The two bunnies stand shoulder-to-shoulder smiling at nothing in particular. Behind them the faded blue of the Playboy Mansion's rock-lined pool. In front of them a seething mass of gamers, mostly men, VIPs, mostly men, and journalists, mostly men.

They stand, they pose with passers-by, but mostly they just smile.

And then a voice cuts through the crowd over the speaker system. The Championship Gaming Series draft is about to start, everyone needs to go inside the tent.

The bunnies seem confused.

"Games?" asks one to the other, while playing with the fluffy white pompoms attached to her white faux fur top.

Pro-gaming's first ever draft was, in many ways, like those Playboy bunnies: Interesting to watch, but not very deep.

Unlike the DirecTV -backed league's two invitationals last year (which one attendee described as very "Nickelodeon"), last night's draft had a very distinct sports feel to it, but it still seemed a bit too superficial. As if the event was more about the presentation than the results.

But it was still a step in the right direction it what will most definitely be an uphill battle. One that will continue in July with the airing of the first ever live competitions.

Last night decided who would make up the new leagues six teams, giving 60 of the attending 225 pro-gamers a career in the burgeoning sport. Each of the gamers selected were signed on with a $30,000 base salary and a chance to win much more during the regular season of competition.

So for them, the gamers, last night was every bit real. It was, as league commissioner Andy Reif said, gaming history, a night when a league was born.

For Reif, and the others behind the scenes of the new league it was a night long in coming.

"When (DirecTV president) David Hill approached me about doing this I said I'm not a gamer. He said he wanted me to do this because I had already experienced the pain of building a sport," Reif said.

It was Reif who was instrumental in the mainstreaming of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

He said that like in pro-beach volleyball his greatest challenge in pro-gaming will be in both growing the audience and maintaining the current fans of pro-gaming.

"Video games transcend all cultures and races of the world," he said. "Most sports are experiencing a shrinking audience, video games are exactly the opposite."
"But if you lose the hardcore audience, you can forget about it."

DirecTV decided to host the draft at the Playboy mansion because in part they wanted to remind everyone that pro-gaming is an "irreverent sport" and because they wanted to make the event memorable for the draftees. It also, of course, fit into their strategy of attracting a new audience while maintaining the old one.

"We were looking for an iconic place, a place that for gamers would represent that they had arrived," said Steven Roberts, vice president, general manager of DirecTV.

Roberts knows that to make pro-gaming work they're going to have to rely on more than just the sport itself. As with a sport like NASCAR, the personalities will be key in driving the league's success.

"There are some great personalities here like in any sport," he said. "What we do and we do best is tell stories. That's what it's going to take to make heroes out of these people."

One of those stories, perhaps the one most interesting to those not plugged into the burgeoning sport, was of Vanessa Arteaga, a 20-year-old receptionist turned pro-gamer who wasn't just the first woman selected in the draft, she was the first gamer selected.

Arteaga, who was signed with the San Francisco OPTX for their Dead or Alive 4 Woman's team, was shaking when she left the stage. Her hands trembled as she held the team's shirt up for a picture.

"I knew potentially I was going to be a first pick," she said later. "But it was just amazing when it happened, it was such an awesome event. Sitting in the crowd and seeing all of the draft picks happen was awesome."

Arteaga said growing up she loved to play games, something her mother didn't always support.

"My mom hid my Xbox controller a couple of times," she said. "But we finally had a talk and she realized how excited it made me feel to play games and that I was good at it so she became very supportive."

She said that she also hopes to be a role model to other female gamers, to inspire women to become pros. Male gamers "had a head start, but I think females are starting to pick up," she said.

And despite the male-dominated sport, and setting she was excited to be a part of the evening.

"It's exciting being here because it's the Playboy Mansion," she said. "I may not be excited about seeing the bunnies, but it's a once in a lifetime experience. I can tell my kids and grandkids that I was drafted here."

The night also saw the selection of the six teams new general managers, five men and one woman who will now spend their days scouting players, developing their skills and building the teams' fan bases.

Jason Lake, general manager of Complexity LA said the new league job has come with a steep learning curve, but that he thinks this is the best thing that can happen for pro-gaming.

"This is the big time. This is the show," he said. "This is what people like me have been waiting for."

While last night's event may have seemed a tad overblown to those not directly involved, it did herald, I believe, a change in the way pro-gaming will be viewed. It showed that the sport has potential, though perhaps the sweet-spot for mainstream viewers hasn't yet been found.

Mike McWhertor and I caught up at a parking lot outside of some shopping center in Beverly Hills where we boarded a bus that took us to the Playboy Mansion.

Once inside we were elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of other "VIPs", media, competitors and women that I wasn't thoroughly convinced were really playmates. Mike assured me they were, adding that he knew most of their names.

After an hour or so of standing around, eating, drinking and talking, the whole mass of people were rushed into an outdoor tape where a draft stage had been set up. On the stage were six desk manned by the managers for the new league's six teams. Facing the stage were the finalists for the draft. Mostly men, though I did count about a dozen female gamers who made the cut.

Right now I'm sitting at the table waiting for the draft to get under way. We are, I'm told, about five minutes out. They're streaming the draft live over on www.thecgs.com. You can go there to check it out or hang here and follow along with me as I sorta live blog it. I suspect I'll mostly be making smart-ass comments. Hit the jump to sing along. Brian Crecente

They just introduced the six team managers for the league and showed a short clip on the managers.

Now they've got Fatal1ty and some other talking heads yapping away like we're watching football. I like video games and they've lost me.

The first selection for the first pro-gaming draft ever is.. a woman. DOA gamer Vanessa Arteaga, 20, who hails from Clan PMS. Now she's playing for the San Francisco OPTX. Second choice is Counter-Strike team compLexity who will now be playing for... LA Complexity. At least they won't have trouble remembering their new team name. Pick number three is Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez for DOA 4 who will now be playing with the Dallas Venom.

I spotted Master earlier this evening grooming himself near the bar talking to Arteaga about which one of them would be picked first. He does have a nice hat. Pick number four for this draft is Team 3D who will, oddly enough be playing for 3DNY. Again, easy name to remember for them.

That's funny. I just noticed that there are a bunch of strobe lights attached to the frame holding the tent up. When a draft select takes the stage they all fire off randomly as if hundreds of photographers are taking their pictures. Trust me... they aren't.

The fifth pick in the draft is PGR 3 gamer Wesley "ch0mpr" Cwiklo for the Chicaco Chimera. And the final pick for the first round for this first draft ever is DOA 4 gamer Ryan "OffBeatNinja" Ward for the Carolina Core.

We're into the second round now, but I'm not going to track every selection. I think it's not going to get interesting until the last round when there's a whole bunch of people out in the competitor pool who realize they may not become a salaried pro-gamer afterall.

I happen to be sitting at a table that is right next to where the men, women and teams that are selected walk past right after finding out that they are now officially pro-gamers. It's kind of interesting to see their reactions. Vanessa, for instance, was visibly shaking when she came off the stage, but Master seemed as cool as a cucumber, a cool cucumber. It is obvious that no matter what this draft means to those outside of pro-gaming, to those in the league it means everything, which is certainly a good start.

Alright two rounds down, FOUR MORE TO GO.

Whoops sorry for that sudden ending. The press WiFi just died on the vine in the middle of the event.

The Championship Gaming Series is getting its own draft and it's going to be held at the Playboy Mansion in L.A.

The new series, which has bonuses and salaries of $5 million for the 2007 season, will kick off with the draft on June 12.

"This is the moment the gaming world has been waiting for," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. "We will be paying salaries and bonuses to our players in excess of $5 million dollars during the 2007 season. The time has come for a new era of professional gaming as sports entertainment. Your chance to be a part of history starts on April 28."

Counter-Strike: Source and FIFA 2007 will be official PC games for 2007 while Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3 will be the Xbox 360 titles for the DirecTV backed league.

Hit the jump for a run down of qualifiers and team make up. Brian Crecente

Los Angeles, CA - The Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the first global professional gaming
league, today announced that worldwide salaries and bonuses for the 2007 season will exceed $5 million,
a new benchmark for professional gaming. CGS has also announced the official games and schedule in
its North American region for 2007. Qualifying for North American league play will begin April 28 and the
first draft in history will take place on June 12 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
"This is the moment the gaming world has been waiting for," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. "We will
be paying salaries and bonuses to our players in excess of $5 million dollars during the 2007 season. The
time has come for a new era of professional gaming as sports entertainment. Your chance to be a part of
history starts on April 28."
Valve's Counter-Strike : Source and EA's FIFA 2007 will be official PC games for 2007. For the Xbox
360, CGS will feature Tecmo's Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) and Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) from
Microsoft Game Studios.
The official CGS 2007 event schedule will feature online and live qualifiers where players will battle to
reach the Regional Combine, scheduled to take place at the legendary Fox Studios in Los Angeles from
June 8-10. Players from the Regional Combine will then be drafted onto one of six city-based teams at
the 2007 CGS Draft on June 12 at the Playboy Mansion. CGS online qualifiers for the North American
region begin on April 28, 2007 with the first live qualifier to be held at The Bridge Cinema de Lux in Los
Angeles on May 11-12.
Each CGS team will feature a total of ten athletes per team, each of whom is a specialist in one of the
official league games. Five of the ten players will comprise a Counter-Strike: Source squad who will
compete in five-on-five matches. The soccer title FIFA 07 will be played one-on-one. Each team will have
a mixed-double team of two DOA4 players, one man and one woman, who will play against other teams
in one-on-one matches on Xbox 360. The racing game PGR3 will be represented by two players on each
team and matches will be played in a two-versus-two format.
Soon-to-be announced dates for the full global slate of 2007 CGS events in the UK, Europe, Asia,
Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East will yield regional representatives for the CGS Grand Slam
and World Championships, to be held in Los Angeles this October.
CGS events will be broadcast in North America on DIRECTV's The 101. For more information, please go
to www.thecgs.com.

Jaffe insists that God of War III is still just an idea and not in development as of yet. He states that no one from Sony brass has stepped in and given the word go yet, but he'd really like to do it. Really. He really, really wants to do it. Finally, the interview ends with Jaffe desperately telling us all how absolutely uncool he really is ..and how drunk. Flynn De Marco