UKTerrorist
Posted by Jeppo at 08:00 15/10/2004.
One of the most famous faces of the electronic-sports scene, Angel Munoz has been interviewed yesterday by the esport community site eSLive.com, an interview discussing the league's future plans, as well as some of the problems that they have had to face, and how the league is affected by new games such as Doom 3 and Counter-Strike source.
Here's a snippet:
What are your current motivations and long-term objectives for the league?
We are very focused on the organization and promotional planning of the CPL World Tour. We think the time has come to elevate our sport to much higher level by offering $1,000,000 in cash prizes and bringing wide global media attention to the sport. We want to move away from sporadic event focused coverage to continuous year-round coverage, having a one time mention on CNN (we've had several) is not as interesting to us than establishing long term media relationships.
Read the full thing here (registration required).
Comments
ClanNEW
10:22 15/10/2004
intensiveSports
11:31 15/10/2004
11:34 15/10/2004
11:41 15/10/2004
well worth the register, this man is sick [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
intensiveSports
11:44 15/10/2004
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What was your first contact with gaming and when was it? What made you decide to get involved and take things one step further afterwards?
My first real contact with gaming was playing Doom when it first came out in the early '90s. The immersion I experienced while playing this game, was the primary catalyst that prompted me to quite investment banking and jump into the gaming industry. I have never regretted this decision. At first I was unsure what exactly I wanted to do in gaming, but later I became convinced that my mission would be to organize large international tournaments and present them as a professional sport. This original later became The CPL.
What are your current motivations and long-term objectives for the league?
We are very focused on the organization and promotional planning of the CPL World Tour. We think the time has come to elevate our sport to much higher level by offering $1,000,000 in cash prizes and bringing wide global media attention to the sport. We want to move away from sporadic event focused coverage to continuous year-round coverage, having a one time mention on CNN (we've had several) is not as interesting to us than establishing long term media relationships.
What are some of the biggest problems that you have had to face so far since the league started?
Nothing has been easy for us. We've had to battle every war and earn every victory. The end result is that the breadth of experience and depth of knowledge that the CPL has about pro-gaming is unparalleled. Our organization does everything internally, we do not use media planners, event organizers, promotional agencies, or any other third party service. Instead we prefer to attract the brightest minds and hardest workers to the CPL.
The CPL hasn't held in event since the CPL Cannes in 2002, and besides the 10 stops in Europe for the upcoming World Tour, you guys aren't planning on having any independent events run in Europe anymore. Why such a decision? Will this policy change later on?
We have selected a number strategic partners that will manage several European countries with tournament stops and qualifiers. The end result will be that in 2005 we will have more events in Europe that we have had in the past three years combined. The details on this will be announced later this year.
The league recently announced the removal of Doom 3 for the CPL World Tour. Why such a decision? What games could possibly replace it?
We originally identified three games that we wanted to use in the tour. A wide range of aspects were taken into consideration, like publisher/developer support for the entire tour, a favorable IP licensing agreement, great spectator potential and support from our sponsors. DOOM 3 was the first game we eliminated. Recently we have eliminated a second title that will not be publicly disclosed, and now we are in final negotiations with the publisher of the remaining game. We are very excited about the opportunities presented to us with this game, and will announce it soon.
The CPL is famous for its well organized, well structured events. What to you are some of the key elements to having a successful and well organized event? What about the difficulties?
You can never prepare enough for an event. I've stated in the past that the natural condition of CPL events is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. How they come together sometimes even flawlessly, is a mystery :)
Most of the community didn't welcome Counter-Strike : Source as well as VALVe excepted, will lots of disappointed gamers and fans. The game itself seems despite its graphics and physics, a lot less dynamic than its ancestor Counter-Strike 1.6... Will the CPL introduced Counter-Strike : Source into one of its tournaments at some point? If not, what game could possibly replace Counter-Strike : Source?
We have a very talented team of people that are directing the future of Counter-Strike at CPL events. These people are Justin Blanchard, Tom Gardner, Andrew Waterman and Frank Nuccio, and these decisions are ultimately up to them with feedback from the community. I can say that we have a few concerns and I will be chatting with Valve about them to see if we can explore a better implementation of the game at our events. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
11:47 15/10/2004
intensiveSports
11:50 15/10/2004
13:14 15/10/2004
reaL1ty
13:18 15/10/2004
14:54 15/10/2004
Pro mode CS:S. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
15:41 15/10/2004
16:49 15/10/2004
02:31 16/10/2004
14:23 16/10/2004
Go on record and you can quote me on this
I'm in awe and its world documented that I dont get in awe very easily at all. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
17:46 16/10/2004