Championship Gaming Series kicks off
A new league for professional gamers, the Championship Gaming Series (CGS), launched this week to a lavish ceremony in the Playboy Mansion. One of the highlights of the event was the selection of Vanessa Arteaga, a Dead or Alive player, as the number one pick for the draft.The games chosen for this event are: Dead or Alive 4, Fifa 07, Counter-Strike: Source, and Project Gotham Racing 3.
Hoping to emulate the success of professional sports leagues like the NBA or the NFL, the CGS will have team franchises with actual paid “athletes”. The season will start every year with the draft and include special events and a championship. Not limited to North America, CGS will also establish franchises in cities in Latin America, the UK, Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa/ Middle East. The league has already signed deals with BSkyB, Star and DirecTV to be broadcast live on HD.
The CGS could prove to be a massive hit if it manages to mix in excitement with the suspense that characterizes big sporting events. I’m still pretty curious though as to how it will manage to keep people interested all year long, with players battling it out only on four different games. Also, how will CGS handle classic sporting issues like home field advantage, injuries and player swap deals?
Posted at 8:47 pm on Jun 19th
I’m curious as to how this will affect Online Video Game Tournament sites… Right now, there are thousands of people that flock to local LAN parties and small regional events and MILLIONS that play online but only a few dozen that will be included in the CGS.
What about everyone else? Will the CGS and MLG be false beacons of hope for gamers that dream of careers in gaming? Or will more and more gamers realize that they can supplement their income and hone their skills on Online Tournament sites such as (shameless plug) http://www.getgosu.com.
I think its important to realize that the real winners in the CGS and MLG are the sponsors - not the gamers. There has been a huge amount of buzz around these league launches and almost all of them are associated with products, networks, cell phones or god knows what else..