America, home of the free and land of the.....competitive. America for just about everything it takes as a hobby or sport is one of the most competitive places in the world. So why is it that the U.S. has yet to embrace what is probably the most competitive scene in a worldwide scale outside of the Olympics.
That scene? e-Sports. Outside of the Olympics and World Cup Soccer there is nothing bigger as far as international pride goes than the world of e-Sports. This weekend alone [Oct.16th 2011 weekend] saw the internets broadcast of the MLG (Major League Gaming) event in Orlando, FL as well as the independent broadcast of Season's Beatings 11 in Ohio.
MLG Orlando showcased competitors in three games Halo:Reach, Call of Duty:Black Ops and the biggest draw for the event Starcraft2: Wings of Liberty. Starcraft 2 saw players from around the globe showcasing to their skills in gathering resources, building armies, researching new weapons and upgrades for their armies; then controlling that army in the most efficient way to grant them the victory. This event saw competitors from the U.S., Europe and Asia battle it out to see who can call themselves the top player in the World. Season's Beating 2011[velocity] saw players battle it out in fighting games such as Super Street Fighter 4:A.E. (arcade edition), Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat. Season's Beating was a gathering of fighting game pros and top players [top players are slightly different than pro players as pro players are usually sponsored and top players are not] from the U.S. and Asia battling it out for fighting game pride.
One thing that caught my attention, other than the awesome skills of all the competitors at both events is the ads. Season's Beatings had an ad for the Movie "Texas Killing Fields" while MLG seemed to have Starbucks Coffee as a main advertiser with Hot Pockets having the occasional ad pop up between games. So that pops the question into my head, why hasn't the U.S. embraced e-Sports? ESPN will have you believe that a spelling bee can be considered a sport and during 4th of July weekend will show eating as a "sport" for the Nathan's hotdog eating challenge. So why can't pressing buttons at breakneck speeds while trying to determine what move is possible next be considered a sport? I mean the branding says it all "e-Sports" learning and mastering these games takes time and knowledge but also the ability to push one's digits and concentration to a very high level.
It obvious that some big companies are willing to throw money at the idea of e-sports, so why hasn't there been a partnership of sorts to at least highlight some the biggest moments in e-sports? To start off a network like SpikeTV, MTV or G4TV could schedule a midnight show maybe three times a week, showing a 30-minute highlight of some of the biggest matches to take place at a particular event or some sort of thrill inducing format.
The market is already primed for some sort of worldwide appeal as Starcraft is a national past-time in South Korea and fighting games especially a game like Street Fighter is considered to be the e-sport of Japan. There alone, the market is ready for a U.S. versus The World scenario, in which no matter where the U.S. is competitive there is always a prime market for support. I mean look at a sport like Soccer where the U.S. interest is very small compared to the worlds, but when the World Cup rolls around we have U.S. Soccer fans waving their flags, screaming their lungs out in hopes that this year will be the year where the U.S. can prove some sort of dominance over other nations. MLB (baseball) and NHL(hockey) have already been using similar formats for their all-star games with North America v. The world, helping gather more interest as those weekends roll around. I think with proper support, we can easily find ourselves screaming , U.S.A.!U.S.A.!U.S.A.! in the stands or from our home screens.
-kornbeaner
Wccftech discussed the recent Xbox news with MIDiA Research analyst Rhys Elliott, who pointed out that a strong upcoming Games Showcase could help a lot with fans.
I was hoping for something different from Coalition, not Gears 6 so soon.
Their expertise in UE development could've propelled them to try out other IPs using the new UE5.
But guess, given recent MS' state, Gears 6 was the 'safer' call for the studio. But still hope they venture other IPs or even other genres ... at least FPSs in future?
Microsoft seems only interested in maximizing profits through its biggest IPs at this point.
So soon? Its been 5 years since Gears 5, longest gap between games in the franchise.
Why would people be less angry? If MS made it's own games instead of buying up what was already available then we wouldn't be in the situation that everyone is angry at.
MS is the problem.
Akimbot is an upcoming sci-fi action-platformer that shows its inspiration from games of the past.
TSA asks what is the future for Xbox.
They clearly never did, hence why they spent so many BILLIONS on other publishers as a last resort.
They have a plan. It's to move everything toward streaming and mobile. This is just the next step.
With half of the money they spent, they could have been on the very top and the gaming industry would be way bigger than it is.. encourage developers, indies, make them grow trust them and they will deliver.
What are you talking about Cacabunga? The Xbox faithful insisted that Microsoft has infinite money, and after Activision they should buy Square Enix and Capcom before Sony does. There was no chance ever that Microsoft would do this. They would use their infinite millions and Bitcoins to invest in 50 new IP and beat everyone.
Sure, a plan to be a more hated game company than EA. Ubisoft were recently giving them a run for their money but I think Xbox have really knocked it out the park with their latest stunt.
Absolutely not, their whole plan is at odd with what MS wants
Phil wants GP to become big
MS wants to sell games and make billions
GP can’t be sustained with AAA games which take 3-5 years and 7 figure budgets. Only go put those games on GP day one. Why do you think games are coming out on other platforms?
People want a change and want Phil gone without realizing if someone new comes along they may want to change everything again so we just keep going in circles. Phil has to realize that and give clear message on the direction of Xbox
ESPN is run by old people or out of touch peeps so it will not be shown for a while.
E-sports has been embraced in the US
its just not a nation-wide obsession like other countries
In summary: USA != Asia
I'm sure there is an audience for such events, but I for one wouldn't be a part of it. The only exception would be for fighting games, but I could care less about watching other people play FPS or RTS games. I don't watch the spelling bees or the eating contests either.
As for ESPN, they aren't the "worldwide leader of sports" as they claim to be when they don't broadcast Cricket, European/UK Soccer, or other sports yet do broadcast those events you mentioned which aren't even sports to begin with. I wouldn't be surprised if they started broadcasting poetry readings and cooking shows before they even considered something like e-Sports.
Simple answer.. because we prefer to kick ass is real life.
I love video games... but when it comes to sports i prefer the real thing..
Because most american gamers play Call of Duty and think its the pinnacle of gaming skill