December 04, 2007 09:00 AM Eastern Time

The Most Important TV Event in the History of Video Games to Air Exclusively on DIRECTV’s Channel 101

Top Teams from around the World Compete in the Championship Gaming Series World Final for the Coveted Dew Trophy and $1,000,000 Prize Purse

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DIRECTV, the nation’s leading satellite television service provider, is making sports history once again with the exclusive live broadcast of the inaugural Championship Gaming Series (CGS) World Final. The competition will take place December 6-14 at the Sony Studios in Los Angeles where more than 100 of the world’s top professional gamers will compete for the league’s first-ever World Champion title and a share of the $1,000,000 prize purse. All the action will be captured live and in HD on DIRECTV’s original entertainment channel, The 101, starting December 6 at 10pm ET.

“This is the Super Bowl 1 of professional video gaming,” said Eric Shanks, executive vice president, DIRECTV Entertainment. “We couldn’t be more pleased with year one of the league and the excitement that it has created worldwide.”

The CGS World Final will be the first-ever international gaming event to present all the action live, as it happens, allowing fans at home to experience the match-ups like any other sport. The groundbreaking coverage will commence with the start of CGS World Final on December 6 and broadcast three hours of single elimination competitions each night leading up to the championship game on December 14.

The playoffs will feature the top CGS teams from around the world as they compete in PC and console based games. Valve’s Counter-Strike®: Source® and EA’s FIFA 2007 are the official PC games for CGS while Tecmo’s® Dead or Alive® 4 (DOA4) and Project Gotham Racing® 3 (PGR3) from Microsoft Game Studios will be played on Xbox 360. Each round of the World Final is single elimination and the last team standing will receive the coveted Dew Trophy as well as $500,000 in prize money.

In addition to the team playoffs, the World Final will also feature a special “battle of the sexes” DOA4 match-up where Vanessa Arteaga and Ryan “OffBeatNinja” Ward, the top female and male DOA players in the world, will battle it out for supremacy. The contest, dubbed the “Itagaki Challenge,” is the brainchild of DOA creator Tomonobu Itagaki, who will preside over the face-off and present the winner with the ultimate DOA prize package, including a ceremonial Japanese Katana sword and a trip to Tokyo. The individual competition will air live on The 101 December 13 at 11:30pm ET.

“We’re honored that DOA game creator and international superstar Tomonobu Itagaki recognizes the CGS as the world’s leading professional video gaming league in the world,” said Andy Reif, CGS commissioner and CEO. “We’ve set our stake in the ground and proved ourselves as a legitimate sport and look forward to growing the league and esports in the years to come.”

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 worldwide 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.

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 10: Quarterfinals day 1
December 11: Quarterfinals day 2
December 13: Semifinals & Itagaki Challenge
December 14: Final

The official CGS 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
For more information, please go to thecgs.com.

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Should we expect to see The 101 launched in HD tomorrow?

How does a competition like this get covered? Do they show the players and the screens or just the screens or what? Announcers I assume as well. I don't think I've seen an event like this on TV before and will watch out of curiousity.

How does a competition like this get covered?

very poorly. I have yet to see one of these events covered in an entertaining way. it either comes off over exposed or really cheezy. I guess they got sportscast directors who do the NBA to do these, but I still dont see a difference. IMHO as always.

This'll probably air in HD on the "Special Events" channel which occasionally pops up for HD PPV events. Channel 97, 98, or 99 I believe.

very poorly. I have yet to see one of these events covered in an entertaining way. it either comes off over exposed or really cheezy. I guess they got sportscast directors who do the NBA to do these, but I still dont see a difference. IMHO as always.

The one I saw was actually pretty entertaining (if you're into video games). When the game starts, the game goes full screen so it's more like you're playing, than just watching someone else play.

Kinda lame game choices IMHO. Those 360 games aren't anywhere near being the most popular titles played on XBL over the past year.

Hard to believe Call of Duty or Halo aren't part of the competition.

But I'm just thankful Guitar Hero isn't either.

Actually been quite entertaining. Big money for the winning team of 10 players, 500k! Picture quality excellent, and commentary respectable. And the ring babes are hot!

Radicus