@ShaggE:
Don't forget about testing for other "performance enhancers"

PissedPS3Fan

Um. MLG is SERIOUS BUSINESS!!!!

Fishballs

@ShaggE:

ROFL!

EnigmaNemesis

Well with recent news of a new pill to provide gamers with a competitive edge and also this news that ESPN will be providing coverage for pro gaming then I guess I will ask the next logical question.

When is the first congressional hearing for taking performance enhancing drugs for Major League Gaming?

/Sarcasm

bakedpigeon

@The Black Pigeon:

I would love to hear some Stuart Scott and Kenny Mayne commentary for gaming.

That would be some funny shit! Especially when I run into them a lot, living near ESPN and doing business there!

EnigmaNemesis

I just think video games make for bad television. I'd much rather watch burly dudes wearing flannel chop down a tree, or throw an axe than a mashup of dudes with overinflated egos sitting a computer, and the video feed from a starcraft or counterstrike match. Like golf, fun to play, boring as hell to watch someone play. The Highlight reel MIGHT be worth watching.

A lot of sports broadcasting is the personalities of the players, and frankly, many pro-gamers are assholes.

GustoGaiden

Can't wait to see Thresh on my box of L33ties cereal.

Unfortunately, the sports section of the paper will be filled with news of athletes getting tested for illegal usage of aimbots and corked mice.

ShaggE

I'm a video game addict.

I think 'professional gaming' is one of the most idiotic concepts I've ever heard conceived.

Granted, I think watching other people be athletic is boring as well, but I don't think it's absurd for others to be interested.

Mact

C'mon, guys. You mean to tell me you wouldn't enjoy listening to Stuart Scott explain why the rockets have to be shot at a certain angle, or Skip Bayless complain about how Fatal1ty is a overpaid drama queen who is a cancer in the locker room? (And still find some way to blame Terrell Owens for it)

Comedy GOLD, I tell you.

The Black Pigeon

@Stormrider900: I agree sometimes. But there do come the time when you are so good in a game that you wanna test the waters, and it is fun, atleast to participate in, maybe not watching.

I know I had a lot of fun in RTS tournaments and CS ones as well as other FPS games. And I would like to when maybe I was younger to have entered some competition for Street fighter etc.

Also, some of the most fun I had was running a clan in gaming. But each to their own.

Irenicus-the one and only

I still think pro gaming is stupid, but apparently people think there's a market for it.

Stormrider900

"This game seems to be Street Fighter... hmmm, I believe the objective is to... fight! On the street! ... ... Enjoy these closeups of the competitors' faces! Isn't that what you wanted to see? How about a three year old interview?"

ZinkO: can do italics now!

I'm going to laugh my ass off when I hear "BOOM HEADSHOT" on sports center. Just wait and see ;p

GUNLOC_MORIYM

I think it is nice that professional gaming is taken seriously. I hope this will end well, it gives more prestige to some gaming like fps games in my view.

And I know everytime they air a piece about it in the news someone I know that don't like gaming suddenly gets interested.

Irenicus-the one and only

I'm all for a gaming league but they need to mix things up a little. Practically everything they show is UT or some other type of shooter. There's not much else in the way of competiton from other genres.

Sparx88

The ESPN MLG site has been up for almost a week now. Where's Kotaku been on this :(

And hey, it can't do worse then ESPN's coverage of Magic the Gathering... right? Right guys?

huginn

This is the sports equivalent to that one friend you had/have... the one who says "come on over and see my awesome new game." Then he expects you to watch it without playing.

That's right. ESPN is that guy.

SuperCracker

its a pretty understandable step considering the lumberjack stuff and even lawnmower racing on ESPN, but as far as me being a gamer, I really could care less, to actually watch someone else play games, when I could be doing it myself. Thats just that next echelon of laziness I have yet to hit I suppose.

DrunkRaba

If they take "eating contests" and "poker" seriously in the sports world, this is only more natural!

EnigmaNemesis

Get ready for big foam rubber contollers.

SuperCracker

Yawn. I rather watch paint dry.

Karlos2121

@SithNinja: First of, it is 158k USD lol

Second of, it is millions of dollars that they make, some do anyway.

Third, 158k as you say is nothing to frown upon, especially when some make twice that a year including all expenses just from the sponsorship alone.

Anyway, whats your point? you made a joke about live arcade games etc. And now you say it isn't an achievement too, it is more likely that you are trolling.

Irenicus-the one and only

I guess my interest in all this would come down to the games.

For instance, a recent guilty pleasure of mine is watching Korean Starcraft matches on YouTube. I know and like the game enough to appreciate a great match when I see one and the progamers involved in them.

Jest

@EnigmaNemesis:
No worries then :D

@Irenicus-the one and only:

Well considering that 1 million Krona is only about $156k USD (being generous) that's not much of an achievement.

SithNinja

@Hiero Glyph: Poker requires the same amount of movement and physicality. Which really is none but they have poker on all the time.

Not that I care about gaming on ESPN or ESPN Online unless its some how amazing and exciting. Sure I guess some of the "ski11z" will be "1337" but boring none the less.

Now one could have fun drinking beer and yelling HaXoR at the TV. Like the next NASCAR LOL.

I = Nascar fan

dvdman98

@Justice7541: I couldn't imagine watching an RTS match and staying entertained for long.

It'd be fun yelling "YOU NEED MORE PYLONS, IDIOT!" at the TV screen though.

ShaggE

@Nikolii: Well, that is your "opinion". Which you are entitled to have. But don't think I will change mine, or many other people that likes those "sports" you mentioned :)

@Justice7541: I played Age of empires 2 heavely very long ago, tournaments and I enjoyed playing as much as I did watching that actually, more then an FPS.

Irenicus-the one and only

@Irenicus-the one and only:

It isn't a sport for the same reasons auto racing (especially driving-in-an-oval-for-4-hours-NASCAR), poker/blackjack, or chess aren't sports.

Sports measure athletic skill, not being able to drive, memorization of odds, memorization of openings, or being able to pwn n00bz0rz in whatever the FPS-of-the-day is. It might take skill, there might be some money into it, but it isn't a sport by any means.

Nikolii

Yep, unless I get to watch pro infinite combos on XvSF or something, don't really care all that much.

Fighters and maybe RTSs are the only kind of game worth watching, really.

Justice7541

@Hiero Glyph: Well, I have to admit I have never been to MLG either, what I speak of is my experience of professional gaming in Europe and Sweden where I'm from.

Mainly being counter strike, but everyone as far as I know/seen have acted mature all the time. The fans however, now that I think is ridiculus, being a fan is :P they trash talk a lot, but not more then fans of any other sport.

As for things being edited, I never really watched this on TV, but Live. And I could understand the heavy editing walking away from it. But I don't know any about the events shown on american television.

From my personal experience, you trash talk a lot as a gamer, but as soon as you see green, in terms of a sponsor or winning an event, you stop talking trash. Or get kicked pretty quickly.

Irenicus-the one and only

cool now maybe I'll know something about sports

mferrari

@ARboom is now: mechakucha(XBL) and CaptainKillface(PSN):

I agree, but tell me it wouldn't kick ass like The Wizard, if it was a new never before seen high profile game, they never played and had to compete in?

Ok, maybe if I was 10 years old again. :-/

EnigmaNemesis

@SithNinja:

I didn't mean for it to sound condescending in the slightest ... and for that I apologize. Was just adding to it, and it did sound shrewd, but that wasn't my intent, I can assure you.

EnigmaNemesis

@Irenicus-the one and only: First, I have never attended a national MLG event. Second, the local events always have some form of trash-talking happening at one time or another. Lastly, the events shown on TV are heavily edited so I have no way to verify it either way. Besides, it's not like gaming holds a televised press conferences after each match.

Hiero Glyph

@Mact:

I agree friend, I was being funny, you know... joking around and all!

i.e. sarcastic!

EnigmaNemesis

@Hiero Glyph: Let me remind you I speak of professional gamers, not 5 12-year olds in Halo2 wearing the same tag.

Irenicus-the one and only

@Hiero Glyph: Can you give me one example of this in the professional gaming scene out of people getting payed, winning and or sponsored? I have yet to see it myself you know.

Irenicus-the one and only

Wow. I dare say MLG is the most boring "sport" since NASCAR. Seriously, I never understood why people would want to watch other people play videogames. That's like watching someone else watch movies.

ARboom is now: mechakucha(XBL) and CaptainKillface(PSN)

@Irenicus-the one and only: Just like in sports, not all teams have the same respect for each other. The difference is that players on professional sports teams will suffer fines or penalties for acting a certain way at events while 'professional' gamers do not. Don't forget that it only take a small percentage to ruin it for everyone else and when dealing with the gaming industry, you have a primarily immature teenagers as the majority.

Hiero Glyph

This is great news! Now I have a question...is Bawls a performance enhancing drug?

silkylove

@Nikolii: I think this is a sport as much as some of the other thousands of sports in the real world that is considered to be a "sport". Now you may not like it but it is a sport.

@Mact: If that is true, why not become a millionaire yourself pulling this joke of ha? Sorry but it does take a lot of skill, professional CS players play more then a professional athlete practises or as much as a poker player play daily. But believe what you want...

Irenicus-the one and only

@Raziel3333: I throughly enjoyed watching the parry fest by the talented Umehara Daigo against Justin Wong in SF3 at Evolution 2004. If this brings amazing matches like that to the table, I wouldn't mind watching skilled players doing their thing.

KeroseneClimax

@buttpwner: Don't get us all wrong, the top 1% of anything is very good at what they do. I was a chess grand master as a child and won multiple tournaments but I would never expect to compare myself to a real athlete. Gaming is fun to watch IF you enjoy playing games. The audience is so selective that ESPN is NOT the proper outlet; G4 would be the best choice. If you put gaming on ESPN you might as well put Iron Chef on there too.

Hiero Glyph

The only way this would ever work was if they sported some sort of coverage over XBLA. Such as creating games where the in game spectators are actually avatars (think HOME or Mii) that can watch the game in real time. EPSN could do pregame coverage bring advertising and everything.

Which would be better? Having some people over to see your paintings in your HOME home, Or watching an actual race or fight tournament or football game, just like you would in real life, in the stands as a spectator watching as two or more people actually compete against each other in a sports match. it would be the true star of virtual reality. (Second Life can S.M.B.)

kuzuboshii

@buttpwner:

I laugh at how you seem to think it takes any serious amount of discipline OR skill to become good at a videogame. In comparison to any major athlete and the time they had to invest to get as good as they are, 'pro gamers' are a joke.

Just because people are into it doesn't make it a great thing.

Mact

I'd rather watch lumberjack contests than poker, pro gaming, and the NBA. How the mighty have fallen.

Minister of Fun

@EnigmaNemesis: Near Bristol eh? Nice to see another CT valley person on here.

As for the MLG coming to TV, I suppose it would be "fun" to watch if my 360 ever needs to go in for repair again...though I thought that's what G4 was for.

selcouth14

funny how people seem to not really understand the nature of competitive gaming. a real pro game is nothing like your xbox live matches, it's just as exhilarating as watching any other sport assuming you know the mechanics of the game. true watching your buddy play diablo during a slumber party is just about as boring an activity one can partake in. but watching a couple serious competitive pro teams go against each other in counterstrike or starcraft and understanding the discipline and skill it takes to get so good is nothing like the latter. i don't watch football because i really know nothing about the intricacies of the sport, but watch a korean televised starcraft match and you'll see the fans are just as zealous and into the game as football fans, sometimes even more so.

buttpwner

@EnigmaNemesis:
There is more and more advertising in poker each year as well ( it is getting to the point where next year I can expect to see some players wearing NASCAR style jumpsuits at the tables... oh wait that did happen this year..) but only the "top profesionals" get corporate sposorship the other 90% of the people in the tourneys are putting up their own cash to compete.
Oh and by the way next time try reading the ENTIRE comment before responding... I did also say "just like EVERYTHING ELSE on TV."...guess what everything else includes... POKER!

@ EVERYONE ON KOTAKU
Why must people take every little comment made as a personal attack and go on the defensive if it even slightly goes against something they say? I am seeing it on every single post (whether I "instigate" it or not)

SithNinja

@EnigmaNemesis:

Actually, that is more reason for me to not watch it.

1) I like real women, thank you.

2) I don't like being assumed to be a moron. I don't know what to think of you if you do...

Mact

This isn't the first time ESPN took gaming "seriously."
[en.wikipedia.org]

Come on, everyone's stumbled through an episode of Madden Nation. You know, that reality TV show where they took a herd of Madden cheesers and dropped them in a bus so they could scream at each other?

Totally painful to watch.

This deal should at least give ESPN something else to show during dead-times (Superbowl, NCAA basketball tourny, etc).

Sad that this bullshit NOT-SPORT garbage will probably get more coverage than the NHL.

Nikolii

@Hiero Glyph:

I agree.

While it's true that even sports take practice to become amazing, the learning curve for any game is much more abbreviated.

Mact

If MLG gets 10x the viewers professional paintball and the Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour telecasts got combined, it'll be cancelled after four days, and not after the pilot.

rbininger

Wait...

...now I know who to blame.

HALO 3 IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!

Get ready for the slow-motion replay, folks.

Mact

@Hiero Glyph: The people I met in the professional scene have been very mature. I have yet to see trash talk from any of these players myself.

Irenicus-the one and only

@Reiichi:

The only gameplay videos that make me say 'wow' are...

a) Incredible glitch use.

b) Halo Forged maps. Preferably ones that result in a ridiculous suicide.

Mact

@SithNinja: I know people in Sweden that are now set for life financially from playing CS 1.6

And some of those Halo 2 players are millionaires as well from MLG if I'm not misstaken.

@Raziel3333: If you compete yourself then it can be, but you got a point. However it is fun to compete yourself. I think so anyway.

Irenicus-the one and only

You guys are forgetting one thing...

They will show enough tits and ass to keep us glued to it!

Well us heterosexual dogs and raging bull dikes anyhow.

Normal gay women, heterosexual women, and gay men, would be SOL!

EnigmaNemesis

@EnigmaNemesis:

Except that either is theoretically interesting to watch.

Mact

Stewart Scott "His double-shot has really been off these last few matches Skip, do you think he has what it takes to be a dominating factor this season?"

Skip Bayless "Well I think if he can control his quad-shots and maybe throw down a few BXR's here and there he will have a very strong chance to be in that championship game."

Okay im done.

bakedpigeon

This is hilarious news. No offense to my fellow gamers out there but gaming is not, in its current form, a sport. It does not take athletic ability to 'pwn' someone in a game. Yes it takes practice, skill and sometimes teamwork but so does cooking, Sudoku and Monopoly.

Trust me, watching teenagers trash talk each other thinking they are the best thing to happen to gaming since Pong is not a good image for the rest of the world to see on ESPN. If you don't believe me just play Call of Duty 4 and watch the British trash the Americans, the Americans trash everybody (including themselves) and the Japanese... my mistake, the Japanese don't play CoD4.

MLG should be left to channels like G4 or Spike. At least the audience will properly enjoy watching the (heavily edited) matches. Given the choice I would rather stream them online with my choice of player's view or via an overhead observer, like in Halo 3.

Gaming is not ready for this step forward and the maturity of gamers needs to increase drastically before I would ever want to watch a teenager pretend to be as skilled as LeBron James, Reggie Bush or most college athletes in general.

Hiero Glyph

yes cause i have SO much fun watching other people play video games.

Raziel3333

Gogo Major League Glitchers.

iamnotdryad

@SithNinja:

In poker it is all advertising as well. And that money they are playing with is not "theirs" ... it is SPONSORED money ... guess what sponsoring is? Advertising!

EnigmaNemesis

@Reiichi: Watching the Korean pro-gamers play StarCraft at BlizzCon was pretty mindblowing. Still, I'd had my fill after about 15 minutes.

McWhertor

Depends on the game. I think I'd enjoy watching people with godlike skills show off in a video game. They have to be godlike though, ludicrous kills and all. I'm sure many of us have seen clips of invisible tetris or guitar hero on Kotaku and have gone 'wow'.

Reiichi

@EnigmaNemesis:
At least in poker they are playing for 10s of millions of dollars. What are these guys playing for? Free DLs on XBLA??
It's all about advertising and marketing for the game industry in general. Look at all the ad space that GameStop and XBOX are going to get out of it. That is the only reason to televize this kind of crap. (just like everything else on TV)

SithNinja

@Irenicus-the one and only:

Agree to disagree. I'm just going to cut that line of argument so we're not going back-and-forth all night.

There's a fullblown tour and World Series of Blackjack type event. Basically the same treatment poker gets minus the cameras and ESPN deal. I don't consider either game a sport though. Hard to call something a test of skill when the entire thing banks on random luck. Might as well call roulette a sport if that's the case.

Nikolii

@orangedude: Makes me sometimes wish I lived in Korea, especially during the years I was addicted to SC :)

I seen some fellow swedish gamers get treated like gods in Asia.

@Nikolii: Sorry, that is an opinion, not a fact, just throwing out the word fact does not change reality. But I agree with you that in my opinion that black jack is not a sport, are there people that clame it to be like Poker or something?

Irenicus-the one and only

Lol, most of you people have no idea what true E-Sports is, because you've never seen the Starcraft progaming scene in Korea. The top players are exactly like the athletes here, with huge fanbases and tournament matches can fill Olympic-sized stadiums of spectators who pay to watch the matches live. All of the top players are organized into professional teams that regularly hold televized matches with each other and winning tournaments give you a huge amount of prestige, much like movie stars. There are two television channels in Korea (MBC, OGN) dedicated to broadcasting SC matches and several others that occasionally show large events.

Here's the 2007 Hype video for the OnGameNet Star League if you want a taste of what's going on there.
[www.youtube.com]

Nothing outside of Korea, like MLG is even close.

orangedude

@Irenicus-the one and only:
An opinion would be that MLG is stupid. A fact would be that the modern and historical understanding of the definition of "sport" focuses around some form of physical skill.

I enjoy playing blackjack. I'll go down to the casino and play for a few hours and generally come out ahead. I've placed high in a few local tournys. It's a great way to get free drinks and kill an otherwise slow evening, and it takes some form of logic/skill to figure out odds on the fly (read: keep a count) and has a semi-competitive edge. All that said, it isn't a sport.

Nikolii

@SithNinja: I hear you on that :) I too would refuse watching baseball on TV :P

Nice to see you made a good reply, and sorry for being realy picky about the 2k USD lol I just had to look it up myself when I saw that number, hehhe.

Well I agree, I only watched these things live, and it was games I played myself so I would maybe not be so hyped about watching it. But then again, I sometimes watched poker on TV so this can't be worse :)

And if I can watch poker on TV lol then there will be an audience for this.

Irenicus-the one and only

@Irenicus-the one and only:

You are right about the conversion, I rounded the wrong number. :D The XBLA comment was joke. If it is on TV they are making real money.My point is just because they are making money doing it doesn't mean that it needs to be on TV. This kind of thing from, my perspective anyway, could only really be enjoyed live and even then I think it would be limited. I would equate it Baseball. I will go see any game live but you couldn't pay me to watch it on TV. On top of that, with all the editing that they would have to do by not showing what's going on "on screen" for TV it would be like watching a rated R movie that has been edited down for broadcast. When that happens it makes me wanna watch the movie on DVD (if I own it) and in the same sense watching someone play a game on TV will only make me wanna play the game myself.

SithNinja

@iamnotdryad: You tell me. I just said my opinion of why people watch gamers play above. Whether YOU would consider watching it for the reasons mentioned above or another, is a decision for yourself.

KeroseneClimax

@iamnotdryad: Not directed at me but... If it is a game you love, that has a competetive component to it, not talking about a singleplayer game here. You might want to watch it if you love the game, you play it yourself and is a part of the community. But I have to admit, I only watched these things myself when I played myself in a clan and so forth in the game I watched.

If you don't like it then you don't watch it, but people can and do watch this for the same reason some people watch a football game or a game of hockey instead of playing it themselves, or do it while still playing it.

Irenicus-the one and only

So in 20 years the steroid scandal stories on sportscenter will finally give way to hacking scancal stories?

r0Be

@iamnotdryad: It's already pretty evident that you don't want to, no matter what he replies with. The onus isn't on him to try to convince you otherwise.

Jest

@KeroseneClimax:

Please tell me why I would want to WATCH someone else play a video game when I could go play the same game myself.

iamnotdryad

@ARboom is now: mechakucha(XBL) and CaptainKillface(PSN): I don't see the correlation between watching a videogame someone is playing and watching a person who is watching a film?

People enjoy observing professional gamers show off their skills because they bring an entertaining experience to the crowd with their masterful command and unrivaled expertise to bring a game beyond simple "Button-Mashing". When guys with complete mastery over a game play, it's no longer a game of luck or "fun", it's about bringing the knowledge you've acquired to thoroughly and efficiently beat your opponent to win. No different then chess or martial arts. And like chess and martial arts, people eat it up.

The people in question don't make the wages they do playing like the average Joe. Like any other professional league of gaming, these guys are pros and literally study a game down to it's programming just to hone their abilities further. Your not watching a game being taken to it's limits until you see these guys play.

KeroseneClimax

"Professional Gaming" seems to be the ultimate oxymoron.

bornonce

@RagnarokAngel: Law and Order, Priceless comment :D

Irenicus-the one and only

Meh, pro gaming in Korea makes this look like kiddy stuff. Not that I live there, dangit.

But seriously actual pro gamers are insane - studying framerates to maximize your damage per hit in a fighter, understanding the actual intricacies of an RTS beyond knowing that siege damage does well against fortified armor but instead learning average damage per hit and how to maximize the results. Severe macro and micro. Pro RTS is on a whole 'nother level, chess on steroids (imho). I can stand watching a match of starcraft from FP of guys like julyzerg and that ridiculous terran player (wish I remembered his name).

If there's nothing on TV I'll bite, but Law and Order is ALWAYS on....

RagnarokAngel

Oh fuck, off! They'll promote the spelling bee, texas hold'em, and now this ridiculous shit, but not actual sports like soccer or hockey?!

Thrillhaus

@ywpark:
They used to be over the top, looking a bit futuristic and shit, but all the teams have changed their uniforms. They now look more similar to standard team uniforms that an athlete would wear. Just because you are Korean doesn't make a difference, because you were probably raised in Western culture, which has a stigma for gaming. You just sound jealous, because the top gamers are a lot more popular and will make a ton more $$ than you ever will.

orangedude

@Nikolii:Wow... lol well, I guess I learn something new everyday.

Well Poker does actually take some skill, well, I use to play poker a hell of a lot to, that professionaly as well. Yeah... lets just agree to disagree and call it night lol

Irenicus-the one and only

@EnigmaNemesis: Don't forget! The spelling bee is on ESPN!

Anyway I am Korean and I have always felt that gaming TVs are lame and very gay. I sometimes watch those channels when back home and can't stop laughing at all the weird clothes these "pro" gamers are wearing.

ywpark

It's more of a legitimate sport than NASCAR.

KM91

@KeroseneClimax: The Daigo/Wong match always gets brought up when people talk about competitive gaming.:)
From a fighting game fan's perspective this doesn't mean much to me. MLG is basically a glorified FPS tournament by now, a genre which outside of playing with a few close friends I have little interest in, and honestly I think it's a little ridiculous that shooters are all they run when there are many types of games played competitively at a high level. I know they've tried other things in the past, but they weren't promoted nearly as well and have since been dropped.
For those who are into this its a pretty big deal though, if for no other reason than getting more exposure for their scene, so more power to 'em for that.

At least I'll always have my EVO dvds. :*(

adam1985

Up here in Canada, we've been able to watch MLG events for awhile on thescore. A sports channel, that shows mostly everything from hardcore mma to poker to mlg to college football and everything in between.

MLG is actually incredibly boring to watch, same teams get coverage, they don't show full games, and all they play is halo2 (no disrepect to h2 btw)

and they trash talk as much as the rest of the halo crowd...just not as rudely

i'd be more inclined to watch it on a sports network if they played ya know sports...

TragicsNFG

Yea. Instead of playing a game on my shiny HDTV, i can watch people play games... on ESPN no less. Gag me.

UncleScrotar

@KeroseneClimax:
While I understand your argument, "Your not watching a game being taken to it's limits until you see these guys play." can just as easily be applied to NASCAR. You could take out the word 'game' and replace it with Monte Carlo. Just because they are 'professional gamers' taking something to the 'extreme' doesn't make it any less boring. Games are fun, and sometimes that fun comes from competition, yes. I find that fun dies immediately if I'm not the one participating in that competition, however. I'll admit I can get into watching my friends play each other in Halo or something sometimes, but that's because a) They're my friends and I can actually interact with them instead of passively watching them through a glass tube, and b) we've usually been drinking, which makes almost anything seem cooler than it really is. If you're still reading at this point I thank you for listening to my opinion. If you enjoy watching it then more power to you. I just find watching other people playing one of the most soul chrushingly boring things on the planet.

ARboom

@ARboom: My intent was never to argue whether or not watching professional gamers playing could be considered boring, fun or entertaining. Just to give my opinion on why people would bother to watch in the first place.

Personally, I'm not a connoisseur of watching other people engaging in an activity I myself am not participating in either(watching golf bores me to tears). But if the people playing are not simply "having fun" but are generally putting on a performance to entertain, I'm willing to observe it for the show it is. If of course, it's something I'm interested in already (which golf is not).

In short, I'm not trying to convince anyone to drop what they're doing and suddenly change their views on the matter. I'm not an avid viewer of these video game competitions myself, but I always enjoy a good exhibition, which these guys do bring to the table. I do, however, get what you mean and thank you for disagreeing while still respecting another man's opinion.

KeroseneClimax

I'm against this purely due to my boundless jealousy.

Infradead

Ugh, screw MLG. It's a joke. When glitches become legal and necessary, you've lost me. You're not winning the game, you're winning the crown for glitch king.

I'd rather get excited about real wars and soldiers where anything is possible, rather than limited games where skill is how good of an economist you are, or how good you can be at keeping the thumbstick aimed at a guys head.

Everything you could possibly be excited about in watching a multiplayer game can be found elsewhere, and more often than not it's far more compelling. Sure, maybe that guy totally pulled off some crazy Zerg stunt against that Terran player, but I find the tactics of Germany in WW2 or Carlos Hathcocks service in Vietnam to be way, way more interesting.

If you're THAT big a fan of a game that you want to see it pushed to it's limits, to each his own. Otherwise, tactics, conflict, and soldierly skill outdoes Halo, Unreal or Starcraft any day of the week. Plus, I'd rather evenlop myself in fictional badassery like Boba Fett, Solid Snake, or Ibram Gaunt in situations with limitless potential rather than a game engine that fights battles in a box.

Garro

I understand that MLG wants to cover the most popular games, but they're pretty much all casual (Halo/Madden) that I don't see a lot of people wanting to watch, even if you play them. I think they have Smash, but I still wish they could branch out and seek out some 2-D fighters/Tekken. Maybe SFIV will change their stance. ESPN could at least cover the world fighting-game championships this year (Evolution).

I think it'll take forever for people to care about watching other people play videogames.

GhaleonUnlimited

that's nice and all but will they show anything other than halo matches????? That's all they ever show, give me some other games for the LOVE OF JEEBUZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

taomaster99

@RagnarokAngel: Precision is higher in a fighting game. TBH, good CS teams win because of teamwork more then having the best aim. Thats why the american teams usually loose, they allways focus on the aim and forget the so called team :P

I would say that FPS is a teamsport and a fighting game is like running and jumping etc.

Irenicus-the one and only

I would wager that the precision in a fighting game is actually much higher than on an fps...I remember when I was taking smash brothers really seriously and started wandering the interweb. I found full frame by frame breakdowns, timing for how long an enemy is out of commission after certain moves, how far a character moves, exact specs on how fast they run, and a whole lot more gibberish that I personally couldn't stomach. On the other hand people ate it up when they were going to smash tourneys...And I found out that is how every fighter is.

You can most likely survive on the mlg circuit without ever needing to look at damage that everything does or how fast it can do damage. As long as you can stick someone across a map and keep those thumbs trained on someones head (which is really all just finding your right sensitivity) your pretty good to go.

All I am saying is there is a depth which 95% of gamers in West don't see at all. Playing Warcraft 3 on Korean servers was asking to be raped by someone who had honed their strategy down on a timer. I was more about having an new take on it. I got stomped hard and decided I was going to continue having fun and not being pwnd.

@Irenicus-the one and only: Thanks for the nod

RagnarokAngel

Odd how the least physical sport seems to have the youngest professional retirement rate (not many players above the age of 30).

@GhaleonUnlimited: I agree. My brother plays in these tournaments all the time all around Texas and does decently well in his game; CVS2. I'd like to see him and his friends get coverage. Fighting games are incredibly in-depth when it comes to tournaments, with precision equal to a FPS game.

absentblue

@Irenicus-the one and only: Yeah an FPS is a team "sport" but ,hat about an RTS? Solo and team elements on a whole 'nother level. Chess has something like 10^123 games and that is only with a set amount of units and their placements on the field. Ok so that number is absolutely out there, but think about even an attempt to capsulize the ways that an RTS could be played. Throw out all the strategies that aren't viable at all (like massing probes...yet I've seen wins!) and that number starts looking even bigger. Now throw in the element of sharing resources amongst the different players and them playing to cover the weaknesses left by the other players. It ALL hits the fan. I'm not saying that FPSs don't have a level of difficulty in them but just watching someone who has honed on an RTS is insane. iloveoov, JulyZerg, [ReD]NaDa, SlayerS 'BoxeR' all come to mind as insanely talented in their gameplay as well as a commanding knowledge of starcraft. (I got those names correct because of Wikipedia!) And that is all just single play. I remember playing 4v4 on Wc3 and th epre-plan was absolutely essential then followed by adaptability and the sense of the game later. Micro was essential for most while macro was essential for those teching. Ahh it was amazing and the possibilites on how to approach were really endless. It's just that people get stagnant in standard play... Anyway my point is that if I want to watch something that is phenomenal in the gaming-verse I will watch RTSs and not FPSs.

RagnarokAngel

lol the only games the league runs are Halo 3, Gears of War, and Shadowrun. What a joke.

Heartwork

I think it's great. The kids that excel in MLG have amazing hand-eye coordination and reaction time and deserve to get some attention. A lot of people sit around and can talk trash on it, but most people wouldn't be able to half of what the people competing in MLG do.

marshmelo