(11 votes, average: 4.27 out of 5)
Loading ...Athena is ready and delivers – There can be only one!
If you thought gaming was for dark rooms and late nights, you could not be more wrong! As I wrote in this blog, I got my butt kicked in gaming by these twins, Athena and Athena Twin. Well, when WCG went looking for the top 12 gamers worldwide, it was no surprise that one of the twins would make the grade!
Athena (Amy Brady) earned herself a trip to the WCG Gamers House as 1 of 12 of the best gamers in the world! So, here is how it works, think WoW meets Survivor or Big Brother meets Fear Factor.
Photo courtesy of World Cyber Games (WCG)
The first episode aired on Sci-fi and has been a huge hit!
Did you jump to the conclusion that 12 gamers would be sitting around playing games and being judged on who played those games the best??
NOPE!
This is true reality TV, they LIVED the games. The first episode had a tag of “Are you ready to ROCK”? Rockband was on the menu, but not with plastic instruments in front of a PC monitor, the contestants donned real instruments (even though they were not musicians) and played in front of a live audience as a real rockband! Sound interesting, well, it was sort of like watching a car wreck in slow motion, which made for good entertaining TV! This ain’t American Idol!
How do they top real life RockBand, well, enter Virtua Fighter 5 and a whole lot of whining and drama! Episode 2 was all about “Kicking and Screaming”!
<would insert pic of the whiney pre-Madonna here but legal edited it out>
Check out Athena stomping the episode ending challenge and dominating VF5!
Episode 3 encompasses a theme of “Shut up and Drive”, this is sort of self explanatory! Project Gotham Racing 4 (PGR4)
Crazy gamers behind the wheel of a car driving like stuntmen! It’s all about the DRIFT!!
And last week’s episode was all about “Move it or Lose it”! Are you all familiar with this massively popular Youtube dance video, well, lessons could have been learned!
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 is not for the faint of heart OR public broadcast in my opinion!
Seriously, bringing gaming to “Real-Life” is utterly entertaining! Especially when the gamers don’t expect it!
Episode 5 proves to be another explosive event, boasted as being “Things get Explosive”!
Photo courtesy of World Cyber Games (WCG)
Athena is a gaming rockstar and holds her own in this reality series as well! Now, the overall winner is not known yet, as its only 4 episodes in, so keep checking it out!
Next episode Tuesday night April 7, 2009 on Sci-Fi channel or online @ www.wcgultimategamer.com for full episodes!
Check out Athenas blog here.
WCG Site is where you can find episodes, previews, commentary, and behind the scenes footage and more behind the scenes here
Cheers!
Ian “Cabrtosr” McNaughton
Ian McNaughton is senior manager of advanced marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
#1 by Dennis - April 6th, 2009 at 16:30
Im sorry but I was sadly disappointed with the show… I for one, consider myself a gamer, and do not wish to placed in the same category as these whining children.
Its no wonder that having these people as gamers that people look at the rest of us with a smirk…
This is just another bad attempt at a reality show, showing the worst a group of people have to offer
#2 by Ian McNaughton - April 9th, 2009 at 11:19
@Dennis – As a gamer, i would have to disagree, I believe the show heightens awareness of Gaming and brings it to a mainstreamers level int erms of understanding, I do happen to agree that the drama and associated whining was alittle annoying..but its ala reality show, so par for the course.
#3 by wpeltola - April 7th, 2009 at 12:42
Now Dennis, it may not be all that bad
I cannot say from experience what I think about the actual show since I have yet to see a single episode, but I have heard of Athena before.
I think the idea of playing out a game theme in real life might be rather entertaining to watch the more I think about it. Reality TV has it’s ups and downs and it’s really only suited for a specific group of people. Since I LOVE Survivor and will watch Fear Factor if nothing else is on and I don’t have a team match that evening, I will certainly check out some clips and see what you are talking about, Ian. Thanks for the post and heads-up regarding the show!
#4 by Nate Supplee - April 7th, 2009 at 16:44
I have to be honest, this show sounds pretty interesting. I will be checking it out.
Sounds better than the constant crap they keep redoing… sure it is reality TV also, but at least the concept is new.
#5 by Ian McNaughton - April 9th, 2009 at 10:49
@Nate – I have enjoyed the show so far, its cool to see gamers have to do “Real Game type activity” rather then just sitting around playing games…
#6 by Athena PMS - April 8th, 2009 at 15:22
Thanks for the article Ian!
In response to the first poster I must respond. This show has overall gotten very good feedback, but the argument he brings up has certainly come up. I have to repeat what I have said elsewhere already:
As far if this is good for gaming or not, I most certainly feel it is. No, this shouldn’t be considered a “pro” competition by any means, but if you note all the leagues shutting down I think it is safe to say ANY attention to gaming is good for all of us right now.
It has the potential to help bring more money into this industry and this sport overall, money and attention that is desperately needed to legitimize gaming with the MAIN Stream audience, not the hardcore gamers that already believe it.
Anyway, as I said it might not be the way we see hardcore professional gaming but I simply send the challenge to all that judge to try out if there is a season 2 and show us what you got. Lets see how others deal with the pressure, the drama, the calibrations, and the corkscrews that are thrown at you and best of luck doing it! I mean that sincerely =P
#7 by Ian McNaughton - April 9th, 2009 at 10:36
@Athena PMS – Congrats on a great Halo episode Tuesday night! You continue to push the boundries for women gamers! Keep up to great work!
#8 by mark` - May 6th, 2009 at 19:09
pc gaming has sadly enough ended in a flash buck market, once it out of the door all support is dropped
AMD should force this if they ever support a game like Mass Effect again, that it will at least work on their cards made 4 years in the future of a game!
it can really disappoint people in their upgrade, because normal sims2 playing people aren’t going to think there is something wrong with the game code they are going to blame Ati’s/Nvidia’s gpu’s!
seriously bad for business.