cgs posts

Yet another major pro gaming tournament organization has shut its doors. This time it's the Championship Gaming Series which was co-funded by the DirecTV satellite TV service (it also televised CGS tournaments). First announced in 2006, the organization was world-wide in scope, holding tournaments around the globe in 2007 and again in 2008, with the World Finals held in July of this year.

As usual the reason for the shutdown is a old one; lack of money. According to the official statement, "...profitability was too far in the future for us to sustain operations in the interim." Last year we saw the World Series of Video Games shut down dispite sponsors like Intel and a CBS TV deal. Last March the Cyberathlete Professional League also shut its doors. However the CPL could be staging a comeback via new owners.

Last year, the organizers of E3 switched to a media invite format by moving the show from the Los Angeles Convention Center to several Santa Monica hotels. One other location used was the Barker Hanger at Santa Monica Airport which was almost universally loathed by journalists attending the event due to its distance from the rest of the show (over 20 minutes by shuttle) and the lack of interesting games show in its rather small building.

Now the Entertainment Software Association has made the good call to return E3 this year to the LA Convention Center and the Championship Gaming Series is trying to make E3 2008 work to their benefit. The pro gaming tournament organization is holding its world quarter finals during E3 week in LA and the tournament organizers know a ton of gaming journalists are in the area around that time. However, they are choosing to hold these events (on July 14 and 16) at the infamous Barker Hanger. Huh? There are a ton of locations in LA they could have used but making us media types go back to that awful place is sure to be not looked upon kindly by those same media reps. Still it might be interesting to cover. We just have to get those bad E3 2007 memories out of our head.

Beginning this June, professional gamers enrolled in the Championship Gaming Series will twiddle their thumbs and click their mice competitively in fierce Dead or Alive 4, World of WarCraft, Counter-Strike: Source, and other games. The prize? Over US$1,000,000 in prize money, with the winning team receiving a payout of US$500,000.00.

From June 2 through July 28, the CGS 2008 North American Season and World Final will see eight teams of gamers live in CGS-sponsored apartments in the Los Angeles area. Proving that playing games can be real work, each team member will be practicing with his respective teammates every day leading up to the competition's kickoff. Quarterfinal matches will be held on Monday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 16. The World Final Match will be conducted on Monday, July 28.

Interested in seeing some of the best gamers in the world pound, flank, and out-nerd each other? The CGS is proud to announce a full broadcast schedule, which will be viewable on DirecTV and in high-def.

Championship Gaming Series announced today that the upcoming launch of the CGS Pro-Am Division will include two new titles for online competition, Valve's Counter-Strike 1.6 and Team Fortress 2.
Launching in North America and Europe in August, the CGS Pro-Am puts top players against each other in CGS game servers, online. The top Counter-Strike 1.6 and Team Fortress 2 players in each region will receive top seeding and travel packages to compete in CGS 2009 North America Combine tournament competing multiple prizes including a $50,000 grand prize.

Registration for the CGS Pro-Am Division begins online, in July.