Games and television have always experienced a difficult relationship with ventures tying the two together invariably ending up on the rocks, but co-founder and director of Tournament.com Richard Skelhorn reckons it's a relationship that can work if done right.
Tournament.com is a service which allows videogames players to compete in online tournaments for money. Asked specifically about his views on game tournaments being televised, Skelhorn admitted that gaming is a difficult sport to watch on TV "because of the nature of it", but says that "produced properly I think it is definitely something that can work."
He told CVG, "It is certainly something I would like to see become successful because mass media like television would really help e-gaming become a mainstream sport."
Skelhorn also described competitive gaming being recognised as an Olympic sport as something that would be "great to see happen", explaining that his business partner "is very interested in submitting gaming as an Olympic sport".
Don't expect to win a gold medal for a triple kill anytime time soon though. Skelhorn added, "I think we are a few years away from it right now".
Look out for our full interview with Richard Skelhorn shortly.
Watching other people play videogames is incredibly boring. THe only time its good to watch someone else playing is if the games storyline is interesting. Watching people playing first person shooters though? I'd rather watch ITV than that!
Unfortunately they'll have to make it like Deal or No Deal or some reality crap to get people watching. With losers getting voting off due to poor performances.
Watching thin wristed nerds stabbing keyboards with their pale digits and pushing mice around ain't my idea of good TV, I'll stick to Heroes, thanks.
Unfortunately they'll have to make it like Deal or No Deal or some reality crap to get people watching. With losers getting voting off due to poor performances.
Watching thin wristed nerds stabbing keyboards with their pale digits and pushing mice around ain't my idea of good TV, I'll stick to Heroes, thanks.
Agreed. I have to watch my flatmate play Lord of The Rings Online every night across the kitchen table. The only interesting bit is when he loses his temper and launches into a foul tirade of vitriol. Sometimes... I... I want to stab him in the eye... and...NURSE!
Gaming TV can be interesting as long as it's shot in a decent way. A lot of games these days have custom movable cameras, so you can get good angles on the action. Combine this with some lively commentary and you've got your product. But you couldn't just show a bunch of people sitting at computers for a few hours
But gaming as an Olympic sport? FFS no. The Olympics are called the Olympics because the sports they do date back to the ancient Greeks. Some modifications have been made over the years, but the essence is still the same - it's athletics. Gamers (especially hardcore gamers) are not athletes.
A proper world championship would be pretty cool though. Although you just know some 12 year old Korean would wipe the floor with everyone else
SKY tv have xleaguetv(was channel 291,now its 279 for some reason)
the races are great,FORZA2,motorstorm,and has football FIFA and fight night 3...all great to watch....things like Halo 2 and such,resistance arent that thrilling
I did watch a PGR3 and Forza tournament, on Xleague.tv, on sky. the Forza one was a week or so ago and the PGR3 one was yesterday, atleast I know what gamertags to be wary of if they ever jump into any of my lobbies. Some of the top gamers are such f'in cheats, yes, they can race, but if collisions are on, they just barge their way through to first place, but most of us knew that anyway.
It isn't that bad a channel, they just need to do some more reviews of the latest games, but then again, the channel is still in its infancy.
I think the people who watch stuff like xleague tv, are obviously already into games as games, not sport. I can't imagine, years from now, children in the playground asking each other "what clan do you support?" Leave people to their proper sports, like darts.
Seen xleague a few times here as well - is definitely worth watching. They could do with getting things like the 1up show licenced to show on tv. Sure it would be easy to cobble together a few cheat shows, in depth reviews - live walk through guides by top players. Maybe could do PC upgrade and hardware guides. Sure there's loads more - hire me xleague - my job is so boring...
The problem? characters. Not the ones in the games but the people who play them. To want to watch something you have to have a reason why you want a or b to win. Football - you have teams, you have ur fave players, 100m race - you have names you know etc. We need to get people out there, rivalries going. Countries vs countries. Havin randoms play games aint exciting, having people you root for winning or losing is. Tv companies just have to learn how to do that.
Xleague is a pretty decent watch generally, I enjoyed watching one of the GoW tournaments, it was interesting to see the tactics these clans went for on the maps.
I think if they get more viewers and hence more money from advertising, a better variety of shows will emerge, and it could be the start of something big.
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