X3O-Gaming.com welcomes in the New Year with an official address from Nick Fitz that recaps 2007 and the goals for 2008.

This week is the start of another new year. When looking back at 2007, I see a roller coaster ride of successes and failures in American e-Sports and American Video Gaming as a whole. To me, 2007 could be viewed as the decline of e-Sports here in the United States, with the past few months acting as the calm before the storm that will either destroy or revolutionize the way competitive gaming is done. The once unbreakable Counter-Strike community remains divided and frustrated at the lack of a clear vision for the future. In-fact, most games including 1 vs. 1 titles like Quake 4 and RTS games like Command & Conquer 3 and Company of Heroes, never lived up to the hype of their potential growth this past year. Could this really be the start of the end?

I think that the success of the video gaming industry as a whole in the United States is a great forecaster of things to come. Total video game sales grew hundreds of millions of dollars again, as it has for the majority of this decade. American youth are starting to play games younger and younger, and are growing up with gaming systems like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 which continue to change the mainstream perception of what gaming should be. Companies like DirecTV have tried to step up to the plate and capitalize on this ever growing past time with their Championship Gaming Series (www.theCGS.com). While their success can be questionable to some, the failures of other organizations like the Cyberathlete Professional League (www.theCPL.com) to meet the expectations of their competitors and the general public are not. But even with all of the ups and downs in 2007, X3O as a Company was still able to accomplish great things.

X3O Emerging Technologies the IT Corporation behind X3O Gaming Centers had another very prosperous year, almost doubling our entire customer base. We’ve got some of the best people working for us that we have ever had, and are very excited about the upcoming year. The Gaming Center itself has also reached some very important milestones including hosting the 2007 Dust-Off Championship, which was the largest ever LAN Center organized and run tournament in U.S. history. X3O Gaming Center has also increased its overall community exposure by working with and sponsoring several charity functions and was even voted the “Best Place to Have Kids Parties” by Bethesda Magazine.

X3O Professional Gaming has also seen some great successes this year. Coming into 2008 we have now doubled in size and are currently supporting 11 professional gamers in 3 games. Team x3o has made itself home to some of the best Counter-Strike 1.6, Source, and Quake players in the country. Finishing stronger then ever, in December 2007 Team x3o Counter-Strike 1.6 finished 1st Place in the CEVO-Professional Season 7, Steel Series King of the Hill Tournament and the CPL Winter Championships 2007. Our Counter-Strike Source team is anxious and eager to compete in the upcoming CEVO-Professional season and icel0re is vigorously preparing for the ESWC 2008 Quake 3 competitions.

Even though X3O had a very successful year last year, we are still looking for ways to continue to grow and improve – giving more back to the gaming community and our customers. We have very strong goals for the Gaming Center, Gaming Teams, and X3O-Gaming.com which will in turn continue to support American e-Sports and Video Gaming as the industry continues to grow, and the sport that many of us already know and love, becomes “mainstream.”

X3O Gaming Center - 2008 Goals:
1. Continue to create an engaging home for casual and competitive gamers on a daily basis
One of the main projects we are working on for Quarter 1 2008 is finally upgrading our hardware. The bare minimum upgrades we are looking to do are move to an AMD Dual Core 2.2 GHZ Processor or higher, nVidia 8600GT 256MB Graphics card or higher, an additional 1 Gig of RAM or higher in all 23 of our gaming PCs. Outside of the PC upgrades, we are also looking to host monthly meetings for our Premiere Members to go over new games, promotions, and get general feed back on what gamers are looking for from a Gaming Center.

2. Continue to become a premiere venue for e-Sports competitions on multiple platforms
In 2007 X3O proved that we can host some of the best Counter-Strike 1.6 tournaments in the country. X3O gave away over $20,000 last year in prize money, and we are looking to double that if not more here in 2008. For a variety of reasons X3O has primarily stayed with PC tournaments in the past, almost exclusively focusing on Counter-Strike 1.6. We are looking to diversify ourselves more by expanding our regular tournament schedule titles to include: Counter-Strike 1.6 (PC), Counter-Strike Source (PC), Halo 3 (Xbox 360), and Gears of War (Xbox 360). X3O is still working out our tournament season structure for next year; however event dates and plans should be released by February 2008.

Though the above mentioned games may be our professional titles for next year, we are still looking to diversify our community by supporting new and upcoming games. Based on popular demand and practicality we will also be looking to host tournaments in the following possible titles: WarCraft III: DotA (PC), Call of Duty 4 (PC), Team Fortress 2 (PC), Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360), Dead or Alive 4 (Xbox 360), Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360), and Rock Band (Xbox 360). More information on how games can be selected or potential tournament dates will be announced in the weeks to come.

X3O Professional Gaming - 2008 Goals:
1. Finish top 3 at all national and international competitions that our professional players compete in
Though a lot of teams can aspire to reach this goal, X3O does have the actual potential to do it. We spent all of 2007 putting together the best possible players that share the same dedication, professionalism and passion for the game. You will see us practicing vigilantly in preparation for each match and event. With a great finish in December 2007 we will look to continue our winning streak at the Kode 5 USA Finals coming up next week.

2. Continue to support American e-Sports by supporting new and growing communities
X3O is proud to announce a new initiative that we are working on to continue to support the new and growing communities that emerged in 2007, as well as do our part to further American e-Sports as whole. With that being said, X3O is opening a new gaming division, Semi-Professional. The Semi-Professional division will support gaming teams in either new games that are just starting to form competitively, or older games that are starting to pick up a stronger following. These divisions will provide partial financial support to teams, in addition to managerial support and representation by one of the best gaming organizations in the U.S. More information will be posted about how you can apply to be an X3O Semi-Pro team next week.

X3O-Gaming.com - 2008 Goals:
1. Finish developing our online brand presence and community features
There have been several website re-designs in 2007, however for the time being we have found one that meets our needs in terms of basic functionality and style. Throughout 2008 we will be looking to continue to build our online presence and international community by working to develop the user features, and providing more unique content. In Quarter 1 of 2008 you will see additions to the overall structure and layout of the website, and then as we hit the summer, the release of more in-depth user oriented features.

2. Focus on providing timely quality coverage of the events at X3O Gaming Center or of Team x3o
Going hand in hand with the above goal, we are going to focus even more on providing timely and quality coverage of the events at X3O and that Team X3O participate at including but not limited to pre-game reports, individual match scores, career statistics, and photo galleries. We will be looking to bring on additional staff for coding and content writing; information will be posted shortly.