Championship Gaming Series coming to G4
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jun 17th 2008 at 1:00AM }
During its inaugural season on DirecTV, CGS CEO Andy Reif says 50 million "cumulative viewers" watched the series. G4 president Neal Tiles believes the competition "is certain to appeal to our viewers." What viewers would those be ... wait, no, must not give in to urges. We wish all the best for the show's ratings on the network. People watch other professional sports, why not this?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian @ Jun 17th 2008 1:20AM
I can't wait to watch people; watching people, watching a TV. I'm sure it's going to give televised curling matches a run for their money.
SirRoxen @ Jun 17th 2008 1:26AM
World of World of Warcraft!
Sounds like you know nothing about good pro-gaming circuits, but maybe you're just talking about CGS which is trash, so I'll give you that.
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 17th 2008 9:45AM
No he's talking about watching anyone play video games. No matter who it is it's equally ridiculous and boring.
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jun 17th 2008 10:56AM
You might as well be talking about any game which requires doing something arbitrary under a set of rules; the only difference in those aspects is you get to watch men sweat. How awesome!
Seriously, pro CS and Starcraft players have a lot of skill. To dismiss it as stupid is to dismiss any sport which requires technical skill. I suppose Snooker (which is NOT the same as Pool) is pointless, too?
Co @ Jun 17th 2008 11:00AM
"No he's talking about watching anyone play video games. No matter who it is it's equally ridiculous and boring."
Wow. And you bash Wii and LOVVVVVE 360. Your quote right above is exactly why the philosophy of the Wii came about. It's actually my exact argument against your 360 as well. Sure it's fun for the person playing the 360, but "watching anyone play video games... No matter who it is it's equally ridiculous and boring". Stupid all inclusive Wii gameplay. How lame is that!!
Sorry to everyone else for this not directly pertaining to the article at hand, but I couldn't pass up yet another blunder to call tmacdaddy87 out on.
BananaBoat @ Jun 17th 2008 5:11PM
Watching the Korean starcraft matches is pretty enthralling. The koreans use tactics that most would never have thought of in a million years, and it really does translate into something that is enjoyable to watch on TV. Can the same be said for counterstrike or halo? Ehh...personally I don't think so. Maybe because the gap between myself and a "pro" gamer is much smaller in the FPS category than it is in the RTS category (I'm awful at RTS's).
I think what needs to be said though, is that noone watches G4, because it sucks gigantic donkey b*lls. Rest in peace....TechTV....
Dragod @ Jun 17th 2008 1:21AM
Eh... I'm still hoping CBS picks up the MLG Pro Circuit... I love MLG's teams and previous seasons. I was never really a fan of CGS.
Doesn't matter... I'll probably still watch it, lol.
JDavis @ Jun 17th 2008 1:49AM
Wait... Gaming-related content on G4? Wha?
Hashbrown Hunter @ Jun 17th 2008 2:01AM
SPOILER ALERT
They'll ruin it somehow.
GreyFox @ Jun 17th 2008 1:44PM
For this to work people need to watch G4 in the first place.
EMaster @ Jun 17th 2008 2:05AM
If they even dare call them "Athletes" again I am going to go there myself and punch each and every person there in the face or empty a septic truck in their faces and blame the Saints Row II Trailer!
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jun 17th 2008 11:03AM
By the British definition you're right; an athlete is someone who takes part in Athletics. However, there's an American (and, sadly, more stupid) definition which defines an athlete as someone who takes part in sport. And since sport is "an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively" then competitive gaming can indeed be considered sport and, so, atheltics unders the silly American definition. But yeah, i agree, not athletics at all :-)
Maximilian Lockwood @ Jun 17th 2008 2:06AM
The fact that you know Coupling... Thank you, Joystiq. Thank you.
WLT @ Jun 17th 2008 2:17AM
This wont get me to watch G4 anytime soon. Try getting rid of Cops, Cheaters, and that other crap and we'll talk.
Kodros @ Jun 17th 2008 2:47AM
"People watch other professional sports, why not this?"
Because the only people interested in this type of "sport" are the people that enjoy playing video games. And a vast majority of your potential audience would rather be playing the game themselves instead of watching someone else play. Why the hell would I watch someone else play CoD4 when I could just turn my PS3 on and play it?
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jun 17th 2008 11:08AM
Why watch a game of football when you could go outside and play it? Or, indeed, play Pro eve, or something? Your argument is moot since what people like about watching sports is three things:
1. They like to watch skilled players do things which are extremely difficult; if nothing else it can be amusing.
2. They like to watch extremely skilled players mess up and then have the chance to mockingly describe how they would have done things diffierently.
3. They like to see their team to win; if you're watching a sporting event with any kind of focus, chances are you want someone in particular to win.
That fact that the people watching most sports could, indeed, go and play it themselves barely comes into it. I do agree, though, that the target demographic is slender at best, but you seem to have no grasp of why people watch sports in the first place.
Kodros @ Jun 17th 2008 2:25PM
Here's my point. I never met a gamer that liked watching someone else play a video game when they could play it themselves. However, I have met many, many people that like watching football and baseball games when they could play it themselves.
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jun 18th 2008 7:06AM
Competitive gaming isn't mainstream, though. It's a cultural and social thing, and since there is still social stigma associated with gaming it's not socially useful to develop discourse on competitive gaming.
I'm sure not many of you talk about (English) football at all, and that's because Soccer isn't considered as socially significant in conversations or determination of social bearing. I live in England, so the opposite is true; I've met one solemn person who's cared at all about American football games, and even then he never went on about it because he knew nobody else cared; can you see the symmetry?
In Korea I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find people who follow some more conventional sports and easier to find a conversation about Starcraft. Obscure sport, though, does need to start somewhere.
TK @ Jun 17th 2008 2:51AM
Not sure what you mean by OTHER prp sports. Video games are not sports.
nxtiak @ Jun 17th 2008 2:57AM
Whoopee more Halo 3 crapfest. "Professional" gaming is the most ridiculous thing ever.
ganrob @ Jun 17th 2008 3:12AM
Too bad that pro gaming has such a bad image in the states. As soon as someone mentions it there, someone says "why should I watch a dude play a game?!".
But those CS matches can get really good once you follow those teams a bit, plus the rivalry is insane.
Courtney @ Jun 17th 2008 3:04AM
Which would I rather do, spend a couple of hours watching strangers play a game on my tv....or game myself? I know which I think is more fun.
That's why I find it hard to believe that these gaming leagues will become major television spectator sports. If there was a major gaming competition in my town (or within an hour's drive), I might go see it in person. I assume there would be other activities to do, some cool gear to check out, interesting people to meet, etc. Make each live event a spectacle worth attending, and you might be able to make a profit from a league.
Shignami @ Jun 17th 2008 3:30AM
You tried this G4, It was called "Arena"
No one watched it and Kevin Pereria had the stupidest looking mustache ever.
JRM @ Jun 17th 2008 4:02AM
yeah. Obviously the new G4 management never knew about the existence of "Arena". And now this new show is gonna tank just like the old one.
JC @ Jun 17th 2008 4:02AM
I went to one of the tapings. There's a couple things
I'd like to point out :
1. The audience is filled with high-school students
2. The lady who was in charge of the audience was incredibly rude to me and my friend (we stayed for an hour and a half, and they were doing two tapings in a row), she was a total bitch.
3. I don't think the teams are incredibly realistic. Why give random names of cities such as San Francisco whatever whatever... when the players aren't even FROM THOSE CITIES !! OMG
Anyways, the set design was kind of cool. The games were ok. But the audience was mainly filled with high-school kids shipped in there from a bus or something.
SirRoxen @ Jun 17th 2008 6:18AM
Think it's pretty funny the people saying why watch other people play games when you can just play them. :D
Entirely different experience when you're watching pro Starcraft/Quake/CS matches. These guys are better than most of you can ever dream to be. These are the guys pushing games to their limits and you can learn to play better from watching them.
That and it's like any other sport, you have favorites, rivalries, ridiculous moves, close matches, great casting, etc. It can be very exciting for those that can appreciate the games and skill levels. And any good broadcast you're not watching some guy play on a tv, you have in-game spectating.
It's just too bad the most mainstream organizations use such trash games. :(
Korova *Pyro aspect* @ Jun 17th 2008 7:14AM
90 minutes seems a bit long for me.
If they allow the audience to learn how to play these games better and marvel at how godlike the players are, then it may be specticable.
Otherwise, its like watching over somebody's shoulder - makes both people uncomfortable, unless its your girlfriend playing.
Joeshie @ Jun 17th 2008 9:09AM
Maybe if they actually showed games that took significant amount of skill to play, like Quake or something, I might be interested.
Halo =/= very skillful
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 17th 2008 9:49AM
I'm surprised this isn't airing on espn 2. They already air every other non sport out there like nascar, poker, fishing/hunting, and the freakin spelling bee.
nmezib @ Jun 17th 2008 10:31AM
Yeah i went to one of the shows in San Francisco when I was interning there over the summer.
One of the most boring shits ever. Just shout when the camera pan over you, and hope you score a free t-shirt. The sit there for another half-hour and watch other people play video games.
Oh, and Coupling Reference FTW!! Do NOT underestimate the power of the giggleloop, nor the "sock gap"
Titanium_Orchid @ Jun 17th 2008 1:20PM
Was the announcer/commentator any good? All the tournaments I have ever seen have incredibly poor commentary.
Alzheimers @ Jun 17th 2008 2:22PM
I would love to see an Eve Online tournament-style round included in this format, similar to:
http://www.eve-online.com/evetv/tunein.asp