We all knew it would happen someday, and it finally has. The New York times reports that CBS (read: non-gaming channel) will be airing competitive gaming events every Sunday at noon. Events will range from Guitar Hero tournaments to WoW matches and Wii boxing bouts. We can probably also expect some FPS as well as RTS matches in there too.

We've talked about this a lot at MG, and I guess now its finally going to happen. But unfortunately, like we mentioned before, there are still many hurdles that the broadcasters have to jump. For one, most people are completely unaware of how these games work, so similar to a play by play cut-away, the show will also have to explain spells and game mechanics. Also, they say that adding a health bar will be necessary for viewers to be able to follow along with gameplay.

I am actually pretty excited about the prospect of this. Granted, I am mostly excited about the potential this type of set up has. There are lots of outrageously competitive games spanning all systems, so seeing which games get featured and which ones don't should be interesting.

Rob Carerra, senior vice president for programming at CBS Sports, has something interesting to day: “Who knows, in 10 years we could be looking back on this as a very significant moment.” Will this be the one revolutionizing moment in gaming culture that will bring competitive gaming to the masses? Will we look back and praise CBS for its innovation to the gaming industry? Who knows. Maybe this show will bomb and it won't do anything at all.

That's really excellent! Gaming is everywhere, now (here comes a library plug...) - we had a Guitar Hero Tournament and a Fight Night Tournament, and the YA librarian is thinking of holding a Halo Tournament when the new edition is out. So gaming of all kinds is really going mainstream. Really public competition on broadcast TV will make it even more so. Quite cool!

I keep hearing about new leagues popping up everywhere, and the prize money isn't getting any smaller. I just read about a new one called armygamingchampionships.com that is running a ten game tourney, and paying over $200,000. . . Crazy money for gaming!

they have those on G4 tv. they're boring as hell. i don't see the interest in watching someone else play a game competitively. sometimes it's fun to just watch someone play a game but... usually that's pretty boring. (i suck at super mario bros games so the only way i've gotten to see much of the later levels was thru watching other people. but things like fps war games where every level is incredibly similar... yeah... i can't stand it.)