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R.I.P. Championship Gaming Series
The Championship Gaming Series announced today it's calling it quits after realizing that "profitability was too far in the future." The organization has a farewell letter on its site stating the concept was "an idea whose time came too early." Clearly, gamers would rather play than watch others do it on TV.The big "game over" for the CGS follows the death of the Cyberathlete Professional League earlier this year. Guess that leaves Major League Gaming as the last (relevant) corporate-sponsored group standing?
Joystiq review: E-@thletes
Televised professional gaming, for a variety of reasons, has never had much success here in North America. After last night, I feel like I know the secret to making pro-gaming a phenomenon: Make it exactly like E-@thletes, a new documentary that follows two teams of pro-gamers as they battle through a year and a half of tournaments.Over director Jonathan Boal's 75-minute film, you'll became acquainted with Team 3D and Complexity, two gaming squads that (in 2006 at least) always seemed to end up facing each other for the top prize. Their game of choice is Counter-Strike. In fact, other games hardly get so much as a mention.
College Gaming League 3v3 Arena Tournament
Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft 3v3 Arenas are part of the new College Gaming League, the first official amateur league partner of the Championship Gaming Series. The Dell-spearheaded venture works with Intel and Microsoft to offer educational discounts and PC bundles for students, faculty and staff at numerous partner schools all over the United States. Students and faculty at Dell University partner schools can register and receive benefits like special offers on games and systems, access to public game servers, and compete in tournaments.Among the tournaments -- which include Xbox 360 and PC games -- is the World of Warcraft 3v3 Arena competition. Registration began last August 21 and closes on September 11, while the official matches span from September 15 to October 5. Loot up for grabs are three Alienware m15x notebooks as Grand Prizes, three Microsoft Zune players as First Prizes, and three $50 Dell gift cards for the runners-up. It's an underwhelming selection past the Grand Prizes, to be sure, but registration is free and members can participate in other tournaments with a host of other prizes to be won. Initiatives like these certainly give students something to while away their time... after they've submitted those term papers, of course.
Play with the CGS pros Friday night on Xbox Live
Heads up competitive gamers. Every other Friday on Xbox Live, the Championship Gaming Series (and their $40,000 Pro-Am Division) are sponsoring a special Play with Pros event where gamers across the globe will be able to challenge the best CGS has to offer. And kicking off the competitive funnery are Phoenix and Master from the Dallas Venom who will be taking on challengers in the Dead or Alive 4 ring this Friday, August 15th from 9:00PM to midnight eastern. If you're up for the challenge, circle every other Friday night on your calendar for some CGS Play with Pros competition. Presser after the break.
Nihilum Arena wins CGS Championship
The premiere 3v3 Arena team from Europe of Cherez, Beasteh, and Hydra -- aka Nihilum Arena -- won top honors at the recently concluded Championship Gaming Series Arena Tournament. This win comes after their notable absence from MLG Orlando despite a 2nd place finish in San Diego. Considering the purse for the MLG series is $12,000 (and an HP Blackbird for each team member), Nihilum fortunately participated in this tournament, winning a whopping $25,000. Frag Dominant Duelists continued their strong showing on the pro circuit, finishing 2nd again after falling to Orz in MLG Orlando about a week ago, and placing first in MLG San Diego. FD-DGFG ran a double healer Rogue, Druid, Priest comp, taking home $12,500 after their defeat to Nihilum Arena's Hunter, Druid, and Priest. Two runner-up teams took home $6,250 apiece. The tournament used a format that pitted Europe's against the United States' best in the finals.The coverage was different from the MLG series, being much more friendly to viewers not overly familiar with the game or Arena tournaments, with extensive previews of the characters used by the players, and an overview of the Arena maps prior to matches. The shoutcasting was also much more casual-friendly, at a significantly slower pace than the MLG coverage. The choice of the infamous Leeroy Jenkins to commentate was definitely a marketing move, with more than a few mistakes (calling Scatter Shot Distracting Shot, saying Ice Block's cooldown as 2 mins vs. the correct 5, being fooled by Cherez' Feign Death, etc.). The level of analysis wasn't as deep as MLG's, which featured Arena pros for commentating. Camera view was also an overhead style as opposed to the third person view used by MLG. Both tournaments had good points, and it's exciting to see Arena play gaining a stronger foothold in the pro gaming scene.
CGS World of Warcraft Arena Championship
On Saturday, July 19th, the four finalists in the CGS 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Championship will meet in the squared circle of pixels to duel it out for glory. The four finalists are MoB Gaming (US), Frag Dominant (US), aÄa Agïta (EU), and Nihilum Arena (EU). The US teams will fight first, then the EU teams, and then the winners will face-off up to determine the final champion.The matches run in a best-of-five format, ending when one team reaches three victories. There is a 15 minute time limit for each round, and the show will be live streamed by the Championship Gaming Series. The matches will be shoutcasted by none other than the infamous Leeroy Jenkins. No, really. The show starts at 4PM Eastern, with aÄa Agïta versus Nihilum. MoB Gaming versus Frag Dominant kicks off around 5PM Eastern, and the US Finalist versus the EU Finalist will fight it out by 6PM. That schedule's going to shift a bit, obviously, if any of the match ups finish especially quickly. At any rate, we'll let you know who wins.
Championship Gaming Series coming to G4
For those who know of "the giggle loop," we're attempting not to succumb as we earnestly report this information. The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) announced it will begin airing 90-minute episodes exclusively on cable-station G4 beginning July 16.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?
CGS announces WoW 3v3 Arena Tournament
The Championship Gaming Series is set to kick off its second annual World of Warcraft Arena championship. The top 1,000 Arena teams from North America and Europe will compete June 9 to 22, on an independent ladder with the fierce competition taking place on the CGS tournament realm sanctioned by Blizzard. The two teams remaining at the top in each region will be flown to Los Angeles, California where the final matches will take place on the CGS League set and broadcast live on thecgs website. First place nets a cool $25,000, second place walks away with $12,500, and the last two teams will each net $6,250. This blogger can't stand the Rogue, Mage, Priest comps that kill my more casual random pickup team so I'll be watching from the sidelines. Good luck to all the pro qualifiers and hopefully you weren't banned for win trading before qualifying.
Championship Gaming Series announces Arena Tourney with a $25k prize
The Championship Gaming Series has announced its second World of Warcraft Arena championship, to be held in June and July later this year. It'll be a 3v3 tourney, and CGS is taking its cues from Blizzard -- they've got their own Arena realm to hold it on, and all the options on the official tournament realm will be available on theirs, too.In fact, it sounds like the tournament is actually starting on the live realms themselves -- CGS says that they're going to invite the top 1,000 Arena teams from North America and Europe, so if you're one of those, you can probably expect an email with an invite. The actual tournament takes place in June, with the finals in Los Angeles on July 19th, and the winner netting a $25,000 purse. The second place team gets half of that ($12,500), and the 3rd and 4th place teams will each take home $6,250.Nice work if you can get it. Good luck to everyone out there.
CGS draft (and Joystiq) at the Playboy Mansion
The Championship Gaming Series had their inagural gamer draft at the Playboy Mansion last night, and we took it upon ourselves to attend and give you the scoop. It was grueling and arduous to make it through hours at Hef's historical hangout, but somehow we managed to survive. The things we do for you readers really shows our resolve.First of all, we'd really like to know where all the money is coming from, because this event certainly wasn't cheap. We know they had some big name sponsors last night (Mountain Dew, XPS, Xbox 360, DirecTV, IGN, etc), but did they pay for all of it? Will they be funding the whole gaming season? According to the folks we talked to last night, this production alone cost a million dollars (rented crane, multiple cameras, live streaming, flatscreens galore, and a partridge in a pear tree), plus once you factor in the cost of hosting an event at the Mansion, providing food and drinks for 500 people, parking, shuttles and hiring Bunnies and CGS girls ... you've spent a pretty penny. But will it all be worth it?%Gallery-3926%
CGS boasts $5 mil payroll, Playboy Mansion pro-gamer draft
Hosting its inaugural player draft far from the storied sanctum of The Garden, with a paltry $5 million league-wide payroll, (an amount routinely squandered on a single signing bonus for a young athlete in another professional league,) the Championship Gaming Series continues to take baby steps toward becoming a marquee "sports entertainment" business. Still, come June 12, 60 prospects will split the riches, as they're contracted to join one of six city-based squads that will compete in a small variety of games leading up to the CGS Grand Slam and World Championships this October. Not a bad gig, eh? But what of this Playboy Mansion draft locale? If CGS is to be taken seriously, it's gotta avoid these WWEsque publicity stunts ... right? Maybe not. A lil' scantly-clad drama might be just the lure needed to hook viewers who might not otherwise tune into a glorified LAN party.
