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Well the Major League Gaming 2008 Opener is slowly coming to a close. This year looks to be promising with my favorite team, Carbon, showing their old spirit of having fun while gaming is proving to work in their case. This year they did things a little differently. Major League Gaming started off with an online tournament for Halo 3 that started back in February. This tournament would give the Top 16 teams a guarantee pass to attend the MLG opener event in Meadowlands. So when this season started there are definitely people expecting quite a lot from those Top 16 Teams..but how did they do? Did they live up to expectations or did they fall from glory?

Through Winners Bracket Round One there were no major upsets. Many of the Top seeded teams plowed through their competition sending them to the losers bracket right away. By the time Winners Bracket Round 3 came around everyone was pumped because arch-rivals: Carbon and Str8 Rippin would face off. This team has a HUGE history and quite frankly they just don't like each other. This match was set on center stage and brought the BIGGEST crowd that anyone has seen all weekend. First match was on Narrows and the game was Capture The Flag, both teams were evenly matched until Carbon went for the first flag grab. That is where Game One went down hill for Str8 Rippin, they lost the match 3-0, but that disappointment didn't stop them from coming back in Game Two on Onslaught Team Slayer. Str8 Rippin kept a steady pace and out gunned Carbon to take a 50 - 33 win. Game Three was King Of The Hill on The Pit and this seemed to be Str8 Rippin's calling, they were able to take full control of the map and weapons. Through the last two minutes of game play Str8 Rippin won 237 -192. This place Str8 Rippin with a 2 - 1 lead over Carbon but Carbon definitely wasn't going to give up. After two final intense matches Carbon came out the victor and sent Str8 Rippin into the Losers Bracket. I can't wait to watch the action today because its all going to come to a huge climatic battle to the finish, I'm not going to say who I think is going to be the teams to play in the final match because I fear I might jinx it.

Not only has Major League Gaming brought forth a whole new look on tournament gaming but they have gained tons of new sponsors as well. Last year one of their major sponsors aside from GameStop was RedBull. But this year they have left the energy drink behind and picked a soft drink instead: Dr. Pepper. I am totally a fan of Dr. Pepper but I don't think that could keep me awake and energized as much as Red Bull does but hey its all for the money right? Aside from them there is also Stride, Panasonic and even Bungie has jumped on the band wagon. For the opening event Bungie showed the premier of the new Halo 3 map Blackout (lucky bastards lol) and I have to say that I definitely wish I was at this event just to see that. But out of all their sponsors this year this sponsor definitely takes the cake: ESPN. Yes you read it right, every sport lovers channel has hopped on the Competitive Gaming train and is helping to cover these events through live streaming. I have to say that even though I don't think competitive gaming is necessarily a "sport" having a sponsor like this is showing people that the gaming community is very interactive and despite what a lot of people think of gamers we are very social and I think with the help of ESPN gaming will be seen in a different light.

As I promised I would keep you updated on how the Gamer Beauties are doing this season and unfortunately this event didn't seem their best. They were knocked out in first round winners bracket and first round losers. Lets hope that this doesn't discourage them. I will have a full interview when they get back. For now you can check all the gaming stats on Major League Gamings Website and read full news coverage on the event including picture galleries.

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