Well, nice summary and you might be right in some points but there is still a fact to criticize. WSVG just didn't pick any major "eSports" title. Isn't it kinda sad for an eSports tournament? That's definitely not the way to promote todays eSports.

By WoW you reach thousands and thousands of users all around the world ... (of warcraft)

Guitar stuff is for everybody, coz they know what is going on and shows that there are also "peacefull" games :))

Box shows that Sports vs eSport could be almost same and it approach eSports to audience and maybe some sports TV channels.

Quake 4 is fast action where every mistake counts. If commentator did his/her work good and explain what players have to think about to be sucessfull in this game and how concentraded and calm they have to be, than ppl can get it.

But Commentator HAVE TO show background to ppl, not only "...and now he will grab RA and return to hit opponent 3 times by rocket and midair Rail ... omg ... that is ... C O M B O K I L L... "
Instatnt replays from second pov, describe maps ets ... but iam off topic now and Iam sure they know what to do :)
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Anyway, I think that ppl at WSVG have plan, good plan and GL!

bo_ Quake is major eSports title you dumbass. If it wasn't for Quake where would eSports even be today.

The other games are a joke. They think they can make virtual boxing a mainstream event? People will never give a shit about nerds boxing on a screen when they can watch real men actually BOX AGAINST EACH OTHER. It's so stupid to pick a game whose real counterpart will always be vastly superior (sports games in general, fighting games, racing games etc.).

At least Quake is unique in that respect.

And don't even get me started on WoW...

CPL doesn't exist to me atm since they haven't announced anything after the whole CEVO vent channel conversation which is proving itself true. Guitar Hero 2 is a novelty game, its fun to watch people play and is also fun to play..its just a party game. To even say or consider this a professional game or something that is the future of competitive games is a joke. Also I kinda agree with you on the quake 4 thing..even though I probably play it the most..Quake 4 is too elitist and although it creates rivalries and such..watching the same guys win is pretty boring.

FNR3: Bad choice, real life counterpart is much more entertaining, and as Zeicon said, who wants to watch nerds playing a boxing game on Xbox.

Guitar Hero 2: It's really static and also the first time I've ever seen a game which you don't need an opponent for, be picked to be played competitively.

WoW: Great choice in my opinion. The way I see it is there are a few million players playing the game, about 30 percent or more of them with a lot of free time on their hands. By making those players (the core esports audience) aware of competitive gaming, it brings in a lot of new faces and eventually many of them will deffer to CS or Quake.

Quake: Hands down this game should be picked at all events. I say this with the bias that I am a dueler, but I also think that people can relate to the individual player much better then a team. From all the specials done on tv, Quake received the most coverage as well as positive feedback. I really dislike reading articles that bash it, when it was the foundation for esports, and it continues to deliver on high octane entertainment.

Good article by the way (aside from the Quake part), keep it up.

Quake4 should be at every event. It delivers what most games cannot. Extreme competition. 1vs1. It is catchy to the spectators eye and can easily be understood. Quake started everything and coverage towards the game is spectacular.

the article was good until you started spewing shit @ Quake.

how can you even compare a DM FPS with a "tactical" one? it's like saying Starcraft < Heroes3..

..and don't get me started why CS 1.6 is popular. it's a mediocre team game with mass appeal due to a 5 minute learning curve that can be gratifying to any retarded kid that nails a random headshot and will think of himself as a good gamer. there i said it!>

i'd rather have seen DDR instead of guitar hero, just less static. the rest of the games should actually prove to be quite fun spectator games except the boxing perhaps :P

"my biggest gripes with the game are gear imbalances in the Arena and the level 70 requirement. If the WSVG worked something out with Blizzard to have all the teams playing on equal footing (with equal choices of gear) and max-level characters, players would no longer have to spend time in the arduous grinding phase of the game."

All the stuff you complain about has already been addressed. WSVG have announced they will be using pre-set characters and gear. So I guess there are no problems? :P

GH2 or DDR would both be good picks. I don't really get why they don't pick DDR.. tons of people would follow it. Both are kind of amusing and have mass appeal, so why not include them? It would be amusing if they held a real guitar competition alongside the GH2 one. I bet people would show up for that too.

i guess there are no problems with WoW, then. it can't take any less skill than hiding behind crates in counter-strike!!!!

*hides*

WoW won't have any problems since they will be using pre-set gear/characters. It has a big fan base at 8 million strong so its a good choice to use it when trying to port gaming to the tv.But what I do have a problem with is the lack of a major team fps. They will use 1.6 and cod2 at a few tournaments but I don't feel that is enough. CoD2 would be a good choice if they were to pick a game because it has a large competitive community and has some nicer graphics(compared to 1.6). FN3 just won't draw tv crowds because people would rather watch real boxing and I think the same will happen with GH2 because people would rather see/hear someone play a real guitar.

Preset characters and gear...do players get to play like that ALL the time? If not...what's the purpose? You'll be playing with something you're not familiar with. If Blizzard made that publicly available...THAT sounds like it might be fun.

Yea, world turns... but why with so huge boom?

Ion- If Blizzard is smart they would start making servers and let others host servers where people would only play in competitions and only have the premade characters. This would do two things: it would make competition viable since teams would have places to practice against a larger field, and secondly it might even attract more business since it would give the appeal that you could play WoW without having to sell your soul to the game to get a character strong enough to compete with others.

Nice article, honestly I came to it thinking it would be flaming WSVG with the mob mentality like normal, but it was actually a pretty well thought out piece.

There are a few parts I want to add in to clear things up though...

"Side note: maybe the reason that WSVG didn't choose CS:Source as a main title is because they don't want to deal with Valve telling them what they can and can't do with their own events?"
The truth of that is actually that DirecTV made an exclusive deal with Valve to have rights to Source. This means WSVG can't use it whether they want to or not, so they can't put any CS on TV.

As for the WoW thing, they have been working with Blizzard and will have something set up to make the playing field even. Everyone will be fully leveled and the item access won't have anything to do with the public WoW realm. I know where you're coming from because I thought this same thing at first, but it made my opinion on the WoW choice a lot more positive after hearing this explanation ;)

rofl those 17 people mentioned in the quake 4 section are the ones posting here saying how q4 should be at every event. you are idiots

Quake 4 is a given, we all knew this was coming. Greatest spectator DM game hands down. kthxbye

Low skill entry games have more player base - this is how world always worked.

Now, bringing those into competition to get attention to games that really matter is a very questionable move.

Chances are that games that made eSports real will be leveled with the ground again because of these promotional moves. Do i want quake to become "just a video game" again? Fuck no.

I certainly don't disagree with the choice of Quake 4 or WoW, but making it 3v3 instead of 5v5 is somewhat different to all the teams picking up 5v5 Arena teams (Eminence, Pandemic, Check-Six, etc) plus the added boring-ness of smaller games.

Guitar Hero and Fight Night... no comment. Those games speak for themselves.

tech...you of ALL people should know that WoW is NOT spectator friendly...I hope your statement was sarcasm :P

i like WoW :P

guitar hero is harder than actual guitar

just thought i'd point that out

and not supporting 1.6 is the most ludicrous decision ever. to have a sucessful tournament two types of games need to be utilized, a team based fps and a dueling fps...most other games (non-shooters) aren't spectator friendly and shooters, by far, have the greatest following (aside from mmorpgs)...but w/e it's the wsvg's call, and if they fail miserably, then they fail miserably...

dunn: thanks for clearing it up.

matt: i dunno about that...but i am just quoting people who play guitar.

Good thought, both positive and negative. I think ultimatley people need to wrap there heads around the fact that this is not the underground scene it once was, hence why GH2 and FNR3 are in.

Curious as to why C and C 3 was not put in here.

matt_: "guitar hero is harder than actual guitar"

ahahahahahahahahaahhaahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahah aha

Disagree with the titles chosen and some of the comments why they chose those games just amazed me how ingnorant they were. I do think WoW needs it shot and Q4 is a must imo. But the 3v3, and no cs period as a main event is just alot to deal with because the only pro gammers I will be watching (if I watch) are the same Q4 masters. Everything else is a glorified LAN that I prob won't be watching.