I watch Starcraft games narrated by HD and am definitely engrossed.
My point is not that it's boring but rather it's an annoying comparison. I like watching Starcraft games and the Stanley Cup playoffs. For a site to tell me that one is better than the other is unnecessary.
I like HackerNews better than Digg. Does HN need the slogan: Better than Digg?
I don't think Hacker News has any interest in comparing itself to other news sites, but direct comparisons have been used successfully in advertising before. I don't think it's annoying in this case because nerds are typically just not drawn to the whole sports scene (at least the ones I know). I see this more as a message to nerds saying "hey we are running this type of sports broadcasting that doesnt suck because it's not boring. By the way, it's going to be huge--tons of people are already watching."
It's not really a direct comparison though, this is more of a category comparison of esports vs traditional sports. It's not like JustinTV is saying "our site is better than MLG and GOMtv combined!" I see them as promoting esports in general, which is actually very good for the gaming scene overall.
Starcraft 2 is a great competitive game that requires sport like skill to excel at. Husky's definitely one of the most energetic casters but you should check out Day[9]'s Daily podcast for a glimpse behind the curtain.
I think the gp comment was rolling his eyes, not because Starcraft is bad, but because the term "better than real sports" implies that competitive Starcraft is not a real sport.
120,000 spectators came to an outdoor stadium in Busan, South Korea, to watch StarCraft at the 2005 SKY Pro League final -- roughly 50,000 more than attended the Super Bowl in 2009. In Korea, Starcraft is the second most watched sport after Soccer. You can roll your eyes, but I think you are lacking in knowledge about this market. In some places, people do indeed believe that Starcraft is better than real sports.
My point isn't that people aren't entitled to feel that one is better than the other. My point is that it's egregious to feel that one HAS to be better than the other.
It'd be like my brand of iced tea having the slogan, "Better than Nestea" or if my J.Crew shirt said, "better than Target."
Like I said in another comment, I love watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and watching Starcraft games narrated by HDStarcraft. But I don't need for a company to tell me explicitly that one is better than the other, because that doesn't matter to me and it just spurs fruitless fanboyism that I detest.
You mean in one place that offers very little (if any?) real sport competition? More people in Korea would be watching a successful South Korean soccer team then even the biggest of star craft 2 events. The market is small, the market is tiny. It only seems large because of the internet. In reality the market for spectator e-sports is very small (and beyond star craft it is pretty much non-existent). The only way e-sports will ever become a profitable market beyond niche is to engage it at the casual player with accessible leagues/ladders/ and tournaments for all. Blizzard kind of does it but they don't provide a good interface for it in my opinion. All others who try have failed pretty hard. Beyond sc2 e-sports have been declining and failing left right and center. And absolutely nothing that I see coming from game companies give me faith that this will change. Star craft 2 is a nice niche but it does not represent the e-sports market as a whole. That market is tiny, and largely ignored and at the current time requires real innovation. In my opinion the real money in e-sports (when it finally does get big) will not be spectating at all, it will come from little Johny paying 5$ a month to play in a very well run, exiting, competitive and fun casual league. Someone just needs to build it right.
rolls eyes