• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 5, 2009

Three live gaming competitions based on Madden NFL, Fight Night Round 4, and NBA Live 10 games come to Anaheim, Calif. this weekend. For the first time, Electronics Arts' EA Sports Challenge series supported by Major League Gaming (MLG) arrives in the land of hockey's Ducks and baseball's Angels.

The Anaheim, Calif. event is the second stop in a regional tour that began in Dallas on Aug. 29 and Aug. 30. Anaheim's three first-place winners -- one for each category -- will join those who won in Dallas to move on to the national tournament. Next stop: Orlando, Fla.

Competing and placing well in each event earns players Rank Points and prize money. These Rank Points determine whether they will be invited back to the Challenge Finals where between four and five winners will split cash and prizes.

This is the first year that EA has hooked up with MLG to expand its reach deeper into the live events market. An EA spokesman says the live events provide interaction with gamers to forge a bond between the gaming company, online games and sports.

This year, spectators also have an option to participate in merchandise giveaways throughout the weekend, and attend MLG's live broadcasts of Friday Night Kick-Off, ESPN Saturday Night, and MLG Championship Sunday.

In the past, MLG events that only provided an on-site option to play typically drew between 5,000 and 7,000 attendees. Online gaming has traditionally been missing from live events, but EA made a push to add the options this year. Game enthusiasts now have an opportunity to participate online in the tournaments from anywhere in the world. During the Dallas event, about 1,700 participants qualified to play online.

The video game industry has been looking for ways to add new revenue streams as consumers have struggled with the traditional $40 to $60 price tag for games. Sales are down throughout the industry from last year. The United Kingdom experienced the largest aggregate drop in game software unit sales -- at 19% -- followed by 9% in the United States during the quarter ending in September, compared with the prior year, according to the NPD Group.

Online multiplayer video game sites like World of Warcraft have also begun experimenting with ways to generate more revenue from online options with gimmicky items. Broadpoint.AmTech Analyst Ben Schachter published a research note Thursday that points to a virtual pet store in the WoW, where players have two options to purchase virtual pets for in-game characters.

This is the first time that Blizzard has offered consumers in-game content for real dollars, Schachter writes. "While it is impossible to know how popular these initial pets will be, offering digital in-game items may be the beginning of a meaningful new revenue stream for Blizzard," he writes. "At $10 per pet, and assuming these are virtually all margin, the EBIT contribution could be meaningful even if just a relatively small percentage of WoW's subscribers opt to purchase in-game content."