Gamertell

Title: Game Boys (aka Game Boys: Professional Videogaming’s Rise from the Basement to the Big Time)
Author: Michael Kane
Price: $24.95 (hardcover)
Release Date: June 23, 2008
Publisher: Viking (part of Penguin Putnam, Inc.)
Pros: Conveys the excitement, personality and seriousness of competitive gaming in a readable tone. A good book for gamers and pro gaming skeptics.
Cons: Starts a bit slow and has some overly simplified explanations of gaming and gaming terms.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

Kane’s Game Boys is so much better than the pop-catchy name implies. It is instead a well-formed, personal and serious look into select groups of pro gamers.

Click through for the full review…

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The American leg of US World Cyber Ggames 2008 will take place at the Samsung Experience in New York, NY, on May 31, 2008, and June 1, 2008. At stake are cash and prizes worth more than $20,000 along with a place in the WCG USA National Final. The first leg or the WCG 2008 US Open will include some of the best gamers in America who have their sights set on qualifying for the WCG 2008 Grand Finals in Cologne, Germany, in November 2008.

The Grand Finals will have…

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Titanstrike online is proud to host this year’s Miss Video Game 2008 (MVG 2008) online tournament.

I recently caught up with Francisco Diaz the co-founder of TitanStrike to find out what it is about all about.

“Titanstrike, a platform for gamers that seeks to blend the best of social networking with cutting edge gaming services including a tournament engine that allows sponsors to create and manage events,” Diaz explained. “The Titanstrike platform also has flash forums, gamer profiles and instant chat to power interaction within the community. The goal of Titanstrike is to provide an ideal environment for online competitions so the Miss Video Game event was a natural fit…

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Professional gaming buffs take note: the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) has just announced its list of North American franchise players. Franchise players are the cream of the proverbial crop in the CGS world - above the other tiers of players on CGS teams. The franchise players were selected to represent each team - from San Francisco Optx, Chicago Chimera, Los Angeles compLexity, Carolina Core, New York 3D, and Dallas Venom; before the rosters become filled with pros drafted in the March 7-9, 2008 CGS combine and draft.

Looking at the announced players, it looks like competition will be quite stiff in the 2008 season. Read on to check out player bios from the press release.

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According to GameDaily, pro game organizer Major League Gaming (MLG) has just signed a contract with “real” sports network ESPN to provide professional gaming coverage. The pact includes a multi year deal to cover MLG competitions on ESPN’s sites, which will include the games-only ESPNVideogames.com. ESPN will launch its own competitive gaming portal (complete with details on past and future events) and will co-sponsor competitions with MLG in the future.

The deal came about due to the increased interest in competitive gaming as a serious sport (the article cites the recent professional poker phenomena’s success as a parallel). High ratings for previously televised tournaments and the exodus of the young male population from TV to videogames were other reasons listed for ESPN’s interest.

From the article:

“The new deal includes ESPN covering MLG’s upcoming season across multiple platforms, including ESPN360.com. ESPN will serve as a primary outlet for news about MLG, providing extensive digital coverage of MLG’s 2008 Pro Circuit Competitions, including exclusive streamed matches, pro player interviews, and scores and stats.”

Overall, it appears that the coverage will be fairly extensive and far-reaching, so perhaps pro gaming will finally enjoy the mainstream status it deserves in North America? This is certainly a big step in the right direction.

Read [GameDaily]

Starting December 6, 2007, game fanatics worldwide will be able to watch the highly anticipated Championship Gaming Series. The nine-day event will be broadcasted on television via DirecTV in the US; BSkyB’s Sky One, Sky Two and Sky HD in England; ESPN STAR in Asia; SKY in Mexico and Brazil; DirecTV throughout the rest of the Latin America; and satellite carriers across mainland Europe through various broadcast partners.

CGS, headquarters in Los Angeles, Calif., is the only worldwide professional video gaming league launched earlier this year (January 2007) and features teams of the world’s best gamers from North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia, who will compete professionally in the inaugural CGS World Finals.

Gamers will compete for a chance to battle and win $1,000,000 total prize purse with $500,000 to be awarded to the World Champion team. The event will be a monumental first in the history of gaming according to CGS commissioner Andy Reif. will be televised from Sony Studios in Los Angeles.

“The CGS World Final represents a watershed moment in the history of pro gaming and we are proud to broadcast to more than 350 million viewers globally,” said Andy Reif, CGS commissioner and CEO. “Fans worldwide will soon find out which team will claim its place as the first CGS World Champion and take home the top prize of $500,000.”

In addition to the team-based competition, CGS will hold an Individual World Final tournament with top CGS league players from six different regions competing for individual championships as well as a World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Area featuring a premier event with American and European gamers battling for prizes up to $30,000 starting December 8, 2007.

During the tournament each CGS team, consisting of ten athletes who specialize in an official League game, will select five players for the five-on-five match of Counter-Strike: Source, two players for the mixed doubles tam for Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3 for the two-versus-two competition; and one player to compete in the FIFA 2007 one-on-one match.

Prize distribution for the CGS World Final will be as follows:

Team World Final

1st place will receive $500,000
2nd place will receive $150,000
3rd and 4th place winners will receive $70,000
5th through 8th place winners will receive $30,000
9th through 12th place winners will receive $15,000
The tournament’s most valuable players will receive $25,000

Individual World Final

1st place winners for the Dead or Alive 4 competition will award $5,000 to one male and one female athlete
1st place winner for FIFA 2007 will receive $5,000
1st place two-player team in the Project Gotham Racing 3 competition will each receive $5,000
1st place five-player squad in Counter-Strike: Source will award $5,000 to each squad member

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade two-versus-two world championship

1st place two-player team will receive $15,000 each

The total grand prize purse for the event is $1,075,000 and the CGS official teams participating in this event includes: Berlin Allianz, Birmingham Salvo, Carolina Core, Chicago Chimera, London Mint, Mexico City Furia, Rio Sinistro, Seoul Jinhwa, Singapore Sword, Stockholm Magnetik, Sydney Underground and Wuhan Dragon.

Beginning with the CGS World Final press conference on December 6, 2007, the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and the Individual World Finals will be available via webcast on the CGS website. The game schedule is as follows:

For more information, to view the webcast or check on the status of your favorite team, login to the CGS web site. Please note the site may be off line or running slow while they prepare for the upcoming championship events.

Read [CGS E-Sports] Site [DIRECTV 101:Gaming Series page] Site [Championship Gaming Series]

Due to high cost of hosting, the World Series of Video Game series has reached its toll and has been shut down as of September 13, 2007. All remaining events scheduled this year have all been canceled by its organizer Games Media Properties who posted the following statement on the WSVG web site:

“Effective immediately, Games Media Properties will no longer produce the World Series of Video Games. The remainder of the 2007 season in Los Angeles, London and Sweden is canceled…

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HOOAH! A warcry for paratroopers and a way of life for the United States Army. I should know ... I work with them every day. I may not wear the digital patterned Army Combat Uniform but I do know a majority of them are gamers. It was no surprise when recruiting game America’s Army was featured on the list of games for the Summer 2007 CPL Championships being held Aug. 30, 2007, to Sept. 2, 2007, at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

According to Cyberathlete Professional League registration site, gamers can compete on America’s Army PC game stations and America’s Army: Rise of a Soldier on the Xbox game station during the four-day event. Gamers will get a chance to play with the America’s Army Future Soldier Trainer which is similar to the virtual trainers already in use on military installations. It uses real weapons modified with…

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From now until November 30, 2007, DirecTV is offering 11 months of free subscription to World of Warcraft to new DirecTV subscribers who use the promotion code ‘57417 NEW”.

DirecTV and Blizzard Entertainment have teamed up to promote the Championship Gaming Series which recently announced that World of Warcraft will be added to the list of competitive games in 2008. New DirecTV subscribers will receive a trial version of the WOW plus a free upgrade to the full version. Those who subscribe to DirecTV through the CGS website and are not interested in receiving WOW can choose to accept a $100 Gamestop gift card instead. Current DirecTV subscribers can contact their local customer service representative to receive the WOW offer.

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EA has always spent big bucks on licenses and the upcoming soccer game FIFA 08 exemplifies that. At the Leipzig Games Convention, EA revealed the roster of this stellar soccer title. The game is going to feature 30 international leagues, 575 club and international teams and - hold your breath - 15,000 players.

The FIFA series has always featured the most player likenesses in any soccer game, but 15,000 is a staggering number even by its own standards. EA announced that each player would consume 35% more processing power than previous games resulting in 1,000 decisions per second per player.  This simply means that the AI is going to be smarter than previous games

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