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CBS' iconic Road to the Final Four and March Madness presentation is paired with ESPN's signature college basketball, and both announcing teams will call an offense of back cuts and ball reversals familiar to fired-up gyms in the dead of winter. But can NCAA Basketball 10 deliver a game just as compelling as the sport's annual Cinderella stories?

Loved
Men in Motion: This year's big gameplay innovation involves implementing the motion offense, which is to college basketball what the option is to college football - versatile, team-oriented and not really used in the professional league. NCAA Basketball 10 offers what appears to be a head-spinning variety of motion sets, but it's easy enough to implement them. You'll bring the ball up in a base motion offense and then by touching the left bumper (or L1) initiate the play. Your teammates then start cutting across the half court, with passing indicators either grayed or lit depending on whether they're open for the pass. Timing is a big key, and it takes a few games to learn how to hit your man right as his icon becomes lit; just waiting for a full color indicator results in a lot of standing around. The responsiveness can be frustrating at times - direct pass control can often zip passes completely across the half-court no problem, while a skip pass inside in the motion offense suddenly becomes a turnover because the indicator goes gray when you don't expect it. Still, getting the hang of the motion does deliver satisfying thrills unique to this style of game. Seeing your man curl off a screen to the top of the key, hitting him in stride and dropping the dagger three exemplifies the character of the college game, and indeed sets NCAA 10 apart from its pro sibling NBA Live.

Prime-Time Performer: Much has been made of this game's use of both ESPN and CBS's broadcast packages, and with slight quibbles they live up to the hype. The CBS "heartbeat" graphic opens that package over a black screen, followed by a cut to the network's title graphics, iconic theme song, and Gus Johnson introducing the arena and the competitors. ESPN's Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews return as voice talents but are accompanied by that network's graphics and theme music too. It instantly took me to a sports bar on a Wednesday night in January. Nessler and Vitale, as veterans, have a deeper script and provide the truest broadcast. I straight up enjoy anything Nessler does and Vitale is tolerable because, frankly, he's in a recording studio and doesn't have a specific coach (or two) with an ass for him to kiss all game long, the worst aspect of his schtick. Johnson does a great job delivering his inflections and his excitement in the situations you'd expect to hear it. Unfortunately, he and Bill Raftery are rookies and as such, go into repetition earlier than Vitale and Nessler. The wipes and graphics are true to life for both networks, although they sometimes hang before going back to the action. Shooters go to the free-throw line with a biography box, complete with a major, again, just like on television. I love it that the announcers talk about going to a commercial, over highlight footage or a sideline cinematic, when you call a timeout. The CBS Selection Sunday show is minimal but an utterly necessary touch, and it's always fun seeing another bracket and rating other teams' shot at the Final Four in addition to your own. In all, these features deliver a verisimilitude that will definitely fire you up at least the first few times you see it, and is always enjoyable.

Hated
That's All Folks?: The motion offense and the broadcast presentation, though both are substantial, are it, unfortunately, as far as gameplay and experience changes from NCAA Basketball 09. The dynasty mode is basically a carbon copy from the previous year and, disappointingly, its schedules out of the box are not authentic, and must wait for a patch on Tuesday to fix these. That will be when EA Sports rolls out the game's first Dynamic Update, new to this year. It is similar in basis to NBA Live's Dynamic DNA, in that it will provide the updated, current state of college basketball as a context for your singleplayer dynasty, with a real world Top 25 and RPI and announcer commentary responding to those numbers. There's no superstar career mode, although I know how much effort this would take to create as it has no analogue in NBA Live. Online play has one head-to-head mode and no online dynasty, which is now integrated into every other major sports title. If anything needed at least an online tournament mode, it would have to be NCAA Basketball, but its multiplayer capabilities remain previous-gen.

AI Doesn't Play Smart: NCAA 10 is still fundamentally the NBA Live engine, right down to the harebrained AI your players and the computer's will exhibit. Too many passes go to a man standing with a foot out of bounds to be acceptable. The opposing offense will inexplicably dribble down its clock and get locked into passing back-and-forth rather than attacking the basket. I've seen both on display in NBA 10. There also isn't much of a post-up offense to speak of, looking like a NBA Live 10 with its post mechanics stripped out before they were patched back in. In truth I didn't notice it that much because I was lobbing into the high post mostly to distribute the ball to a cutter, occasionally going one-on-one with a baby hook. You'll definitely want to bias the sliders toward more fouls at lower difficulties or shorter time lengths, as not enough are committed and when the CPU starts using them for clock management, it'll often have five or more to give before you go to the line. I also had issues with the point guard coming back to take the inbounds pass after a made basket, sometimes taking off for the wing immediately but looking back, I could have had some bizarre three-guard offense put in at the time.

Mild Manners: For a game with such polish in its presentation, what it's "broadcasting" comes off somewhat bland. There are too many generic looking players, and too many generic arenas for its mid-major teams and in tournament play. Over the course of a long season, the broadcast novelty will wear off and the games will start seeming to blur into one. For players, there are some 800 faces to choose from in create-a-player mode but the body types seem restricted to just a few templates. Until you build a familiarity with your roster it's hard to pick out key players because height in the college game, with 6-9 centers and 6-4 forwards, is not as matched to a position as it is in the pros. While all schools in the major conferences have their home arenas represented, tournament sites are generic until you reach the Final Four, and even then, the dimensions seem a lot more cramped than what you're used to seeing on the television. Also, I'm disappointed that the crowd and the commentary in tournament play seems to favor the designated home team as if it were a regular season game. College basketball has a rich tradition of tournament crowds kicking in for the underdog if they're close, or leading, late in a game. And overall, rather than the sustained jet-engine intensity peculiar to college arenas, the crowd's emotion rises and falls in waves, and cuts in inconsistently.

NCAA Basketball 10 is an odd duck to recommend. For a casual basketball fan with a lot of school pride, it's very entertaining, very accessible, and even educational in how it teaches you the basic college offenses. It's also a less complicated game to master than NCAA Football, so someone nostalgic for his campus days will be winning bragging rights faster here. Hardcore hoops junkies will at least want to see the motion offense and the CBS and ESPN packages, and will need more than a rental period to cut down the nets.

It's for the sports gamer or the basketball fan in the middle - not wed to a particular school or team, nor that fixated on offensive strategy - where NCAA 10 might fail to hold someone's attention. Of course, you don't have to run your offense through half-court motion sets. You can use a straight-up pick and roll, or drive and kick all by yourself. For those who prefer to play this way, it will feel very much like a reskinned NBA Live 10. And if there's anything bemoaned in the college game, it's the one-season mercenary who's already thinking of the pro game. NCAA Basketball 10 is likewise a fine performer that uses up its eligibility too soon.

NCAA Basketball 10 was developed by EA Sports Vancouver and published by Electronic Arts for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Nov. 17. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all game types in both single and multiplayer modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

"You hear that," Dougan, a producer in EA Sports' Vancouver studio, said after humming the tune "and wow - that is college basketball."

EA's college hoops title, even though it's in the second year of a competition-free, exclusive license arrangement, is taking a huge bite with this year's presentation. Full broadcast immersion - the package of real network announcers, graphics and music - has been on a sports gamer's wish list for a long time in many titles. NCAA Basketball 10 will be the first to dip its toe in the deep end of those expectations not once, but twice this year, presenting its games in the broadcast style of CBS and ESPN.

In season mode, "if your team is that good," of course, says Dougan, your weekday games will be broadcast with ESPN's Brad Nessler and Dick Vitale, using that network's signature key graphics, screen wipes, and music. Play on Saturday or Sunday, and maybe you're the over-the-air national game on CBS - called by Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery, with that network's visual package.

It gets better. If, say, you're North Carolina, playing down in the Maui Invitational, ESPN has the rights to that tournament in real life, and it'll be presented as such in this game. In the conference tournaments, you know how sometimes the broadcasts trade hands? For example, the SEC's semifinals are on ESPN but the finals are on CBS? NCAA Basketball 10 will switch accordingly. "We wouldn't be able to get approval otherwise," Dougan said, "and we wanted to do our best to make our broadcast partners happy."

It is a hell of a stab at sports immersion, taking on the guise of two real-world networks where no game has fully rendered one before. It's even ballsier considering there's no competing title, and that the Johnson-Raftery team not only had to come in to build that audio library from scratch, but the game will end up competing with itself as both will be measured against Nessler and Vitale's experience and deeper soundfile.

"To do one network's broadcast package is hard enough, and we had to do it well," Dougan said. "We're not going to be the first ones to do it for EA Sports and not nail it. We don't have that option. And here we decided to do two."

Creating the graphics wasn't as simple as dialing up a point of contact in Bristol, Conn. or New York, and asking for the network's files. "The way their systems work, their art doesn't translate well for us," Dougan said. "So we had to recreate it, based on references provided by them, or we just got it off tape. That's the overlays, the popups, the 3D screen wipes you see when they cut to a replay or the guy at the foul line."

Those wipes are both unique, not only in visual content, but in the space and time they take up on the screen. Keep in mind they're branded with the logo of the team in the game. And there are more than 300 in NCAA's Division I.

"And every broadcast package has multiple size logos. And then you have to times that by two," Dougan said. "It was a nasty challenge."

It gets so pointilistic, Dougan said, when a player comes to the line in a national broadcast, the networks usually throw up his vital stats, which include his college major. NCAA Basketball 10 had to build in a randomizer to give players a major for just such a presentation. "We've got the guys in there who are communications, or undeclared. We've got biology, performing arts," Dougan said, chuckling. (If you create a player, he will get a major but it'll be assigned by the game, you don't get to pick it.)

When tournament time comes, Dougan said, the graphics will incorporate bracket progression and other tournament specific details, entirely done in the branding of CBS, the Final Four network since 1982. And that ...

Well, that brings up the number one question:

"No, it's not in the game," Dougan said. "We do not have ‘One Shining Moment.' "

The misty-eyed melody CBS always plays at the end of the championship game, to a reel of the tournament's best highlights, is the one iconic feature of March Madness not present in this build.

"That's something we really wanted to do, but you'd be surprised how much the dude wants - or how much that song actually costs," Dougan said. "But yes, what would be the ultimate, is if we had a video highlight montage with that song."

I asked if this broadcast immersion was a proof of concept for other EA Sports titles; Dougan didn't want to speak to what other EA Sports teams were doing (though they do work together EA Tiburon helped out with the Lucas Oil Stadum build, the site of this year's Final Four in Indianapolis.)

But he made clear that, even though 2K Sports is no longer a competitor in college basketball, it doesn't mean College Basketball 2K10 has no competition. It is the last major sports title to release before the holiday season, when gift givers are considering not only which sports game to buy, but which game overall.

"You look at where we are, NCAA Basketball isn't as popular as, say, Madden," Dougan said. "But we're still competing with it. We're competing with other sports video games, or even Call of Duty. If someone only has $60 to spend on one video game, we need to give them something that's going to drive a purchase."

The double-broadcast package was arduous - taking up 60 percent of the development cycle, he guessed. But it was worth it.

"This is something we need to provide people, in order to grow our game and market."

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

More than just table overlays and title graphics, EA Sports is including signature wipes and other elements specific to both networks.

Our lead screen artist had to create 2 sets of broadcast specific logo sets (that are used in different overlays and wipes) for every team in the game. That's over 600+ unique pieces of art for logos alone! You'll see these logos in various overlays like National Top 25, player stat pop ups and team/player montage wipes (to name a few).

So, you can see this was nowhere near as simple as swapping colors or logos.

People who watch college basketball are used to seeing and extracting info out of the score overlays and montages during the games they watch on ESPN and CBS Sports. We had to nail this functionality and be true to the broadcast in order to make it authentic and easy to gather info and make changes based on that information. It is also a lot of fun knowing that the stats showing up in the ESPN or CBS Sports broadcasted game you are playing are a direct result of you playing a game or working through a dynasty. ESPN and CBS Sports are recording and surfacing YOUR stats, YOUR team's averages, YOUR work.

NCAA Basketball 10 - CBS and ESPN Presentation Packages [Inside EA Sports via Pasta Padre]

This I honestly did not know. EA Sports is bringing in two different major networks' signature voice talents and graphics packages for a single title. Color me impressed. That's seriously delivering it's-in-the-game verisimilitude. If they have a DLC package of Jim Thacker and Billy Packer and the old Jefferson Pilot ACC broadcast graphics from 1978, I'll go camp out for my copy like it's January back on Tobacco Road. Now I'm humming the jingle again ... Sail with the Pilot ...

Rather than licensing a full-blown movie tie-in game for Star Trek's upcoming "reboot" film, publisher Paramount is pushing for a decent game with a smaller scope. Pretty much the only thing D-A-C the game has to do with the movie is music from the film's original score. Other than that, everything is pure top-down shooter tradition and familiar Star Trek franchise naming conventions.

What Is It?
Star Trek D-A-C is a top down space shooter made up of various online multiplayer modes that can be played alternately offline with AI. Players choose either the Star Fleet faction or the Romulan Empire faction and then pick one of three types of starship to control. The various game modes allow for up to six players per faction with AI-controlled units to flesh out the ranks. The different modes are team deathmatch, conquest and assault and each have a versus, co-op or solo variants. It's coming out for XBLA, PSN and later on for PC.

What We Saw
I sat in a room in the Westin St. Francis hotel for about 20 minutes, watching Producer Tarik Soliman play through quickmatch rounds of deathmatch and conquest against the AI on the XBLA version. Then I took a turn with assault mode for about 25 minutes before I lost and had to pass the controller to the next journalist.

How Far Along Is It?
The build looked pretty final. D-A-C will come out "around the same time" as the movie, Soliman, so start looking for it on XBLA and PSN the week of May 8.

What Needs Improvement?
Tutorial – What Tutorial?: Perhaps this is something Soliman skipped in during the demo in his rush to show off the game, but I didn't see a tutorial mode or any real expository text telling you how to play the game. Not that D-A-C is complicated – but in a game so focused on multiplayer, it might be nice to keep the learning curve shallow with a decent tutorial so you don't spend the first half our of your D-A-C experience getting slaughtered online.

Can't Control The AI: Soliman said the developer felt it would be too hectic in solo mode to give the lone human player control over all of the friendly AI units. Normally, I'd be okay with leaving the battle plans up to the AI – it's a computer, so it should be smarter than me, right? – but I found that the AI units on my team weren't team players... at least not where I was concerned. I had to tap Y to go into the map view just to find them whenever I respawned and unless I guessed what their tactic was, I couldn't really participate in whatever plan they'd cooked up. Solo feels particularly lonely when even the AI ditches you.

Limited Scope: Because this game relies on multiplayer (and is better played with more human than AI players), it's pretty limited for long term playability. Soliman said there would potentially be DLC for the title; but unless they add a compelling story-based singleplayer mode or some hot, new multiplayer mode, D-A-C might lose its appeal overtime instead of gaining a steady following – like a stick of gum losing its flavor instead of a fine wine aging.

What Should Stay The Same?
Sheild/Boost System: Your primary controls in the game are shoot and boost – pull the trigger for the former and press X for the latter. Both eat up an energy meter displayed at the bottom of the screen which regenerates slowly overtime or gets replenished through white orb pickups you can find on the map or score from blown-up enemy units. This, combined with a shield that also requires time to regenerate if it gets shot up, adds a nice layer of strategy to the gameplay that sets D-A-C.

Escape Pod Deaths: In D-A-C, you take damage from other ships shooting at you, enemy mines or enemy turrets (not from crashing into stuff). When your shield are gone, your ship can either take a few more hits before it explodes, or you can eject an escape pod. The escape pod can't shoot and has no shield to defend itself, but if you can steer it away from danger ‘til a timer runs out, the game rewards you with a quicker respawn time and by letting you keep a higher percentage of items you picked up before you got shot down.

Different Things Actually Feel Different: Three game modes and three ship classes doesn't sound like a lot in the way of gameplay, but each mode and each ship feels different enough to create a sense of depth. The ship classes work like rock-paper-scissors: speedy fighters can't last long against bombs, the slow flagships pack a wallop and take forever to get anywhere, while the bombers can't last long against a barrage of lasers. The strategies you develop around the different fighters then adapt depending on which mode you play: for conquest, you're better off with a bomber-flagship mix – but for assault mode (which sounds similar to conquest because it's about capturing points on the map), you need to switch it up between bombers and fighters depending on how far through the map you've progressed.

It's Fun: I didn't even notice 25 minutes had passed during my assault match. I must've died at least half a dozen times, but rather than being frustrated, I was always eager to get back to the game.

Final Thoughts
Only one thing bugs me about D-A-C: nobody will tell me what the acronym stands for. My best guess is that it stands for Deathmatch-Assault-Conquest, but Soliman was hinting at movie spoilers or something. Whatever; I had fun playing it, so what difference does the acronym make? They could have called it Obligatory Star Trek Tie-In and it'd still be a fun game to play.

If you're not convinced, just sit tight for the demo that's due out the same day as the game; it'll include multiplayer (because it kind of has to) and give you a good idea of what you'll be getting for $10. All in all, for me D-A-C sounds like it's exactly what an XBLA/PSN game should be: quick and pretty with a healthy shot of multiplayer.

Ludia, the company that brought us Hell's Kitchen, American Idol, and Where's Waldo video games in the past, is looking to add another fair to middling television show adaptation to their line up, securing the rights to The Amazing Race. Games will be released across multiple unnamed platforms in with the show's 14th season, which is currently underway.

"The heart-pounding adventure, around-the-world competition and postcard worthy settings of ‘The Amazing Race' are perfectly suited for video game adaptation," said Alex Thabet, Founder and CEO of Ludia. "We are thrilled to add such a high-energy, suspenseful franchise to our slate, and we will infuse those key elements into a highly social, team-based multiplayer game that unites duos in cooperative game play to compete against rivals.

A highly social, team-based multiplayer game sounds lovely, though having played some of Ludia's other titles my excitement level is through the floor for this one.

It's not clear yet how much corpse-rummaging will be involved in the new CSI: NY game from Ubisoft, but what you will get — for the first time in a CSI game — is the chance to play some of the actual characters from the show.

Five new cases have been created by writers from the show and then illustrated in a new 'graphic novel' style of cartoony animation. It looks quite nice, although I would be hard pressed to identify that guy as Gary Sinese without the caption. Maybe there is some kind of likeness licensing issue.

A new interrogation feature lets you keep pushing suspects in different directions to wear them down and ferret out the info you need.

Other than that it looks like minigame business as usual trying to triangulate bullet trajectories, reconstruct evidence and crack codes.

Crack the case with new 'CSI: NY' game [Monsters and Critics]

GameStop launches TV network [MCV]

CBS' existing online network already includes CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, and the CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media
platforms. CBS says its distribution net, the Audience Network, comprises 300 partner sites and reaches 82% of U.S. web users.

"CNET Networks operates some of the most important premium online brands, serving the most sought after online audiences," said CNET CEO Neil Ashe. "Today's announcement brings together two organizations that complement each other and working with Leslie, Quincy and the talented people at CBS, we look forward to taking our business and our brands to the next level."

Full announcement follows the jump.

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) has entered into an agreement to acquire CNET Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNET), it was announced today by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, CBS will make a cash tender offer for all issued and outstanding shares of CNET Networks for $11.50 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $1.8 billion. The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.

"There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks," said Moonves. "CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience. Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest- growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives. We could not be more pleased with the prospect of adding CNET Networks and its tremendous team of people to the CBS family. I look forward to working with Quincy Smith, Neil Ashe and the considerable combined talent at both companies, as we build upon our success."

Based in San Francisco, CNET Networks owns many of the Internet's leading entertainment, news and information sites including CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic. The company, which reported significant profits in 2007 on revenues of $406 million, has a large international footprint, particularly in China.

Upon closing, CNET Networks' sites will be combined with CBS's stable of dynamic and growing interactive businesses. These include CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media platforms, and the distribution network of the CBS Audience Network, which is made up of more than 300 partner Web sites and reaches 82% of all online users in the United States.

"The core businesses of CNET Networks and CBS Interactive represent near perfect category symmetry in premium online content," said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. "Together we will have a terrific opportunity to not only grow our established businesses, but to build new attractive verticals of content as well. This is the beginning of an era for both CBS and CNET Networks; plus, it's going to be great to work with Neil and his team, many of whom I have known for many years."

"We're thrilled to join CBS and combine our interactive media experience with CBS's world-class content," said Neil Ashe, Chief Executive Officer, CNET Networks, Inc. "CNET Networks operates some of the most important premium online brands, serving the most sought after online audiences. Today's announcement brings together two organizations that complement each other and working with Leslie, Quincy and the talented people at CBS, we look forward to taking our business and our brands to the next level."

"We look forward to completing the acquisition of CNET Networks and the terrific benefits it brings to CBS as Quincy, Neil and their combined teams build upon our success," Moonves concluded. "At the same time our strong cash flow allows us to pay among the highest dividends in the industry, and we are committed to continue to pay our attractive dividend to return value to shareholders."

The Board of Directors of CNET Networks has unanimously approved the merger agreement and unanimously recommends that CNET Networks stockholders accept the tender offer and tender their shares.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

The morning follow up to last night's report features Steinberg again with level-headed commentary from psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw on Manhunt 2. Both pieces are generally non-alarmist, but serve as a warning to parents that a game with the title Manhunt 2 might not be appropriate for young kids.

Outcry Over Violent Video Games and Ultra-Violent Manhunt [CBS News]

Sieberg promises discussion with Rockstar Games reps, advocacy groups, gaming industry professionals and child behavioral psychologists. According to the CBS News web site Manhunt 2 "has many kids waiting in anticipation." We certainly look forward to the mainstream news coverage in light of this revelation about the kids.

Thanks for the tips, Brandon, Michael and Andrew.

But for gaming to make it as a major-network TV sport, the big hurdle will be translating a medium that is by its nature meant to be experienced firsthand into a compelling hands-off spectator experience. It is a task that in some ways is no less daunting than that of the early baseball television producers who eventually realized that a camera way out in center field would provide the best view of pitches.

My boyfriend already set the TiVO. We'll see how this goes and (perhaps more importantly) what the ratings are like after the fact.

Video Game Matches to Be Televised on CBS [NYT]

The early airing schedule is:

July 29th - Louisville, Kentucky (Event: June 21st-24th)
August 19th - Dallas, Texas (Event: July 5th-8th)
November 17th - Los Angeles, California (Event: October 18th-21st)
December 15th - Jönköping, Sweden Saturday (Event: November 29th-December 2nd)

CBS plans to air footage of WSVG events on its CBS Sports Spectacular program. I know I'll be watching other people play video games instead of actually playing them myself for literally minutes at a time. Michael McWhertor

CBS and WSVG Team Up for 4 TV Shows [WSVG, via 1UP]

Galaxies Today [The New York Post]

Professional gaming is set to take television by storm, as the World Series of Video Games announces deals with CBS, CSTV, and Gameplay HD to broadcast coverage of the first annual competition. College Sports Television will actually be airing coverage as five weekly 1 hour episodes in January. Gameplay HD, VOOM's video gaming channel, will be providing continuing coverage throughout the month of December, with more in February.

The deal with CBS marks the first time professional gaming competition will be covered by U.S. major network television, though they aren't technically following the competition. They'll be airing "THEY GOT GAME, Stars of the World Series of Video Games" on December 30th, a 1 hour special that follows five professional gamers on the road to the WSVG, including Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, who the press release refers to as the Michael Jordan of pro gaming. You aren't the Michael Jordan of crap until you star in a movie with the Looney Tunes, Mr. "I've got a number in my name."

The press release, after the jump.

World Series of Video Games Inks Deals with Major Broadcast and Cable Networks

CBS, CSTV and GamePlay HD To Provide Comprehensive Coverage of the Tournament Circuit's Inaugural Season on the Heels of the Recent Special Aired on MTV

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The World Series of Video Games presented by Intel (WSVG), the first international video game competition circuit for multiple game platforms, today announced it has signed deals with major broadcast, cable and satellite networks CBS, CSTV and VOOM HD Networks' GAMEPLAY HD to air extensive coverage of its 2006 season, bringing professional video game competitions to major U.S. network television for the first time. The coverage follows an MTV special that aired November 17th, first shining the spotlight on the WSVG for cable television.

Collectively, the broadcast and cable television deals will bring more than 20 hours of original programming from the World Series of Video Games to audiences in the United States, with international distribution also in the works. Each network will explore a unique aspect of the WSVG, providing audiences with a window into the exciting culture of video game competitions and budding stars of the gaming world.

In its inaugural year, the WSVG has attracted the attention of multiple television programmers. The first to recognize the circuit's mass appeal was VOOM's GAMEPLAY HD, which to date has produced 11 hours of programming focused on WSVG's high-intensity action, and is the WSVG's exclusive high-definition television partner.

CBS' broadcast will mark the first appearance for professional video game competitions on U.S. broadcast network television.

"Earlier this year, we envisioned that the World Series of Video Games presented by Intel would have more television coverage than any other video game tournament to date," said Matt Ringel, president of Games Media Properties. "We're pleased to deliver on that goal with a powerful array of broadcast partners that share our passion and commitment to bring the excitement of video game competitions to a wider audience."

CBS is scheduled to air THEY GOT GAME, Stars of the World Series of Video Games presented by Intel on December 30 at 3 p.m. The one-hour special, hosted by Quddus and produced by Juma Entertainment, tells the compelling personal stories of five rising stars of the competitive video gaming world. Filmed during the World Series of Video Games Finals and on location from the gamers' hometowns, the program focuses on Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, the world champion gamer who has become the "Michael Jordan" of the sport; David "Moto" Geffon, whose decision to go pro bucked the tradition of his family of lawyers; Shannon "Mary Jane" Ridge, the minister's daughter who is now a Halo run-and-gunner; Matt "Ballistics" Powers whose prowess at "Ghost Recon" is honed as a Sergeant at maximum security prison Pelican Bay and tempered as a father of two.

MTV recently premiered Inside the World Series of Video Games, a half-hour special on the establishment of The World Series of Video Games and the rise of professional video gaming as a full-fledged sport and professional circuit. Produced by GAMEPLAY HD, the special spotlighted several top competitors as they traveled around the world participating in WSVG events in Louisville, Dallas, London, Sweden, and China, vying for a place in the World Series of Video Games Finals in New York. Inside the World Series of Video Games appeared on MTV in prime time on November 17, with ongoing rebroadcasts on MTV2 and on www.games.mtv.com.

CSTV: College Sports Television, a CBS company, will produce and air complete coverage of the first World Series of Video Games Finals as part of a five-week series Sundays at 9 p.m. ET beginning January 21, 2007. The program will be shot at the CSTV Field House at Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex in New York City. 95 gamers who qualified on the WSVG Circuit in 2006 will be flown to New York to compete in the three day competition. Each one-hour episode will feature players competing on a broad array of Intel PC and Xbox games, including Counter Strike 1.6; Quake 4; Warcraft III: Frozen Throne; Halo 2; Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Additionally, CSTV will launch a new World Series of Video Games broadband channel on cstv.com which will carry the live Team Sportscast Network streamcast of the Finals.

Matt Ringel added, "CSTV is the ideal partner for covering our 2006 Finals. Video games competitions share much in common with the energy, excitement and audience of collegiate sports. CSTV also has one of the best digital media platforms for sports content, so this is a particularly appropriate fit for us."

VOOM's GAMEPLAY HD, the only 24/7 high-definition video-game network, continues its extensive coverage of the 2006 WSVG major tournaments. During the month of December episodes will focus on the WSVG events in Kentucky, Texas and Sweden and will air additional episodes in February. Additionally, throughout the month, fans can log onto www.gameplayhd.com to watch streaming online video of GAMEPLAY HD's WSVG coverage. A new episode will be posted online every Friday at 8:00pm ET and remain available throughout the week.

ABOUT THE WORLD SERIES OF VIDEO GAMES:

The World Series of Video Games (WSVG), presented by Intel, is the first international video game competition circuit for multiple game platforms.

More information is available at www.thewsvg.com.

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Competitive gaming on cable is nothing new, as anyone who ever caught G4's Arena can attest. Presented correctly it can be incredibly engrossing, and at times I even found myself shouting at the television as if I was watching Sunday football or something. The only stumbling block I see for televised professional gaming is the people that care the most are generally far to busy gaming on their television to watch someone else do it. Would you forego gaming to watch others do it better? Michael Fahey

William Vitka over at CBS's GameCore has an ambitiously fascinating piece up on gaming and storytelling. He puts forth the question of whether or not video games will ever have a Citizen Kane moment. "My first response is to ask whether the analogy is the right one," Henry Jenkins of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tells Vitka. "If the question is, 'Will video games become a serious art form in their own right?' I think the answer is inevitably yes."

Graphic novelist Warren Ellis is less optimistic, saying, "Great storytelling begins and ends with the storyteller, not the physics engine or the rendering," he says." It could be argued that great storytelling and rendering are not mutually exclusive. The same could be said of CGI and storytelling in film. "But let's be straight," Ellis says. "You're not going to get anything on the level of Kane in video games until someone somewhere pays an honest-to-God writer to sit in a room and create a story themselves that they are passionate about telling through game play and visual narrative."

Once again, the validity of such a comparison is brought forth. Vitka writes that the problem of discussing video games and stories is that "we have never had a storytelling medium like video games." Jamil Moledina, director of the Game Developers Conference, concedes and says, "Game playing represents the hybrid of both aspects of storytelling, where the audience is empowered to self-propagate the storytelling creation and enjoyment. This stimulates their own creativity and gives them the experience of controlling their destiny." And that is what makes a good video game.

Full Piece Here [GameCore]

I live in a foreign country, and the only American TV shows I get are reruns of Full House. So, how am I supposed to check out Fatal1ty's big, fat 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft? Swing by CBS's GameCore, where they've got a clip and summary up for all to hold me over until Uncle Joey starts imitating Bullwinkle.

GameCore [CBS News]

William from GameCore rang the Kotaku red phone this afternoon alerting us to Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell's Sunday night appearance on 60 Minutes. GameCore has a preview of the episode up where Wendell attributes part of his training for cyberathleticism to good ol' fashioned physical fitness. Check your local listings to see when 60 Minutes airs on Sunday and set your TiVo.

Top Cyber Athlete Is No Couch Potato [GameCore]

I received an email last night from Nick. Nick is a little 22-year-old boy diagnosed with CBS (Console Boredom Syndrome). From the site:

Hello. My name is Nick. I am 22 years old and work as an IT technician in sunny southern California. I was recently diagnosed with C.B.S. (Console Boredom Syndrome). My doctor, Doctor Mario, says that it is the result of years of playing the same console systems over and over. I have acute Playstationatitus, and a nasty case of Gamecubosis.

Doctor Mario says that the only cure is the new XBOX 360 console.
He said that the cutting-edge graphics and High-Def capablities would help me rebuild my F-cell count. (Fun blood cells.)
Unfortunately, all my money is spent on my escalating cost of medical bills.
So I turn to you, fellow gamers. You're my only hope.
I hope that you will reach into your heart and donate.

Yep, that's it, a cry for help and hard cash. Nick wants your money and he doesn't want to do anything to earn it. He doesn't offer to post images of his 360 or shave his head, or dress up like a woman, or pretend to be a Rhesus monkey, or pretend to be a bald crossing-dressing Rhesus monkey playing a 360. Nothin'.

I Need an Xbox 360 (but not as much he needs some more creativity) [Paypal link included]