Video Games Officially a Sport?

Video gaming may be the ascendant televised sport. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has just set up the Championship Gaming Series, or CGS, which made its debut a few nights ago on the DirecTV stations BSkyB and Star TV, and although no one can say for sure how big this trend is really going to be, it looks as though vicarious virtuality will finally be giving vicarious reality a run for its money. The league’s spokesperson, Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendell, gives his thoughts on the matter:

We couldn’t help but notice that gaming had actually become a sport. Not only in the way the gamers created teams to compete, but also in their conditioning and mind set and dedication while playing. So it wasn’t a quantum leap to then determine if it was becoming a sport, we should cover it like a sport, said David Hill, President of DIRECTV Entertainment. “The reaction to our first production, the Championship Gaming Invitational, was little short of phenomenal, so it was a no-brainer to take this next logical step to create the series. We believe the combination of a world wide broadcast platform, coupled with forward thinking partners like Mountain Dew, will create a brand new sport which is truly universal. Championship Gaming Series has the potential to become the next soccer in terms of world wide appeal.

Sounds pretty interesting. The actual proceedings for the league are as follows:

The Championship Gaming Series will be based in five regions around the world: North America, Latin America, UK, Europe and Australia/Asia/Middle East.

Each region will host online qualifiers and live tournament events to determine the teams which will represent each area. From those competitions, twelve champion teams will emerge and compete in the league’s Grand Slam round. Grand Slam winners, both individuals and teams, will advance to the Championship Gaming Series World Championship, which will be hosted in the United States.

Championship Gaming Series teams will consist of squads dedicated to playing specific game genres, including racing, fighting, action/adventure/strategy and first person shooters. In the United States, the series will have six regional teams comprised of the best players in each gaming genre.

It’s definitely within the realm of possibility that this thing will be huge. The South Koreans have been doing it for years, but then again they have always treated gaming as a far more serious and social activity appropriate to all ages and genders, whereas in America gaming has often been denigrated as private, almost antisocial behavior unsuited to the collective rallying around a team so common to professional sports. This could be one of the biggest trends in entertainment emerging over the next decade, and definitely one to watch.

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