Remember a few moons ago when we brought you the news that CBS is set to start airing World Series of Video Games coverage this summer? Well now we bring you the above video, the promo spot for the coverage, which according to the clip kicks off tomorrow at 9AM PST/Noon EST.
The promo spot plays like some marketing wanker's fever dream of what thirteen year old kids thought was hip circa 1997, and it may be my old age creeping up on me, but the entire thing gave me a bit of a headache. Thankfully, the rest of the series should be slightly less damaging to epileptics, as you'll see in the clips I've included after the jump.
Hit the jump to see why even the best produced gaming competitions earn a Sunday morning timeslot.
The following videos are footage taken from the WSVG's Dallas and China events, wherein you'll witness people who've actually made a career out of
Guitar Hero II and
World of Warcraft. Somewhere, a guidance counselor is holding a gun to his head.
Like I said, the entire thing makes my brain hurt, but I will say that their coverage seems a hell of a lot less annoying than almost anything aired on G4 since the beginning of time. I'd like to think it's a conscious decision on the part of the WSVG to vaguely mature the focus of their hosts and presentation, but I have a creeping suspicion that they were actually trying to ape G4 and just failed terribly.
I'm going to go lie down for a bit, but I intend to watch the WSVG event tomorrow in glorious High-Definition. It's part of my job to subject myself to the periphery of gaming, but what about the rest of you? Are any of you going to be spending the Sabbath forsaking your respective Lords for the silicon god of video games?
[Update: Updated because Nick dies a little inside every time I use a semi-colon.
Also, I thought I'd include a few links to some less cynical looks at the entire thing from people who don't make their money making fun of David Jaffe: New York Times, Blabbermouth, and ESReality.]
[Updated again to confirm that I really do miss Charles in Charge, and that Scott Baio is 45 and Single is the best reality TV show since Who Wants To Be Chachi?]
Contest:
6:32 PM on 07.28.2007
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ERRRRRRRRRR
*CHOKES*
God I miss Gamesmaster.
But then I grew up and stuff.
They should just have it be WWoWpPWoWtv! That's how you get in the ultra hip marketing minds.
P.S. that idea is the trademark of Kalakaua, the man... the myth... the legend... this poster.
Or more accurately, shit piled on top of shit, sprinkled in piss and broken ammonia tablets before it's left out in the sun for four days.
I remember Gamesmaster. That was an awesome show. So was Gamesworld. They should bring them back to show shows like this how to do things
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5W6aIyBx5U
It also doesn't help that games chosen for WSVG are not pro games at all. They were all bad choices as none of the games are used in the rest of the progaming circuit. When they tried to use Fear in one of their Europe stops, they had a 25,000$ grand prize and less than 10 people showed up to even enter for it (completely open to the public...you just write your name down and you go into a bracket).
Fuck I'm old.
That guy in the first video is my roommate at USC. He raised the money on facebook and smoked the actual "professional gamers" to keep himself busy between his summer job and school. Ridiculous.
World of Warcraft? Guitar Hero II being played solo? Good god.