The ESWC have announced their initial list of official list of supported games for their oncoming season. Few surprises entail with the usual pedigree of eSports ready games however forum debates have been induced since the games have been announced.

Current ESWC Game List:

Counter-Strike 1.6
Counter-Strike 1.6 Female
Quake 3 Arena
Trackmania Nations Forever
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

SK-Gaming interviewed Matt Dallon, CEO of Games Services and the concept creator of the ESWC.

Dallon elaborated on games which the ESWC where looking into, he said "We want to reintegrate a football game (between PES2009 and FIFA2009)".

PES/FIFA are behemoths in the football genre. The CGS (not limited to) has publicized the wide range appeal towards FIFA and filling the sub genre with one of the two will aid the ESWC in achieving a more rounded tournament league. There have been opinions that a 'football' game should not be the leading sports game in eSports. NHL and NBA have been thrown out as concepts however ice-hockey and basketball don't seem to have the world wide appeal that football does and would limit the ESWC's target audiences and participants.

"We intend also to add at least one console game and that could be Street Fighter 4"

Console gaming as a format arguably does not receive as much exposure compared to a PC eSports. I am surprised they are swaying towards the Street Fighter series. DOA4 and Virtua Fighter already have a competitive community and a preconceived audience. With the publicity DOA4 has gained from the Championship Gaming Series, Street Fighter 4 will have an uphill struggle to being King of the Hill in the fighting genre. It is hard to predict trends with these games of course. Street Fighter 4 is not even had a confirmed released date and has had a notoriously large fan base in previous iterations. Either of the 3 games listed will be likely to provide quality tournaments however i would foresee that this tournament in particular will be dwarfed by others at ESWC.

"Then the line-up is open to games like DotA or WoW and COD4, Starcraft II will probably be selected when released, next year, next season..."

World of Warcraft was immediately conceived to be a possible game addition in the time between tournament announcement and the Dallon interview. Despite the issues with the random number generator and a gamer acclaimed 'lower skill cap', WoW has proved to be a lucrative eSport and tournament game. Tournament prize purses have dwarfed that consistently when compared to that of other more mature tournament games. The games lifespan is near immortal with constant innovative patches, and almost annual expansion. It seems the most logical decision as it would be illogical to choose a game which would simply die out completely a mere few months after.

DotA is a well anchored eSport game fit for tournament formats. A legion-like fan base, DotA has proven that it can survive on it's own feet despite originating as a mod for Warcraft 3. It would be a safe choice for the ESWC.

Cod4 is the youngest game listed having been released in November of 2007. A strong summer for the game has proved it can stand up to Counter-Strike: Source. The only gripe that may be conceived is that Cod4 has been predicted to have a considerably short lifespan. Cod5 and Cod6 has is on the horizon and although ESWC is a prominent tournament league, the majority of all other leagues and tournaments will switch to the latest iteration of the game. Whilst socializing with event staff at i34, comments where passed that Activision have already stopped sponsoring CoD4 tournaments at these events. It pains me to say it however i doubt CoD4 would prove to be a profitable nor logical choice as a possible game for the ESWC.

Starcraft 2 is a huge RTS and alot of gamers are counting down the days untill it's release. It is almost concluded that the games fanbase and sales will be huge and it's eSports scene will be thriving. If SC2 is deemed not worthy of ESWC tournament, i cringe at the infinite amount of forum outcry and flame threads that are sure to follow to act as repercussions.

In a related tangent, i would like to see the removal of CS Female and release into the testosterone filled Counter Strike scene. This view is always made public when any CS M/F tournaments are segregated and i agree with it. Although in my opinion, the only reason there is a separate female tournament is to entice lonely gamers to tune in or show up to the events to bask in female company whilst in a familiar atmosphere, i think it is condescending to assume that the fields of competition are not equal refusing the sexes to be integrated.

These are simply my views and opinions, if you wish to tell me how much of a blithering idiot i am or want to alternatively anchor my views, feel free to drop me an email at jamestrowa@gmail.com.

Next week from a secret condominium lair, at an unknown time and date, i will be unleashing my first WoW based article. World of Warcraft has eaten through 10 years worth of pre-conceived lore annihilating it to the point that further World of Warcraft lore will be based on whatever Chris Metzen has written down on a cigarette packet the day before. More on that next week!