Video gaming is now a sport

Posted at 10:19 PM on January 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

From the "what am I missing here department" comes this late-breaking news nugget: ESPN is adding competitive video game coverage to its broadcast schedule.

Is there anything worse than sitting in a room watching someone else play a video game? Now we're supposed to watch someone somewhere else play?

Videogame bloggers seem to like the idea. Said the Sports Video Digest...

You know, its good to see ESPN showing video games some love…I mean, they show love to a lot of other fringe sports (strongest man, lumberjack events, pool competitons, etc.) so why not video games? I would be willing to bet that more people are playing X-Box 360 than participating in a hot dog eating contest anyway (although we all love Joey Chestnutt, right?)

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Comments (4)

With the recent trend toward easier video games (as epitomized by the Wii), video games are much more mainstream across demographics than ever before.

As far as watching games--I think it really depends. Some games lend themselves to being watched than others.

Watching someone play "The Sims"--well, its duller than dishwater and I speak from experience.

Other games can be much more entertaining.

Posted by Paul | January 18, 2008 8:22 AM

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Is there anything worse than sitting in a room watching someone else play a video game? Well yes. But you weren't really looking for answers to that and you certainly don't want examples.

Now we're supposed to watch someone somewhere else play? Yes! And it will be cool. Should Minnesotans who aren't good at basketball avoid watching Chicago games? C'mon. We'll get to see the action. Observers can learn about the skills / timing / strategy necessary to play some of these games. For those of us - like me - who are total toast at playing, we'll get to see gaming developments and game storylines.

I think it is completely cool.

Julia Schrenkler
Interactive Producer, MPR

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | January 18, 2008 8:31 AM

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blink blink

Posted by Bob Collins | January 18, 2008 9:30 AM

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You bond with your kids in every way possible. I watched my boys play endless Nintendo hours and they laughed at me falling off the couch trying to learn the jumps in Castlevania...and cheered when I (almost) beat the final boss. We also hiked in the woods, traveled, read hundreds of books, made gingerbread houses and generally had lives. I also sat through endless fencing matches, concerts, recitals and soccer games. One of my young men is now a programmer for gaming and worked on one of the first games for the Wii at Monster Games in Northfield, Minnesota's own gaming enclave. If they were still teens we'd be watching together for sure.

Posted by B2 | January 19, 2008 10:24 AM

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