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When I was a kid, I always thought it would be awesome if I could get paid to play video games. There couldn’t be a better job in the world! Up until within the last few years, the only viable way to accomplish this be a tester, spending hours and hours slaving over a screen trying to find bugs and glitches. But things are changing fast.
Last week, the Birmingham Salvo captured the title of World Champion in the second season of the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) after defeating the San Francisco OPTX. The CGS is one of the very solid up and coming venues for gamers to earn a living by doing what they love. With major corporate sponsorships, including gamer fuel Mountain Dew and Microsoft, the CGS is bringing a competitive and entertaining broadcast to both DirectTV and G4 audiences
CGS caters to many types of gamers by combining games from a wide array of genres. FIFA 08, Forza Motorsport 2, Dead or Alive 4, and Counterstrike: Source are the games being played this season, covering sports, racing, fighting, and first person shooters. The CGS also adds the unique approach of playing as localized teams to mimic sports teams, making the competition more about overall team performance and less about individual efforts.
Can competitive gaming industry become a mainstream attraction? It may not be there yet, but the CGS is making a very strong and solid attempt at making this childhood fantasy become a reality.
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August 5th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
It’ll get there. albeit a lot slower than South Korea got to where they are, but it will get there. America has too many distractions such as sports, and other activities that occupy mainstream media. As soon as the money starts flowing into gaming on a higher level than it is now (i.e. sponsorships, tournament purses, etc), mainstream media will take up the reigns and ride the gaming pony into the sunset. Money talks.
We’ll get there. It’s just going to take a little bit more time.
Souljabwoy
ConsoleJocks
August 11th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I agree. However, there are still many roadblocks to the success of competitive gaming in the States because there is no clear cut dominant game. In South Korea, Starcraft is the obvious game of choice and has made it easy for the competitive gaming scene to become popular, and therefore has lowered the barrier to entry for other games. This will be a lot harder to accomplish without the clear cut game, but as gaming is becoming a more accepted form of interactive media amongst the masses, I have no doubt that it will become successful at some point in the near future.