Slashdot Mirror
US Companies Sponsor Pro Gamers
Baddox writes "Professional gaming, which has for some time now been a popular venture in Asia, is finally starting to get some attention from big US companies. Teams for competitive shooters like Counter Strike are getting sponsored by large corporations like Johnson and Johnson. The article poses the question, "Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?" "
That kid from Wizard rules over all of you.
stuff
No, frags per round will not be the batting average of the 21st century.
Of course companies like Johnson and Johnson are sponsoring video game tournaments. Video game players are in the perfect demographic for most marketing efforts.
Bradley Holt
Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?
No. Our generation might be geeks but I think, for myself at least, the beauty of online gaming is not quantity but quality. That is pretty much the same for football for me too... it's the big plays that matter and make a game worth watching. It's awesome to watch a game where some professional gamer goes on a crazy rampage, doing all kinds of freaky/impossible moves and stuff, and that is the main draw to those events (as well as the celebrity factor), not the stats. With baseball, stats have to be the draw because the game is very slow.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
I'm not trying to troll here, but this sort of thing has been going on for years. Intel and other big names have been sponsoring top clans and individual gamers for a while now. A lot of people have small computer businesses in their towns sponsoring their clans and stuff too. It's very common for internet cafe's to sponsor teams as well. I'm not sure why this is being reported as a "new thing" because it's most definately not.
So now we'll see Unreal skins with "BUDWEISER" and "MARLBORO" all over them.
And just think of the TV commercials. "Red Bull, the official drink of the 2006 Counterstrike World Championship". Or "KY Brand Lubricant - The official masturbatory lubricant of the 2006 Counterstrike World Championship".
The world of Slashdot readers is populated with a high percentage of people who are actually interested in a professional gamer's KTD. The rest of the world is not.
And it's not just because the rest of the world is still populated primarily by the sort of middle aged and old folks who still don't understand computers. Go to any high school, any college campus in the modern world and most of the students care about rugby, or football, or what have you. They will grow old continuing to care about such things, and it will not be a generational change. This will always be fringe.
Rex is 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
They are testing a new pill that treats epileptic seizures.
They are hoping that enough people start watching the games they sponsor so they are start going into convulsions, then BOOYAH! J&J to the rescue!
Profit!
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
All your frag are belong to us.
The word sponsorship itself can mean an array of different things.
Right now, pro gamers only get sponsored for things like travel, clothes, computer parts, food, etc. They may even get a salary, but this salary more often than not is not enough to live on.
This of course is much better that nothing, but still, computer gaming has a ways to go before it catches up to "real" sports in terms of sponsorship money and recognition.
Is this a sign that the economy has recovered to the point people are being visible about which toilets they're flushing their cash surplus down?
How about "not as widely known outside certain circles"?
Side question what game has the best level-editor out there? Unreal Tournament 2004?
FTA: "Manufacturers keep putting out new games and game consoles, obsoleting the old."
Someone's editor forgot to grammarize the article.
I don't think anyone's marketing budget for traditional sports is going to be cut. Sports like basketball and football are not declining in popularity among the demographic they are trying to reach.
Gamer sponsorship is a drop in the bucket for these companies (like Johnson & Johnson). I don't think televised gaming is going to be big in the US for a very, very long time. South Korea, however, as well as China in the near future, is a market where sponsorship could pay off quite well, especially for companies thathave low brand recognition there.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Brings a whole new meaning to the UT spooge gun.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Kind of off topic but nonetheless...
I've been playing first person shooters for years now, and I have convinced myself that I'm pretty damned good at them. I read all about these gaming leagues and such, but the question is, how do I join in one to see if my skills are as good as I think they are?
There has to be a way to 'work up the ranks' and I've found myself amazingly good (yes, I'm gloating) at games like Quake3 or Unreal Tournament 2004 -- twitch based games. I want to get online and compete in deathmatches to see how well I do, but I know a *lot* of people out there are hackers and such, so I want an arena in which I can have an even playing field.
That said, so I don't get modded OT, J&J is just getting money into the realm of gaming -- it doesn't really matter whether or not it's online gaming now. It's just something people watch, and something J&J can use to market itself. It's business, and it always is. Intel doesn't sponsor the gaming clans out of the good of their hearts. Well, Intel does it because they know they suck compared to AMD in gaming. Oh well... money talks!
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Shall we also send the phone sanitizers?
What possible ill could come of that?
I've recently had my eyes opened, by this article, to the hidden costs of advertising.
My own executive summary: Advertising makes products more expensive, because corporations that advertise their products sure as hell don't pay for the ads out of their own pockets.
Meaning: Any money going into gaming (and advertising therein) is going to jack up the price of the advertised products. So if I buy those products, I have to pay a few elite whoring twitch wizards whether I want to or not.
My personal conclusion: I'm buying even fewer games than before. (Gives the finger to (a small subset of) Corporate scum)
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
Man screw that, send them to the moon! Zero gravity BMX wrestling. Yeah sure occasionally a skateboarder might reach escape velocity, but hey it's all part of the fun!
Professional gaming has been going on for a long time even in North America, but the gamers are usually sponsored by Computer companies like ATI or NVidia, not a non industry related company, Like Johnson and Johnson. In Korea its absolutley crazy, especially with Starcraft ive seen some video streams of these guys wearing fifa gear while playing Starcraft. South Korea's economy is pretty much based on Starcraft, ive seen Starcraft chips and drinks.
GL HF!
Perhaps I am in a minority, but I actually enjoy watching a well played frag fest.
:D
Seriously, sometimes I've made myself a nice, warm bowl of soup and maybe a muffin or a crepe and I can't be bothered to actually play the game. So I'll just log into a large server and spectate the match.
I've actually often wished that there was a fragcaster who would fly the free-cam around to catch the better action from above.
I know it's common amoungst my friends for more people to be watching the computer screen than the Television. I mean, these online games are the only thing that I can throw around jargon with the boys about. American Football I like occasionally, basketball a bit less and baseball and I had a serious falling-out after the strikes.
This is wunderbar! I see these future "cyberatheletes" as something of a fusion between athelete and actor - maybe the better word is "performer". After all, what's more fun that watching someone get pwned (that means "owned")? I'll tell you, watching someone whine whilst recieving the pwnage - that's what
Amazing on how you can make money by sitting at a computer screen playing games and getting fat. Am I jealous... hell yeah. Cush job playing video games, at least athletes have to work out and stay in shape and pop roids(not all athletes pop roids, just the one that have biceps the size of my leg) I can go tell my parents they were wrong, I can too make money playing video games.
It would be intersting to do a study on the overall health condition of pro gamers vs. normal 9-5ers.
I eat Karma for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why I don't have any.
Any companies out there willing to sponser the first live speed running tornament? Considering the dedication some people put into making their runs top-notch, I think they'd definitely qualify as "pro" gamers.
Speed Demos Archive - Lots of speed runs!
You can trust my wise ponderings on this. I'm on the Internets.
I'll have you know that Johnson and Johnson's baby rash powder is required equipment when you're sitting on your backside for an 10 hour gaming tournament.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
So... would you prefer that they go about a mundane life working at McWallMart 9-5 and watching TV sitcoms and monday night football on their time off?
I have a lot of respect for people who have the guts to take anything something they love, and dedicate their life to it until they become really damn good at it. Pro skateboards, and BMX'ers are amazing athletes who are pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible. Their stunts are physically elegant and incredibly difficult, requiring precise balance, coordination, and timing. High level game playing is similar.
Who are you to tell them what they should do with their life.
1. Get awesome at game X
2. Find big company to sponsor you.
3. ?????
4. Profit!
Video Games are fun, but hopefully with Poker and other games starting to get more air time I'll be able to watch my Monday Night Foosball, join a Fantasy Foosball League and watch the first riots when one University Team beats another one.
Until then I guess I'll have to be happy with The Ocho.
I realize you are a troll, but while I wait for our load process to run, I got nothing better to do...
It is true that some people allow obsession w/ sports to dominate their time and minds, essentially "sucking intelligence" out of them. However, I think it is a mistake to say that people that push the boundaries of human endeavor (yes, including skateboarding) contribute nothing to society. This spirit of adventure is a crucial ingredient to the success of our species. I forget who said it, but a Sci-Fi author I once read said something to the effect that many of mankinds most notable achievements have come long after reason should have convinced us to give up.
So, while there might not be any use to society in skateboarding, I think that in the long run, encouraging the sort of person that decides jumping the Great Wall on a skateboard is doable will benefit society in the long run.
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
Like Pro skateboarders, BMX riders, and wrestlers should all be put on a spaceship and sent to the sun. They are an unecessary drain on our society, sucking intelligence out of our citizens and getting paid for it. Include lawyers and patent officers and our world will be a better place to live.
Better yet, have Bush finish off his National Guard service by piloting the space ship. Now that would make the world a better place.
"Their stunts are physically elegant and incredibly difficult, requiring precise balance, coordination, and timing. High level game playing is similar."
OK, somebody owes me a new LCD now!
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
What would you say about Shaolin Monks?
No lawyers and patent officers? I guess your world is dominated by the whims of powerful corporations. Whee.
You took the high road. Around here I would have expected jokes involving their petroleum jelly or hand moisturizer products...
... too many CounterStrike jokes ...
"[Microsoft]BillG (Terrorist): HAX! We can't handle that."
"[Halliburton]VPCheney (Counter Terroris): Why are the Ts killing hostages? Admin kick them!"
"Hey [Warner]EltonJohn is camping again!"
"[USA]Dubya has been kicked for having a high ping."
(he's slow)
${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
Simply from the fact that our society praises the biggest, strongest, and most beautiful. Just because bowling is popular doesn't mean we recognise the best. I think gaming will be the same where it will have a following but never such fame as football, baseball, basketball, or hockey. I highly doubt computer gaming will ever have a Brett Favre, Michael Jordon, and Barry Bonds that commentators talk about 24/7.
We'll tell them the planet is about to be eaten by a space goat.
LINK : LNK6004: Sig not found or not built by the last incremental link; performing full link
"Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?" No. Computer games aren't a spectator sport.
Yeah, and if we didn't have these guys, who would dip our fries?
I sure hope that frags per second never gets the familiarity of batting averages. The last thing we need to do is glamorize computer games over actual excersize. While I am not saying that there isnt real skill in these games, kids should still be encouraged to put down FIFA soccer and actually buy a soccer ball. Kids are already too out of shape, the last thing we should ever do is glamorize your average out of shape computer gamer.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
What many people don't realize is that the internet effectively allows a small group of people that are worldwide to be effectively communicated to by an advertizer.
So...even though the world of multiplayer gaming may be a niche population, the net effectively increases it's value to advertizers because it's easier to reach them through common connections between consumers...in this case the common connection the game they all play.
The same population in the 80's playing a game would not be viable because of how spread out the players are over the world and how disconnected they are from each other.
No more "On Base Percentage"... the only important stat is "All Your Base Percentage"
The article poses the question, "Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?" "
If so, we are going to be one fat, pale country. This is one step removed from watching people fish.
Go outside. Playing FPS games is not a sport. Watching people do it is negative exercise. Big Pharma is interested because these are the people that are going to be so unhealthy as to be the largest comsumers of cholesterol reducing drugs.
"I can too make money playing video games."
No you can't. A group of 50 or so savant-equivalent individuals who devote their lives to gaming can.
First it will increase the people who want to be professional game players. So they will let more kids to slide on their homework with the excuse that they could make a living playing video games. Secondly these people will play online with handles so newbe player or person playing for fun won't have a chance to win against a person who's skills are specialized for playing that game. Unlink playing normal sports because of location, and lack of anonymity you rarely play against a professional baseball player. Third you get a larger amount of people with the illusion that they can be the next player waist so much time in it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Here's my theory as to why the idea of "pro gamers" will never catch on. In today's society, sports stars are pretty much celebrities. Technical skill helps, sure, but nowadays the average joe watches sports usually because of either team/city loyalty (sports have a leg up of about a century in this respect) or they enjoy watching a certain athlete perform. One of the biggest reasons that people are drawn to elite athletes are their ability to perform at a level that is pretty much untouchable. No one sitting at home ever seriously thinks they could have gotten a couple more yards than Vick did on a scramble, for instance. This is really not the case with "pro-gaming." Being a semi-competitive CS player for a couple of years, you really get the sense that if you were still in high school or did not have a fruitful real life job (as is the case with the vast majority of "pro gamers") and could afford to spend 8+ hours in front of a monitor playing games you could do just as well as the "elite" players. Having seen players rise to the absolute cream of the crop of gaming in a matter of months justifies this. Another thing is the personality, maturity, and charisma these "pro gamers" exhibit, which is pretty much none. Real sports are a great way to build social skills at an early age, and most elite athletes have a personality (for better or worse) that is at least interesting, can make conversation and feed the media, are athletically fit, and in general project an image that is marketable, above all else. The environment of the pro-gamer seems to work against all of these qualities. All in all, sports succeed because they are marketable, and they are marketable because people can either relate to or are impressed by them. I think any sort of professional gaming has severe defecits in these areas and will not be seeing any sort of mainstream penetrance anytime soon.
It's not that companies sponsoring teams that is new, it's the type of companies. Johnson and Johnson has nothing to do with gaming. The thinking is that a lot of non-gaming related companies are going to start to sponsor gaming teams. For example burger king sponsors teams in Europe. This article is saying that we'll start to see sponsorships like that here in the U.S.
Look, I've probably fired more rounds than many people, having qual'd as a sharpshooter on three weapons in the Army, but I think IMHO that frags-per-round is just a temporary thing, in that gaming is already showing signs of getting bored with the preponderance of FPS.
My guess is pets per hour, or here-boys-per-hour, in Nintendogs is likely to be a more useful stat over the next few years, as gaming - again, as it always does - moves on to the next best thing.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
You forgot the telemarketers
"It is a good divine that follows his own instructions" - Portia, The Merchant of Venice
Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?
Not until somebody figures out a good way to televise Counter Strike to millions of viewers.
But they DO give something useful back to society. They get some kids out into the open air doing something physical. Skateboarding (at a decient level) tends to require an amount of physical fitness, meaning kids doing it are less likely to be lounging around getting really fat and watching TV the whole time.
:-)
"I think that in the long run, encouraging the sort of person that decides jumping the Great Wall on a skateboard is doable will benefit society in the long run."
Silly rabbit
It's just l4me
If William Hung can put out cd's and make money on them... I can rule the world!!!
Bow to me! I own you!
I eat Karma for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why I don't have any.
But they DO give something useful back to society. They get some kids out into the open air doing something physical.
:)
True, that's a good point.
"I think that in the long run, encouraging the sort of person that decides jumping the Great Wall on a skateboard is doable will benefit society in the long run."
yeah, I noticed that after I hit submit. I should learn to type the whole sentence, then go back and cut/paste the URL into the tag, breaking a train of thought in the middle is a good way to make silly mistakes.
Or maybe, this was my subconscious way of saying in the really, really long run
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
The only gamer I respect are those who have ascended nethack in normal mode (not exploring), or the guys who have gotten a gazillion points in the game, although thats not really hard to be honest.
Seriously though isn't there just something pointless in moving a mouse pointer over moving three-dimensional objects and clicking on them? I used to play counterstrike until I realized its nothing more than an overly patronized "Shoot the Duck" flash game.
I still play bzflag now and a little freeciv, but I gave away my Steam account to a foolish friend a while back.
Simply put, for a competitive activity to catch on as a spectator sport, it must be physical and have a good deal of action. There are orgainsed competitions for all sorts of things, from chess to tiddlywinks to rock-paper-scissors, but people won't tune in unless there's action. Even golf and bowling have more action than watching someone peck at a keyboard or twiddle a joystick.
There's also the issue of charisma and looks. Athletes are successful only partly because of a certain celebrity appeal caused by physical good looks. Most of the "pro" gamers I've seen photos of have ranged from totally disgusting-looking to drab and average... I've yet to see one who could give, say, Anna Kournikova a run for her money. It could be because the practice involved with being a pro gamer prevents them from paying attention to their looks, or it could be that hardcore gaming just attracts a certain "type". I won't speculate because I genuinely don't know, but let's just say that I won't expect a "Girls of Pro Gaming Swimsuit Edition" at the newsstand anytime soon.
Finally, (and please note that I'm a moderate-to-hardcore gamer myself), competitive/pro gaming just isn't something that most gamers care about. I get most of the mainstream gaming mags (EGM, Game Informer, PSM, etc.) and gaming tournaments and such aren't given much coverage. Most gamers would rather read about hot new games coming out than some dude in Peoria getting such a high score in Pac-Man that the motherboard melted. Pro gaming attracts a certain crowd, and probably won't go away anytime soon, but will never find an audience as a mainstream spectator sport.
Andrew Lenahan http://www.starblind.com/
I have no interest in watching online sports of any kind, but there is a sport I'd like to watch an organized competitive version of.
Paintball.
Most sports are combat/war derivative anyway, so now that we have a very direct squad analog, it could be a spectator sport.
Imagine watching trained squads from the armed services go up against some corporate or region sponsored teams. I'd watch that. Nike vs. Army in the Krylon Bowl.
Don't act so elitist, kid_oliva.
/. spend time behind a computer sometime during the day (you are reading this, probably on a computer screen), and a large percentage of us work at computers 9-5 in IT or related field and get up only to go to the bathroom, the water cooler, or lunch break.
ALL of us here on
A lot of pro gamers (or at least those that aspire to be) hold regular part or full-time jobs from 9-5 or a normal 8hr shift, then play games from the time they get home, say 6 or 7pm, until 1am or later. A very small percentage of the already small percentage of 'pro gamers' play hardcore 12+hrs a day. If they do, it's usually preparing for tournaments where they know they will be taking home some prize money (Fatality, vo0 to name two).
While some people play games that long and don't aspire to be anything (see some WoW and Starcraft players) without jobs living in their mom's basement, the Counter-Strike and Painkiller tournaments do pay out SOME money, although anything below 16th place (out of 128 usually) at one of the world's largest and most prestigious tournaments, The CPL, will only get you enough to pay for your trip down there if you're not sponsored--whereas others coming from overseas must place even higher to meet expenses.
The percentage of gamers who actually come away in the black on what they put into pro gaming (travel, computer, money lost not working) is about as small as almost any other professional sport. Should they be treated equal? Debatable.
Screaming from the highest Mountain Top: "Look at me now! I am the Champion of the UNIVERSE! I've got my own gamer clothing line, (No need for washing, play 24 hours a day and smell fresh as a rose!) my Own Cologne and Perfume, (No need for showering, smell fresh as a rose all hours of the day)" and my own line of shoes! (Nike and Reebook are still trying to work on the fresh as a rose thing here! First one there gets to have me sponsor it!)
I can't wait until I can get my next pair of cross trainer shoes sponsored by little Tommy Frag Master of the Online World 2006!
Generation Trance: What generation are you?
Come on people. These are video games. Personally, I am a gamer and have been since I was a little orc geekin out on the Atari 2600. Games are fun, LAN parties are more fun, online gaming is (IMHO) the most fun (WoW, BFME, BF2)...but watching pimply nerds on a frag fest == 5 minutes of WOW and then total bore (time to go home and try these rehearsed tactics myself).
There is nothing worse than waiting your turn to jump into the competition. I can honestly care less about these hotshots and their exclusive hardware (note that hardware is a HUGE part in having the resources to win). Anyone can geek out on a game, memorize the maps/advantage points and weapons of advantage and dominate.
RANT
"Is 'frags per round' going to be the batting average of the 21st century?"
I think not. I think what's more important than frags per round is one's "Kill/Death" ratio. (ie, how many times you kill before being killed)
Hmm, I can't see the excitement. Certainly there are some cool fps videos, but I mean, I'm pretty good at fp shooters, but I'm not good at say, running and catching things, and I'd rather watch things I can't do myself like football then watch things I could be doing myself, like moving a mouse and fragging people.
Moreover, to be a champion at UT doesn't mean you are naturally any good at, say, Battlefield 2 because the timing and movement is slightly different, wherein someone who's fast would be welcomed in most athletic sports, so I think fps masters are just less impressive humans than athletes.
I've played in fps tournaments before, and they are quite thrilling to be in, but I think our spectators got off on the thrill of actually watching over our backs and hearing our 'shits', and 'aw, fucker's, which is slightly better than just watching a screen of someone playing.
So I guess watching fps in my opinion just will never be better or easier than playing an fps yourself.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
It will be tough for games to ever be taken seriously as sports. Sports are something we are all taught in PE. You are guaranteed to learn the basic rules of football, baseball, and soccer. And square dancing, but I seriously think that is just a form of punishment...or at the very least something the teachers make us do to laugh at us. There is no class that teaches the rules of Quake, Counter Strike, or UT. So the general public is not introduced to gaming at the scale that sports is.
Another difference is that games are constantly coming out and changing. Sports on the other hand, except for a few minor rule changes, stays fairly static.
FPS's are also very hard to watch...particularly live. Because action is happening all over the place. Maybe if someone edited all the video and showed all the action it would be fairly interesting...but you can't see the whole playing field like in sports.
I'd see televised Madden 2005 tournaments drawing a larger audience because of these reasons. You can see the whole game/field. A large popluation of people play these games (compared to FPS's). And even if you don't play the game, you are familiar with the rules.
But to me, games are more fun to play than watch...but then again, I am pretty good at them.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
"I use Q-Tip brand cotton swabs by Johnson and Johnson because they dig out 34% more earwax* than store brand swabs. My game has improved since switching to Q-Tips as I can now more clearly hear the CTs sneaking up to rescue the hosties."
"Ever since we equipped our BF2 Medics with Band-aid brand bandages from Johnson and Johnson, our team recovers more quickly compared to when he would just lick the wounds."
* - Q-tips should only be used in the outer ear to prevent impaction of wax or damage to the eardrum.
In researching this post I learned that Q-tips were originally called "Baby Gays". It's true! Check for yourself...
...
Who are you to tell them what they should do with their life
God
Well, when I was a kid we didn't have video games, or even a TV. We had a cracked etch-a-sketch, and liked it just fine. Only one kid in town had a nintendo, so we all played tetris by mail on his machine. It took six months to clear a level, but we played anyway. I was always in shape, too, because I walked 14 miles each way to school every day through neck-deep snow! After I got back from spenging 12 hours learning quantum physics and advanced multivariable calculus (in third grade!) I got to milk 1100 cows, feed them, and clean out the barn all by myself for a nickle a month!
Honestly! Spoiled kids today and their video games... Pah!
What about NASCAR, you think all those ppl grew up racing? Ppl watch circling advertisements and listen to country music because that's just what gets stuffed down their throat.
Football, etc. are just as fucking stupid.
Um, there have been shoutcasters in gaming for years, seen http://www.radioitg.com/ and http://www.tsncentral.com/
I've signed a contract with Walmart. They're going to sponser me in a Doom 3 tournament :-)
This sig is false.
There was an UK television series on paintball. Crossfire, I believe, it was called. That's or some silly thing like Xrossfire, or Xfire, or something.
It was fairly good. Essentially teams of people going up against a number of scenarios. (mostly 'get to X, do Y and escape to Z', but also VIP missions, and stuff like that) Teams acquired points during their missions, and spent it on resurrecting fallen team members or buying extra equipment. (like shields, grenades, and rapid fire paint guns) The top ranking team got a prize.
It was fairly good. But only caught a niche interest, I guess.
Years back they came up with speedball, an arena version of paintball designed for spectators. It used to be on tv lots (espn and oln type networks) but its been 3-4 years since I saw it on the tube.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
I got modded "troll" and "overratted" for a perfectly valid HHGTG reference? on Slashdot!?
The times they are a changin', eh?
Hell Yeah Am Game .
...
.. :)
Sundru
Any company out there looking to sponsor a crackshot Battletech mechwarrior pilot ?
Guaranteed to core out enemy mechs before you can say, "Hes gotta be hacking"
lol i just noticed I linked to '.hml' instead of .html. At least apache mod_spell fixes it.
And I mispelled sponsor too.
Can you tell I got 5 hours of sleep last night?
Speed Demos Archive - Lots of speed runs!
Why in the hell would a corporation sponsor some dorky kid to play videogames? The advertising couldn't be worth the money. Professional gamer?? The stupidest thing I've ever heard.
obviously its going to be kill to death ratio... not frags per round.
They need to change a few things and I will be interested:
1. Have new maps that players are not familure with, it goes from running a pattern to "thinking on your feet". Now that's exciting.
2. Have the players feel pain. Hell yeah, hook up a few electrodes and when they get shot/bashed they feel some pain. This is what made paintball exciting to me; knowing that bad play leads to more then just "Oh shucks, I got hit".
3. Overhead map views for the spectator. It makes it less confussing as to the tactics of a well balanced team.
4. Base some stats on the real life player. Have them run and see how fast they go, make the online player do the same. Test for accuracy and how accurate a guy is with a glock when doing a full out run away from a target or better yet see how well they aim their 15 pound H&K G-3 after running a quarter mile while wearing full gear including a vest.
5. This applies more twords all FPS games and not just tourney play; have weapons fail. Granted it doesn't happen too often IRL with decently maintained firearms but it's adds an element of surprise as your brand new P90 stovepipes in the middle of a 3 on 1 firefight.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
The Campers Cup is brought to you by "Campers Gear".
T0ny is one of the expert campers sponsored by "Campers Gear", hiding under a staircase and outfitted with "Campers Gear"s "outdoor style" collection.
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
How can you even compare batting averages to 'frags per round'. One requires physical adptness not least some bravery to face a heavy ball travelling at your body at over 90mph. The over involves some socially dysfunctional individual trying to claim gaming is a sport. Get over it!! Sport involves physical exercise, hence the reason darts is not a sport.
There are things like this... Well, besides the Game cards. Coaching is seen more along games with guilds or clans who obsessive players start creating practice times and strategies to use in tournament games. As you stated microsoft does have a stadium... and yeh, you can even check google for videos of gamers gaming as well as replays. Sometimes in the form of sick and twisted photo album type memories that they'll show their children ( if they get that far ) ;P
J&J sells cotton swabs, but Q-Tip brand cotton swabs are made by Cheeseborough-Ponds which was acquired by Unilever in 1987.
Which could be found on the same web site you posted.
Another funny post falls to pedantry.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
I remember seeing something like that on TV (OLN if you are interested) and it was pretty dull. I mean it just showed two teams firing at each other. You couldn't see the balls flying through the air and it was pretty boring. No first-person cams or anything.
Haven't they started something that like with The Sims line of games? Watching your sim watch [variable]?
PurePwnage has a documentary of the new 'pro gamers' - pwning noobs, and getting headshots online near you....
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
this is actually a quite popular thing in the world. The owner of the professional counter-strike team "Complexity" said it right though when he said that games like counter-strike will not appeal to older generations. I'd assume that many members of /. fall into that category. But this is becoming increasingly popular among newer generations, including myself. For all we know in the next 20-60 years evolutions of counter-strike and starcraft will replace traditional sports such as Football and Baseball. Although i doubt that they will, they may definately become more popular. A testiment to this would be the fact that each year the tournaments such as WCG, CPL, ESWC etc. have had larger and larger numbers of spectators. Its only the beginning.
p.s. I didn't post any web sites. I posted a *link* to a web site.
Question now becomes: Does your pedantry trump my pedantry?
Only the mods can say.
Oooh! Rimshot! Didn't see that coming, did you?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.