The CGS focused on competitive gaming in titles like Counter-Strike: Source, Dead or Alive 4, FIFA, World of Warcraft and more. It joins the CPL and World Series of Video Games as failed attempts to garner profitable interest in watching other people play games really, really, really well.

AN IDEA WHOSE TIME CAME TOO EARLY [The CGS]

If you're a "young male viewer" you might be "passionate" about the CGS-G4 announcement, which is just after the jump. The release doesn't specifically mention what CGS teams will be playing, so we'll assume it's everything, from Counter-Strike to Dead or Alive 4 to World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAMING SERIES BRINGS PROGRAMMING TO U.S. CABLE TELEVISION FOR FIRST TIME WITH EXCLUSIVE G4 DEAL

Combined CGS distribution will now reach more than 425 million viewers worldwide

LOS ANGELES – June 16, 2008 – Championship Gaming Series™ (CGS), the only worldwide professional video gaming league, today announced an exclusive deal with G4 Media that brings broadcast programming of the league’s competitions to United States cable television for the first time.

G4, the only destination on television for video games, web culture, and the latest must-have tech gadgets, will air four 90-minute episodes beginning July 16, including the CGS 2008 North America Finals and the CGS 2008 World Finals.

“During our first season, Championship Gaming Series established itself as the creator of the world’s most compelling and engaging television programming dedicated to professional video gaming,” said Andy Reif, Chief Executive Officer for CGS. “Although we were a brand-new sports league in 2007, we created an incredibly powerful global television platform with partners including DIRECTV, DIRECTV Latin America, BSKYB, STAR and ESPN-STAR Sports, through which nearly 50 million cumulative viewers tuned in to watch our programming worldwide during our inaugural season. For our second season, we continue to grow our audience and worldwide reach and this new deal with G4 will help fans connect to CGS via US cable television, for the first time.”

“G4’s young male viewers are passionate about video games,” said Neal Tiles, President, G4. “By bringing Championship Gaming Series to the network, we are giving our audience the rare opportunity to watch some of the world’s best gamers in action. The competition is certain to appeal to our viewers.”

CGS programming will debut July 16 on G4 with the league’s 2008 North America playoffs. The network will air four 90-minute episodes in total: the 2008 North America Final on Wed., July 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT; 2008 World Final Quarterfinals matches on Sat., July 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT; 2008 World Final Semifinals matches on Sat., July 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT; and the 2008 World Final Championship Match on Saturday, August 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

This announcement is the latest in a series of moves by CGS to expand its global broadcast and online audience. The G4 deal follows the league’s April 22 announcement of a groundbreaking deal with European sports broadcasting giant Eurosport to broadcast CGS matches throughout Europe and the launch of a dedicated YouTube channel for CGS on May 23.

About Championship Gaming Series

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, the Championship Gaming Series™ (CGS) is the only worldwide professional video gaming league. Launched in 2007, and a joint venture among BSkyB, DIRECTV and STAR, CGS features teams of the world's best gamers from North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. The league distributes entertainment content to more than 425 million viewers worldwide via DIRECTV in North America and Latin America, BSkyB in the UK, and STAR in Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit thecgs.com.

About Comcast Entertainment Group

Based in Los Angeles, Comcast Entertainment Group operates E! Entertainment Television, the 24-hour network with programming dedicated to the world of entertainment, and E! Online; The Style Network, the destination for women 18-49 with a passion for the best in relatable and inspiring lifestyle programming; and G4 offering the last word on gaming, technology, animation, interactivity, and "Internet culture" for the male 18-34 demo. E! is currently available to nearly 94 million cable and direct broadcast satellite subscribers in the United States. In 2006, E! launched the E! Everywhere initiative underscoring the company's dedication to making E! content available on all new media platforms anytime and anywhere from online to broadband video to wireless to satellite radio to VOD. The Style Network currently counts 59 million cable and satellite subscribers and G4, the #1 podcasted cable network in America, is available in more than 64 million cable and satellite homes nationwide.

Brock was picked up in the sixth round of draft picks at last year's Combine and Draft held at the Playboy Mansion, and has since had a whirlwind year playing for the Chicago Chimeras, including winning the CGS World Finals last December. And if all goes well this weekend, he should have another gaming-packed year ahead of him.

"The CGS has provided me and many other gamers around the world with an amazing opportunity and I plan to run with it as long as I'm having fun doing it," Brock said. "I'm very excited about the upcoming season and beyond."

Each of the eighteen different international teams competes on the same games. This season, the list has been expanded to include five titles: Counter-Strike Source, Dead or Alive 4, Forza Motorsport 2, FIFA 08, and the newest franchise to be added, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. Brock will be playing FIFA 08 to remain in the CGS, and hopefully on the Chicago Chimeras.

"It's difficult to envision myself playing with any other team besides Chicago," Brock said. "I'm really happy here and I think that we have a great team now and for the foreseeable future. I feel at home with this team and as I said before have become good friends with everyone involved with the franchise."

Brock and his teammates comprise only one of the six teams that will be at the Combine and Draft, each team vying to recruit new talent, and protect old. The teams can protect five of the ten players from their 2007 roster, and the remaining players will duke it out in the draft pool with the new talent competing for the opportunity to represent a team.

"It's all about playing your best at the combine and proving that you are worthy of a spot on a team," Brock said. "I'm really looking forward to it this time around because the FIFA pool is much more competitive and the combine itself should be very interesting."

To qualify for last year's Combine and Draft, Brock played in an online tournament from home, which provided him with the stipend to pay for his trip, and the qualification to compete for a spot on a CGS team. Since them, he and his teammates have competed many times, but in Brock's eyes, nothing compares with the feeling of winning the World Finals.

"The atmosphere was electric the entire night and it was just such an incredible experience all around," Brock said. "Over the past seven years that I've been involved in gaming, I've played in so many tournaments in many different places and venues, but for now nothing can top what went down that night."

At the end of the day on Sunday, Brock will know whether his FIFA skills stack up to his competitors well enough to spend another year of traveling, competing, and getting paid to do what we all love: gaming.

"My hopes are no different from any of the other gamers in attendance," Brock said, "to be drafted onto a CGS franchise. Regardless whether I am retained, or drafted elsewhere I just want to come out of the draft a CGS player once again for 2008."

Brock said he was unaware of rumors that CGS might be struggling financially.

"I really don't know anything about such rumors, but what I do know is that the CGS is the first global professional gaming league which garnered a $5 million USD global payroll for its players," he said. "The World Finals reached over 350 million households world-wide on DirecTV and their affiliates BSkyB, Star Asia, and Star Sports. The World Finals also boasted a prize purse of over $1 million USD. It was an exciting and successful first season for the league, and to me it appears to be thriving!"

The Combine and Draft will be streamed live on March 9 at the CGS's website, www.thecgs.com.

Picture from CGS, courtesy of Andrew Brock.

Los Angeles, CA- September 25, 2007- The Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional gaming league, today announced that its Pan-Asian Final will be held from October 15-18 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At this spectacular televised tournament, six teams will battle to determine the finalists that will proceed to the CGS 2007 World Championship in Los Angeles. At the World Championship, the top twelve CGS teams from around the world will compete for the title of 2007 World Champion. The prize pool for the CGS World Championship will total an unprecedented $1,000,000 with the top team receiving a prize of $500,000.

CGS teams from Seoul, Dubai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney will meet at the CGS 2007 Pan-Asian Final. The soon to be announced official team city for China will also be a contender at the Pan Asian Final, rounding out the already competitive roster of teams.

The top four teams from the Pan-Asian Final will then travel to Los Angeles for the CGS 2007 World Championship and compete against eight other teams from around the world, including Chicago and Carolina from the U.S., Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro from Latin America, London and Birmingham from the UK and Stockholm and Berlin from Europe.

"With teams from Seoul, Dubai, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and the soon to be announced team from China, we have representation from the leading countries in e-sports and the best gaming talent throughout Asia, Australia and the Middle East," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif."The Pan-Asian Final will be an intense competition as players and their managers fight it out to see who will represent their countries at the CGS 2007 World Championship and vie for the title of World Champion."

Below is the schedule for the Pan-Asian Final and related events in Kuala Lumpur:

Oct. 05-07: Kuala Lumpur Qualifier, Draft&Final

Oct. 13-14: Dubai Qualifier, Draft&Final

Oct. 13-14: Sydney Qualifier, Draft&Final

Oct. 15-18: Pan-Asian Final

Valve's Counter-Strike®: Source® and EA's FIFA 2007 are the official PC games for CGS. On the Xbox 360, CGS features Tecmo's Dead or Alive® 4 (DOA4) and Project Gotham Racing® 3 (PGR3) from Microsoft Game Studios.

Each CGS team features a total of ten athletes, each specializing in an official League game. Five of the ten players comprise a Counter-Strike: Source squad which competes in five-on-five matches. FIFA 07 is played one-on-one. Each CGS team also has a mixed-doubles team of two DOA4 players, who will play against other teams in one-on-one matches on Xbox 360. The racing game PGR3 is played by two players on each team in a two-versus-two format.

For more information, please go to thecgs.com.

"Creating a CGS team based in Seoul is critical to our success as a true worldwide gaming league," said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif."It is widely known that Korea produces many of the best professional gamers in the world. With our partner, STAR, covering the action for fans across Asia, Seoul will have the opportunity to prove itself in head-to-head competition against top pro gaming professionals from Europe, the United States, Latin America, Australia, the Middle East, and elsewhere in Asia"

Members of the Seoul franchise will earn a base salary of (US)$30,000 and could earn more than (US)$100,000 in annual salary and bonuses. The team will compete in the upcoming CGS Asian Championship event, where they will battle against other Asian teams soon to be announced.

I guess it's a good thing the CGS games don't include StarCraft.

Championship Gaming Series Announces Seoul as New Franchise City [MCV]

Mike McWhertor and I caught up at a parking lot outside of some shopping center in Beverly Hills where we boarded a bus that took us to the Playboy Mansion.

Once inside we were elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of other "VIPs", media, competitors and women that I wasn't thoroughly convinced were really playmates. Mike assured me they were, adding that he knew most of their names.

After an hour or so of standing around, eating, drinking and talking, the whole mass of people were rushed into an outdoor tape where a draft stage had been set up. On the stage were six desk manned by the managers for the new league's six teams. Facing the stage were the finalists for the draft. Mostly men, though I did count about a dozen female gamers who made the cut.

Right now I'm sitting at the table waiting for the draft to get under way. We are, I'm told, about five minutes out. They're streaming the draft live over on www.thecgs.com. You can go there to check it out or hang here and follow along with me as I sorta live blog it. I suspect I'll mostly be making smart-ass comments. Hit the jump to sing along. Brian Crecente

They just introduced the six team managers for the league and showed a short clip on the managers.

Now they've got Fatal1ty and some other talking heads yapping away like we're watching football. I like video games and they've lost me.

The first selection for the first pro-gaming draft ever is.. a woman. DOA gamer Vanessa Arteaga, 20, who hails from Clan PMS. Now she's playing for the San Francisco OPTX. Second choice is Counter-Strike team compLexity who will now be playing for... LA Complexity. At least they won't have trouble remembering their new team name. Pick number three is Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez for DOA 4 who will now be playing with the Dallas Venom.

I spotted Master earlier this evening grooming himself near the bar talking to Arteaga about which one of them would be picked first. He does have a nice hat. Pick number four for this draft is Team 3D who will, oddly enough be playing for 3DNY. Again, easy name to remember for them.

That's funny. I just noticed that there are a bunch of strobe lights attached to the frame holding the tent up. When a draft select takes the stage they all fire off randomly as if hundreds of photographers are taking their pictures. Trust me... they aren't.

The fifth pick in the draft is PGR 3 gamer Wesley "ch0mpr" Cwiklo for the Chicaco Chimera. And the final pick for the first round for this first draft ever is DOA 4 gamer Ryan "OffBeatNinja" Ward for the Carolina Core.

We're into the second round now, but I'm not going to track every selection. I think it's not going to get interesting until the last round when there's a whole bunch of people out in the competitor pool who realize they may not become a salaried pro-gamer afterall.

I happen to be sitting at a table that is right next to where the men, women and teams that are selected walk past right after finding out that they are now officially pro-gamers. It's kind of interesting to see their reactions. Vanessa, for instance, was visibly shaking when she came off the stage, but Master seemed as cool as a cucumber, a cool cucumber. It is obvious that no matter what this draft means to those outside of pro-gaming, to those in the league it means everything, which is certainly a good start.

Alright two rounds down, FOUR MORE TO GO.

Whoops sorry for that sudden ending. The press WiFi just died on the vine in the middle of the event.

That's weird.

The Championship Gaming Series, DIRECTV's take on pro-gaming, just announced a commissioner for their sport and he's the former COO of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

I understand that sports are sports, but it would be nice if there was a little bit of cross-over between Andy Reif's previous job and his new one.

Reif will oversee the establishment of the league and its development in North America, South America, UK/Europe and Asia/Australia.

"The opportunity to start a major sports league, with global television coverage in more than 100,000,000 homes through DIRECTV (North America and Latin America), BSkyB (UK), and STAR (Asia and Australia), has never happened before," said Reif. "No other major sport started with such an arsenal of media. We have been assembling the very best talent from the gaming and broadcast worlds and CGS will change sports entertainment forever. We are going to provide an unparalleled entertainment experience to rival any other major sports league."

"Our 2006 invitational events were a tremendous success," said Eric Shanks, Executive Vice President of Entertainment at DIRECTV. "Now with the arrival of Andy, we're ready to elevate pro gaming to the world stage. DIRECTV is committed to seeing that professional gaming has the best production team in the industry and we will be creating more than 30 hours of programming for the 2007 season in North America alone, which is an unprecedented level of coverage for the sport."

The new league will kick-off with a qualifying period and a draft. CGS said they will be announcing North American online qualifiers soon as well as offline regional qualifiers in New York and Los Angeles. Brian Crecente