A League of their Pwn

Upon visiting thecgs.com, one is greeted with the forlorn message that the Championship Gaming Series business is closing down.

For those of you who might not be familiar with the CGS, they were the only truly structured gaming league in the industry, offering to gamers the opportunity to compete in the same manner as major sports athletes.  CGS held drafts for professional gaming athletes, regular season play, and a World Final Event.  They were the only “true” league in the gaming world and were, as they state on their site, an idea ahead of their time.

The games chosen by CGS as the basis of their competition were a mixture of skill, reflex, teamwork, and raw talent.  Each team was comprised of ten players, five of which would compete as a team in Counter Strike: Source.  Two members of the team would race on Forza Motorsport while a mixed pair (one male, one female) formed a Dead or Alive 4 team.  The final player would compete alone against his opponent in FIFA ‘08.

In 2007, CGS awarded their first place competitors, the Chicago Chimera, a purse totaling $500,000.  That made the Championship Gaming Series the most lucrative gaming event in the world.  But it wasn’t an easy path as anyone who watched the event unfold on G4 will tell you.  And unfortunately, with the announcement, it looks like we won’t see a champ crowned this year.

The forums and message boards at thecgs.com were filled with sad farewells and good natured kidding, mostly between the different teams, as the announcement was made on the front page.

CGS was headquartered in Los Angeles and was developed and finacially backed by DirecTV, British Sky Broadcasting, and Star TV.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

BusyGamer looks for Charity

This Sunday, November 16th, the Busy Gamer Reckon Crew will put their jet-setting lifestyles on hold to attend the Warriors Never Die benefit at the Riverside Multiplex in Victoria, Tx.

That’s right, for one whole day, we’re going to do something other than play and talk about games.  It’s for charity so we’re willing to make the sacrifice.  Fortunately, we may be able to have a few drinks in the process of doing some good.

The Warriors Never Die benefit is a memorial event for the late James Foreman and will be hosted by his close friend, Lance Hayes.  All of the proceeds from the event will be going to the Victoria Adopt-a-Pet.  Lance has truly done the memory of James proud by putting together a long list of musical talent that will be performing as the event goes from noon until 9pm.  Among the talent lined up will be BG’s very own Timothy Danger and his band, The Stout City Luchadores.  But the list doesn’t stop there…  The other performers will be AR-15, Chicken Fist, DJ Bigg Robb, Epic, Fenixx, Revolution Unleashed, and Slap Jesse.

Apart from the musical talent, there will be a considerable amount of items up for bid in silent auctions throughout the day.  I haven’t seen the final list but there will be pieces from local artists, band memorabilia, and much more.  Give till it hurts and then give some more!

The Reckon Crew will be on site to sell t-shirts for ten dollars apiece.  Half of the proceeds from the t-shirts will be going to the benefit so get a good lookin’ shirt that proclaims you’re a Busy Gamer and do some good at the same time.  It’s a win-win situation.  It’s only lose-lose if you make us hunt you down for your money…  And if you don’t have the cash for a shirt, drop a donation in our jar and get a free koozie.  They keep the beer cold and make you look damn cool.  I think they make you look like a movie star but I have to check the disclaimer.

Come see us this Sunday, make us proud by being a gamer and a generous soul and do a bit of donating to the cause.

 

Gritskrieg – End of Line

We were off to see the Wizard… World.

Some of you may have noted the distinct lack of… well, us over the weekend.  That’s because we were off in Arlington attending Wizard World Texas.  We gloried in the geekdom, basked in the nerdy, and had an all around great time.  I’ll give you a couple of seconds to stop being jealous.

For those of you who haven’t had the fortune of attending, Wizard World is one of the world’s largest Comic Conventions to make a stop in Texas.  And as an added bonus, Fear Fest threw in their lot with Wizard to make it an even larger event.  So we were able to entertain our inner geeks with comics and art and then scare the crap out of the little bastards with some horror fare.  Where I come from, we call that a “twofer”.

On hand for the Fear Fest portion was Danny Trejo and Corey Feldman.  I had hoped for a knock down, drag out fight between the two of them but alas, it was not to be… This time.  I considered telling Mr. Trejo that Mr. Feldman had called him a Mexi-CAN’T but I thought it might come back on me somehow and then I’d be beat up by both of them and then they’d go have milkshakes together.  It was the camaraderie over the frosty beverages I feared most, only in that I would not be invited.

We made it up to the show early on Friday and scheduled our interviews for Saturday, taking the rest of the day to play fan boys and make our way around the show, fawn over our faves, and make some new friends.  Through out this coming week, we’ll be posting up the interviews and reviews from Saturday and follow up with some friends we made at last year’s Wizard World.

And of course, the Reckon Crew couldn’t just be content with showing up, we had to bring the booze and the chaos to full bear when Friday night rolled around.  We hooked up with “Darth” Terry Parr and his lovely lady Amber Alert, who also happens to be one of our Gamettes.  Yes, that’s a shameless plug.  Pizza and beer were the order of the night and the Reckon Crew downed both in large quantities.

Saturday night was the “Heroes 4 Heroes” charity event with several of the attending artists lending their impressive talents to what was a very successful night for the charity… and there was, of course, more drinking on our part.

Sunday morning saw us packing up at five a.m. to make the trip back to our respective homes.  Weary, bleary eyed, and slightly hungover, we left Arlington in the wee hours, already plotting our heroic invasion of next year’s Wizard World.

Oh, yes… We will be back.

 

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Christian Children’s Fund says “No wai!” to gamers

Seventeen thousand three hundred ninety eight dollars.  That’s $17,398 for those of you who hate reading the spelled out amount.  That’s a hefty chunk of change that I’m sure any charity organization would be happy to accept.  Just not the Christian Children’s Fund.  Evidently it’s not the dollar amount that turns them off but the source of the money that has them shaking their heads and shoving their hands in their pockets.

You might be confused at this point but these are the facts as we know them;  GenCon, you know, that little roleplaying convention that happens every year around this time…  Anyway, GenCon held a charity auction at their little soiree and managed to raise the aforementioned bank roll to donate to Gary Gygax’s favorite charity, you guessed it, the Christian Children’s Fund.  But the CCF flatly rejected the donation.

I am willing to bet that if Mr. Gygax had been alive and had sat down and written a check for 17K, the CCF would have cashed it and thanked the old wizard for his kind donation.  But whether it was the fact that a bunch of gamers donated the money, that it was GenCon who had performed the charity auction, or that it’s the Devil’s RPG that was at the heart of the convention, CCF declined the donation.  Maybe GenCon should have “laundered” the donation through Child’s Play, perhaps that would have softened the impact of the source of the cash.

I understand, and let me say this is only to a very certain point, why a christian organization might not want to affiliate itself with GenCon.  I can even understand a hesitancy to accept the money based on D&D paraphernalia sales.  But there were other items involved in the auction that weren’t based on Gygax’s game that should have made this extremely generous gesture by the gaming community completely palatable to any religious group.

In regards to the rejection, CCF has been quoted by sources as saying:

“Christian Children’s Fund made the decision to decline the gift from Gen Con, LLC as the request presented to us gave the appearance that CCF (the organization) was an endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not. As many non-profit organizations, CCF is selective in its endorsements or support in order to maintain the integrity of its name and logo. We cannot lend our name to an event for which we have no involvement. This decision should in no way be interpreted as CCF holding an opinion on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts, or the game Dungeons and Dragons.”

Too late.  I already interpreted your actions and what your reasons might be.  And I can’t say that it presents a very flattering image of your organization.

 

Gritskrieg – End of Line