World Series of Video Games

[DarkwingChuck]

The World Series of Video Games is being broadcast on CBS tomorrow at Noon EST. The one hour show will be part 1 of 4, featuring World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero II, and Fight Night Round 3.

The early airing schedule is:
July 29th - Louisville, Kentucky (Event: June 21st-24th)
August 19th - Dallas, Texas (Event: July 5th-8th)
November 17th - Los Angeles, California (Event: October 18th-21st)
December 15th - Jönköping, Sweden Saturday (Event: November 29th-December 2nd)

I might watch it for a few minutes at least. I want to see how they try to make it exciting as a spectator "sport." Heck, it worked for poker.

[Duel]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Lol, I gotta see this!

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: World Series of Video Games

WoW would seem a bit too slow for this to go well.

[Magus]

Re: World Series of Video Games

WoW? You kidding?

Where's Halo? Counter-Strike? Where's STARCRAFT?

What a crock.

edit: Oh, part 1? So more games will show up then I guess.

OH YEAH THROW IN MARIO KART DS AND SMASH BROS. TOO

Should be interesting to see what the rules are for those. :P

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Where's Halo? Counter-Strike? Where's STARCRAFT?

According to NY Times, CBS didn't want to show any violent games on a Sunday afternoon show. Really the lineup makes sense if they're trying to appeal to non-gamers. Everybody can understand GH2, Fight Night is just a digital boxing match, and WoW is pretty much the most popular game in the world right now.

***EDIT
Scratch that Quake 4 is also included so I guess that'll be on one of the two Saturday shows but at least they let one "violent shooter" in the mix. And each show will feature one of the four games. Sportscaster Greg Amsinger will be doing the play-by-play.1Up article

[Duel]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Super Smash Bros everyone!!!

[Misty]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Tetris is where it's at. Come on, that game's still got legs!

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: World Series of Video Games

It turned out to be about as lame as I expected it to be. A lot of that info from the 1Up article was apparently wrong, but it was an old article so they probably changed some things. GH2, FNr3, and WoW were all shown with no mentions of Quake 4 and at least the next show will have the same four games so probably all of them will.

Guitar Hero was the most entertaining to watch natually which I'm sure is why they began and ended with it. It was kinda cheesy watching them pretend to rock out when all they're really doing is pushing buttons but that's what makes the game fun plus they were being judged on showmanship. But the judging kinda seemed arbitrary since they only gave 9s and 10s. The crowd cheering seemed really fake though.

They tried to make Fight Night exciting but it just didn't work. Maybe if they'd just stayed on the game footage it would've but any momentum they could've built disappeared every time they cut to the two guys standing hunched over their monitors. And the competition was pretty one sided so there was no tension.

Never having played WoW, it was impossible to follow the action. They edited and cut around at such a hectic pace the commentary couldn't even keep up. Another one-sided competition so again it was boring to watch.

I can't see much of anybody, gamer or not, enjoying watchign this too much unless they really change the presentation. IMO it's a failed experiment.

[Redneck 2000]

Re: World Series of Video Games

who the hell would want to watch world of warcraft?

who would want to play it, for that matter?

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Over 9 million people. Still doesn't answer why but that's a lot of whos.

[Crimson Knight]

Re: World Series of Video Games

G4's early Arena show did so much better. They actually aired games that were built for competition, and they had some pretty funny comments during the play-by-play.

Too bad the top brass ****ed it all up in later episodes.

[Chad]

Re: World Series of Video Games

One thing that they have to understand about their target audience is that we want to see the game. At least put the players' faces in a small box on the screen. The game must always take up at least half the screen.

[Funk]

Re: World Series of Video Games

WSVG sucks. It was laughably crappy.

[Duel]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Dammit, I missed it. Well it seems like crap.
Lol, commentary on WOW...

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: World Series of Video Games

Somehow it didn't catch on.

WORLD SERIES OF VIDEO GAMES CANCELLED

Effective immediately, Games Media Properties will no longer produce the World Series of Video Games. The remainder of the 2007 season in Los Angeles, London and Sweden is cancelled.

The World Series of Video Games launched with the goal of expanding interest and participation in competitive gaming. Over the course of two seasons, we have been honored by the strong support the community has shown in attending our festivals, and watching our competitions online and on television-- all in record-setting numbers. We have been grateful for the generous support provided by Intel and other sponsors since our inception.

However, the continuing challenges of securing adequate revenues to sustain the production of the WSVG's large scale events and television programming, in a very crowded field of competitive gaming leagues, has prompted us to re-evaluate our direction as an organization.

Unfortunately, the decision is to cancel the remainder of the WSVG season, as we shift our focus solely to growing our online advertising network of websites, which currently reach seven million users each month.

We are proud of the accomplishments and memorable entertainment we have provided through the World Series of Video Games. While we are sorry that this news will disappoint our fans and players, we are deeply appreciative that we have had the opportunity to contribute to the growth of eSports.