My prediction? Ken gets ironically eaten by several wild animals who have never before appeared together hunting the same game.

Ken's Bio Page For Survivor: Gabon [CBS.com - Thanks RLJohn!]

"The CGS World Final represents a watershed moment in the history of pro gaming and we are proud to broadcast to more than 350 million viewers globally," said Andy Reif, CGS commissioner and CEO.

Championship Gaming Series Announces Details of 2007 World Final and $1,000,000 Prize Purse

First World Final Event Will Be Broadcast to More than 350 Million Viewers Worldwide

Los Angeles, CA - November 13, 2007 - Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional gaming league, today revealed details of the league's inaugural World Final, which will take place December 6-14 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles. At the highly-anticipated showdown, 12 top CGS teams from around the world will battle each other for their share of an unprecedented $1,000,000 total prize purse, of which $500,000 will go to the World Champion team.

In what will become an annual platform for the world's best gamers to compete professionally, the inaugural CGS World Final will be broadcast on television to more than 350 million viewers by DIRECTV's The 101 in the U.S., BSkyB's Sky One, Sky Two and Sky HD in the UK, ESPN STAR Sports in Asia, SKY in Mexico and Brazil, DIRECTV throughout the rest of Latin America, and across mainland Europe via additional soon-to-be confirmed broadcast partners.

"The CGS World Final represents a watershed moment in the history of pro gaming and we are proud to broadcast to more than 350 million viewers globally," said Andy Reif, CGS commissioner and CEO. "Fans worldwide will soon find out which team will claim its place as the first CGS World Champion and take home the top prize of $500,000."

To add to the excitement, CGS announced that, in addition to the CGS team-based World Final, it will hold the CGS Individual World Final. Top CGS players from each of the league's six regions will compete in their designated games to determine the individual champions for each official game category.

Additionally, CGS will hold the World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Arena 2v2 (WoW:BC) CGS Championship. The WoW:BC event will feature premier American and European pairs battling for top prize of $30,000.

Both the CGS Individual World Final and the WoW:BC CGS Championship will be webcast at thecgs.com on December 8th.

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 (CS:S) 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.

CGS World Final prize distribution is as follows:

TEAM WORLD FINAL
1st Place $500,000
2nd Place $150,000
3rd-4th Place $70,000
5th-8th Place $30,000
9th-12th Place $15,000
MVP $25,000

INDIVIDUAL WORLD FINAL
1st Place DOA4 (men's) $5,000
1st Place DOA4 (women's) $5,000
1st Place PGR3 $5,000 (x2) CORRECTED
1st Place FIFA 2007 $5,000
1st Place CS:S $5,000 (x5)

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: BURNING CRUSADE ARENA 2V2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
1st Place $15,000 (x2)

Grand Total Prize Purse $1,075,000

CGS WORLD FINAL EVENT SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS:
December 6: CGS World Final press conference
December 6: First round day 1
December 7: First round day 2
December 8: WoW:BC 2v2 CGS Championship (Competition will be webcast on thecgs.com)
December 8: Individual World Final (Competition will be webcast on thecgs.com)
December 10: Quarterfinals day 1
December 11: Quarterfinals day 2
December 13: Semifinals
December 14: Final

The CGS official teams participating in the World Final are as follows:

Berlin Allianz
Birmingham Salvo
Carolina Core
Chicago Chimera
London Mint
Mexico City Furia
Rio Sinistro
Seoul Jinhwa
Singapore Sword
Stockholm Magnetik
Sydney Underground
Wuhan Dragon

"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]

Super talented kid, but I have to say, this is the sort of thing that will make me feel like a dumbass for the rest of the weekend.Kim Phu

He's 9 Years Old and a Video-Game Circuit Star" [NY Times]

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.

———-

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

Wired has a great article up, detailing India's rise as a gamer society and the proliferation of cybercafes and gaming tournaments through India's growing middle class. India today is China of 2001: A rumbling cluster of highly compressed gamers ready to explode in a Big Bang across the entirety of the subcontinent.

One thing that the article mentions is currently hampering gaming from really catching on in India is the lack of Indian themed games, "with Hindu gods and Bollywood music." However, they note that we can probably expect the market to be flooded by games with names like Full Thang-Ta Warrior and Mecha-Shiva soon.

Another problem mentioned is the importance given to schools in an intensely competitive academic culture. There's just no time to game with all that book learning. That's why I dropped out of high school... suckers. Florian Eckhardt

Counter-Strike, India Style [Wired]