150°

Kotaku - Should Competitive Gaming Be On National TV? Experts Are Divided

Competitive gaming has millions of fans. Its biggest stars earn six-figure salaries. Yet it's nowhere to be found on American television. You may happen upon bowling, lumberjack contests, or even rock-paper-scissors while channel surfing, but nary a match of StarCraft or League of Legends.

mandf4068d ago

If it's done professionally yes, if not no. I don't want B-list actors making our hobby look childish. The media gaming media already does that. The question is how entertaining is this. Some would ask themselves "why watch? when you could just go play the game yourself?" It would have to be done just right.

Irishguy954068d ago

Why watch when you can play yourself

Ask that to any sports fan.

mandf4068d ago

But unlike sports, we all actually can compete equally.

EbeneezerGoode4068d ago

No. sports are NOT like games. At all.

Nobody is gonna give a crap about "gamer x" outside of a few hundred nerds. The medium is about interaction. We have the game, playing the game itself is what it's about.

Personally I'm not a big sports watcher either but it is at least entertaining to those that are.

Are we about the love of the game or the gamers? as gamers we love the games themselves.

As football/tennis/boxing fans the majority wouldn't know where to start in those sports but are fans of the people doing them.

This is completely reversed with gaming.

I have no interest in watching some super-dork mousing away for 3 hours when I have spent thousands on my own PC/COnsole/games...

I've seen this on TV before and it always seemed stupid

guitarded774068d ago

I saw "Absolutely"... there are thousands of crappy programs focused at particular groups on TV. I'm sure there's an audience for this. Maybe even non gamers will watch for the competition, and Vegas will have something else to gamble on... if they don't already gamble on this.

Army_of_Darkness4068d ago

I'd only watch if the show has only half naked sexy girls competing against each other, then when the sore loser loses in that particular game they fight it out under a waterfall:-D

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GiggMan4068d ago (Edited 4068d ago )

People watch others play Cards (Poker) all the time when they can just open up a deck and get some friends together and just play. Not my thing but their could be a market for it late night on ESPN lol.

JsonHenry4068d ago

If it gets viewers and in turn gets advertisers why not?

Soldierone4068d ago

However you "cant" compete in sports, and if you can you can't compete at the level the professionals are at. A lot of people don't exercise or train, and if they do they don't train at that level. The ones that do probably are in some league, but they still watch the sport on TV.

Gaming could do something similar if teams are "training" hard enough. You could also develop exclusive maps etc just for the TV versions. Could possibly be like American Idol too where they go to cities and host tournaments to let people get in, this would create a "well you lost to this team, but it represents your town so root for them!"

Revolver_X_4068d ago

After watching some competitive tournaments, I cant help, but think Im better then 90% of them, except fighters, I just suck at them. I'd rather play the games myself, then watch tournament full of ppl Im better then. Just sayin...

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Pozzle4068d ago

I don't see why not. Competitive gaming would be a step up from most of the crap that's aired on TV nowadays.

Soldierone4068d ago

It probably wouldn't be given a chance.

Sports work well because you have a team to support and you put your devotion in it. Watching any sport without any interest in supporting a single team becomes boring as hell. Thats why they create "home teams" so you get behind them.

Gaming would have to do the same. People will need to find their teams, and get behind them. Otherwise watching people play video games is rather boring. So if people don't get behind teams fast enough, it will just get canned.

I remember (i think it was GameSpot) used to do something with it and I loved watching it. I will say I rather watch this than pretty much every sport except hockey.

I also agree with above. It needs to be actual gamers not "famous people" because that's just stupid to watch, let alone annoying.
"how do you do that!"
You just press a button buffoon!

grahf4068d ago

You may be onto something.

City/State based teams.
Look, anyone can try to walk onto an NFL team, you just won't get far (like the parking lot!). Gamers could try out for "local" teams based on where they are from and that could generate "home-team" interest.

Just a thought.

EbeneezerGoode4068d ago

No.

Games are about interaction, doing things yourself. That is the very reason they became so popular. Watching them is PASSIVE. If i want to watch passive things I'll watch a movie.

OmniSlashPT4068d ago

Competitive gaming is utterly boring to watch, either its RTS, FPS or fighting games. Fighting games have some epic moments, but its not appealing enough.

But a Video Game Channel would be a good idea. With news, events, reviews, previews and competitive gaming, why not. They could also have some youtubers around. But i guess thats too expensive and wouldnt have the effect people wanted (why watch it on TV when you can watch it on your pc?).

aliengmr4068d ago

They tried that with TechTV and it just didn't turn out well.

DanyBrown4068d ago

in france there is a channel called game one that does just that though they do not show any competitve gaming the results will just be announced during the news

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200°

Players claim Fortnite ruined Call of Duty by letting in more corporate greed

Do you remember what gaming was like before Fortnite entered the gaming space? One of the biggest arguments was about loot boxes. Now we have conversations about crossovers, battle passes, and community outreach.

Read Full Story >>
gamesandwich.com
GoodGuy092d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Idk. Loot boxes did disappear and battle passes and in game purchases are all cosmetic. We get free weapons and maps post launch, any gameplay affecting content. I could care less about all the cosmetics.
I absolutely hated the days where weapons were locked behind a less than 1% chance lootbox pull where it'd take 5+ hours to have enough tokens to do a single pull and lazy remastered/remake maps cost you $15 each wave or $50 for the season pass that you didn't know what you'd get and these maps were only available to those that bought it so you get a smaller pool of players match with.

Tacoboto23h ago

The "good ole days" are actually what drove me away from COD and Halo 3/Reach. Halo 4 becoming a COD-like drove me away from that only a week or so after it launched and I beat its campaign.

It sucked way back then, going a month or two without playing online-shooter-of-the-moment, and then needing to buy a $15 map pack to play with the majority of the population or your favorite playlist. The "community" rejecting Spartan Points in MCC killed that game's support, too. No revenue = no support, plain and simple.

Cacabunga14h ago

That headline could easily be something Spencer could have said 😅 I had to check if it was really an opinion piece

KyRo14h ago

As times gone on, the COD battle pass has got ALOT worse so they can push people to buy the more premium battle pass which itself is a huge rip off and nearly half the price of the base game.

The cosmetics can be fine but they've taken it to far to the point of no return. Why make a military themed game then have rabbits, dinosaurs, cats, rats & z list rappers as skins? You wouldn't add a Lamborghini to a fantasy RPG to replace a horse and you would never see Mario have limb dismemberment because they know what they are. COD is having identity crisis but kids and streamer but then all

franwex1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

Call of duty can simply not copy the bad aspects of Fortnite? Or is that too out of this world? Like COD, a realistic shooter-just HAD to have Nicki Minaj running around? Or super heroes?

Inverno22h ago(Edited 22h ago)

Exactly! Trends don't all need to be followed. Plus where Fortnite got somewhat better with it's monetization, Acti got worse. Or at least Fortnite has lended itself more to the wacky stuff, and has put more effort and quality into that stuff.

jjb198123h ago

I prefer the battle passes with free maps than the $50 season pass that divided the community. I definitely feel that Fortnite had some influence on CoD having loot boxes with Blackout being introduced in 2018 with Black Ops 4.

PRIMORDUS22h ago(Edited 22h ago)

Actually Fortnite bullshit ruined Unreal Tournament. Epic are sellouts and I will never have that shitty store on my PC, fuck them and that shit bag Tim Sweeney. At least the community keeps the games alive, I still play UT2004.

StoneTitan10h ago

I mean cant really blame them for supporting the game that made them the most money and the most people player...ever?

Psychonaut8522h ago

Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance.

Ra30303h ago

100% correct! The makers of Call of Duty ran out of ideas long, long ago so they take ideas from other games like Ghost Recon, Fortnite and any other FPS game hat had success hell CoD remasters maps that they've remastered several times already then charge you again for it. Call of Duty is simply a cut, copy and paste and then put the $70 price on it every year. Activision and now Microsoft has been essentially remastering Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare every year since it was released in 2007 its to the point it's worse than the sports game like the Madden, NBA and others yearly sports franchises.
@Psychonaut85 is spot on "Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance"!

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100°

Massive new COD Black Ops Gulf War leak lifts the lid on loadouts

The Black Ops Gulf War leaks continue with a list of weapon descriptions giving more info on what you can expect from new and returning weapons.

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theloadout.com
80°

Call of Duty Players Disappointed by $80 B.E.A.S.T. Glove Bundle Deal

Recently, players of Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone were met with a new bundle featuring the B.E.A.S.T. Glove, inspired by King Kong's armament in the Godzilla x Kong movie. However, the $80 price tag attached to this themed accessory left many Call of Duty fans feeling underwhelmed.

Read Full Story >>
xpgained.co.uk
Kaii8d ago

Morons that allow themselves to be milked continuously by this company is the definition of irony.
Spend more $$ and you'll end up In easier lobbies so you win both ways when ya spend that cash

melons8d ago

Controversy in the COD community feels like it happens within an alternate timeline. Activision will take the piss with something, there will be a momentary fuss about it, and then they will forget about it and carry on anyway. Repeat this cycle literally every year for the rest of time.

Gridknac8d ago

They call that a crack head! Thats what this is really about, its an addiction. People who dont smoke cigarettes look and laugh at the addicts that spend $8-$10 a pack, but they cant help themselves, they are addicted. That same analogy applies perfectly to the whole MT industry. Only an addict that was not thinking clearly would spend this kind of money on something so frivolous. A round of multiplayer provides the same high a person gets from scratching a lotto ticket, or putting money on a sports bet. MT in general need to really be regulated because you have a generation of kids becoming adults who grew up only knowing the MT era of gaming. Its normal to them and they will in turn teach their kids the same by just being a gaming parent and getting their kids involved with them in gaming. Thats why no matter how ridiculous the headlines keep getting out of the MT industry, it never seems to fade or go away.

X-236d ago

I'm so tired of hearing about what they're doing with this game, its never going to change and it's never going to value the consumer over money, furthermore the people who engage so heavily in the microtransactions I guess allegedly are having a blast and can't wait to do it some more this year when the new version of the game drops.