Over the weekend in Los Angeles, two major eSports tournaments were combining to form the best three days of competitive gaming to happen to California. Stars from games across the board were going head to head in intense match-ups as thousands of fans spectated from the Expo Center and at home.

One event sought to find the best in the US to represent the nation at the World Finals of the WCG in Cologne. The other attracted international attendance as the first North American stop on this leg of an around the world tour.

GotFrag was live on the floor to provide some top notch coverage to mark this occasion.



The word of the weekend was most assuredly upset as team after team subscribed to a consistent plan of pulling off spectacular displays in what would give even the most seasoned prediction makers an ulcer. Sleeper team Guardians pulling off a 19-11 win over the EM Bracket placers and WCG US Champions X3O. EG toppling Fnatic in what has been described repeatedly as an absolutely devastating fiesta of punishment featuring an individual performance that has already been referred to as one of the best in CS history. SK getting trounced by MiBR and following it up the next day with two consecutive wins to capture the title for Sweden. PoV casting off the ever present doubt of keyboard critics everywhere by taking down one of the top teams in the world on LAN.

And that's not even approaching everything that made this weekend a milestone for Counter-Strike in 2008.

Extreme Masters III: Los Angeles

1st. SK Gaming - $25,000
2nd. MiBR - $10,000
3rd. Evil Geniuses - $6,000
4th. Meet You Makers - $4,000
5/6th. Paragon of Virtue - $2,500
5/6th. GamePlay - $2,500
7/8th. Fnatic
7/8th. X3O

WCG USA Finals

1st. X3O - $15,000
2nd. Evil Geniuses - $7,500
3rd. Paragon of Virtue - $3,500 USD

Additional Content:

E4All CS in review

Extreme Masters Bracket Stage CS Melee
Extreme Masters Group Play CS Melee

WCG Day 3 CS Melee
WCG Day 2 CS Melee
WCG Day 1 CS Melee
WCG CS Group Preview

Viewer's Guide

x3o on winning WCG, pornstar mustache
zet: "SK is the best right now"
fnatic down, hostile comments
Cogu discusses all things MiBR
Ninespot reflects on Day 1
x3o gives fnatic an early test
Five with punkvillE
Zonic on mTw's early exit
sfX on taking down MoB
savi0r: Looking forward to E4All



Featuring eight teams from around the world, the Los Angeles stop of the Extreme Masters III event series played host to a few of the most action packed 3v3 matches on American soil. Pitting three teams from Europe against five from the States, when the dust settled it was Spain whose flag was raised as x6tence brought home the top placing.

Extreme Masters III: Los Angeles

1st. x6tence - $15,000
2nd. Nihilum Plasma - $6,000
3rd. GotGame East - $3,600
4th. Pandemic Blue - $2,400
5th. Evil Geniuses - $1,500
6th. SK Gaming - $1,500

Additional Content:

Extreme Masters Day 2 WoW Melee
Extreme Masters Day 1 WoW Melee
Extreme Masters WoW Preview

Serennia on SK and the Swarm fight
Five with Sp0h
Five with aNNa



With a participant list that reads like a who's who among elite StarCraft players in North America, the WCG USA StarCraft Finals was a heavily anticipated event. NonY came into this event with enough hype to last him for a few qualifiers and delivered from beginning to end, not losing a single map to his opponents.

WCG USA 2008 Finals

1st. Tyler "NonY" Wasieleski - $3,000
2nd. Eric "G5" Rothmuller - $1,500
3rd. David "Louder" Fells - $700

WCG StarCraft Day 1 Melee
WCG Day 1 StarCraft Recap
WCG Starcraft Preview

G5 talks about NonY and Day 2
Five with NonY
StarCraft in the U.S: Why care?