Prime-time Gaming Created 18 years ago2006-04-18 23:52:16 UTC by satchmo

From the Los Angeles Times:

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Video Games Get TV Showcase
From the Associated Press

April 18, 2006

SAN JOSE ? Professional video gaming is set to debut on cable television this year, potentially paving the way for the reigning game players to become as familiar to American households as the faces of Johnny Chan or Annie Duke in televised poker.

Major League Gaming, the world's largest organized video game league, on Monday announced a programming deal in which USA Network will air seven one-hour episodes in the fall featuring the pro circuit.

Although video gaming fans have been able to follow competitions on game websites for years, the league's television deal marks the first time regular TV viewers would be able to track the ups and downs of a pro tournament, watching video gaming as a new kind of extreme sport.

"This is the sign that pro gaming has finally arrived to the mass market," said Matthew Bromberg, the league's president and chief operating officer. "It's like poker was two years ago or NASCAR 15 years ago."

The televised series will aim to engage viewers with not only the game play itself ? featuring top players of Halo 2 on Xbox and Super Smash Bros. Melee on Nintendo ? but also sports-style commentary and player profiles.

Among them: Bonnie Burton, also known as Xena, a 15-year-old Pennsylvanian who is the only female in the pro league and one of the best Halo 2 players in the world; and Tom Taylor, who's known as Tsquared. The 18-year-old from Florida is a budding entrepreneur whose Gaming-Lessons business has helped hone the game skills of numerous celebrities and athletes.

"I'm excited to compete on TV in front of an audience. This will take video gaming to the next level," Taylor said.

Taylor, who gained more fame by being featured on MTV's documentary series "True Life," takes his sport seriously. He keeps a healthy diet and practices three to four hours a day.

"It is an extreme sport," he said. "It's about quick reflexes and also outsmarting people."

Some top players earn winnings in the range of a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year, and the league's tournaments usually draw thousands of spectators at its arena venues and thousands more online, said Michael Sepso, the league's chief executive and co-founder.

But going before a mainstream TV audience could raise video gaming's visibility, leading to more sponsorships and advertising.

No Counter-Strike?

its going to be a noob show for a while. then they might get the filming right and get better games

The games they are playing suck, they need some LAN favorites. Quake3, Wolfenstein, CS, etc.

Quake 3 ftw.

Q3 is the roxor. I love the unrealisticness of it all.

Q3 is just the best deathmatch ever.

Doesn't have any fancy frills like ut2k4, just good old simple dm.

Quake 3 is good stuff, until the rather uninteresting maps get boring that is. Still, fast-paced, gorey deathmatch at it's best.

Deathmatches are suppose to be primal, simple, and fast. It doesn't need fancy graphics or gameplay. All it requires is fast reflexes and quick thinking.

That's why the classic games pwn all the new ones.

Sounds a bit boring. Watching people playing games is only fun when you're back-seat playing.

yea a bit boring. i dont understand, would they show highlights of matches or, actually the whole entire match?

As I understand it, they'll show the entire duration of the game.

But to me, watching people play golf on TV is cruel and unusual torture.

Deathmatches are suppose to be primal, simple, and fast. It doesn't need fancy graphics or gameplay. All it requires is fast reflexes and quick thinking.

That's why the classic games pwn all the new ones.

QFT. Nothing beats a good Quake3 LAN, except from a RTCW Instagib Goldrush LAN

I regularly watched 5 day test matches in their entirety at uni, I dont know what wrong with me

We're all hopeless geeks.

We should have a geek-pride week and a parade.

ya

lol i agree on the golfing comment. Ueber-bored

you arent BORN geek satchmo, anyway if it were natural you should go rape a baby right now, NOW

Goldrush instagib? W00t!

Halo 2 as a competitive skill test game?!! That game has so much auto-aim that your crosshairs are your actual screen! Whatever your looking at gets hit!

CSS, Quake, etc etc!

MLG is crap! BOO!

Geeks pwn dumbass jocks any day of the week!

xyos, its accually that with most weapons theres about a 45 degree fire ark. so if its standing in front of you its going to get hit.

You played RTCW goldrush too, pepper?

Geeks, by definition, are not good at raping anything.

We can map, however, like there is no tomorrow.

And we can identify any graphics card in less than one nanosecond.

That means I stopped being a geek 4 years ago... I'm no longer up to date in technical things. It might have something to do with the fact that I quit my studies of computer science (only did 1 year) to start architecture.
My PC is outdated and some games don't let me enable their best settings.

Don't tell me you can't identify graphics card visually anymore!

What type of person cant tell the difference between an old voodoo card from a Radeon, or Ge-Force?

One of them is newer and more expensive... but which one?

I think this guy is a total jerk. Pressing on buttons=Extreme sport? :nut:

radeons are red!

What type of person cant tell the difference between an old voodoo card from a Radeon, or Ge-Force?

Me. At first glance amyway.

Me aswell....I'd be hardpressed to tell the difference between a sound card and a motherboard...

I suck with teh comptarz

Wow, you're really shit.

I sorta just...found out on my own. I read PC Powerplay every now and then to keep up to date.

Anyone who has ever built his own machine knows what all the components look like. You also learn when you upgrade too.

I started learning back in the 80's, when I was in high school. I've built two computers for myself already, and I've upgraded countless (for friends and family members).

Well the last and first thing i ever bought for the family PC was a Radeon card. I can tell computer parts from eachother just not different types of graphic cards, not without reading the labels anyway!

Surely you could tell the difference between a Radeon X800 and an X1k card. If you can't, then you shouldn't be allowed near computers