This is part three of a special report on Major League Gaming brought to you by GGA contributer Mike Drucker. Read Part One and Part Two.

If the first day of the Major League Gaming tournament in New York City started with a steady pace, Sunday’s championship games went at a full blown sprint.

As Soul Calibur II, Gran Turismo 3, Madden 2004, and the big momma of them all, Halo all started to reach the final games the atmosphere inside of GameTime Nation became electrified.

Unlike yesterday, when most of the playing was met with playful conversation and helpful tip sharing, today’s games were mostly serious business. Players watched each other game, and crowds drew up for the big final matches. People on the street saw crowds inside the small facility and went inside to watch.

It was Sunday that MLG’s plan to make videogames a full-blown spectator sport became really realized. Watching people come in not to play, but to cheer on other players was an interesting experience. We’ve all at one time or another sat on the couch and watched a few friends go at it in a game, but here crowds drew. Even after being eliminated, many players stayed for the entire Halo tournament to just see how it would end.

There were even a few older non-gamers. An older man, wearing a heavy sweater and intently watching the Soul Calibur II tournament struck up a conversation with me.

“I don’t really know anything about these games,” he admitted in a strong Russian accent. “But I like watching them. I mean, look at these characters. These kids are doing stuff like in the Crouching Tiger movie but in real time. It’s really amazing, especially how the games look.”

He went on to tell me that before today he had just watched in passing his kids play, but the tournament really got him interested in games, at least as a spectator.

Soul Calibur II was the first game to reach the championship phase.

New Jerzian Ray “Xenster” Lee and his friend “Aueuen” were the two big winners in the tournament. Both used a Soul Calibur II arcade joystick rather than the standard X-Box type-S controller used by most of the players.

In a best of five championship match, Aueuen was able to win three straight in a row. The highlight of the match was definitely the final Taki vs. Taki match. While initially Aueuen seemed outmatched, he quickly came back to win the match five victories to two. The crowd standing around the players broke into applause when he won, and Aueuen meekly smiled and quickly tried to leave the lime-light.

“I don’t want to seem like a dick,” Aueuen said, “so I’m trying to be humble about it. But there weren’t as many good players here as I’d hoped. Still, I’m not complaining about a thousand dollars. Feels good to be known as the best in this region of the nation.”

He cited his strategy as “just going in there and moving fast enough to get past blocking” and his favorite character as Xianghua.

Ray, who was missing his flamboyant cowboy hat today, won second place. “I was sweating. But, I predicted my friend would win first, and he did. I predicted I would win second or third, and I won second. Feels really good to come here and win like that.”

The Soul Calibur II winners - looking tuff.

After being interviewed for a documentary on professional gaming, the two were awarded with their checks, Major League Gaming t-shirts and backpacks created by one of the sponsors of the event. However, they stuck around and watched the other matches going on while holding tight to their thousand dollar and three hundred dollar rewards, respectively.

Gran Turismo’s finals were more subdued. The races, a best of three on various courses at five laps a race, were long and hard. Players didn’t laugh, but stared forward and tried to gain those crucial few seconds above each other.

The championship seemed split between “Max” and “Hogster-iR.” However, towards the final laps of the final race, “Max” pulled forward and got the game.

“The wife can stop complaining now,” Max, a New Yorker with a deep southern accent said. While most players humbly said they were in it for the fun or the reputation, Max made it clear he was playing for money. “I can finally pay the bills and tell her that videogames do help.”

Max was awarded his prizes (also a thousand dollars plus free stuff) in the same celebratory manner as the SC II players.

Gran Turismo winners

Madden 2004 may have had the least popular event as far as viewers went, but the final match was huge. In fact, the match, between players David Seitchek of New Jersey and Vi Luoung of NYC. David chose the Atlanta Falcons and Vi chose the Philadelphia Eagles.

Despite an even start in the first quarter, play soon became one-sided. Touchdown after touchdown for David and interception following interception for Vi turned the game in Atlanta’s favor. The final score of Atlanta 64 and Philadelphia 16 may not made for a close match, Vi took his lose in stride.

“I live in the city, so I paid close to nothing to come here, and I’m walking away with $300 for something I love. Plus, I got beat by the standing national champion, so I don’t feel too bad.”

David was not only excited about winning the thousand, but also about prospects for more MLG tournaments. “They’re going to have them in Philadelphia and Boston, so I figure, I’ll go there, too, and see how I do. I want to keep going and see how good I am.”

The Halo tournaments, considered the major event of the night, slowly drew down hour after hour.

The Burtons play hard

Both Bonnie and her brothers were eliminated in the finals before the championship match, but they took it in stride.

While one brother, Jeff Burton, was upset at the Dream Team’s apparent Free-For-All teaming up in order to insure their combined victory, Bonnie seemed to shake off the loss.

Their mother, despite some admitted stress at watching the match, had a good perspective on it. “We came out here to have fun. This is a game. Some of the players make livings off this, sure. But my kids are in school, and they’re here to have fun. As far as I can tell, they are, so it’s not a big deal.”

The Burtons may have been eliminated in the FFA, but fan favorite Bonnie and her family’s team, MoD (“Mastas of Disastas”) scored third in the team tournament, beating out a lot of strong competition. The third place prize, $200, was split amongst the four players, Bonnie, her brothers, and a friend with the handle “Grasshoper.”

The other highlight of the team match was team Xtournament, led by player Victor and his son Victor, who was only five years old. While they declined to comment, the younger Victor’s style as a Halo player was amazing. He protected himself with grenades and was wracking up plenty of double and triple kills. While Xtournament didn’t advance to the finals, their novel playing style and the presence of the father-son team drew plenty of crowds and fans. Shy 5-year-old Victor meekly smiled when all the other players came to shake his hand after the matches.

The shy and elusive Victor

The final team match, which came before and delayed the final Free-For-All match, was between the Dream Team and team SDK. SDK, led by player “Strange Purple” and not “Poon” as I previously reported, was one of the favorites at the tournament. A highly respected team, many players thought they were the only team with a good chance to beat the MLG sponsored Dream Team.

“This is what it’s really all about,” said MLG co-founder Sepso. “Team Halo is why MLG was really made in the first place. This is what it’s all about.”

However, as the team matches started, it soon became apparent where the better skill was. Despite a valiant effort by Strange Purple and his team, both matches mirrored the press meet’s practice match between the two.

The Dream Team joked with SDK during the match, asking them to “not team up on us,” a reference to earlier complaints that TDT had unfairly teamed up in the free-for-all games.

After the two matches – a third was not needed – the team match tournament was over.

Shizz gave all the credit for the matches to Alex. “Alex was the man in this game. He was just on fire. In the finals, I’m looking out for Alex. It’s just his night.”

“It feels good to win,” said Dream Team member Zyos, “but at the same time, we have the free-for-all finals now, so I can’t start celebrating yet.”

The DreamTeam realizes their, uh, dream.

However, the FFA final championship match between the four TDT players seemed less strenuous and tension filled than the other matches. Apparently, all four players agreed that no matter what, winnings would be split four ways. Thus, the final match was more about reputation and pride than money.

The matches played in a very relaxed manner. In fact, while the match was starting, Alex kept quitting out before the players could join the game, making the three other players laugh and shout “stop it!” Alex thought it was hilarious, hitting the B button to cancel as soon as everyone was ready. While Darkman and Shizz started to tell him it wasn’t funny anymore, the smiles plastered on their faces told that the mood of the game wouldn’t be as harsh as the others.

Unconcerned about winnings, watching the match felt like watching friends play. All four players joked with each other and made plenty of mistakes during the match, unlike the team game in which every gun shot was planned and accurate.

Zyos, the winner in all the matches, even was prone to taunting a few of his teammates. “Come and get me, I’m right here,” he shouted more than once, moving his character back and forth.

The game completed, with Zyos, Darkman, Shizz, and Alex placing first, second, third, and fourth, respectively.

“It wasn’t so much about the money,” Zyos said. “I wanted to keep my reputation. I won the Korea international tournament for Halo, and for now, I’m the national champion as well.”

As for the money, Zyos is “saving it all.”

Despite his fourth position, Alex didn’t seem phased. “It feels great. I’m satisfied, especially in our team performance.”

As far as the trash talking that had pervaded the post-game atmosphere, Alex remained mum. “I keep it under my breath and let my playing speak for it.”

After the final matches, players began to file out, and checks were distributed to winners. A camera crew interviewed the players in both the free-for-all match and team games, including the Mastas of Destruction. The highlight was SDK player Poon hitting on the host holding the microphone, causing not a small amount of laughter in the room.

Players began to file out, some grabbing the first meal of their day, others going home either with their prizes or their pride.

The founders were happy with the performance, but themselves also tired. “I’m glad our team represented and helped out. We had really full tournaments. I mean, every game was played hard and to its full extent. But, personally, I’m very tired. Next time, we’re hiring people to handle the event.”

Other people are already looking forward to the next event.

Bonnie, who remained until the end, kept her pride strong. “We let TDT and SDK win. We can beat them; we just went easy. Next time they won’t be so lucky.”

Strong words, indeed.

And so ends the first tournament in Major League Gaming history, a tournament marked by large crowds and big games.

Next time: Final thoughts on the MLG experience. What did MLG do right? What went wrong?