Championship Gaming Series folds
by Zach Yonzon 
Nov 18th 2008 at 4:00PM
The CGS featured five games during its two seasons, Counter-Strike: Source, Dead or Alive 4, FIFA 07, and Project Gotham Racing for Season 1; with FIFA 08 and Forza Motorsport 2 taking up the latter two slots in Season 2. Although not included in seasonal coverage, the CGS also recently promoted World of Warcraft Arena tournaments, with Europe's Nihilum winning the 2008 Championship. Arenas were also included in the CGS-run College Gaming League. A full statement from the league can be found on their site.
Filed under: News items, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jmissild Nov 18th 2008 4:06PM
why is this (not so) shocking?
lowle Nov 18th 2008 4:10PM
do you really have to ask?
Naix Nov 18th 2008 4:13PM
Gone are the days of gaming tourneys. Until another great FPS/RTS comes out expect the pro gaming scene to die down.
Araydan Nov 18th 2008 4:15PM
Gamers like playing games for entertainment. Gamers do not enjoy watching other people playing games for entertainment.
Seems simple?
zappo Nov 18th 2008 4:20PM
Ironically if I would have kept my post more simple I would have beaten you!
Next time!
zappo Nov 18th 2008 4:18PM
I suppose, as they claim; it was ahead of their time. However I have to wonder who really gives a crap about other people gaming? Not trolling here, but I just can't see people really caring about something that was intended to entertain individuals by participation.
Verhoo Nov 18th 2008 4:21PM
I don't see gaming tourneys being gone. Its just the idea of an international league system, with drafts and all the hoopla of real pro-sports probably wasn't the best idea to try. At least not in 2 seasons nor on that scale.
Jeni Nov 18th 2008 4:23PM
As people have said...it's not really all that fun to watch people game. When I game with friends, I mostly just ponder about when it will be MY turn. Video games are about participation. I think that's why I always get so bored about WoW arena coverage. It's not fun if you're not doing it. Maybe it is ahead of their time. Maybe in 50 years esports will overtake Football and Baseball. In Korea, esports are incredably popular (afterall, the Starcraft kids have managers, cheerleaders and are on teen pop mag covers). Oh well.
Angry Joe Nov 18th 2008 4:28PM
Professional gaming, lol.
Tieria Nov 18th 2008 4:30PM
It's one thing to go to a sporting event and see people doing active things like running, jumping.. you know, doing stuff. But watching other people sit and play games is rather boring. With apparently the sole exception being Poker since that seems to have turned into a fairly popular spectator event.. go figure. I could see how tournaments could be fun for those people participating, but not much fun for the viewers.
A good example, my friend dragged me to the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG World Championship a few years back. I only had a basic grasp at the game, but had fun playing with my friend and the people we met. But when it came time for the actual tournament.. the room was filled to capacity when it began, but about 10-15 minutes in there were only a handful of people left. It got boring very quickly.
So I could see why this just wouldn't be able to sustain itself over time, espically given the added problems of the economy in the shape it's currently in.
Will Nov 18th 2008 4:46PM
wow! I used to cover Team Fortress 2 in a video blog and many of the top teams were in this for a huge competition to win $50,000 but I guess now all that hard work is gone.
Sucks to hear since e-sports have a lot of potential, just not here yet for the North American scene.
http://www.wowconfidential.com
Bean Nov 18th 2008 5:08PM
For me personally I feel that it wasn't the content itself that is getting cancelled (Professional Tournament Gaming) but the HORRIBLE, flashy, cheesy format that they presented it it.
I honestly don't understand why people who are producing television are so dead set on putting as many stupid neon lasers and fog machines into every stupid thing they produce.
Keep things simple and approachable and people will be a lot more apt to watch.
Alch Nov 18th 2008 5:21PM
A lot of people do watch gaming event but CGS was not a gaming event. It was a game show basically.
They showed games in such a way that players didn't like watching it and the average viewer could care less. It would be like doing a show on raiding but only showing the trash mob kills. Not the pulls either. Just the kills.
Lyraat Nov 18th 2008 5:59PM
If I wanted to watch gamers play video games, I'd put "Wargames" or "The Wizard" in the DVD player. As others have said, it's 1. boring, 2. boring, 3. boring.
Also, with sports, the game itself doesn't change much over time. Sure, rules are made/removed, but the basics of, say, baseball haven't changed in decades. If you played baseball as a kid, you probably enjoy baseball now; the game remains essentially the same. Here, we don't have that. The games change every year. Counterstrike and StarCraft have become de facto tourney games. Because of their staying power, people like watching the pros play because they played once up on a time. But Project Gotham Racing? Fifa 07/8/whatever? Who cares? Continuity helps.
BuffaloDave Nov 18th 2008 6:32PM
Finally, this league was ruining cs, at least in NA
Cow Nov 18th 2008 7:06PM
Why would you want to watch people playing a computer game?
I can't think of anything more dull.
GAALNR Nov 18th 2008 7:13PM
YES! its about time! but i have to admit. i would have loved this show if the announcers went so lame and gameriliderit. It just gets too annoying when some1 gets totally raped and they just say "bla bla bla goes down.... *yawn*" Its just sad.
TonyMotorola Nov 18th 2008 9:32PM
Does this mean they can turn off the Arena and focus on BGs again?
Kanuris Nov 18th 2008 10:04PM
Format was garbage. Can be done better and with more respect to the audience.
Less focus on the players, just get some great gameplay in there. Maybe the whole format of it needs a rework. Perhaps have a bit of tournament play, a bit of showing off and a bit of machinima of some kind.
Who knows, maybe there just aren't enough spectator games out yet that would make for a profitable league TV show.
Drustai Nov 18th 2008 11:58PM
Well I personally find normal sports to be even more boring to watch (and play), but I didn't really care for CGS. They picked pretty worthless games for the most part, with the exception of CS:S. If they had used games with, as another poster mentioned, more staying power like StarCraft, I think it would have been a lot more fun to watch--I enjoy watching StarCraft games provided they have English commentary, so I don't know why they didn't pick up on the success of Korea's StarCraft scene. Instead they picked games barely a year old, including two sports-inspired games (video games based on sports are never going to take off professionally. Why would someone want to watch a car racing game or soccer video game when they can just watch the real thing?).
I would have been more inclined to watch CGS if they had included a better lineup.