In today's newspaper, I wrote about Microsoft's 5000th patent - a new Spectator Mode which the company is hoping all Xbox 360 developers will build into their games. The idea is to create sports event-style broadcasts based around key games and allowing fans to tune into live tournaments. Microsoft also envisages dedicated portals where players can check out the most popular tournaments or plan their viewing pleasure via a schedule feature. You can get more details from the company's press release.
Anyway, this afternoon I was contacted by the satellite sports channel Extreme who told me they're about to make what they believe to be the first live transmission of a videogame tournament - at least in the UK. They'll be showing five hours of the Xbox Cup, Microsoft's footie sim showdown taking place in Germany on July 1. The station's PR person, Stuart Clapp, told me:
"What we'll be showing is five and a half hours of video gaming live on Extreme, from 10:30am until 4pm on July 1st during World Cup quarter final weekend. We're broadcasting an exclusive feed from the Adidas world of football stadium in Berlin. It's a purpose built 8000 seated stadium which is directly in front of the Reichstag.
Our coverage as you mentioned in your article will use spectator mode on the Xbox as well as interlinking with the gamers, presenters and shots of the crowd. Xbox have 96 gamers attending from the 32 countries taking part with 3 players representing their country."
Apparently, the show will be presented by Dave Berry, the face of MTV's Total Request Live and now one of those two new ones on CD:UK. Well, its a step up from Dominic Diamond.
"Pro Video gaming have never been broadcast live on TV like this before. We're treating the Xbox Cup as a proper live sporting event," said Extreme Head of Production James DuBern. "This tournament mark Pro Video gaming's coming of age and the start of something big on Extreme." Indeed, Extreme is planning three futher videogame events before the end of the year.
So what do you think? Can you picture yourself watching a videogame tournament on TV? In my article I've argued that the dawn of high-def visuals, super realistic animation and incredible physics is leading to games that people actually can watch and enjoy as spectator experiences. Of course, they're already watching LAN tournaments on TV in the Far East. So is that the future for us?
