Delve into the world of pro-Quake controversy - nationalism, pride and financial reward have converged to create some International online confusion.

Shack E.S. is covering questions about the hot-contest between Russia and the United States over Quake 3 here at the World Cyber Games. Matt Huey's post "WCG heads into third night" describes the debate over whether Cooller purposefully lost his game to Ni3 to keep Zero4 from advancing to the next round, while linking to some of the flame-filled boards covering the same topic elsewhere.

The nationalistic flap mars what has otherwise been an exciting, eye-opening event so far. Countries such as Hungary and China have put themselves on the first-person shooter map for the first time, and they're two countries that represent the growing trend for more and more countries to become competitive in the pro gaming world. It was just a few years ago that Chinese Q3 duellers were getting wooped on by New Zealand stars like Mirage: now their best players are capable of running with the best in the world (Rocketboy finished 5-0 and beat Daler in his pool, and Jibo represented himself well too). In the midst of two gaming superpowers going to war, the rest of the world's skill is coming closer together.