Pro Rosters Announced!

MLG today has announced the pro Rosters for Halo 3 for the Dallas Event.  They are listed below!

1. Str8 Rippin – T2, Legit, Elamite, Snipedown

2. Triggers Down – SK, Pistola, Heinz, Hysteria

3. Instinct – GH057ayame, Lunchbox, Roy, Neighbor

4. Final Boss – FearItSelf, Victory X, OGRE2, Strongside

5. Believe the Hype – Cloud, Soviet, Sypher, DemonD

6. Team Classic – BesTMaN, Soldi3r, Legend, Chig

7. Status Quo – Flamesword, Ace, Totz, Clutch

8. Carbon – ShocKWav3, Walshy, Defy, Naded

9. Ambush – Tizoxic, Nexus, Gilkey, Mackeo

10. Heaven and Earth – Hokum, Poweezy, KillerDrew, Karma

11. The Dynasty – Assault, Enable, Max/Pro, Destin

12. End Result – MadMax, ThuggishKilla, CMG, Gregor

13. Overnight Sensation – Eli, GunShot, Seb, Wonka

14. OverLooked- Sasquatch, MrFrisky, Rezzo, Makowski

15. Pistol & The Jets – Pistol, IceVayne, Mimic, Arkanum

16. High Life – Fear, Elumnite, Cpt. Anarchy, Perplexity

Dallas is going to be INSANE!

MLG Announces MLG Anaheim

MLG finally has announced the 4th landing spot on the pro circuit.  It is officially Anaheim, California (which we reported in early July after some thorough investigating)

Taken directly from MLGpro:
Major League Gaming is proud to announce that the fourth stop of the 2009 Pro Circuit will take place in Anaheim, CA on November 6-8. The MLG Pro Circuit will feature top notch competition in Halo 3, Gears of War 2, and World of Warcraft, while the EA SPORTS Challenge will see top players duke it out in Madden 10, NBA Live 10, and Fight Night Round 4. There will also be a slew of spectator activities and events for fans of all ages.

MLG Anaheim
November 6-8
Anaheim Convention Center
800 West Katella Anaheim, CA 92802

MLG Anaheim is sure to be another exciting event, and passes will go fast. The only way to guarantee your spot at a pass for the Pro Circuit Competition at MLG Anaheim is to compete in the Online Qualifiers. The larger benefit of these qualifiers is that teams finishing in the Top 64 spots will earn ranking points which will help to improve their seeding at the Live Competitions.  As stated above, qualifiers serve as an opportunity to purchase a reserved Competition Pass for Anaheim (which as we all know…sell out in minutes). Registration for the Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 Online Qualifiers begins August 17th.

The MLG Pro Circuit is a spectacle that every fan should have a chance to witness.  Be sure to travel out to to Anaheim Live Competition and be a part of the madness and excitement which includes meeting the top Pro’s in the world. There are plenty of awesome spectator activities driven by the great sponsors with gameplay and activities for all (including prizes and opportunities to play the Pro’s).  Finally, the addition of the new competitions bring in more games in multiple platforms.  Learn more about being a Spectator.

MLG Anaheim will play host to the second event of the EA SPORTS Challenge. Top players in Madden 2010, NBA Live 2010, and Fight Night Round 4 will show off their skills as they play for huge prizes. Don’t miss out on all of the exciting action!

Good or Bad to Drop Mackeo from BtH

Good Decision or Bad to Drop Mackeo?

A few weeks back, Believe the Hype had dropped Demon D, in order to pick up Mackeo, who at the time was a free agent. I believed that this move would help the team, but may run the risk of possibly harm it with no middle ground. But my curiosity wouldn’t be satisfied because a day or so later, the news was announced that Mackeo was dropped so Believe the Hype could pick up their old
teammate, Demon D again. The reason for dropping Mackeo, or as stated by Cloud, was, “Demon D fits our style more; charging and such.” I believe however, that if Believe the Hype were to keep Mackeo that the team could’ve potentially been the best team.  I say this because the team is already solid with Sypher as a main slayer, Cloud doing whatever is needed, and not to mention the team has arguably the player with the best BR in the game.  With the addition of Mackeo, who can go off at anytime and just slay unbelievably good, this team would be hard to stop. However, it could have gone completely the opposite way (but it appears we’ll never know) .  Too many players that focus on slaying and not enough players focusing on the objective portion of the game could present a setback.  Nevertheless, we will not get to see how this team could’ve done with the addition of Mackeo since he is no longer on the team.

Overall I think that it would have been a good decision to keep Mackeo simply because he could’ve been that person to help “push” Believe the Hype to the next level and a higher spot then they finished in the past few event.

OTC Champion Edition

Welcome to the 2nd edition of OTC!. This is our champion edition where we name the
champions of 3 of the online tournements. Lets start it off with 2 games that have
been on the circuit in the past and may be making an appearance at the
Championships. I’m talking about none
other than Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4.

-R6V2-

The champion of MLG PCOE #2 Ladder is Rage. Having not being knocked down they
destroyed the winners bracket.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/rainbow-six-vegas-2/team/rage-

Directly behind Rage, comes New Talent.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/rainbow-six-vegas-2/team/-new-talent-

And in third, being kicked down to the loser's bracket by Rage and being knocked
out by New Talent, is FYC Fatal Design.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/rainbow-six-vegas-2/team/fyc-fatal-design-

-CoD4-

The champion of MLG PCOE #2 Ladder is BgR EnVyUs.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/bgr-envyus-pcl2

Taking second is pT Hysteria.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/verzion-x-pcl-2

In third is Evil.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/-necessary-evil-1

-Killzone2-

The champion of MLG PCOE #2 Ladder is United Gamers.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/ps3/killzone-2/team/united-gamers

Taking second is PKY NME.
Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/ps3/killzone-2/team/1-pky-nme-1-

Dallas Qualifier Update 2

We are back with another Dallas Qualifier Update for Halo and Gears of War 2.

1st-Perfect_Evolution-  They are 14 and 2 on the ladder and are on a 9 match winning streak.

Their roster consists of: DuaIDEADZOMBIE, I LionH3art I, kpii, and o afyk o.

2nd-Amateur Hour-  They are 10 and 2 on the gamebattles ladder and are on a 10 game winning streak.  With their only 2 losses being to Global Popularity and -Rise Above.

Their roster consists of: AnnoyedCustomer, icemayyyne, stigmative rawr and The uUnforgiven.

3rd-H! Voltage- In second we have H! Voltage, they are 12 and 3 in the qualifier, with their only two losses being to Above the Law and Catching Fire at Dallas.

Their roster consists of: hV GlocKomA, hV Golden, hV HooZ and, hv lemonade.

4th-Above the Law-In third we have Above the Law, they hold a perfect record of 7 and 0.  Therefore they are on a 7 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: EEOR, MLG Mailbox, My Cure, and VyRiZz.

5th-o0ParadoX 0o-In fifth we have ParadoX, they are 9 and 2 on the ladder.

Their roster consists of: IDirr T, Krakiin,  NtG is InSane,  and zParanoia.

Gears of War 2:

1st-bT Retribution-In first we have Retribution, they are 16 and 1 with their only loss being to Volatile DL.  They are on a 13 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: LiiTeMaRe, Serphew, vXc ChuBZeRo, and XternaI.

2nd-[SPiRiT] F3-Gameaccess.ca- In 3rd we have GameAccess, they are 16 and 4 on the qualifier.

Their roster consists of: B 1 R DxM A N, F3 Will Care, MortaL Is F3, and SupRstaR o9.

3rd- TsC UpRise- In second we have TsC UpRise, they are 15 and 2 on the qualifier with their only loss being to e2K Composure.  They are on a 12 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: SkinZMercs, TriviuhM, WhiiTeKnighT and YounG Tack.

4th-Reality-In 4th we have Reality,  they are 14 and 3 on the ladder.

Their roster consists of: CarSoNz,  MJMeRCs, OveRate,  and Ruhverse.

5th-[e2k] Composure- In 4th we have e2k Composure, they are 11 and 2 in the qualifier.

Their roster consists of: Decryptic, iPabIo, SuPeR Ma77o, and WyIder.

MLG on PS3?

To Major League Gaming and EA Sports announced that in Dallas Texas, they will be brining a ESPN Challange Series to the event to be played on the 29th and 30th.  The challange series will be play 2009 EA Sports games on the Playstation 3.

The online qualifier begins on August 17th.

We will let you know more as we get the information.

You can read more on the Challange Series on www.easportschallengeseries.com.

Could this be the birth of a multi-system MLG Pro Circuit in the near future?  Only time will tell

OTC # 1

Welcome to MLGinsiders first edition of Online Tournement Coverage!. Lets start it off with 2 games that have been on the circuit in the past and may be making an appearance at the Championships. I’m talking about none other than Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4.

-R6V2-

R6V2 is in the Semi-Finals of the PCOE #2 Ladder playoffs.  The 4 teams that made it to the finals are Rage, and FYC Fatal Design in the winners bracket, and Iconz and New Talent in the losers bracket. Rage dominated both the season and the playoffs pulling solid first place in both.

Rages Roster is: Blood n Glory, D iS FaM0uS, IR 0 C C 0 and JwHoJcAsH.

FYC Fatal Design Roster is: IR e v e r e NI, N0N53NSE, PIAgUe x, and X SYNTH3TIC X.

New Talents Roster is: ForBidd3NSoLja, IEI A IZI Y, II CONCLUZION, Mr ShaDoVV.

Iconz’s roster is: AkA LyRiCz, D0wNFaLLL, HOP3Z, and UnSoLv3d

The Semi-Final match is set to play Tuesday July 14th so we will see who moves on to play in the final 2.

-CoD4-

Call of Duty 4 is about to move into the play-offs of the PCOE #2.  Play-Offs are to start today. (Note: Rosters from some of these teams are large, so for rosters check their team pages)

First place of the ladder will go to Next Victim.  They have an absolutely insane record of 50-0.

Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/-Nextt-victim-

Second Place will go to bT -Deathdealers they have a record of 49-3 and have 3 games scheduled for today.

Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/syn-the-0rg1n4l-7

Third Place will go to pT Breaking Point.  They havea record of 74-5.

Team Page:  http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/pt-breaking-point111

Fourth Place will go to Sick Minded Soldiers.  They have a record of 77-16

Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/sick-minded-soldiersgb

Fifth place will go to Team XeRo who has a awsome record of 81-15.

Team Page: http://gamebattles.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-4/team/concussionshttp://mlginsider.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=3094

Next up is Killzone 2

Killzone 2 is in the fourth rounds of the play off bracket

In the 3rd round 17th place Four Horsemen beat 1st place Killin Your Dreams.

9th place –KillJoy– deffeated 40th place ShockStars

21st place HMM….  defeated 5th place Deadline

13th place #1 PKY NME #1 defeated 20th place Death Recon

30th place 26* Iron Star defeated 19th place the Super Friends

6th place United Gamers defeated 11th place Empire

7th place Six Feet Under defeated 23rd seat Third Eye

15th place Runnin’ defeated 2 vVv Victorious

More roster changes!

Our sources have informed us of a few new roster changes. The “Mac Attack” aka: Mackeo is teaming with  Tizoxic, Nexus, Gilkey  on Ambush. Which gives ambush 6272.5 points.

Our sources are telling us also that XiT Woundz has lost Luck and Bonfire.  Luck is said to be teaming with Darkwing, CuCuy and Drasai  who seem to be locals from Texas.  Our sources are telling us even though Luck said that Xit Woundz seed is being dropped this may not entirely be the case.  We will know within the next few days whats going on with XiT. Rumors are that Bonfire may either be retiring or go into the free agency.  We will let you know the latest on the XiT situation as we get it.

Cpt Anarchy is now on Uti and appears willing to play though AM with them.

SummerLAN Winner

The winner of the SummerLAN Giveaway is Robert Golden from Staten Island, NY.  Robert and a friend will be flying out to the SummerLAN and will have the opportunity to hangout with 30 of the top pros in Halo 3.  From July 15th through July 19th Robert will be apart of one of the biggest events of the year.

Be sure to watch MLGinsider.com July 15th – 19th as we will be streaming video from the SummerLAN live.  Stay tuned for more details.

Dallas Qualifier Update 1

With Dallas just over a month away, teams are working hard to get into the top spot on the gamebattles ladder.

Lets start off with the H3 ladder

1st-Perfect_Evolution-They are 11-2 in the qualifier, with their only two losses being to Catching Fire at Dallas and OpTima.  They are also on a 6 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: DuaIDEADZOMBIE, I LionH3art I, kpii, and o afyk o.

2nd-H! Voltage- In second we have H! Voltage, they are 10 and 2 in the qualifier, with their only two losses being to Above the Law and Catching Fire at Dallas.  They are also on a 5 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: hV GlocKomA, hV Golden, hV HooZ and, hv lemonade.

3rd-Above the Law-In third we have Above the Law, they hold a perfect record of 7 and 0.  Therefore they are on a 7 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: EEOR, MLG Mailbox, My Cure, and VyRiZz.

4th-OpTima- In fourth we have OpTima.  They are 5 and 2 in the qualifier, with their loses being to Underated 09, and Nothing Personal.

Their roster consists of: CHA0t1C AzN, Humanoidd, IInSaYnE and jokers w1ld.

5th-Catching fire at Dallas-In fifth we have Catching fire at Dallas.  They are 4 and 1 in the qualifier, they only have 2 people on their roster and seem to be looking for two.

Their roster consists of: assassin is cF and Pappacat is cF.

With only 1 game seperating the first 2 spots, who will be on top?  Its going to be interesting.

Now for some Gears of War 2

1st-bT Retribution-In first we have Retribution, they are 16 and 1 with their only loss being to Volatile DL.  They are on a 13 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: LiiTeMaRe, Serphew, vXc ChuBZeRo, and XternaI.

2nd-TsC UpRise- In second we have TsC UpRise, they are 15 and 1 on the qualifier with their only loss being to e2K Composure.  They are on a 12 game winning streak.

Their roster consists of: SkinZMercs, TriviuhM, WhiiTeKnighT and YounG Tack.

3rd-[SPiRiT] F3-Gameaccess.ca- In 3rd we have GameAccess, they are 16 and 4 on the qualifier.

Their roster consists of: B 1 R DxM A N, F3 Will Care, MortaL Is F3, and SupRstaR o9.

4th-[e2k] Composure- In 4th we have e2k Composure, they are 11 and 2 in the qualifier.

Their roster consists of: Decryptic, iPabIo, SuPeR Ma77o, and WyIder.

5th-Introductions- In fifth we have Introductions.  They are 6 and 2 in the qualifer.

Their roster consists of: CarSoNz, MJMeRCs, OveRate and Ruhverse.

With the play off starting on the 19th the ladder is starting to heat up in a frenzy to grab a play off spot, who will come out on top?

The Insider Source on the 4th MLG event

Our sources are telling us  that the 4th 2009 Major League Gaming event will be in Anaheim, California on November 6th through the 8th.  The last event held in California was San Diego 2008, the second event with Str8 winning their first of several for the circuit including a National Championship.  Anaheim should lead to a larger crowd than San Diego and sure to be a very exciting event with plenty of rowdy gamers screaming for their teams.  I look forward to a great turnout from the West Coast Gamers in BIG fashion.  The MLG community has many players and fans on the West Side and this location is great and hopefully a record crowd.

IMO, and their are no rumors or news on this…strictly my opinion!!!

This sets up for what could be a National Championship in Disney/Orlando.  To me, that is exciting (and I believe it will be a full tournament, not just top 8).  While Vegas is nice and a great city…for the gamer demographic, Orlando is much more “gamer” friendly for gamers, fans, and the parents.  If this happens, I believe it will be that largest and GREATEST National Championship ever because the fans will be going absolutely nuts.  This Great tourist attraction in Disney for with a fun atmosphere for all ages and families and I call it a WINNER.  Imagine the finals with thousands watching (And I believe new fans will attend this)!  WoW

Another reason I think this will happen is the association with ESPN.  The economy is what it is.  Disney owns ESPN (and I’m sure their fine financially), however, I believe it would be a great way to increase visitors during these slow times and get Disney some great exposure with this demographic.  Now, that is all  opinion.  I have never had a single conversation, email, or caught wind of anything in the works.  This is simply my opinion as a “student of the sport” if you will.  If it holds true, then I just got lucky with some deductive reasoning.  If not, then I just wasted your time and mine, but I hope you enjoyed

For the record:  I hope it’s true!  I think it would be the greatest NC ever!  It think it will bring a huge crowd never before seen because it’s the perfect place for the perfect competition (To me, MLG events are one of the greatest competitions of all Sports).

Joe Pennacchio and SummerLAN

We sat down with Joe Pennacchio to talk about the upcoming SummerLAN and all the roster changes.

Insider: Well, I want to start by asking how the response has been for the SummerLAN Giveaway.

Joe: The response has been better than we thought. It has been so good in fact, that we are going to extend the deadline to Wed the 8th at 3:00pm Central. The drawing with be done and announced by 5pm central time.

Insider: What decided to make you take the task of doing another LAN?

Joe: After the WinterLAN we realized how much fun it was and we saw an incredible meshing of different players from different teams. They were playing together for the first time, it brought the new talent together and meshing it with old talent. It gave lower level pros and high AMs the opportunity to showcase their skills. Not to mention certain the ability to see pros play together that have never played together before on the same team.

Insider: What is estimated number of Pros and top AMs that will be in attendance up to?

Joe: It should be right at 30.

Insider: Ok, lets switch gears for a sec, what do you think about all the teams changes that have taken place?

Joe: Well, I think that a lot of team changes are unnecessary, but that being said, I think that a lot of these pros think that if you don’t come in top 3 or better you need to change something instead of practicing more.

Insider: What about the Walshy for Ghost change?

Joe: I have a lot of admiration for Walshy. He is a great player and doesn’t the credit he deserves and people get too locked in on stats and K/D ratios. I think he bring a lot more to the table than just that. He knows the game as well or better than anyone. He is a great fit for Carbon. Ghost I don’t know enough about, from what I hear he is a very good player. Both teams really got what they wanted and will be fine. After a series of moves by Strongside, Carbon ended up with Naded who will be a good fit as well.

Insider: What about Karma going to HaE for Hokum?

Joe: That might be a very explosive pick up for HaE. They have been looking for that kind of player and got one finally. This may be a very good home for Karma.

Insider: What are your thoughts about Strongside leaving SQ? Let’s follow that with your opinion of their pick up of Clutch?

Joe: First off, with Strongside it was very difficult, but I understood his choice to go to a different team. Strongside had given us a ton off knowledge and confidence that we will carry with us forever. I can only thank him for that. He is a great guy and all I can say is that Status Quo wishes him the very best. I also think that my boys FIS and Strongside sitting next to each other at the events will be pretty sick. Regarding the Clutch pickup, we had a number of options. Things that a lot of the forums kids had no clue about from top guys to other pros. We whittled it down to a couple of choices and ended up deciding that Clutch was the best fit for SQ. Clutch brings a lot of energy and excitement to our team which I think we really needed. He is also a great kid who I think would definitely be a great addition to the SQ family. I say family because our team truly has a family atmosphere to it. We spend a lot of time together and everything win or lose is done together.

Insider: Well, you called BtH as your darkhorse for Meadowlands and called Classic your darkhorse for Columbus. So who is it for Dallas?

Joe: We’ll wait see after the SummerLAN, but I really think SQ will surprise a lot of people.

Insider: Where do you see SQ finishing in Dallas with the addition of Clutch?

Joe: We are a new team bonding together. There are a lot of good teams not just 3 or 4 as at other events, but I think that we will have a modest approach and we’re trying to land top 16. I mean, how we finish better than top 16 without Strongside and with players like Totz and Flamesword on our roster.

Insider: Come on…. Top 16 …. Seriously?

Joe: Actually, if you believe what you read in the forums and the community, that’s all we get credit for. So why talk people into believing that we’re a threat.

Insider: Ok, I get that, but where do you seriously see you guys finishing?

Joe: Going back to the knowledge of the forums and the community, with Totz and Flamesword and no Strongside we don’t have a chance. I will say this, at Columbus people forgot to look at the whole picture and failed to see that on SQ everyone had a role. We were a complete team, each player had their responsibility and our ultimate goal was to win. No one cared about stats. However, after looking at the Columbus stats and hearing all the chatter on the forums, we saw people failed to realize that Totz, for all the bashing gets, led all players in Columbus in objective time. I believe Flamesword was top 3 in objective time at Meadows. They do whatever it takes to win. I think now without Strongside we have a little different approach to our team strategy than before. I think everybody will be pleasantly surprised at the new SQ. I know I am.

Insider: What one thing are looking forward to most about the SummerLAN?

Joe: I can’t wait to see who the winner is and how excited they will be to hang with all the pros. I wait to see you out here Trent. I think you’ve been a great addition to the MLG community and everyone is finally realizing you are a credible source for MLG news.

Insider: Well, I truly appreciate it Joe and I’m looking forward to getting up there for the LAN. Thanks so much for taking timeout for us.

Joe: Thank you very much.

Insider: One last question… Any LANs setup before Dallas?

Joe: Yeah as a matter of fact, we have a couple things lined up. One is a four team LAN with us, tD, Classic and Carbon. We not sure of the dates but it will happen. We are trying to set a couple more up with Str8 Rippin and possibly someone like FB, Instinct, Ambush etc.

Insider: Any chance for a 4 team LAN giveaway?

Joe: Trent, that’s a good idea. I didn’t think of that but maybe a very good opportunity for someone to come up and watch four tops teams scrimming.

Well, there you have it folks be sure to take advantage f the extended opportunity to register for the SummerLAN giveaway.

MLG Insider Exposes Hacker AK47

Update:  Word has been sent to us from someone claiming to be affected AK47′s hacking.  This individual claims to have obtained all of his personal contact information and passing it on to the proper authorities or organizations (I would think those interested would be the Credit Card companies, Banks, and Microsoft off the top of my head).  Now, we are not sure what this means, but it is interesting if true.  However, we have no way to determine is this is 100% accurate at this time.  If this does hold true and the proper authorities do care, I can’t help but to think about 2 sides to this situation:

First, if this young man does indeed face legal action and identity theft is tied to his name, he could have a tough time at some points in his life launching a career.  That is ashame for what may be a very talented kid and may add challenges to him starting a life.

On the other side of that:  If all reports are true and he continued these actions knowing they were wrong (or illegal), then he obviously felt above the law and that can start the domino affect.  Think about this… do you think at some point 40-50 years ago Bernie Madoff committed a crime less significant?  Probably and had anybody exposed him and officials prosecuted him at that time then thousands of people wouldn’t be out of Billions of dollars right now.  (I am not saying a XBL hacker is equivalent, but I believe a majority of serious crimes begin with a lesser criminal offense going unpunished)

We will continue to follow these sources frequently and validate them or discount them.  Stay tuned and keep the feedback coming.  The more feedback, the more we know, the better we do.

From an Anonymous Source …

Reports from undisclosed sources have potentially identified the account hacker known in the community as AK47. This Hacker is well known for all of the wrong reasons and not very well liked. Rumors are that this person has stolen tags of many players, specifically Pro Players with the most recent and well known being TSquared, GT: T2 is Rippin (and that may be important, read below). The amount of Gamertags stolen by this individual or group is unknown, but what is known is there have been many and the Gamers want it to STOP.

These sources claim the real name of AK47 is Eliott Mandighomi (not sure which Eliott M though). There has also been more personal information spreading through the XBL community (specifically H3) about the unpopular and disliked hacker which may indicate that the community is fighting back against these actions. Maybe finally enough is enough and there should be consequences for stealing personal information, credit card info, MS points, paid in full Gold accounts, and lists of people who paid to be friends with pro’s and on and on and on.

That raises an interesting question to me. Is this identity theft which is punishable by law? Is it no different than any other form of stealing? In fact, it may be even something bigger in my opinion. Let’s take a look:

First, Halo 3 is a business in every aspect now. There are many players who pay to be on particular friends lists. They also pay for those spots to play with those gamers and part of that business includes those who pay up to $115/hour for lessons. So if a Pro Player sells spots on his friends list for $50, then that list is potentially worth $5,000. For some top pros, this number can jump to $200 to $300 which means that any one list can be equivalent to purchases over $10,000. Now, tie that into identify theft and money put into a tag and there may be some legal recourse.

Next, selling accounts has become a big business with many websites solely devoted to that. In some cases, accounts sell for close to a $1000 depending on stats, rank, exp, and many other factors. Basic 50′s alone sell for an average of $75-$100 from what I can tell from surfing.

Now, some would say it’s just stealing an account…No Big Deal. That may be true, but in most cases that’s just the beginning. How easily we forget the person who has to cancel their credit card, then all of the automatic payments, check for fraudulent charges, lose access to credit until new cards are issued, etc, etc, etc… It’s a lot of frustrating work, ALL OVER A GAMERTAG (Dude, get your own)

Finally, the lasting effect!!! Why are Pro’s so closed to random gaming? Duhhh, thanks AK. Why do they make most of their profile’s private? Thanks AK. Why does it seem they act uncomfortable and leave when they don’t know everyone? Thanks again to AK and all of the Hackers for turning gaming into a self preservation job rather than a good time with players from everywhere. And lets not be foolish, AK is not the only one who has nothing better to do than steal Gamertags (that even sounds ridiculous) and frustrate the community and for what…I’ll never know? I hear respect is a goal and he mentions that in his bio for his GT: AK Jacked this…whatever dude, get respect the right way, EARN IT.

MLG Insiders goal is to grow the sport of Professional gaming. However, after receiving countless amounts of emails, maybe we should help in being the voice of protecting our community beyond the pro’s. For every T2 who gets hacked, there may be hundreds or a thousand that nobody hears about so those potential criminal offenses go unnoticed.

Been hacked or know someone?  Sound off below