US to host World Cyber Games 2004 finals

Samsung Electronics has today announced that the international grand final of this year's World Cyber Games (WCG) tournament will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco in October. This is the first time that the finals of the event, which was first held back in 2000 as the World Cyber Challenge, are being held in the US. For the last three years the finals have been hosted by the Korean cities of Seoul and Daejeon, but, starting with San Francisco, the plan is now for the finals to be held in a different world city every year.

"As a global digital leader, Samsung is proud to again support the World Cyber Games, one of the world's most exciting digital entertainment events," said Peter Weedfald, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America. "Samsung has been a worldwide sponsor of the World Cyber Games since it's inception in 2000 because we are committed to promoting a fun and challenging digital entertainment culture and to building greater friendship and harmony among the youth of this world."

This year's October finals will see 700 of the world's best gamers from no fewer than 60 countries vying for the title, and starting May 15, players across North America are invited to compete for some of the 25 available places in Team USA and Team Canada by taking part in online qualifier events. Monthly qualifiers running May through August will pit players against each other in the disciplines of Unreal Tournament 2004, Starcraft: Brood War, Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, and team-based Counter-Strike. The top two qualifying players from each country will advance directly to the WCG 2004 USA Final and Canada final respectively.

More than a million gamers from around the world are expected to take part in this year's World Cyber Games, which will feature offline as well as online competitions. The eight official WCG 2004 games being played offline this year include Starcraft: Brood War, Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Need for Speed Underground, FIFA Soccer 2004, Unreal Tournament 2004, Halo, and Project Gotham Racing 2.

For more information on this year's World Cyber Games, check out the official event Web site.