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Professional Gaming League Raises $10M
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Major League Gaming, aspiring to become the official league of professional videogaming, raised $10 million in funding from Ritchie Capital, and named Matthew Bromberg, the former general manager of Time Warner's Moviefone and AOL Games properties, as president and chief operating officer, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'The championship match for MLG's second season will be held this weekend in New York, where individuals and teams of gamers will battle against others in fighting and shooter games like Microsoft Corp.'s Halo 2 for a total of $100,000 in prizes. ... The company says it is in discussions with various cable networks about deals to have its competitions carried on television. "We want this to be covered as a circuit," said Mr. Bromberg.'"
Watching people play video games on TV?
It is bad enough watching people in real life while waiting for your turn...
The three most boring activities:
Listening to someone describing their dreams
Listening to someone describe their workout routine
Watching someone else play video games.
Seriously- I think that much like building models or programming, playing games is fun if you are doing it, but who wants to watch someone else do it?
Than again people watch poker and golf on TV....
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
Just like South Korea? Will we have our own 24/7 dedicated gaming channels?
....
If we are trying to be like South Korea, I would rather have in home fiber to more homes then just what verizon offers in the NE
As a lifelong gamer with a deep respect for the field and a belief that games are a form of art that will eventually be accorded that status by society as a whole, I can tell you that I have absolutely, positively no interest whatsoever in watching other people play games. And I doubt a lot of other people have either.
I think you mean Long Bomb: How the XFL Became TV's Biggest Fiasco. You know, without your pathetic little referer code?
"That's what makes it a sport," says Mr. Sepso. "It's not chance. It's really based on skill."
No, that's what makes it a game, though he did narrow the definition a bit by stating that Halo, et al are not games of chance.
game n.
1. An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games.
2. 1. A competitive activity or sport in which players contend with each other according to a set of rules: the game of basketball; the game of gin rummy.
Yes, 2.1 mentioned the word 'sport'. However, compare this inclusion with the definition of sport:
sport n.
1.
1. Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
2. A particular form of this activity.
2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
3. An active pastime; recreation.
To sum up: (video game) != (sport).
(All definitions supplied by http://www.dictionary.com./
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
I'll bite. I'd actually like to see something like this. However, it's probably going to suck as they have to deal with the most vile species known to man, gamers. Not only that, but anyone who seems to take a swipe at this kinda thing (*cough cough ARENA cough cough*) generally picks the most brain dead, socially inept, personality vacuums that they can possibly find (so in otherwords they pick perfect examples of most of the yahoos you find taking a swipe at professional gaming). Plus you know it's just going to be halo and instead of anything interesting (some of those korean starcraft matchs are actually rather exciting, of course seeing as how I'm still and age of kings fan the subtle nuances of halo 2, perfect dark zero, and counter strike are lost on me).
And when people compete in CPL games they tend to play better games than HALO... I'd say professional gamers by and large consider HALO a complete joke, as they will this league.
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
Sports are too energetic for the current generation to anything but stare at a TV, now even computer games are too energetic. hehe.
Deleted
Let me be the first to say...
BOOM! HEADSHOT!!
The article mentions that a total of $600,000 will be given away as prize money..... but they raised $10,000,000, so what happened to the rest of the money?
The final match should be Super Mario Bros. 3!
Baseball is a spectator sport with tense drama for those who can appreciate it.
Chess is a nuanced game in which those who know the major strategies can perceive the structure of what players are doing, look several moves ahead, and evaluate the game.
IMHO, Golf is pretty freakin' boring to watch, but the body mechanics of a great golf swing (and the billiards-like precision of a long putt) are at least interesting to witness. Also, there's the psychological aspect. A two-stroke leader in a golf match is only a couple of tiny mistakes away from losing the lead, and being a good golfer requires being able to handle the fact that a tiny hitch in just one of your swings could cost you half your income for the year.
Poker on TV is considerable less popular, mainly because most people don't understand the game. The best professional poker players "grind" out their living in straight-up games, but tournament play is what you usually see on TV because it presents the chance of dramatic upsets and "home run" plays.
Video games, on the other hand, are carefully crafted to amuse the people playing them, with no thought given at all to spectator value. If you are wondering why so many of us are scoffing at the idea of televised gaming, go to your local arcade and watch over somebody's shoulder for a half hour. The mind-numbing dullness of what you are doing will tell you everything you need to know about why gaming on TV is doomed.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
This has been done, and done, and done before.
Five years ago, I was watching my clanmates in matches using the QuakeTV mod (one or two spectators join in as the camera, and they would flip between views in a CTF match).
The spectators would just join a mirroring server, with like max_clients set to 128 (or whatever it could handle).
The real problem here is one of interest. It is only interesting to watch a game if you know something about the game. I find football and soccer to be dreadfully boring, primarily because I don't know anything about them (and little desire to learn). However, sit me down infront of a hockey game, and I'm glued to the set -- because I understand hockey and I understand what's happening in the game and what it means.
That's why sports are so popular -- everyone can (at some level) understand the games, and they're (relatively) simple. The rules have evolved over a hundred years or so into what we have now, and the sports, and the concepts encoded in the sports are part of the culture where the sport is popular.
Getting that level of interest for a single video game would be a feat -- and therein lies the catch. That level of interest needs to be there for EVERY GAME. Not just "video games".
Take a few examples.
Back when Doom 3 came out, there was a Doom 3 release DM tournament at Quakecon that year that was webcast live. I put that up on my TV, and watched it as it was happening (never have I felt like such a pure geek). That worked for me, because I played one on one deathmatches for years, so I understood what was going on in the player's heads when they were trying to control the map, and I could recognize when they succeeded and failed. They were also showing a Q3CTF tournament, which I watched similarly, as I have played CTF since Q2.
Had they showed a CS tournament, I wouldn't have even been able to follow the game, as I've never played CS.
I used to watch Warcraft III demos when I had nothing better to do, and I loved them -- I understood the game, and could follow why things were working. Not as well as an FPS, but I still "got it".
Any other RTS, and I wouldn't have even bothered. I've never played another RTS before or since WCIII.
See the problem there? Sports are part of our culture(s), and everyone, even if they don't watch them, still has at least some understanding of them.
Video games start from a blank slate. Each time.
..... I've got three words for you:
World Poker Tour
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Come on, Gaming is not a fad or a trend... YOung adults grew up on this stuff and love just as much as teens now days do. Gaming rocks, because of the compitition factor. And as games get more and more visualy apealing, they will be more fun to watch. Although I admit the core group of people tuning in will be other gamers, or at least those who aspire too. TONS of people game, few get 10,000 for thier skill. People want to compete and get better, so they play against others who wipe them up, and they will most likely watch to learn and enjoy.
As for me I am just as competitive when it comes down to old school nintindo... And fragging people all over BF2 or Halo is just as fun as running and tackling somebody. (well almost) - SO hey, face it Gaming is going to be bigger and bigger, and TV is a part of that. I expect online video and stuff like that to realy boom with this stuff though. Gamers are also computer savy, (exept some console only gamers, which should have the tittle gamer removed and replaced with console junkie.
We shouldn't be watching people play the newest FPS or whatever piece of crap Microsoft churns out next. If I want to watch someone play games on a grand scale, I want to be watching them play CLASSIC games. The games that actually matter. Super Mario Kart. Tetris. Dr. Mario. That might draw in all the people who played games back in the 80's and hasn't done so since, as they'd actually recognize the games and get interested.
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Ok, so this is slightly off topic, but it is still somewhat related.
What I would like to see, instead of watching people play games on TV, is an actual awards body for the gaming industry that isn't a complete joke. You know, something like the gaming equivalent to the Oscars or Grammy's. Not that SpikeTV bull crap.
I think there is a lot to be said for the people that make some of the best games every year. Not to mention, lifetime achievment awards for greats like Shigeru Miyamoto, etc.
I'm still shocked that with as much money as the videogame industry pulls in each year, we still don't have an awards body like that. Or if there is, why it isn't being broadcast on national TV each year.
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The Beast is Unleashed!
Even people with a mild interest in Street Fighter can appreciate the skill that took.