The outcome of Thursday night’s matches would determine the ultimate make-up of the World Finals. First up was the Latin American Final, where the Mexico City Furia faced off against the Rio Sinistro. This bout was followed by the Pan-Asia Final between the Wuhan Dragon and Sydney Underground.
Mexico City Furia vs. Rio Sinistro
The first franchise match of the night opened with Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) male on the DWA Coliseum. Both players chose Ninja Gaiden star Ryu Hayabusa, as their fighter. Rio’s SnakeJorge took the first round. The Rio player however would not score another point as El Divino Xmas won the next five rounds in a row. His win gave Mexico City an early 5-1 lead.
Rio managed to prevent Mexico from pulling further ahead after Patan won FIFA 08, 1-0, over Zerocero. This was followed by DOA4 female on the Kyoto in Bloom stage. Mexico’s Hitomi1 and Rio’s Yo Succubus traded the first and second rounds respectively. From there Hitomi1 defeated Yo Succubus four rounds in a row, winning the game for Mexico, 5-1.
The total score was now 10-3 with Mexico in the lead. Rio would need to perform extremely well in the last two games in order to have a chance at making it to the World Finals. Unfortunately for the Brazilian team, Mexico City’s Forza 2 racer, LEGITRACER, managed to get a significant lead on the competition. This resulted in Rio only managing to take second with its racer UFO-79ERN. Mexico’s other racer, mEtAlX, came in third, giving Mexico a 5-2 2in.
With the score at 15-5, Rio would need to play a virtually perfect game of Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S). This actually seemed like it might be a reality. After the first half as the terrorists, Rio led 6-3. This meant that the team would need to dominate, 9-0, in the second half to win the game outright. Rio only came in 5-4 in the second half as the counter-terrorists. Although the team won CS:S, 11-7, Mexico won the overall match 22-16.
| Franchise | DOA4 Male | DOA4 Female | FIFA 08 | Forza 2 | CS:S | Overall |
| Mexico City Furia | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 22 |
| Rio Sinistro | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 16 |
Dallas Venom vs. Carolina Core
Jason Lake is a familiar face to professional and casual Counter-Strike players alike. Lake founded his Counter-Strike team, Complexity, in 2003 after a career in real estate law. The team achieved great heights under his leadership through winning multiple championships. As a result, Complexity quickly became a popular team with a fervent online following. Their fame eventually led them to become one of the six North American franchises of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS).
Fans of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) will know Kat Hunter as the general manager of the San Francisco Optx. These same aficionados may be less aware of her career outside of the CGS. Most notably she was a member of the all-female gaming squad, the Frag Dolls. She has also produced game related content for AT&T Blue Room and served as a webmaster for Game Daily. She became involved in the video game community after a career in advertising.
While 3D.NY continues to stride atop the Championship Gaming Series standings, the feel-bad story of the year has to be LA Complexity’s winless season so far.
