Fresh from the unprecedented success of its inaugural 2007 season, Championship Gaming Series® (CGS), the only worldwide professional video gaming league, today officially announced its schedule of events for the 2008 North American season.
The commencement of the second season builds on the immense foundation laid last year, when CGS drafted 18 teams located on five continents, established an unprecedented player compensation, made high-definition broadcasts available to more than 350 million viewers worldwide, and crowned the Chicago Chimera team as the first-ever CGS World Champions at the $1 million World Final in Los Angeles. CGS has redefined professional gaming and transformed it into a modern sport for the digital age.
In North America, the 2008 season will get underway March 7-9 at the South by Southwest ScreenBurn Arcade in Austin, Texas. The CGS North American Combine and Draft will feature the best gamers from the United States and Canada vying to distinguish themselves for a spot on one of six teams: Los Angeles Complexity, New York 3D, Chicago Chimera, Carolina Core, San Francisco Optx, and Dallas Venom.
The CGS North American Combine is modeled after the same dynamic competition structure used by other professional sports leagues. Gamers compete in tournaments and special challenge matches issued by GMs. Players will also be subjected to the proprietary CGS H2i hand-eye coordination testing system which measures their raw gaming ability. North American GMs will then draft players to join their teams as pro athletes who will receive professional player contracts for the 2008 season.
“Last year, CGS revolutionized competitive gaming by launching the only worldwide professional gaming league and creating groundbreaking television programming distributed to a worldwide audience,” said CGS Commissioner Andy Reif. “This year CGS will continue to build on this momentum with plans to further expand our television distribution and also amplify our online initiatives to give our fans even greater access to the league.”
Following the North American Combine and Draft in Austin, the six teams will commence their competition in April and continue until mid July. Live coverage of the 2008 North American regular season will kick off on DIRECTV’s The 101 on June 23 and continue until the North American Final on July 14, 2008 where the top team will claim the title of North American Champion and take home the coveted Dew Trophy.
“When we announced the launch of CGS two years ago DIRECTV made a commitment to bring the phenomenon of competitive gaming viewership to a critical mass, and from the astounding results of the 2007 season, we believe we are on our way to achieving that goal,” said Steven Roberts, senior vice president, New Media and Business Development, DIRECTV, Inc. “The television audience from the World Final has truly exceeded our expectations and proves that CGS is popular programming that attracts more than just core gamers, especially in the key male demographic of 18-34 yrs. We are proud to be a part of history in the making and we can’t wait to see what the 2008 CGS season brings us.”
In the coming weeks, details will be announced regarding CGS’ international schedule, the World Final, official Draft rules for each region and the official slate of the league’s 2008 Games.
CGS events are broadcast 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 Brazil and Mexico, and DIRECTV throughout the remainder of Latin America, and across Continental Europe via broadcast partners which will be announced shortly.