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Pro Gaming Comes to Network TV
GameDaily is reporting that The World Series of Video Games has signed a deal with CBS. Gameplay HD and College Sports Television (CSTV) are also part of the arrangement, which will bring professional gaming to U.S. network television for the first time. CBS will air a one-hour special on December 30th, with highlights from the finals. CSTV will then air snippets from the entire finals series, highlighting games like Halo 2 and Warcraft III. From the article: "The cable and broadcast networks will not be simply recycling the same content either. Each network is to 'explore a unique aspect of the WSVG, providing audiences with a window into the exciting culture of video game competitions and budding stars of the gaming world.' CBS will kick off its coverage on December 30 at 3 p.m. when they air THEY GOT GAME, Stars of the World Series of Video Games presented by Intel. This one-hour special, filmed during the WSVG finals, hosted by Quddus and produced by Juma Entertainment, will detail the personal stories of five rising stars in professional gaming, most notably Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel."
Why not, can't be worse than the same old shows that the networks are showing these days.
In an obvious attempt to make competition gaming cooler they get, Quddus, an MTV VJ to host it.
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How is watching a bunch of people get together and play video games (WSVG) from watching a bunch of people get together and play football(Superbowl)? These people practice hours on end just like professional sports players. Its just a new playing field.
Sometimes I think maybe I wanna join the army I mean it's basically like FPS except better graphics, but what happens if I get lag out there, I'M DEAD! And I mean I even heard there's no respawn points in RL.
This could be a perfect venue to bring back the US National Video Game Team. Bring on the jumpsuits!
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When will we be seeing highlights on Network News?
"There was a showdown in Vegas tonight, as G0atsxHax0r defended his title against sLUtfuCKer, a rising star from Alabama. sLUtfuCKer came in with high expectations but was disappointed by G0atsxHax0r's three early headshots. He got a reprieve when the judges penalized G0atsxHax0r for excessive squatting over a dead opponent. But in the end, sLUtfuCKer was thoroughly pwnd."
I can't wait to see how they present this. I've never watched a televised gaming competition, and I can't imagine how a network can even hope to convey the experience of actually being present.
What will be aired on CBS will be more or less a documentary, like we have all seen before, on a few gamers. Cool, but call me when the actual game they play is casted on CBS, in its entirety. That will be news. TFA says will do this on their other cable station, but really, this is not new. When any network station allots more than one hour to professional gaming and actually tracks the progress of a tournament for the viewers, ending with a championship game, live or otherwise, that will be a newsworthy event for the community.
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There was a story about this in the NY Times as well, which included a little more detail about the network TV portion of this. CBS will only be showing small snippits of actual gameplay on the special. There's a quote from one of the special's producer's which I find really telling: "The one hurdle that was a challenge, and is still a challenge for video gaming...is you can't put people shooting at one another on network television."
Um... you can't? Better tell that to all those cop dramas.
That they choose to feature one of the most pompous asses on the professional (ugh!) videogaming circuit. Falls right in league with the same tactics they use for covering everything else under the sun I suppose - just would have been nice to see a change....
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"These people practice hours on end just like professional sports players."
I had to practice for hours on end to get good at my profession. You don't see people paying to watch me sit at a computer and code every day. Popularity of a sport (or semi-sport for the folks who have a strict defenition of "sport") has nothing to do with the work involved. If there's a video game that enough people enjoy watching in its entirety, then it may be viable as a sport. If I had to wager, I'd bet either a capture the flag FPS or RTS game would be the easiest to present in a live format since there's at most two primary focus points as far as action is concerned in either. That's discarding sports-based video games sice their presentation would be relatively straight forward.
I heard a rumour that stated the network was unhappy with the idea of showing violence on this, which leaves such mind-numbing excitement as watching CSS players at spawn buy weapons, people reloading, people doing nothing. thrilling. really. I love games, love playing them, have no issues with watching game-play over someones shoulder, watching game-play video on the net if the video demonstrates some high level of skill or something funny/cool. I have tried to watch everything that is video game related that gets put to TV and so far I have been bitterly dissapointed by everything except for Tech TV's (or G4 or whatever the heck its' called) Icon's show, the occassionaly review show isn't too bad as well, but certainly not great (most of them tend to focus on two hosts, which would be good if i had a video game craving of playing two hosts, but i don't - i ONLY want to see a game). That's my pathetic two cents, game shows should have games in them and not two lame (i didn't get that MTV job) hosts that they usually have.
and
http://www.nesplayer.com/television/gamepro_files
Growing up, I lived in North Central Indiana, and never got any cool shows. I was lucky enough to get a Chicago station (WGN) that aired G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., and The Transformers. As well as The Bozo Show, but that's another story. I wanted desperately to be able to see Gamepro TV. It might have sucked, but I had no way of knowing. Sometimes I miss the olden days where we had to wait for magazines to find out what's new in gaming.
Is it just me, or do you hate it when people say "Is it just me..."?
for the World Series of knitting on Lifetime! Granny Maude vs. Aunt Mary-Beth Sue for the world championship!
Hey, guys. Big gulps, huh? Cool. All right! Well, see ya later.
There's a part of me that thinks that choosing to spend your mindless recreation time watching other people engage in their mindless recreation time is intensely creepy and vouyeristic. There's also a part of me that thinks that the fact that many people are willing to passively watch people play video games on television is quite possibly the horrendously inevitable culmination of a 'do-nothing culture.'
But I suppose it's really no worse than watching people play poker, either.
Any time I see anything about new television programming about video games, I always bet(and win) that it won't be on G4. Once again, I was right. I'd like to go within earshot of Morgan Webb and yell "What's that one tv network with all that video game coverage..uh, yeah, SPIKE TV."
Many moons ago, I think it was on the sci fi channel they had some video game competition involving "blockade running", done not on PCs, but these video game pilot "booths"(think Afterburner, etc). It was quite possibly the saddest thing you've ever seen with the biggest dorks as the players. Anyone remember what I'm talking about?
How is watching a bunch of people get together and play video games (WSVG) from watching a bunch of people get together and play football(Superbowl)? These people practice hours on end just like professional sports players. Its just a new playing field.
Simple. Football is something that many people find enjoyable to watch, and the vast majority of the viewing audience are not football players themselves. The atheletic feats and physical mastery that a lot of the professional atheletes have is all but unattainable to the average individual, so a lot of people enjoy the ability to vicariously experience these contests.
On the other hand, find me a handful of people who DON'T play video games that would tune in to watch them being played on television, and I'd be very, very surprised. If anybody expects this sort of "coverage" to somehow mainstream Professional Gaming, I would suggest not holding your breath.
I never thought I'd be a video game watcher... but once I got GameplayHD with DishNetwork I gotta say i watch a lot of people playing video games in HD. No clue... half the time i don't even know what they're talking about (read Starcraft), but I'm there, watching it, with my wife looking at me like "Why in God's name did i marry this loser?"
I agree. Of course it's all subjective, but I've found far more shows to watch the last two years than ever before: Lost, Heroes, The Office, Arrested Development (which is sadly gone), Desperate Housewives (wife sucked me in here, but it's surprisingly good, no surprise it has won Emmys), and Studio 60. And those are just shows on the primary networks. There are a ton of shows on other networks (FX, Sci-Fi, HBO, etc.) that are apparently quite good (Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, Nip Tuck, Deadwood, The Sopranos ...).
Of course, the vast majority of shows are still crap, including all of the reality shows (which are dwindling in number), but IMHO, TV has made quite a comeback the past two years. This is where having a DVR is really useful, since I can batch up a few shows, and then watch them whenever I want to. No more having to slog through some mediocre sitcoms or dramas, just so you can get to the "good show" of that night.
-- jchenx
Sports started off as just a recreational activity. You could say that watching people play a game is silly, when you could be playing it yourself. But I can think of two main reasons why people watch sports:
1. Professionals playing the game are a lot better at it than you are
- It can be fun to see the amazing skill involved at the pro level, versus what happens in your regular pick-up games
- You can also learn from the best, and maybe pick up a few techniques you can apply to your own game
2. Team aspect
- There's the whole "ra-ra" mentality, of cheering for your college/country/region or your favorite person
- If you can't be good enough to play professional, then you can live vicariously through your team
Granted, not everyone buys it. There are certainly many folks that "don't get" sports (and stereotypically, this includes a lot of geeks/nerds). But I can't see how watching video game competitions is that much different than sports, in the reasons above.
-- jchenx
i'm guessing there will be name restrictions, and it will likely only be the best gamers. i don't know about the rest of you out there, but i prefer to see people who don't eat, sleep and play -insert game here-; i get much more excitement from watching eight mid-range players with two excellent players (5vs5 capture the flag, or somesuch) in fps games. seriously, the excellent players get pushed hard by the numbers and the mid-ranges always have to worry about coming in contact with the best player on the other team... it's a nice game.
how would rts's be handled? would they even get attention? especially considering the lack of attention span that most americans have.
Like I give a shit about "professional gamers". Being good at games dosen't make you a good person. Less so than professional sports.
This way.
But that's just like any sport. IMHO, football is a lot more interesting to watch than baseball, or golf. Then again, you certainly have more than enough people watching those two sports, as they're multi-billion dollar industries. Yet bowling and other sports aren't there yet either.
Also, I think there's a maturity that has to happen outside the sport itself, such as how you do the announcing, set up cameras, the scoring systems, etc. I will say that some Capture the Flag games might be VERY interesting to watch, even for an outsider, if only you had the cameras set in the right place, and a decent announcer for the match. The same goes for some RTS games. Instead of being only limited to the player's view, if there were an "outside" camera
It's akin to the TV setup for Texas Hold'em. If I were just watching a game in person, it might not be that interesting. But on TV, I'm able to see what cards everyone else is holding, I've got an announcer explaining strategies and why certain players are doing certain things, and I can even see the statistics of how likely a player is going to win. All those things are, in a way, "outside" the game
-- jchenx
"how would rts's be handled? would they even get attention?"
Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjL7WtKgb04 ???
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substitute "porn" for "football" and you got yourself one hell of a comment!
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Well, the difference is that watching video games being played can be educational and useful, unlike watching gridiron. The program "Time Commanders" was shown on BBC2 in prime-time, and recreated classical battles (Julius Caesar etc.) and could be considered useful as an introduction to military tactics, as well as historically educational (the "experts" explained how the battles went in real life). No doubt it didn't hurt the subsequent sales of "Rome:Total War" either.