As teams, both pro and amateur alike, have been long awaiting the debut of Gears of War at a major LAN event, their day has finally come. Gears of War makes its debut on the MLG Pro Circuit today with an unexpected sold out 64-team bracket. Favorites, upsets, and darkhorse picks have long been brewing in places like the MLG Forums, one of the biggest portals for gamers playing Halo 2, Gears of War, and Rainbow Six: Vegas. Action has just gotten underway here at MLG Meadowlands, with the event concluding tomorrow afternoon at around 3pm with the Gears of War Grand Finals. With MLG awarding over $140,000 in Gears of War prize money and pro player benefits, and with the National Championship first place prize weighing in an amazing $25,000, one can expect some amazing match ups, unexpected upsets, careers made, and hearts broken by the events end.

With a sudden and late change to the event taking place earlier this week, teams have been seemingly practicing extra for nothing. To explain, MLG purchased one of the newly released maps which was very popular to the Gears of War community for all of their systems which were to be used at the event. MLG, when setting up their Xbox 360 systems realized that due to the new Microsoft Spring Update, one must be connected at all times to the internet to gain access to all material purchased online. This being impossible at a LAN based event, MLG made a quick decision substituting another map for the one originally chosen. This sudden news break, although not necessarily major to the teams in attendance, still is a letdown as the map was a favorite by players.

Teams going into this event have been racking up points in online play throughout several tournaments hosted by MLG. These points are crucial in determining the seeding of the MLG Meadowlands event. After MLG Meadowlands, the point values obtained by each team will be evaluated and the top eight teams will be given the opportunity to receive pro-player status giving them a large amount of benefits. These benefits include: direct entries into championship brackets in both online and offline events, the ability to play in multiple tournaments at one event on the pro circuit, and various other perks and privileges.