My last interview with Matthieu Dallon opened up the question of what the “pure FPS” game should be at the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup. And it opened it up big time, since it does not seem like there is a clear favorite to win the race, but it seems like Quake 4 will not be it.
Traditionally, the ESWC has always hosted a 1v1 shooter competition, and more often two shooters from the Unreal Tournament and Quake franchises. The event’s creators understand and love deathmatch, and have always been willing to support it whenever it could be justified. The duality was broken in 2006, when UT2004 failed to provide enough reasons to stay.
Today, it is Quake 4 that fails to provide enough reasons to convince anyone. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense to have it at the ESWC. By this summer, no one will be playing that game, let alone someone interesting enough to watch a tournament for.
The ESWC cannot be the only tournament the players of a given game live for. This event needs to be a part of a bigger story, it needs to be the peak of the season, or one of the peaks. If they hosted a Quake 4 event, then they would have the peak, but no season. It would only make some sense if there were a tournament structure that would sustain the game’s life until the grand finals in California. There is no World Series of Video Games any more, and I honestly doubt that Dallon’s Masters events idea can replace it in time.
Having said that, I think the ESWC still needs to hold a duel competition for a shooter. I strongly believe that events organizers need to stay true to their own heritage. Years of following the same path will earn you the history and prestige that no money can buy. There needs to be a common thread somewhere in there for all of it to have a meaningful story.
This is why Dallon said that they might resort to having a special invitational tournament. The ESWC is the most prestigious event for deathmatch players. He doesn’t want to lose that priceless heritage.
So what other options does he have? In a post on ESReality, Matthieu himself says it could be Crysis, FEAR, Halo 3, Quake 4, Quake 3, UT3, UT2004 or Warsow.
Well, we can remove Halo 3 off that list instantly, since all the big Halo players have their testicles tied with a thin metal string to a pole with a big Major League Gaming flag on it. No, they are not moving. Does not make any sense.
Quake 3 and UT2004? Unless the French have cooked up some brilliant revival plan for those games, it would be flogging a dead horse. Been there, done that, got over it. Somehow I do not believe they would go back now.
Crysis and FEAR also do not seem to be likely options. Consider them more like a backup plan, just in case there is nothing better on the horizon. Then, the ESWC could get some money from the publisher for holding the event. (Yes, EA are generous.) But, if we are to stick to the story and heritage reasoning, it would not be the ideal option.
A game like Warsow? What would be the point? This is not a rhetorical question at all. The ESWC needs to deliver an exciting product, and a good show with star players, to an audience that is already there. It seems to me that the star players and audience part is not doing so well in the case of Warsow. The game would have no story outside of the ESWC either.
What, then? Unreal Tournament 3 seems like it is the only choice. It is a major selling title that many will know and understand. It is not unlikely that many online competitions and half-decent LAN tournaments will come up for it.
That game would fit very well into the ESWC story. The tournament had its UT2004 champions and Quake champions, and all of them could try their luck in the tournament again. At least they plan to. All we will need now is for the game to be better than UT2004… We can hope for as much.
If not, then Matthieu had a great deal of flogging to do.
6 Comments
The best way to draw a crowd, I think, would be to have a game that’s easy to follow with big names, players fans can get behind. Most of these games have little or no audience, some of them little or no community. The game has to be something people can really get into, you can’t do that if you’re squinting at the screen saying “wtf just happened was that a frag?”
For me there are two logical choices, Painkiller and Quake3.
Painkiller, to the best of my knowledge, was pretty successful concerning the spectator aspects, sales wise it done OK but as far as longevity goes it was a complete failure. Despite the fact that the CPL was the only thing that stopped the game drifting into obscurity twenty minutes after it was released, it was still incredibly fun to watch and very easy to follow. The voO/Fatal1ty rival really brought the game to life in a sports-esq fashion, cheering for your favourite, betting with friends who would take the win, it helped get people that little bit more involved in the game. During the CPL UK finals I think almost every person in the building was sitting in front of the stage, glued to screens watching Fatal1ty play voO, cheering and screaming, I can only imagine what a similar finals match would be like at the ESWC.
Assuming it was an invite tournament, and the turn out was high, I think the intensity of that rivalry would return instantly. Even if voO and Fatal1ty don’t attend it’s still a great spectator game. Not very many people played the game but the spectator experience is something else, and this is probably the games last chance at thrilling an audience.
Quake 3 speaks for itself, if you put the players together there’s always going to be an audience ready to watch cmz, cooller, Fatal1ty etc go at it.
Quake 3 is defiantly the best choice, but it just isn’t feasible. I never saw Painkiller, it was before my time, but most if not all death match games fall in line with your statement ‘The game would have no story outside of the ESWC either.’ unfortunately. The only franchise with any strength has been Quake, and even despite a poor fourth title, people still played it. If UT3 turns out to be_THAT_bad, just hold an invite Q4 tournament. Have the final broadcast immediately before either the CS or WC3 (assumes these are the biggest games at eswc) and people will watch it. America actually has some decent duelers and having the crowd scream for Chance or DaHanG looks good for the camera’s and what not.
Warsow is free and cannot be discounted. If they were to set up say 20 PC’s and let people play the game for those who might not be into eSports, it has a greater chance of success than those fugly cs girls with no skill.
If it has to be an invite tourney, then I don’t see why it can’t be Q3 since most of the players enjoy it and would play it regardless!
Starcraft 1 should be at ESWC 2008.
Starcraft 2 will be a hit, and will replace WC3 once it’s released, so you might as well get the Starcraft 1 community interested now, so they’re prepared for when SC2 is at ESWC.
I didn’t know this was even a discussion anymore. All UT3 had to be is “good enough”, and it is; and once a competitive mod is adopted it’ll become competitively viable. It’s solid enough to prolong the life span of DM gaming, so people should just embrace that aspect of it and enjoy the fact that there’s still fast-paced games to play, and hope that in another few years another one comes along to further prolong the genre.
PR, Matt said they cannot do two RTS games. I am personally looking forward to seeing SC2 at the ESWC.
but why not choose the better RTS? :P
for 1v1 shooter i want it to be quake3 again! just remember how great the q3 tourneys were in eswc 2003, 2004 and 2005. the q4 tourneys in 2006 & 2007 dont even come close! man…quake 3 is still the best damn 1v1 shooter out there!!