On Saturday, April 18, 2009; I drove out to Fort Mason in San Francisco to watch the Evo United States National Championships for Street Fighter IV. It was an interesting event as Gamestop, the sponsor, packed in a lot of stuff during the four hour event.
Gamer Culture, PC, Pro Gaming, Starcraft
Pro gaming, and the mediums which cover it, are relatively large nowadays. You have the World Cyber Games, or even the Electronic Sports League dominating most of the world’s pro gaming hype. There’s even some very prominent amateur leagues like CAL. Yet with all things, there is room for improvement.
Gamer Culture, Humor, PC, Pro Gaming, Starcraft
Often, the more serious gamer finds their niche and proceeds to pwn. Some have a natural set of 1337 skills for FPS, others enjoy intense fighting games, or thrive in the splendid solitude of the MMO. Whatever it may be, the results of their efforts influence and define their character. With the RTS genre, it’s hard to find many negative traits amongst its followers, except for maybe a higher-than-usual competitive spirit. In fact, RTS games actually improve quality of life, imbuing fans with these championed virtues and skills:
Business, Pro Gaming, Xbox 360
I recently had the opportunity to attend Gamespot’s Ultimate Street Fighter Event right here in sunny San Francisco, CA. The event was held to give us a sneak peak at two of Capcom’s upcoming releases: Street Fighter IV arcade cabinets and Street Fighter II: HD Remix for the Xbox 360. Two different tournaments were held for each game, each with 64 competitors throwing down for honor and a chance at $1500. Capcom’s very own Seth Killian and the legendary David Sirlin were in attendance, and though they did not compete in the tournament, they helped run and organize the entire affair.
With two pro gaming events occurring on the same day, the GotGame teams were fighting for glory in two states simultaneously. While the rest of us were crossing our fingers and awaiting news from the next state over, both teams went out and did us proud.
Guitar Hero, Headlines, Pro Gaming
I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all had moments when we got a killer headshot in Halo or shattered a high score in Guitar Hero when we’ve wondered: could I do this professionally? Well, 16-year-old Blake Peebles is actually doing something about it and is planning on purusing a career as a professional Guitar Hero player. His dedication is such that he actually left his public school in order to focus on the game.
Gaming tournaments are a risky, unknown entity to most television networks. Big name games do not necessarily guarantee ratings. CBS learned this when its World Series of Video Games was forced off the air last September in the midst of its second season, despite offering competitions in such giants as World of WarCraft, Quake 4, and Guitar Hero II. Major League Gaming’s Halo 2 Pro Circuit garnered live coverage on USA Network in 2006, but not since. While niche networks such as G4 and Spike may offer replacements to fill the void left by larger networks’ abandonment, they do little to promote gaming to the general viewer, or anyone who’s not already ‘hardcore’ and playing Call of Duty 4 instead of watching TV.
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