Video Game Television Comes to CBS

Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:19AM EDT

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Yay, verily, ever since I was a wee lad watching Starcade! at 6am on Saturday morning have I yearned for video games to come to network television. Well, maybe not so much in recent years... I have to admit, watching video dispatches from game tournaments online can be a pretty snoozy affair. But if nothing else, yesterday's introduction of the World Series of Video Games to CBS's sports programming is nothing short of a rite of passage for an industry that has never earned much respect.

As the New York Times article points out, we shouldn't be surprised: Poker and glorified karaoke are major television phenomenons. ESPN2 has even run shows of Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon card game tournaments in the past. Naturally, on cable networks like G4, gaming programing is quite popular. But for network TV, this is new territory.

Right now it's really an experiment for CBS, which is testing the waters to see if there's an audience for video game programming. The format seems a little iffy, to say the least: A Guitar Hero II competition includes showmanship along with accuracy, and one of the games, World of Warcraft, is not really well-suited to tournament play. At least with Fight Night Round 3 I can understand how a competition would work. (Sadly, I didn't find out about this broadcast until after it aired, so I can't comment how well it all turned out; if anyone has an online video link I'd love to see it. You can see a teaser video here.)

So, while we wait for the ratings, I put it to you: Would you watch a video game competition on TV? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised if you would. People spend hours on end watching strangers ride bikes and play golf in the name of spectator sports... why not a little Fight Night, too?

LINK: Video Game Matches to Be Televised on CBS

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  • 1 Posted by d_gambino06 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    well i would love to watch something like this. besides the fact that i am a gamer myself. i really think with all the other reality show out that that are such big hit. then why not let the gamers have there turn in it also. but the only downside to me is that not everbody likes game like fight night. so i dont see why they couldnt have a tournament still set-up for games like guitar hero or anonther like that style. but for the most part i also think that this show will do really well. an will also get more people into gameing.

  • 2 Posted by ytech_patterson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    I watched it -- predictably, there was *way* too much annoying chatter from the co-hosts (neither of whom seemed to know much about gaming). Of the three competitions, GH2 was the most fun to watch -- makes sense, given that you could watch the players go nuts with their guitars (versus shots of people furrowing their brows at their screens). Overall, I have to give credit to CBS for trying, but clearly the tournament is being treated more as a novelty than anything else (for now, at least).

  • 3 Posted by gdogg_3 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    I did see the GH2 segments and I have to say it was entertaining. Especially when the guy smashed his guitar controller afterwards. I think games like Guitar Hero or DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) would work best for the networks to generate the ratings cause I really wasnt all too impressed with the WOW matchup. Maybe with the new Rock Band game coming out would generate some interest.

  • 4 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Oooh, a WoW fight - I would have liked to have seen that... I hope they re-show it and make some more shows like this...

  • 5 Posted by commorancy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    What would actually be better is to have these games broadcast on TV live and let viewers participate online in the games at the same time. Now that would be something worth considering. Of course, if you're participating in a game, you're not likely to be watching TV. :)

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