Every season in something as competitive as video games can be will deliver moments of great emotions, magnificent championship matches, new players rising as well as great champions packing their gear in disappointment. 2008 in Quake was no different.

This end-of-the-year roundup will tell you who will remember 2008 fondly and who would rather forget it.

A GOOD YEAR
[+] Shane 'rapha' Hendrixson
If you take a look at what he had the right to hope for in 2008 and what he achieved, he is easily the player that has made the biggest progress of all Quake players. Possibly of all the players in esports.

Having achieved nothing, he joined SK Gaming in May. Along the way to his first international success he had to listen to the malicious laughter of cynics and the whispers of doubters. A pseudo-pundit wanted to wager $1,000 that he would get nowhere. And, to give him credit, rapha's start really was inauspicious.

The young American choked in his first international appearance at the ESWC Masters of Paris, winning one out of four games he played. But he finished the season with a bronze medal at the ESWC Grand Final and with the ESWC Masters of Athens trophy in his hands, among the very best players in the world.



[+] Alexei 'Cypher' Yanushevsky
He blasted himself into everyone's attention in 2006 when he came out of nowhere and eliminated Johan "toxic" Quick from the ESWC playoffs, eventually finishing second. But until this year, that just about summed up the list of his major achievements.

The game changed from Quake 4 to Quake 3 but perhaps the change was also in Cypher. In 2008 he was easily the scariest player in the world and made people forget about toxic. In his profile in the eSports Index, the Belarussian player has four first places out of five tournament appearances noted and over $20,000 in prize money for 2008.

His success this summer did not go unnoticed as one of Serious Gaming's sponsors has even produced a Cypher-branded mouse. His skills coupled with his boys-band looks definitely make him more than a decent poster boy.



[+] Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski
The important Quake 3 tournaments this year only had three winners, two of which are mentioned above. This automatically makes the Pole one of the most successful in 2008, and that is the only reason he is in the "happy player" list.

The ESWC 2007 champion could have had a much better year and he only has himself to blame. He got third places at the ESWC Masters of Paris and the Masters of Athens tournaments (where he came underprepared) along with a victory at the star-studded GameGune. But those results could not sweeten the bitterness of not going to the ESWC Grand Final over a U.S. visa application process which was started too late.

He could have done more. The lazy side of av3k will look back at 2008 and say that it was a good year. But the ambitious side of him will not. I don't doubt that that is the side that everyone likes better.

MIXED FEELINGS
[=] Zhibo 'Fan Zhibo' Fan
The Chinese player from Moscow has stepped out of the shadow of his friend and partner in crime Anton "Cooller" Singov (and he does cast a big shadow). He outperformed the Russian in every tournament this year and he was in the semi final or final of almost every one of them. He beat every super player, including rapha, Cypher and av3k.

But at the same time he should also be clinically certified as unable to win. When it came down to the wire, he lost eight out of eight matches when it was all or nothing.

RazerJ was in three single elimination semi finals this year and lost all three. He lost all three bronze medal games that came after as well. He was in two double elimination finals and lost both. In both he was one set of maps away from victory.

By no means a terrible year but one that could have been much better.

[=] Marcel 'k1llsen' Paul
2008 was the year when k1llsen had to give up Quake. If you are good enough you could support yourself but not when you are married with and with a child. For the German player the pipe dream called esports became real for a few days in 2008.

His wife told him not to come home without money from the ESWC Grand Final so he brought back the $7,000 cheque for second place. The welcome he probably received must have been something he won't forget for a long time. But this one time will have to be enough, as he brought back no loot from his other trips and will most likely have to stop playing.

[=] John 'ZeRo4' Hill
ZeRo4's last match against his arch enemy Cooller is a good metaphor for his entire comeback to Quake 3 in 2008. It was a thrillling 2-1 with the third map going to an overtime where Cooller won. The American could have done better because the overtime was very close. At the same he had nothing to complain about since he knocked Cooller out of the ESWC finals by taking one map from him.

Likewise, with a little bit more luck the SK Gaming player could have finished inside, not right outside the top four of the ESWC Masters of Paris and the ESWC Grand Final. But with a first and second place at QuakeCon (CTF and duel) he has nothing to complain about. He was also the one who discovered rapha so he still has something to brag about.



A YEAR TO FORGET
[-] Anton 'Cooller' Singov
It would be simpler to weigh all the Russian's trophies than to count them. This is the shortest possible way to sum up Cooller's career, although mentioning two ESWC championships, a silver and a bronze would do him justice as well.

And if this man's best in all of 2008 was a fifth place, including domestic tourneys, then there is no other way than to label the year as one to forget. It needs to be mentioned that Cooller has stopped trying as hard as he used to a long time ago. But that does not change the fact that if he had taken so much as a map from Chance "chance" Lacina, he could have even got to the final at the ESWC.

Even if Quake is hardly one of his life priorities anymore, he has never done as badly as in 2008.



[-] Paul 'czm' Nelson
Before the year started, he was supposed to be the unstoppable force in Quake. That is what he was in the second era of CPL's Quake 3 events so the expectations were very high. Everyone was looking forward to him taking on all comers.

Instead, he collected performances that he could not be proud of. Outside of the top four at the Masters of Paris, seventh at GameGune and outside of the final four again at the ESWC Grand Final - that had to be the worst year in czm's career as a Quake player.

To close the season, he forgot to sign up for the ESWC Masters of Athens. Many put the blame for czm's forget-worthy 2008 on an individual by the name of Gloria.

[-] Jordi "SombrA" Orteu
Finding the third player that really had a bad year was difficult. Johan "toxic" Quick's comeback to Quake at ESWC Masters of Athens was a dud, but a one-time thing as well. The same goes for Kevin "strenx" Baeza's embarassing headphone incident when he put his headphones on the wrong way in the DreamHack final versus Av3k.

The well known Spanish player SombrA came and saved the day by getting banned from QuakeQuickCup competitions. His reputation is now ruined forever, as he either sent post-game screenshots which clearly indicate that he used a radar and a wall hack or the tournament admin decided to frame him for no reason. The vast majority of innocent bystanders agree that it was a classic case of "epic fail."

A SELECTION OF DEMOS TO REMEMBER
Av3k vs. Jibo on ZTN, GameGune overall final, second set
rapha vs. Jibo on DM6, ESWC bronze medal game
Cooller vs. ZeRo4 on ZTN, ESWC
Cooller vs. Cypher, the match that put Cooller out of ESWC Athens
Crazy Jibo vs. Av3k game from ESWC Athens
Av3k vs. noctis on DM9, ESWC Athens overtime game
rapha vs. Av3k on DM9, amazing ESWC Athens semi final