A story in the Washington Post today reports that USA Network will start broadcasting coverage of Major League Gaming events later this year. The league organizes professional video game competitions, and now they will be televised. Professional video gaming? According to the Post, top players earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, so this is serious business.

What does this have to do with HDTV? There’s no mention of whether or not the programs will be broadcast in high-def or not, but that’s beside the point. If thousands of spectators are shelling out to buy tickets to these competitions, and if sponsors are looking to advertise around these events, then there’s some significant money involved.

The XBox 360 and the PlayStation 3 — when it eventually ships — can put out 1080p resolution images, and I expect that a lot of serious gamers are going to be looking for a big display on which to view their games. So I expect that a lot of these folk may use this as an added impetus to upgrade their existing TV to an HDTV model.

Posted by Alfred Poor, April 18, 2006 6:00 AM