The dust has finally settled and the madness that was E3 and the Major League Gaming Anaheim Spring Championships has ended.  From new game releases at E3 to intense StarCraft 2, League of Legends, and Mortal Kombat action at MLG, Southern California played host to some of the top gaming and industry professionals from around the world.  A number of teams and players at the event were seen wearing GUNNARS during their games, including the League of Legends champions, Team SoloMid!

TSM: Xpecial Reginald Dyrus OddOne Chaox

The week initially started with E3 where I met up with professional League of Legends player, Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez.  Carlos plays for one of the top multi gaming organizations in the world, SK-Gaming, he and I were able to check out E3 on Wednesday and have some time to relax before the competition of MLG began.  Personally, I was really excited to see the new NHL 13 since I am a big hockey fan and I enjoy how real the games are becoming.  The physics have really evolved since the old days and now give you much more control over each aspect of the player’s skills.   After checking out some more booths we went outside for some lunch only to be greeted by thousands of hockey going fans going to the Kings game next door at the Staples Center.  Carlos is a big soccer fan coming from Spain and was still impressed with the amount of Kings Jerseys he saw roaming the streets!

Carlos "Ocelote" Rodriguez

After enjoying some California sun shine, we went back to our awesome GUNNAR bus to change clothes and get ready for the Noobz movie premier only a couple blocks away from E3!  Noobz, starring Jason Mewes  and Moises Arias, is a story of four gamers that play Gears of War 3 who travel cross country to Los Angeles in order to play in a big money gaming tournament.  There’s a lot of good laughs and corny jokes in the movie that make for an entertaining 1.5 hours, but one of the more awesome parts of the movie is that the two stars are wearing GUNNARS!  I had a blast attending seeing as I’ve never been a part of a premiere, and having GUNNARs featured in it made it all the better!

After E3 ended on Thursday, the GUNNAR crew (including the bus!) headed down to Anaheim for the MLG event as well as an exclusive GUNNAR photo shoot.  We invited our pro gaming ambassadors to get some photos before they started competing.  We’ll be releasing a behind the scenes video from the photo shoot so look out for that on our facebook, but in the meantime check out the photo below!

Behind the scenes at GUNNAR Photo shoot!

Once Friday arrived, the environment became more serious for our gamer friends as everyone started preparing for the main event.  There was over a $100k in prizes up for grabs so you can bet everyone wanted to be as focused as possible.  For GUNNAR…the fun just began!  We were actually able to bring our bus inside the show floor of the venue so we could use it as a place for gaming fans to win prizes and game with GUNNARS!   For those of you who haven’t seen the bus, it’s basically a gamer’s paradise.  Featuring 6 TV’s, 4 leather couches, a fully stocked fridge, and a sound system, this beast makes for one awesome road trip.  By checking in on foursquare or tweeting at us, participants received raffle tickets to win pairs of GUNNARs throughout the weekend.

GUNNAR Bus. Woooooo!

Saturday and Sunday followed with more excitement as attendance only got better as the event progressed.  Gamers were coming from all over the west coast just to spectate their favorite pros in action.  Team SK-Gaming, Team SoloMid, and Team Evil Geniuses are three of the top multi gaming organizations in the world and had players competing across every game at the competition.  We saw players of each game wearing GUNNARs and it was really inspiring to see that and hear their feedback first hand.

For me, League of Legends was probably most exciting to watch, especially since Team SoloMid, who wear GUNNARS, were playing so well and had the crowd going all weekend. Coming from a competitive gaming background, I’m used to being at tournaments and being in the atmosphere, but seeing the energy between the players and fans this weekend was pretty astounding. As e-Sports web streaming grows we are seeing more and more actual fans pop up now that it’s easier than ever to interact with and support your favorite player. From fan signs to crowd chants, the energy was obvious and it was great to see the resemblance to actual sporting events. E-sport participants have been grinding away for a long time to help gaming make its way into the main stream and GUNNAR couldn’t be happier to recognize and support the movement.

Just like pro gaming, GUNNAR is unique and that’s one of the reasons I liked the company so much in the first place. GUNNAR pushes people to step out of the norm and embrace the present by utilizing eye wear that protects your eyes from this digital age we are in. Gaming follows a similar theme in that you really have to give it a chance before you bash it. There are so many amazing people that encompass the professional circuit, and all it takes is to look a bit deeper to see the strategy and effort that goes into playing at the highest level.

I’ll end this blog on that note and let you guys check out an epic picture of the crowd from this weekend! Don’t forget to support a pro gamer near you and… oh yeah, try out some GUNNARS ;).

Thanks for reading,

Jordan.