(GotFrag) - The 2008 GameGune event is taking place this week in Blbao, Spain and GotFrag is live on location. American hopefuls x3o are competing in the international Counter-Strike tournament and hope to bring home a win for the U.S. GotFrag caught up with x3o owner/manager Nick Fitz and asked a few questions about GameGune and what's next for x3o.

Looking ahead, are their any teams who you are looking out for or are interested in playing?

Even though several teams pulled out, there is still a lot of talent here at this event. We are looking forward to playing mousesports and mibr, but hopefully in the later rounds of double elimination. The goal for today is to finish first out of our group, which will help ensure that they are played later on.


You guys have missed out on playing in any major international events since last year's ESWC. How important is this event for your team?

This event is very important to us as a team, and as an organization. There is a lot of doubt within the global community about whether or not the US has any teams worth representing internationally. We are here today to change that. This is more then just respect for us as a team, but respect for our country.


You and EG are always competing for dominance over the North American scene. Does that rivalry carry over to this event? Do you have kind of an unspoken goal to place higher than them?

This rivalry definitely carries over into this and all events. We want to be the best, so taking second is never enough. While we want to beat them, they are a great group of guys, and I hope they do well overall.


How much emphasis do you guys place on international success versus success in North America? Can a team with limited success overseas still be considered a top team if they dominate back home?

I think you can, however it does not mean nearly as much. When you are able to be the best in your country, and a top contender in the world, a lot more doors open for you. We are looking forward to proving that x3o belongs in the top echelon of gaming.


Once this event is over, you will head home and play in the event hosted by your sponsor, x3o. How important is it for you guys to take home the win there? Which event do you think is more important, this or the x3o finals?

They are both important events, however for different reasons. Winning GameGune 2k8 helps us continue to grow as a team and advance our playing to a whole new level. It will also help us prepare considerably for ESWC 2008 World Cup which is just a few weeks away. The finals at x3o allow us to bring back some of the excitement our fans experience watching us play in Spain, back home. It should also settle once and for all who is #1 in North America.


What are your thoughts on tying TBH in the first match of group play? Did you expect a close result with them?

Coming into the match, we were expecting them to be the other good team in our group. From my perspective, though they played well, they are not very good; we just had a very sloppy tside start. Obviously a tie is better then a loss, but if we played them again now, im confident we would win with a larger margin.

GameGune CS Group Scores/Melee
Gamegune 2008 Group Preview
Full Gamegune 2008 Coverage