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July 23, 2006 | 2:40 AM PST
by: Ray Almeda
Written and Reported by: Douglas Radtke, AMN News Editor
DirecTV, the nation's leadinmg digital television service provider has teamed up with IGN, Microsoft Xbox, Mountain Dew, Fox Interactive Media (FIM), and Best Buy to score a broadcasting landmark with Championship Gaming Invitational - a special event that was taped this weekend.
Hundreds of eager spectators eagerly wait in line to see CIG 2006.
Advanced Media Network had an opportunity to sit in for a taping that intends to air in August on DirecTV as part of its original programming lineup. Teams and individuals competed for cash prizes in Battlefield 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, Halo 2, Dead or Alive 4, and Counterstrike 1.6 on Xbox 360 systems as well as PCs.
Championship Gaming Series Logo.
"We believe that professional video gaming is the next big thing in sports entertainment and we are dedicated to creating and televising the best gaming experience available anywhere," said David Hill, president of DirecTV Entertainment. "This invitational will prove that commitment as we gather together some of the most talented players, the hottest production team and innovative set designers to create a truly unique video gaming environment and one-of-a-kind television event."
"The video gaming world has never seen anything like this," added David Strang, executive vice president and general manager of IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media. "This two-day invitational will take pro gaming to the next level by treating it like a sport and its players as athletes. It is unprecedented."
Steven Roberts, Vice President and General Manager of Entertainment of DirecTV along with Roderick Alemania of IGN were the original visionaries behind the idea of Championship Gaming International. Advanced Media Network had an opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Steven Roberts about the Championship Gaming Invitational:
Advanced Media Network: What initiated the idea of Championship Gaming Invitational?
Steven Roberts: It started about a year ago when we released we really wanted to get into video gaming in a big way. We have so much expertise in sports broadcasting; we broadcast hundreds of hours of NFL, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR. We love telling stories about the athletes and obviously the action. It's what we're really good at it. So knowing that, we could apply that expertise to something like video gaming and make it the next big sport. That was the really the impetus for getting involved.
AMN: Besides today's event, do you have any plans for the future such as a television channel dedicated to video gaming?
SR: Well, we'll be having two additional events in 2006. We're commited to launching a new league with consistent programming in 2007. The programming itself will not be on its own gaming channel. It'll be on channel 101 on DirecTV which is dedicated to programming for this demographic of an audience.
AMN: How do you feel this event may compare with other major gaming competitions such as the CPL?
SR: I'll let you witness that and you can determine the difference between this event and other events in professional gaming. I think you will see a pretty big difference.
AMN: How did you link up with Roderick Alemania concerning this project?
SR: IGN is part of Fox Interactive Media. Fox Interactive Media is owned by News Corporation, so we're "sister companies". That's the first thing that happened, but also IGN is one of the largest and best gaming sites out there so even if we weren't sister companies we probably would have chosen to work together.
AMN: Is there a time frame set for the next events?
SR: The airing of this event will be August 25. The next events we'll cover will be in September and December. The programming will probably occur several weeks after those events happen.
AMN: Thank you for your time and the interview.
SR: Thank you!
Steven Roberts of DirecTV (Right), Doug Radtke (Left)
As well as broadcasting the Championship Gaming Invitationals, last month the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) announced that it entered into an exclusive television agreement with DirecTV for a broadcast of the CPL's 2006 season tournament. The amount of exposure professional gamers and seasoned cyberathletes will receive this year and upcoming in 2007 will be tremendous. With DirecTV creating their own league, the Championship Gaming Series and broadcasting both the CPL's upcoming tournaments as well as the Championship Gaming Invitationals – things are looking positive for professional gamers ever.
"We want to make more professional gamers into rock stars like the way Fatal1ty is," a DirecTV representative told us, "as well as getting the general public more excited about both online gaming and multiplayer games."
Halo 2 Challenge
"The video gaming world has never seen anything like this", Dale Strang, executive vice president and general manager of IGN Entertainment added, "This two-day invitational will take pro gaming to the next level by treating it like a sport and its players as athletes. It is unprecedented."
DirecTV spared no expense in creating an amazing indoor video game arena in the 16,000 square foot airplane hanger, at former Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco complete with a center stage and the surrounding stadium. Two stages were set, one with two rows of PCs for computer gaming and the other for the Xbox 360 competitions. Large projection screens in the back, along with half a dozen plasma television screens display the action from spectator mode in the game. Play-by-play commentary was given by various experts of each game that was competed. Production value was unmatched as 16 different HD cameras surrounding the arena captured everything in front of the audience, as well as Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 surround sound being played.
Besides the astounding stage construction, there were several vendors and demo areas inside the hangar. Mountain Dew gave away free soda all day to anybody who wanted one which was great because there wasn't much ventilation making the inside considerably hot.
Best Buy had a challenge set up featuring Halo experts from the competition taking on all challengers. If you could beat the reigning experts at their own game Halo 2, Best Buy would reward you with a $50 gift card. Suffice to say, AMN didn't win any gift cards that afternoon!
Decoy wins over female Halo 2 champ, Mary Jane
Mary Jane is a popular member of Clan PMS, an all-female clan that is breaking stereotypes and empowering girls to be professional gamers too. After a tough loss to Decoy of H20, Advanced Media Network had a chance to ask her a few things on the way out.
AMN: How are you taking the tough loss to Decoy?
Mary Jane: I'm taking it alright. I came in and I wanted to win – but win some, you lose some. I just got to compete better next time and train better.
AMN: Do you feel like a representative for female gamers out there?
Mary Jane: I think my whole clan PMS is setting a good path for all the female gamers out there. We're showing women that if you got game – you can do it too. We're out there to compete with the best of them and we can do it. I'm just a gamer myself. Hopefully other women see us play and it'll bring more people out there.
AMN: Do you have a website?
Mary Jane: Yes, it's pmsclan.com – you can go there say hi to us on the forums, check out member profiles… got about 500 girls worldwide so we're representing strong.
AMN: What are your plans for the near future? Any upcoming competitions?
Mary Jane: I do, I have a new Major League Gaming (http://www.mlgpro.com) team with three other amazing female gamers. Hopefully we can show the guys what we got. Also, the World Series of Video Games (http://www.thewsvg.com/) is coming up and so we're getting prepped for that too. There are a couple I'm going to be training hard for.
AMN: It's good to see more diversity in the gaming world. Good luck to you.
Mary Jane: Thank you
The rest of the competition included a fierce close Battlefield 2 match between 20ID and HOT, more Halo, other Xbox 360 action, and some amazing Counter-Strike action that has to be seen to be believed. The Championship Gaming Invitational will air on DirecTV channel 101 on August 25th.
Additional photos of the Championship Gaming Invitational can be seen here.
DirecTV, the nation's leadinmg digital television service provider has teamed up with IGN, Microsoft Xbox, Mountain Dew, Fox Interactive Media (FIM), and Best Buy to score a broadcasting landmark with Championship Gaming Invitational - a special event that was taped this weekend.
Hundreds of eager spectators eagerly wait in line to see CIG 2006.
Advanced Media Network had an opportunity to sit in for a taping that intends to air in August on DirecTV as part of its original programming lineup. Teams and individuals competed for cash prizes in Battlefield 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, Halo 2, Dead or Alive 4, and Counterstrike 1.6 on Xbox 360 systems as well as PCs.
Championship Gaming Series Logo.
"We believe that professional video gaming is the next big thing in sports entertainment and we are dedicated to creating and televising the best gaming experience available anywhere," said David Hill, president of DirecTV Entertainment. "This invitational will prove that commitment as we gather together some of the most talented players, the hottest production team and innovative set designers to create a truly unique video gaming environment and one-of-a-kind television event."
"The video gaming world has never seen anything like this," added David Strang, executive vice president and general manager of IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media. "This two-day invitational will take pro gaming to the next level by treating it like a sport and its players as athletes. It is unprecedented."
Steven Roberts, Vice President and General Manager of Entertainment of DirecTV along with Roderick Alemania of IGN were the original visionaries behind the idea of Championship Gaming International. Advanced Media Network had an opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Steven Roberts about the Championship Gaming Invitational:
Advanced Media Network: What initiated the idea of Championship Gaming Invitational?
Steven Roberts: It started about a year ago when we released we really wanted to get into video gaming in a big way. We have so much expertise in sports broadcasting; we broadcast hundreds of hours of NFL, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR. We love telling stories about the athletes and obviously the action. It's what we're really good at it. So knowing that, we could apply that expertise to something like video gaming and make it the next big sport. That was the really the impetus for getting involved.
AMN: Besides today's event, do you have any plans for the future such as a television channel dedicated to video gaming?
SR: Well, we'll be having two additional events in 2006. We're commited to launching a new league with consistent programming in 2007. The programming itself will not be on its own gaming channel. It'll be on channel 101 on DirecTV which is dedicated to programming for this demographic of an audience.
AMN: How do you feel this event may compare with other major gaming competitions such as the CPL?
SR: I'll let you witness that and you can determine the difference between this event and other events in professional gaming. I think you will see a pretty big difference.
AMN: How did you link up with Roderick Alemania concerning this project?
SR: IGN is part of Fox Interactive Media. Fox Interactive Media is owned by News Corporation, so we're "sister companies". That's the first thing that happened, but also IGN is one of the largest and best gaming sites out there so even if we weren't sister companies we probably would have chosen to work together.
AMN: Is there a time frame set for the next events?
SR: The airing of this event will be August 25. The next events we'll cover will be in September and December. The programming will probably occur several weeks after those events happen.
AMN: Thank you for your time and the interview.
SR: Thank you!
Steven Roberts of DirecTV (Right), Doug Radtke (Left)
As well as broadcasting the Championship Gaming Invitationals, last month the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) announced that it entered into an exclusive television agreement with DirecTV for a broadcast of the CPL's 2006 season tournament. The amount of exposure professional gamers and seasoned cyberathletes will receive this year and upcoming in 2007 will be tremendous. With DirecTV creating their own league, the Championship Gaming Series and broadcasting both the CPL's upcoming tournaments as well as the Championship Gaming Invitationals – things are looking positive for professional gamers ever.
"We want to make more professional gamers into rock stars like the way Fatal1ty is," a DirecTV representative told us, "as well as getting the general public more excited about both online gaming and multiplayer games."
Halo 2 Challenge
"The video gaming world has never seen anything like this", Dale Strang, executive vice president and general manager of IGN Entertainment added, "This two-day invitational will take pro gaming to the next level by treating it like a sport and its players as athletes. It is unprecedented."
DirecTV spared no expense in creating an amazing indoor video game arena in the 16,000 square foot airplane hanger, at former Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco complete with a center stage and the surrounding stadium. Two stages were set, one with two rows of PCs for computer gaming and the other for the Xbox 360 competitions. Large projection screens in the back, along with half a dozen plasma television screens display the action from spectator mode in the game. Play-by-play commentary was given by various experts of each game that was competed. Production value was unmatched as 16 different HD cameras surrounding the arena captured everything in front of the audience, as well as Dolby Pro Logic 5.1 surround sound being played.
Besides the astounding stage construction, there were several vendors and demo areas inside the hangar. Mountain Dew gave away free soda all day to anybody who wanted one which was great because there wasn't much ventilation making the inside considerably hot.
Best Buy had a challenge set up featuring Halo experts from the competition taking on all challengers. If you could beat the reigning experts at their own game Halo 2, Best Buy would reward you with a $50 gift card. Suffice to say, AMN didn't win any gift cards that afternoon!
Decoy wins over female Halo 2 champ, Mary Jane
Mary Jane is a popular member of Clan PMS, an all-female clan that is breaking stereotypes and empowering girls to be professional gamers too. After a tough loss to Decoy of H20, Advanced Media Network had a chance to ask her a few things on the way out.
AMN: How are you taking the tough loss to Decoy?
Mary Jane: I'm taking it alright. I came in and I wanted to win – but win some, you lose some. I just got to compete better next time and train better.
AMN: Do you feel like a representative for female gamers out there?
Mary Jane: I think my whole clan PMS is setting a good path for all the female gamers out there. We're showing women that if you got game – you can do it too. We're out there to compete with the best of them and we can do it. I'm just a gamer myself. Hopefully other women see us play and it'll bring more people out there.
AMN: Do you have a website?
Mary Jane: Yes, it's pmsclan.com – you can go there say hi to us on the forums, check out member profiles… got about 500 girls worldwide so we're representing strong.
AMN: What are your plans for the near future? Any upcoming competitions?
Mary Jane: I do, I have a new Major League Gaming (http://www.mlgpro.com) team with three other amazing female gamers. Hopefully we can show the guys what we got. Also, the World Series of Video Games (http://www.thewsvg.com/) is coming up and so we're getting prepped for that too. There are a couple I'm going to be training hard for.
AMN: It's good to see more diversity in the gaming world. Good luck to you.
Mary Jane: Thank you
The rest of the competition included a fierce close Battlefield 2 match between 20ID and HOT, more Halo, other Xbox 360 action, and some amazing Counter-Strike action that has to be seen to be believed. The Championship Gaming Invitational will air on DirecTV channel 101 on August 25th.
Additional photos of the Championship Gaming Invitational can be seen here.
February 8, 2010
