“M-C! M-C! M-C! M-C!” The crowd in the bar is going nuts, the cheers and chants of over 100 StarCraft fans reverberating off the walls around me.
British scientists recently studied pro gamers’ physiology and reflexes to determine if what they do could be classified as a sport. One gamer in his 20s was described as having the lungs of a 60-year-old chain smoker.
Tournaments sanctioned by Major League Gaming will be a multiplayer feature of certain upcoming EA Sports titles, under a deal announced today by the two parties that proposes to establish “the definitive ranking system for sports gamers in North America”.
Did you realise that the television show Survivor was a going concern among television viewers? I certainly didn’t, having completely given up on network television after those bastards decided to cancel Journeyman after one partial season, which is why I had no idea that the one of the cast members for the latest season of Survivor is professional gamer Ken Hoang, the current international champion of Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Melee. Survivor: Gabon premiers on September 25th, when we’ll get to see Ken put his gaming skills to the test in the very physical competition.
My prediction? Ken gets ironically eaten by several wild animals who have never before appeared together hunting the same game.
Ken’s Bio Page For Survivor: Gabon [CBS.com - Thanks RLJohn!]
Can gaming honestly be a spectator sport? Andy Reif thinks so. Of course he does, he’s the commissioner of e-sports league Championship Gaming Series. He points out:
NASCAR, apart from the NFL, is by far the biggest sport in this country. It’s been around for 40 years or so. Only in the last 10 years or so did it really explode. We’re really lucky because a lot more people play video games than drive stock cars. So we have a real opportunity to blow this up a lot quicker, but it is not going to happen in a day.
We’re lucky because more people play video game than drive stock cars? That’s some kooky logic at work.
Championship Gaming Series [Games Industry]8Image]
The Championship Gaming Series has announced that Seoul is the newest franchise city for their world-wide league – not a huge surprise when you consider Korea is one of the few countries where video game competitions are a viable spectator sport. The gamers for the new franchise (save one female DOA player) were selected after “an exciting showdown” at the eStars Seoul game festival.
