions; it takes time and dedication to be #1. If there will be any changes or adjustments to either rosters; an announcement will be made within the next week.

Again, thank you to everyone that came out to this event and that has and will continue to support X3O herein the future. Regardless of what game you play, the gaming culture and eSports are growing every day. X3O will always be a home to casual and competitive gamers alike, and will always strive to be a premiere eSports venue.

-Nick Fitz