NYT covers WSVG's CBS broadcast tomorrow
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 28th 2007 at 4:00PM
The New York Times does a quick profile of the WSVG on the eve of their CBS broadcast tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if you guys knew this, but apparently gaming has been an "odd, insular subculture," and only now are gamers stepping outside into the harsh sunlight, rays blinding their sunken-in eyes as they blink at the real world around them.Idiotic gamer stereotypes aside, the article does mention a few interesting things about how the network and the WSVG have worked together to make complicated games more accessible to an audience that may not understand them. We heard a few of the ideas, including the health bars and the "Iceblock" graphic, yesterday in our exclusive interview with WSVG President Matt Ringel (that's right, the Gray Lady is picking up WoW Insider's news scraps), but there is mention of a Guitar Hero mechanic that I hadn't heard-- at tournaments, instead of just the scoreboard, there's also a "showmanship judge" that can give points for an enthusiastic performance.
Are you planning on watching the show tomorrow? I am, but not necessarily because I expect it to be amazing. Just like I sat through the terrible comic book movie of Spawn all those years ago just so we could have a great comic book movie like Batman Begins, I'm going to give them my eyeballs tomorrow so we can hopefully have some great spectator eSports in the future.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill G Jul 28th 2007 6:51PM
The timeslot, Noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on a summer Sunday is nearly a throwaway for CBS, but it will be interesting to see who the advertisers are.
It would be very interesting to know the deal between WSVG and CBS. I can't imagine CBS is paying them much.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the hour wasn't entirely paid for by WSVG, and they sold the ads and kept the proceeds. Sort of like a big infomercial.
Anyone have any information they can share?
Mike Schramm Jul 28th 2007 6:58PM
Hey Bill, I don't know the details (and I doubt either party would tell us exactly what the deal is), but yes, my impression is that WSVG is paying for the show, either in cash, or by setting up advertisers and sponsors for CBS.
Bill G Jul 28th 2007 7:24PM
Video games on television seem pretty close to Battlebots.
Biggest differences being more folks could figure out what was going on in Battlebots without explanation, but effectively no one plays Battlebots at home, so there is no "player" audience like for video games.
Battlebots couldn't hack it on TV, even on cable, but survives in some form as a live event.
Will be interesting to see how video games sort out as a spectator sport in the US.