GOING PRO
I started professional gaming in 1999 when I entered the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional
League) tournament in Dallas and won $4,000 for coming in third place. Emerging as one of
the top players in the United States, a company interested in sponsoring me flew me to Sweden
to compete against the top 12 players in the world. I won 18 straight games, lost none, and
took first place, becoming the number one ranked Quake III player in the world in the process.
Two months later I followed that success by traveling to Dallas and defending my title as the
world's best Quake III player, winning the $40,000 grand prize. From there I entered
competitions all over the world, including Singapore, Korea, Germany, Australia, Holland and
Brazil in addition to Los Angeles, New York and St. Louis.
WINNING STREAK
I was excited to showcase my true gaming skills when defending my title as CPL
Champion of the year at the CPL Winter 2001 because I would be competing in a totally
different first person shooter (fps) game, Alien vs. Predator II. I won that competition and
walked away with a new car. The next year I won the same title playing Unreal Tournament
2003, becoming the only three-time CPL champion of the year. And I did it playing a different
game each year, something no one else has ever done and a feat of which I am extremely
proud.
At QuakeCon 2002, I faced off against my rival ZeRo4 in one of the most highly anticipated
matches of the year, winning in a 14 to (-1) killer victory. Competing at Quakecon 2004, I
became the World's 1st Doom3 Champion by defeating Daler in a series of very challenging
matches and earning $25,000 for the victory.
Since then Fatal1ty has traveled the globe to compete against the best in the world, winning
prizes and acclaim, including the 2005 CPL World Tour Championship in New York City for
a $150,000 first place triumph. In August 2007, Johnathan was awarded the first ever Lifetime
Achievement Award in the four year history of the eSports-Award for "showing exceptional
sportsmanship, taking part in shaping eSports into what it is today and for being the prime
representative of this young sport. He has become the figurehead for eSports worldwide".
LIVIN' LARGE
Since my first big tournament wins, I have been a "Professional Cyberathlete", traveling the
world and livin' large with lots of International media coverage on outlets such as MTV,
ESPN and a 60 Minutes segment on CBS to name only a few. It's unreal - it's crazy. I'm living
a dream by playing video games for a living. I've always been athletic and took sports like
hockey and football very seriously, working out and training hard. This discipline helps me
become a better gamer and my drive to be the best has opened the doors necessary to become
a professional.
A DREAM
Now, another dream is being realized – building the ultimate gaming computer, made up of
the best parts under my own brand. Quality hardware makes a huge difference in
competitions...a couple more frames per second and everything gets really nice. It's all about
getting the computer processing faster and allowing more fluid movement around the maps.