There seems to be a trend of teams who are joining the ranks of other larger multi-gaming organizations. While some are skeptic about the future of America's Army, there are certainly a few managers and CEOs of these organizations who think there is something in the game.

Carbon 8, who is relatively an unknown clan in the sense that they compete in Open and Amateur, was once with mainLine Gaming, a fairly known organization who competes in almost all Open divisions. As far as being almost all unknown, Carbon 8 has picked up former Enervate Gaming member, Ian "Kabar / whiTey" Brady, and the current GotFrag's America's Army manager, Nic "Karmakaze" Huber.

I recently talked to Shane "RAN$UM" Ynclan about Nefarious Gaming and their mishap with mainLine Gaming.

mainLine Gaming was constantly trying to essentially screw us over. A lot of the time, Josh (mainLine Gaming's owner) would promise us specific [merchandise] and then never deliver, so eventually I just got tired of it, and called him out, which made him upset and essentially removed us from mL. With Nefarious, we weren't really looking for another sponsor, but NEF seemed well-organized and smart, so we decided why not.

I also recently sat down with Niro Mahan, Nefarious Gaming's owner and chief operator in a one-on-one discussion about the history of Nefarious Gaming and the recent expansion into America's Army.

Q: Can you tell me a little about Nefarious Gaming?
A: The Nefarious Gaming organization was founded by Niro “n1ro” Mahan and Justin “XyiSti” Skowyra in August of 2004; formerly a Counter-Strike LAN-based team in Toronto. After several years of periodical gaming we had established a strong community following; this presented a unique opportunity for the expansion of our organization which we instigated in January of 2008. Since then, we have had an exceptional growth in the eSports community; this is predominantly due to the consistent dedication and professional atmosphere produced by our members and administrators. We currently administer several games, among these is Counter-Strike: 1.6, Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty 4, Team Fortress 2, Halo 3, and America’s Army.

Q: Where do you see America's Army going competitively?
A: I am very optimistic of AA's future in the competitive scene. As i come to the understanding of its growing prominence in the LAN scene, it would be quite imprudent to doubt its likely success.

Q: You do realize that AA has been out for quite some time, since July 4th, 2002, to be exact?
A: From the limited research I have done, I've noticed it has been a rather decelerated progression. This though I feel was a temporary obstruction to its probable and righteous development, which we are eagerly awaiting.

Six years after America's Army being officially released, could it be that the game is finally attracting attention from well known gaming organizations? I recently asked Chris "chrones" Sansone, whose team (Mediocrity) recently signed and merged under Mug N' Mouse, about what he thought of the recent "trend" of teams who are merging under these organizations and if these mergers will help attract any attention to America's Army.

A: Well, I think a lot of teams are having hopes of becoming "Pro gaming teams" and picking up other AA teams is a step in the right direction. However, if the new patches continue to get better and better, this game will go in the positive direction. These multi-gaming organizations will only help increase exposure to the game and point it in the right direction.

I had not learned of the Mug N' Mouse / Mediocrity signing until I was browsing the CEVO website getting my things prepared for this week's all new GotFrag CEVO Pro Prediction series, based after the popular Counter-Strike: Source predictions. Once I saw this, I chatted with Chris via Xfire about the merger.

Q:I've noticed that you guys have recently merged with Mug N' Mouse, what was the decision for this and why did you choose MNM?
A: Well for one, Mug N' Mouse is a world renown multi-gaming organization and we feel that joining them would not only give us as an AA team more exposure but the whole AA community in general. Not to mention the prospect of a free game server, free Ventrilo [server], possible hardware in the future, and covering some costs of LAN expenses, we just couldn't let the deal slip away. This wasn't the first time that we have been approached by multi-gaming organizations. We have been approached by others such as .50 cal, Eximus and several others but we feel that MNM is right for us.

I would like to thank Niro Mahan, Chris Sansone, and Shane Ynclan for commenting and contributing to this article. You can check out their team's websites respectively at:

http://www.nefariousgaming.net
http://www.mugnweb.com

You may also keep up-to-date with how these two teams are doing in competition via GotFrag.

Mug N' Mouse is currently competing in CEVO-P, CAL-I, and TWL-Inters and are featured in weekly prediction articles every Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. They are currently placed #3 in CEVO and #3 in CAL's Delta division.

Nefarious Gaming is currently competing in CEVO-A and TWL-O. They are currently placed #11 in CEVO and #5 in TWL's Two division.