NO ANCHOR READ OUT: WHEN GUY
SITS IN CHAIR
SOUNDS áá OF ONE GAMER TAKING
HOME A WINNING TITLE AND A LOT
OF MONEY. EáGAMING IS OUT OF
CONTROL áá AND THE TREND HAS
MADE IT'S WAY TO ARKANSAS.
((DONNA)) IT'S BIG BUSINESS
AND BECOMING MORE SERIOUS EACH
YEAR. IN FACT áá IT'S NOW AN
OFFICIAL SPORT áá IN FACT IT'S
A TRIPLE A SANCTIONED SPORT IN
ARKANSAS. TONIGHT áá JAY BIR
áá LOOKS INTO THE 'SPORT' THAT
IS Eá GAMING...
" " (NAT SEQUENCE( VIDEO GAMES
USED TO BE SIMPLE... NATS AND
IT ALL STARTED WITH THE
ORIGINAL NINTENDO SYSTEM...
NATS YOU WERE IN CONTROL OF
THE ACTION ON THE SCREEN...AND
THOSE GRAPHICS!! NATS BUT
NOW?! (NATS IT CONNECTS THE
WORLD AND ALLOWS FOR HUNDREDS
OF PLAYERS TO PLAY
SIMULATNEOUSLY around THE
GLOBE... IN FACT EáGAMING HAS
BECOME BIG BUSINESS...IN 2019,
SO FAR THE GAMING INDUSTRY HAS
HAD REVENUES OF ALMOST
37áBILLIONáDOLLARS! THE AMOUNT
OF DATA USED? 96 PETA BYTES!!
THAT'S ENOUGH FOR OVER
35áBILLION COPIES OF THE
ORIGNIAL SUPER MARIO
BROTHERS!! MOST GAMERS
NOWADAYS STARTED WITH HUMBLE
BEGINNINGS "Smash Brothers was
one of the big ones." "I'd
probably say Mario Kart." "I,
personally love
Pokemon...definitely rode the
Destiny wave with everyone
else." WHAT WAS A HOBBY AND A
WAY TO PASS TIME WITH YOUR
FRIENDS HAS NOW BECOME A FULL
ON...SPORT!! "It's becoming a
serious matter. " "oh very
much a sport. " THERE ARE
TOURNAMENTS THAT HAVE BIG TIME
REWARDS NOW (NAT OF FORTNIGHT
WORLD CUP( "I think it's grown
a whole lot, recently with the
Fortnite World Cup and he won
$3 million, which is insane! I
was dreaming of having $20
when I was 13,14 years old. "
THE STATE OF ARKANSAS HAS
TAKEN NOTICE BY MAKING Eá
GAMING A TRIPLEáA SANCTIONED
SPORT. HANDING OUT TROPHIES
AND EVERYTHING "I think it's
amazing, especially for kids
who do this all the time." "It
is essentially a sport that's
played on a computer instead
of out in the field. " NOW THE
WAY IT WORKS IS THERE ARE
THREE DIFFERENT GAMES WHICH
PLAYERS CAN COMPETE
IN...ROCKET LEAGUE, LEAGUE OF
LEGENDS, AND SMITE...PLAYERS
COMPETE IN EACH GAME AND SCORE
WINS FOR THEIR TEAM JUST LIKE
ANY TRADITIONAL SPORT...AND
JUST LIKE FOOTBALL OR
BASKETBALL THERE IS PLENTY OF
STRATEGY AND COOPERATION
INVOLVED... "Sometimes I tell
hem how they should be
playing. I'll teach them how
to build, what to build, and
why." "There's a lot of
coordination, a lot of
teamwork, which characters do
you use that will help you for
this scenario or they might
not help you for this
scenario." SO THERE'S A LOT
MORE TO IT THAN JUST GOING IN
GUNS BLAZING... (LEROY
JENKINS!( THESE STUDENTá
ATHLETES PUT IN A LOT OF TIME,
PRACTICING AT LEAST TWICE A
WEEK...BUT it doesn't end
there... they also practice at
home. "You don't have a good
grasp of the game until you
spend at least 200 hours
playing the game." BUT ALSO
LIKE ONáTHEá FIELD SPORTS
STUDENTS HAVE TO MAINTAIN
THEIR grades IN ORDER TO
PARTICIPATE, but according to
xx IT STILL HASN'T QUITE
GAINED THE RESPECT IT DESERVES
JUST YET... "It's been a
little difficult to have
people take us seriously that
this is an actuall AAA sport,
this isn't just a hobby or
something for them to do, this
isn't a club, it's sanctioned
byt the AAA, this is an actual
sport!" "I feel like once we
get to actual tournaments and
not just scrimmages and
practices I feel like the talk
about it will be a lot
bigger." EáSPORTS is TAKING
OFF AND EVEN COLLEGES ARE NOW
BUILDING FACILITIES DEDICATED
SOLEY TO ESPORTS, YOUTUBE AND
TWITCH HAVE MADE WATCHING
PROFESSIONAL, YES
PROFESSIONAL, GAMERS, MORE
ACCESIBLE "I see this becoming
the next big thing honestly. I
don't see why this couldn't be
something pumped out on ESPN
years from now." BUT FOR NOW,
HERE IN ARKANSAS, EáSPORTS ARE
SERIOUS BUT NOT SERIOUS JUST
YET "Just have fun! That's all
we're about is having fun as
long as we have fun, we all
win!"
((KEVIN)) 74 TEAMS áá 37 GAMES