CGS Names 2008 North American Franchise Players
Last week the Championship Gaming Series announced its official list of North American Franchise Players for the 2008 North American Combine and Draft set for March 7-9 in Austin, Texas as part of the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival’s ScreenBurn Arcade.
Vanessa “Vanessa” Arteaga (Dead or Alive 4), widely regarded as the world’s top woman gamer, was chosen as the cornerstone of the San Francisco Optx team. Heading up Chicago Chimera will be Jeremy “BlackMamba” Florence (Dead or Alive 4 - Men’s), the world’s top-ranked Dead or Alive 4 player. Having led Chicago Chimera to victory last year as the first-ever CGS World Champion team, Florence was easily the highest-paid professional gamer in North America in 2007. Globally recognized as one of the best Counter-Strike players in history, Danny “fRoD” Montaner, will play for Los Angeles compLexity. Carolina Core has tapped Ryan “Offbeat Ninja” Ward (Dead or Alive 4 -Men’s), the region’s top-performing DOA4 Men’s player. Matt “Wizakor” Wood (FIFA 08), CGS Individual World Champion in FIFA 07, will lead New York 3D and Emmanuel “Master” Rodriguez (Dead or Alive 4), one of the dominant players in the history of the DOA series, will play for Dallas Venom.
Don’t forget that the ScreenBurn Arcade is free and open to the public from noon to 6:00 PM on Saturday, March 8th and Sunday, March 9th, as part of the 2008 SXSW Interactive festival. Jason Lake (pictured above), founder and General Manager of compLexity, will be on hand Friday, March 7th from 5:00 to 6:00 PM at the Carver Center as part of a special free SXSW ScreenBurn Festival panel presentation entitled Pro Gamers: New Extreme Athletes of the 21st Century.