WSVG makes a deal to show events on CBS
Looks like at least someone thinks there's an audience for arena PvP-- World Series of Video Games has announced they've signed a deal with CBS (yes, that CBS) to show four one-hour episodes featuring four of their upcoming events. Which means you could be seeing WoW arena matches (including a few guilds dueling it out in real life) on network television in the near future.Our good friends at Joystiq say the play-by-play will be done by some dude named Greg Amsinger, who has called WSVG events before. He's not the same guy they've got calling arena matches now, is he? Because if so, they should shell out for someone new. No word yet either on who's producing it or what it will be like-- we don't even know for sure that they'll show WoW. They may decide to stick to the slightly-more-accessible first person shooter matches for network TV.
But if you want to watch, the first special is supposed to drop on July 29th, just a few days after the WSVG event in Louisville. Are eSports really going to turn out to become big ticket spectator sports? Looks like we're about to find out.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Machinima, News items, PvP






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nails Jun 1st 2007 3:17PM
it has been in Asian countries for years
why wouldn't it work in the US?
Tiforix Jun 1st 2007 2:50PM
Should be way more interesting than the spelling bee. :P
BTW, competitive video game matches on TV have been popular in Korea for a long time.
Lori Jun 1st 2007 3:01PM
Probably not a big ticket thing like football or NASCAR but you never know. It will certainly be interesting to see how well they do it. I wonder if college teams are on the horizon?
I just hope they never let Fox Sports get involved. NASCAR on Fox sucks so bad as they think they are the entertainment rather than the drivers and the race.
Ariakhas Jun 1st 2007 3:17PM
Dan Rather & "Warrior + Pally FTW"...
BRILLIANT!
LanceG33 Jun 1st 2007 10:04PM
Hey if chess can be televised why not? That is a snooze fest.
On a more serious note, I'm pretty sure ESPN2 televised some of the Magic World Tourneys back in the day.
The post match interviews will be priceless.
floatingbananas Jun 1st 2007 7:58PM
Hey, how do you think a guy would go about geting his name on that list for calling the match. I happen to be an announcer by trade and would love to combine that with WoW. But i am having trouble getting good enough video to do voice over demos. Send me an email@ erock@thezone963.com if anybody has an idea.
RogueJedi86 Jun 1st 2007 9:00PM
@#4/Nails
The same reason gamers in Korea are nerdy and still have girlfriends, and hardcore gamers in America don't. The reason Cybercafes are immensely popular in Korea, but not in America.
Basically everyone's racist. They fear technology, there's still the stigma of gaming and computers being a nerdy, uncool thing.
That and most gamers don't watch tv as much anymore, in lieu of getting all their entertainment from the computer.
Maybe?