Artwork by: AZTK (Photo in banner from TIME magazine)

First of all, congratulations on your runner up finish at CPL Brazil. Unlike your previous games, it seems like you have a hard time dominating the competition in Painkiller. Do you find it hard to concentrate on tournaments at times with all the business related things you do?

Yeah, its definitely a challenge to run a worldwide business and also game on a worldwide level all at the same time and expect to get first place. I believe, I'm starting to figure out how to balance the two, and it’s already showing from this one event at CPL Brazil.

Do you think that you not winning a PK event thus far hurts your image as the best gamer in the world?

People can title me whatever they want, but I'm here for the long run, and I'm always going to try my hardest to win at any game I play. Of course every game I've taken very seriously, I've been able to come out with a world championship title. But even the games I took semi-seriously, I was still able to compete at the highest level. In PK I still have not won a world championship, so I need to practice harder and keep going for it. One thing about me is that I will never give up.

You have long been an internal benchmark to what a "pro" gamer is all about, how do you feel the rest of the gamers are doing in becoming more business savvy like you?

I definitely believe a lot of them are working the angles they can and are making a decent living for today. I've been raising the bar for gaming the last 6 years, and I plan to continue raising that bar for the next 50 years. The Fatal1ty brand is dedicated to giving back to gaming and will continue to help sponsor and raise the bar of competitive gaming worldwide. Even if I'm not sponsoring the player, team or event, with our efforts and our dedication, hopefully, other sponsors and companies will see how we did it and will start to follow the same approach as we have. I want to see gaming to succeed overall.

What do you see as your biggest accomplishment in your life so far?

Being able to always meet a challenge and never giving up on my dreams.

Do you believe that you are the best overall deathmatch player in the world right now?

I just play my game and play my hardest. You can evaluate the standings with all the players in the world over the last 5 or 10 years in gaming and then form your own opinion. But personally, I better believe I'm the best or why keep trying to prove everyone wrong?

When do you see gaming get into the mainstream with channels such as ESPN casting worldwide events?

I think it’s coming very soon. With the cash prizes continuing to get bigger and a more sports-like approach being taken for gamers as real competitors. I think it’s just around the corner before you start seeing gaming being broadcasted live on television [in USA]. I've already, personally, done live PainkilleR matches on NBC Europe last year against Stelam and Deatz. Stelam gave me a great run for my money and he was up 15-2 with only about three minutes left or so, but fortunately, somehow, I was able to come back and make one of the best comebacks on live television ever. People in Germany have told me they saw that on TV and said it was extremely exciting to watch!

Could you tell us a bit about your experience with Time magazine and their interview of you?

Well, the interview was actually done over the phone, but I guess the real story here is how they got me half naked to take a photo for the front page of the Innovators section.

I just got home from my European tour doing my Fatal1ty Shootouts and I knew I had a photographer coming into town to do a photoshoot with me. So Friday he comes to the house and we start working on figuring out where to take the photo, etc. The whole time the guy is fidgeting and going crazy to make sure he gets this picture done and it's awesome. He's like, "Man, this has to be perfect... Has to be... Man what are we going to do... I gotta think... C'mon think think think..." He was pacing nonstop to try to think of something creative, so after an hour or two of thinking of ideas and so on he finally got it. So he realizes he wants me to be in the game. Try to make it feel like I'm actually in the game, on the level or map or whatnot. So he goes to Home Depot and buys tons of wires, chords, 2 x 4's, and everything else.

So Saturday comes around and he gets at the house, and probably sets up for almost 3 hours outside under the garage area where we park our cars beside the house. We have to wait until about 8:30 pm for the sun to go down to get the perfect light for the picture. So while we're waiting, I decided to go run about four miles and came back, took a shower and came outside with some white pants on that he requested. He said he had a shirt for me to put on, so I came out with just my pants on. Immediately he said, "Wow this is perfect, do you mind if you don't wear a shirt? You look great!" And I'm like... "Uhhh, I don't know about that... Sounds kind of weird... And personally, there are a ton of other 24 year olds out there who have a much more defined body than I do." But he persisted and I said, "Well, let me see a Polaroid picture of the shot and I'll decide if it looks okay or not. So he took the picture and it looked pretty good, so I was like, whatever, fine."

And that’s how they got the half naked picture of me in Time Magazine. The setting was Doom 3 in the background on Frag Chamber with me kneeling down with a keyboard in my grasp and a stern look into the blazing bulb while wrapped in wire. You can check out the photo and story at www.fatal1ty.com.