This mourning I was doing my usual web roundup tour. Part of the tour sometimes includes a stopover at aintitcool.com (aicn). Normally when I go to a different community I asume a different identity (I am one of those types that have more than 1 internet handle). How ever today my identitiies conflicted, all due to DJwheat!.
You see I was reading an article about the new Fast and the furious movie (yeah yeah I know, lame. But hey, I like cars). Some times I skim through the comments, aicn talkbalk can be quite entertaining sometimes. How ever I was brutally ripped out of "aicn role" when I stumbled across this comment

Brian Tee
by djWHEAT May 15th, 2006 09:43:20 AM CST
I interviewed Brian Tee this weekend at the Hip Hop Gaming League Finals and he had mentioned that there would be some big surprises for the audiences... I guess this is what he meant.
http://aintitcool.com/tb_display.cgi?id=23325#1163186

This comment is so lame on so many levels, how can someone plug the Hip hop gaming league?

http://slashdot.org/

Don’t know how many of you followed the GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee scandal.

Here an article with all sorts of links on the subject matter: Kotaku

How ever it is funny that a game which focus is on all sorts of violence (murdering, gang wars, stealing, blow up a military base, drugs etc) causes such outrage over its little hanky panky content.
Even Senators are getting involved, are there not more important issues?

So after collecting all the clues available I have come to the conclusion that the next CPL World Tour game will be

COUNTER STRIKE SOURCE

Mr. Munoz wanted to announce the game last weekend. How ever the announcement was delayed but we know he is going to meet Valve very soon. Coincidence? We can be pretty sure that Valve has no interest in supporting CS 1.6. So the talks have to be centering around Source (off course we there is HL2 DM, but that is stretching it). At the end of the day no matter how you twist or turn it CS is the biggest game in esports.


Other possibilities:
Counterstrike 1.6: The CPL is looking to work more closely with the developer, how ever I cannot see valve making any commitments to 1.6. Despite the large scene I do believe that the communities (pro teams) are now ready to move on, even though there will be a lot of whining going on. At the end of the day it will be a small step for all pro players to switch to Source. Even if the "Feel" is different the overall game play of the game will remain the same.

Battlefield 2: Interesting choice. Only problem this game is too spectator unfriendly, it will get too complicated to follow the players. How ever on the plus side, EA is behind it and I know for one that EA is trying to get a stronger foothold in the esports domain.

Day of Defeat: This would allow the CPL to be less dependant on Valve, and I am sure the DOD community would embrace the chance to fine tune the game to make it CPL WT worthy.

Quake 4: The ongoing beef between The CPL and ID will not allow it to happen.

UT200X: I think the CPL will want to wait this time for the community to pick up this game before giving it another try.


Any other suggestions?

Media coverage!

Type in CPL or ESWC in Google news search. You will see that even on the web they received poor coverage (actually make that non-existent coverage) from non-gaming sites. Some how last year there where more reports across the web about each event.

Spectator experience.
It would be nice if the two organizations would actually invest more effort in enhancing the experience for viewers outside the events. In the 21st century I expect more than frigging IRC bots, shout cast (come on radio is so 1920´s), occasional website updates.

1) No schedule
2) if schedule, then it was useless because most games never started on time. IF you are older, work and have other commitments it makes following these events a pain in the ass.

Dear vbcast and TSN, yes I would pay to have a better stream. I realize your service is free, but to me watching the CS matches and other games (PK) reminded me of the days of my C-64 which had similar "picture" quality.

As long as the focus of the tournaments are the players and not the spectators we will continue to see esport in the niche.

Show ola (element) footage from his vbcast stint. I doubt he would want to see himself.

how about a game of russian roulette?

Click it!

In a few minutes the European esport scene will take a beating, it has never witnessed before in its oh so young life.

it will be the beginning of the end. Esports will be crippled.
Thriving and life pulsating esport websites such as esreality, will become deserts.

The cancer that is WoW is spreading. Like a building tsunami it will gain momentum, until it grows so big that only little will be able to stand in its way. The few that will survive, will cling to esreality with the white of the knuckles showing.

The others will be lost in the deeps of WoW-cyberspace.

May they one day find their way back to esreality.

until then,
farewell

Today my dear cyber friends, spammers, and other folk, I would like to introduce you to a novel new concept to esport. To hell with counterstrike 1.6, counterstrike source, Quake 1-2-3-4, Doom 1-2-3, UT (2K whatever the year), more recently PainKiller (where is my aspirin?), Halo(Halo 2 sucks too), and what not... The FPS community has become a joke. Rocketlaunchers, headshots, terrorists, counterterrorists, megahealth, machineguns, Grenades, aliens etc... Are you serious? You know what the sad part is? You are... Yes my dear FPS esport community you have taken yourself way too seriously. Time to lighten up.

I am not talking about pro-gaming/pro-esports, hey I am all for the professional teams, with the;
professional players,
professional organizations,
professional cheerleaders (or maybe not sounded good though).
Yes professional is good, professional is the future. But why do these professionals (at the moment most are pseudo-professionals) have to play the same shitty games. No really I am not kidding. All FPS games that are being played on a competitive level are all so similar. You would think that the developers behind the games all come from one and the same inbred incestuous family (well most of us all derive from Genghis Khan, actually nevermind). If you think about it, its all more or less the same recycled crap (same arsenal, similiar monsters/aliens, similiar settings). Only differrence each year the graphics improve. WooHOO! As if TSN reporters when covering a FPS duell like to stress how well the rocket flying over a puddle with riveting waves which defract/reflect the light as in real life which was fired by Voo, was reflected in full splendor with exhaust fumes trailing the rocket causing the backgroud to appear blurry in zYz`s virtual sunglasses before explodingin his face. Get my point?

Well, soon my friends there will be salvation!!!
-Yes, not Kidding!!!
the answer:
a Squirrel!

YES, a squirrel will come and rejuvenate the FPS games, and bring new live to esports! I am talking about no other game than:
"Conkers: Live & Reloaded"

"Conker who? Conker what?" I hear you say.

Well before I continue, I ask you to watch this little preview movie
Watch it

Think about it! You just cannot go wrong with a Teddy Bears vs. Squirrels deathmatch. If this game does not launch esports into new echelons than I don't know which one will. It will appeal to all demographics.

Kids
What kids don't like little fuzzy cute furballs?

boys/Men
Hey the game has rocketlaunchers and other cool manly butch weapons, and their is plenty of ingame beer and profanity

girls/women
They think like kids, and will like the little furballs. I bet if they could they would prefer Conker as their new boyfriend!

Parents (adults)
Parents will look at the package thinking they bought their kid some MArio clone. Teddy bears, foxes, and squirrels are not dangerous. Even if they find out the truth, they will still warm up to the fuzzballs. Even the parents wont be able to link this game as a source of cause of a tragedy like columbine, or some other real life tragedy.

Media (TV)
ITs teddy bears vs. squirrels!!! I mean whats dangerous about that? The(FCC) Federal Communications Commission wont be able to complain about it! I doubt they would have a chance in court.

The way I see it, Conker: Live & Reloaded is here to come and rule the esport world as "The ESPORT GAME".

Who cares its xbox, who cares if the game is not even finished. Hey CPL gambles on Source and we all know how crappy that is, so why dear tournament hosters, do you not gamble on Conker? The way I see it, its the best chance esports has!

The moral of the story
The problem with most FPS in the esports domain is not one of gameplay, but one of game content. If we can remove/replace certain elements of some of th FPS games then we are more likely to see more coverage of the events in the traditional media outlets (TV/Radio/Print). This would make it more interesting to sponsors, and possibly increase the fan base. Which results in more money being put into esports. The question is, can the core community let itself go from some of the content, and still appreciate the skill required between 2 duellers, even if it means watching a FPS based possibly in something like the "Mario universe". (I always wondered who would win a mario vs Luigi deathmatch showdown)

Links | Conker: Live and Reloaded