Massive Gaming League from DIRECTV

In 2006 DIRECTV will be launching a massive gaming league.

--New technology will allow them to place cameras inside the video games.
--There will be a production company, tech crew, and director
--The league will follow the gaming experience of players for competative games. Kind of like having a reality channel for gaming players and their lives.

Guild wars would be a perfect setting for this since it is a global game. In the US alone DIRECTV has 15 millions customers not to mention europe, asia, and australia.

I just found out about this today. Since I work for DIRECTV I will be suggesting Guild Wars to the company as one the games and players to follow.

Gaile and Alex I hope you see this.

Wouldn't that be similar to Observer Mode?

Not only will it follow the gaming it will follow the real lives of players.

Most competitive gaming in the real world is underground. I know many people that play games for money at bars and the such. This is bringing that aspect of gaming to the mainstream.

Think of observer mode your on your living room tv for a variety of games.

Gets a great big MEH from me. I'd rather play the game than watch someone else do it. Or just use Observer Mode (or the equivalent thereof, which every game ahs).

I've been getting that alot from people I've told this to. Competative gaming is as good as its player base.

This will allow competative games to get HUGE exposure. The more exposure the more players will come.

id rather see a guild wars series or somthing like that. Not too fun just watching a necro and 55 monk going through UW clearing out smites

Its competative gaming coverage meaning pvp only.

Nice of you to mention GW to your company, only good can come out of this imo.

Its not bad, i think people would watch.

ya that is great. if u could get DIRECTV to do GW it mite enhnaces its popularity more then it already is. that would be awesome. then to be able to watch skilled players play so that others could learn. that would be amazing.

I don't know how the top guilds are, age wise, but would it be interesting to watch a 16 year old kid, using Teamspeak or Ventrilo, going through a match? To some us it would be, but I don't know if it would pull a large audience.

Competitive gaming is underground, mostly because people really don't care to have a light shone on their activities.

Though, I am still curious how they would spin this, hopefully they'll show a preview clip of what they intend to do.

I agree with you but there is already a show on tv that is completely focused on competative gaming. The show Arena on G4 (tech tv) brings player's together in one show to compete for prizes. This show has had wide success and is only getting bigger. This is only 1 show on an entire network and no other show is like it on any other channel.

Following in its foot steps this seems to be a very promising gamble. The market is there but no center to bring them all together. Hopefully this will be the missing link.

Just remember this is something for all competative gaming not just GW. Expect to see a wide variety.

I'll keep you guys informed of more details as they become available. This information was just released today so its very fresh and a lot of question will have to be answered.

Seems to me Arena wasn't too much of a success, seeing as how all I ever see is the same show repeated (from a year ago). Have they even made any new ones? G4 from what I can tell has been steering more and more away from 'gaming' shows and bringing other shows like 'The man show' and 'Fastlane'.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good idea, the DirectTV group's chairman is Rupert Murdock and I'm sure he wants to spread his global domination to the gaming world. That alone is sorta scary though I would definately check it out as long as is it isn't a infomercial like some of these gaming award shows.

It might work. You'd have to edit the movies very well. The problem that I see in G4's show is that they don't really show very much that's interesting. You don't get a sense of what's going on, you just see a few cool kills.

A game of football is like a story. The excitement is in the ups and downs and the drama of very tense situations. It's a lot of fun seeing how a match progresses, especially when you see your team come from behind to win the game. For your show to be interesting, you'd have to adapt that to video games. Don't just show a few selected kills, like G4 does (in fact, don't do anything G4 does, because it sucks).

You don't see new episodes now because they finished their season about 5 months ago. The players that came on those shows did use forums for the games they played regularly. People that went on that show found themselves being challenged by other players and becoming well known with the forums community and game.

Yes that man's domination is scary. Take what you know and that is probly just the surface

ok...IM BUYING DIRECTV NOW x.x

NEW INFORMATION

Directv will be launching the MGL on July 21st. It will include pc and xbox games. At the beginning of 07 tournaments will begin with REAL CASH PAY OUTS!!

I cannot post a direct link to the press release (could lose my job) as it is "internal" information. So what's a little leak

I know IGN.com will be on board for this because NewsCorp bought IGN. NewsCorp owns FOX which owns Directv. So far I see nothing on their website about they MGL. Oh well

Other websites like IGN will be on board but do not remember the names off the top of my head.

IGN will probably completely ruin it like everything they've touched.

Sounds interesting, but I havn't had cable for like 7 years now. I doubt that I'd care one way or the other.

But, I don't see any harm in doing this. At the very least, it's advertising for GW and A.Net. Sure, go with it.

YES, Ed TV for Video Games, how clever.

Glad I have DirectTV. Even if it doesn't last, I'd like to see what they do with it. I know the lives of competitive gamers can be pretty intense. Not sure if that has or will ever reach GW in regards to intensity, but hey, it's the boobtube and it'll be something else to waste my time watching

www.purepwnage.com, thats what a pro gamers life is really like, who needs cable to see that :P

Who cares about watching it? I'm looking for tournements with cash payouts. Pro gamers can make a lot of money if you are good.

TBH anything that uses the term "reality show" to describe it loses my interest completely. also, I would think it would be kinda hard to have a good "movie" of the games in progress because you cant see the whole map at once. they would probubly just be able to show the highlights (which gets boring after awhile). for me to be interested in watching video games there would have to be some sort of viewer activity, like where i can swap between cameras whenever i want.

I don't think you can get more interactive than being IN the tournment so that was a moot point.

Gaming isn't exciting to watch, especially for people who don't play games/the game being shown.

Forget anything about watching it on tv. That point is only very very very minor.

Directv is PRODUCING GAME TOURNEMENTS!!!!

That's what really matters. They are organizing the tournements instead of the game producers. With directv's huge income you can expect some nice pay outs here. Only problem I have with this is the only platform is PC and XBOX games. I would like to see more gaming systems on board but that has a lot to do with a partnership between microsoft and directv.

I'd give it a look, if it isn't on the Premiere tier. In any case, I love my DirecTV and DVR. *runs and hugs TV system* Definitely keep us posted, Twicky_kid.
(a channel number would be good)

Channel 102 or 101 I don't remember. You will need an interactive receiver to be able to get it. Any package is able to pick this up provided you have the right equipment.

Thanks. I'll check it out in the morning.

To clearify info:

channel 101 for now will have its own channel at start of 2007 channel TBA
Any equipment or programming package will be able to get it
First tournements starts july and will air on july 21
By the start of 2007 there will be 24/7 tournements to enroll
Mountian Dew is the sponser of the tournements competing for the Dew Cup
IGI is backing for online support

This is all a partnership between Microsoft, Mountian Dew, Fox Interactive, and Directv.

This is going to get really big with real cash payouts and contant tournaments all the time.

I see. I really hope this catches on and DirectTV finally gets out of the provider business, allowing a serious service, like cable, to finally dominate.

Um.....finally dominate?

You might want to do some research. They are the biggest provider of digital TV in the world. They already dominate.

I'll put it very simple. NewsCorp owns directv. NewsCorp owns Fox. You name it Fox probly owns it or has a partnership with.

I'm really exicted about the tournaments. I'd become a professional gamer in a heart beat. I'm already taking peoples money on the weekends.

I am fully aware of how much DirectTV is dominating. That is the problem. Cable is a superior service, you see. Hell, other satellite providers are better than DirectTV.

Amirite?

With all due respect, I disagree. DirecTV is pretty darn good, compared with some of the dross I've seen. Each type of provider has their pros and cons. It's a fallacy to say that one is innately superior to another. One might be better for Person A, but not necessarily better for Person B.

For example, DirecTV is an ouststanding choice for me, at this point in my life. However, my mom prefers her local cable provider because she can get a basic package which suits her well, for much cheaper than a satellite provider. Therefore cable is better for her.

Blanket comparisions just don't work well.

Its all about your experience. I've seen people that have nothing but problems with the equipment since they started and I've seen some people that have had the same receiver for 10 years (not a joke).

I've had customers tell me there sat didn't go out during the hurricanes including Katrina. 1 customer called me with 25 people in his house because the cable was down and his dish was the only way they could news and weather updates. Then I have people that have a little drizle of rain and their signal is out (probly has to do with the seal on the LBNs).

As for channels directv cannot be matched. We are hitting closer to 300 channels and adding more all the time.

Many exclusive programming is coming. CD USA launched back in january with live concerts every single week. They have about 5-6 per week. Its all new stuff. Then you have the free views that give the classic music concerts every week or two.

NBC, FX, and Fox on demand are allowing you to watch your shows BEFORE they even hit the air on normal tv. Lots of changes are happening at DTV.

I will never get cable again. I had Cox cable and internet. They could never get the internet to work for 9 months I was never able to use it. Then they tried to charge me $900 for service calls and internet service that I NEVER had. Needless to say they never got paid.

Its all about your experience. For HD I wouldn't go with cable. Cable passes along the signal from the broadcaster. HD makes all the flaws 10x more visable. Sat cleans up the picture and converts everything to a digital quality before it gets to you.

Anyways back to the Gaming League. If there is a PC or XBOX game you would like to have tournements for you should call DTV and suggest them. Doesn't matter if you are a customer or not. Anyone can call to make suggestions. They do listen to these btw. Ensign stated that DTV was at the season 1 tournement. I would like to think that the suggestion I put in everyday to take a look at GW had something to do with that. Then again GW is a huge game that speaks for itself.