Professional Gaming League Raises $10M

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Major League Gaming, aspiring to become the official league of professional videogaming, raised $10 million in funding from Ritchie Capital, and named Matthew Bromberg, the former general manager of Time Warner's Moviefone and AOL Games properties, as president and chief operating officer, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'The championship match for MLG's second season will be held this weekend in New York, where individuals and teams of gamers will battle against others in fighting and shooter games like Microsoft Corp.'s Halo 2 for a total of $100,000 in prizes. ... The company says it is in discussions with various cable networks about deals to have its competitions carried on television. "We want this to be covered as a circuit," said Mr. Bromberg.'"

The Big 3

[Alex P Keaton in da]

Watching people play video games on TV?
It is bad enough watching people in real life while waiting for your turn...
The three most boring activities:
Listening to someone describing their dreams
Listening to someone describe their workout routine
Watching someone else play video games.
Seriously- I think that much like building models or programming, playing games is fun if you are doing it, but who wants to watch someone else do it?
Than again people watch poker and golf on TV....

eh

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll bite. I'd actually like to see something like this. However, it's probably going to suck as they have to deal with the most vile species known to man, gamers. Not only that, but anyone who seems to take a swipe at this kinda thing (*cough cough ARENA cough cough*) generally picks the most brain dead, socially inept, personality vacuums that they can possibly find (so in otherwords they pick perfect examples of most of the yahoos you find taking a swipe at professional gaming). Plus you know it's just going to be halo and instead of anything interesting (some of those korean starcraft matchs are actually rather exciting, of course seeing as how I'm still and age of kings fan the subtle nuances of halo 2, perfect dark zero, and counter strike are lost on me).

Re:"That's what makes it a sport" - ???

[destruct85]

Funnily enough though, I'm sure some would argue that gaming does in fact count as a sport in accordance with the definition you posted. Their argument (and yes I have heard this argument) is that while gaming they are physically exerting themselves. They argue that moving fingers to press buttons and arms to move the mouse (in a PC game) is just as acceptable physical exertion as say running to catch a football or a pitcher throwing a fastball in baseball. Even if you don't agree with this definition of physical exertion, what about games like DDR? It's competitive, it's recreational, it involves physical exertion, so could we classify that as a sport? What about if I start playing it with the controller instead of the dance pad, is it no longer a sport anymore?

Re:The Big 3

[PFI_Optix]

I see a pretty big technical hurdle here.

Nobody wants to watch football from the helmet cam. Remember those things? I think Fox had them. Novel, interesting, and utterly useless. People want to see aerial views of the action.

To my knowledge, there's not a single competitive FPS out there with a strong observer system that would be well-suited to television.

I watch paintball tournaments on TV when I can catch them. What's fun is watching the strategies, the overall action. Not what player B is seeing as he bunkers behind a taco in an attempt to press player D out of his hole.

Re:Really?

[deckone]

Thank you, finally someone caught the real culprit here.. they're playing Halo 2.. why the hell would I wanna watch Halo 2, when i could go over to any college dorm and watch it.. How about an actual computer game like Q4/BF2/CS:S/Lemmings I don't care.. dont make me watch untalented console players play a horrible game.

Awards

[duerra]

Ok, so this is slightly off topic, but it is still somewhat related.

What I would like to see, instead of watching people play games on TV, is an actual awards body for the gaming industry that isn't a complete joke. You know, something like the gaming equivalent to the Oscars or Grammy's. Not that SpikeTV bull crap.

I think there is a lot to be said for the people that make some of the best games every year. Not to mention, lifetime achievment awards for greats like Shigeru Miyamoto, etc.

I'm still shocked that with as much money as the videogame industry pulls in each year, we still don't have an awards body like that. Or if there is, why it isn't being broadcast on national TV each year.

Gaming CAN be interesting to watch...

[wedgewu]

Remember EVO 2004?

The Beast is Unleashed! [google.com]

Even people with a mild interest in Street Fighter can appreciate the skill that took.