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NYT covers WSVG's CBS broadcast tomorrow
The New York Times does a quick profile of the WSVG on the eve of their CBS broadcast tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if you guys knew this, but apparently gaming has been an "odd, insular subculture," and only now are gamers stepping outside into the harsh sunlight, rays blinding their sunken-in eyes as they blink at the real world around them.Idiotic gamer stereotypes aside, the article does mention a few interesting things about how the network and the WSVG have worked together to make complicated games more accessible to an audience that may not understand them. We heard a few of the ideas, including the health bars and the "Iceblock" graphic, yesterday in our exclusive interview with WSVG President Matt Ringel (that's right, the Gray Lady is picking up WoW Insider's news scraps), but there is mention of a Guitar Hero mechanic that I hadn't heard-- at tournaments, instead of just the scoreboard, there's also a "showmanship judge" that can give points for an enthusiastic performance.Are you planning on watching the show tomorrow? I am, but not necessarily because I expect it to be amazing. Just like I sat through the terrible comic book movie of Spawn all those years ago just so we could have a great comic book movie like Batman Begins, I'm going to give them my eyeballs tomorrow so we can hopefully have some great spectator eSports in the future.
Alcohol and micropayments mix all too well
Micropayments are already flowing freely on Xbox Live and are becoming increasingly popular in MMO circles. However, Opposable Thumbs points out an unfortunate problem with any micropayment-based system that stores your payment details--it's all too easy to buy things when intoxicated.Of course, this problem extends beyond the realm of gaming, to websites and even real-world transactions. However, the nature of gaming as an entertainment activity means that perhaps enforced self-controls may help those of us whose wallets get looser with liquid.
