Los Angeles, CA -- San Francisco will be the world's Cyber capital this coming October when Samsung Electronics, a global digital entertainment leader, brings the World Cyber Games (WCG) Grand Final to the U.S. for the first time. The tournament, which has grown into the greatest global festival for gamers and digital entertainment culture, will allow 700 of the world's best gamers from 60 countries to compete for the #1 position at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, October 4-10. The announcement was made at the E3 show in Los Angeles.
In addition to holding the finals in the U.S., the World Cyber Games 2004 and Samsung are giving more gamers than ever a chance to win $400,000 in prizes via the Internet. For the first time ever, beginning May 15, 2004, an extensive roster of WCG online qualifier events will be held in the U.S. and Canada each month through August. Online competition will include four world renowned games -- Half-Life: Counter-Strike (team-based), Unreal Tournament 2004, Starcraft: Brood War, and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne - and the top 2 players or teams in each game in each country advance directly to the WCG 2004 USA Final and WCG 2004 Canada Final. Casual gamers can also join in the excitement by logging on to play special Samsung-developed Flash games.
"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."
More than one million gaming lovers from around the world are expected to participate in this year's online and offline events. Eight official WGC 2004 games will be played offline this year: StarCraft: Brood War, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, Counter-Strike:Condition-Zero, Need for Speed: Underground, FIFA Soccer 2004, Unreal Tournament 2004, Halo (Xbox), and Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox). In the U.S. and Canada this year, the top two winners from the seven individual games, and the top one Counter-Strike team, will advance from each offline qualifier to the WCG 2004 USA Final or WCG 2004 Canada Final, which will both be held in September.
Tens of thousands of gamers can participate in multiple online and/or offline tournaments until they earn a spot in the national final. Winners at national finals become the 25 members of "Team USA" and 25 members of "Team Canada", and will advance to the international WCG 2004 Grand Final in San Francisco.
Samsung Electronics, a global leader in LCD panel manufacturing and the WCG presenting sponsor, is proud to provide all the TFT-LCD monitors used in the WCG finals.
With Samsung's support, the WCG launched in 2000 with a preliminary event called the World Cyber Challenge, and was first held officially in 2001 as the World Cyber Games. Since then, the WCG has grown to be the greatest global festival for gamers and digital entertainment culture throughout the world, with 55 countries now participating. Over the last three years, the WCG Grand Final has been held in the Korean cities of Seoul and Daejeon. However, starting with San Francisco in 2004, the WCG Grand Final will continue to be held in different cities across the globe.
For more information or to register, please visit www.wcgusa.net in the U.S., www.wcgcanada.ca in Canada, or www.worldcybergames.com for the worldwide site.
ABOUT SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., markets a broad range of award-winning, advanced digital consumer electronics and information systems products. The SEA organization oversees the North American operations of Samsung's Consumer Electronics Division (CED), Information Technology Division (ITD), as well as its subsidiaries including Samsung Telecommunications America (STA) and Samsung Semiconductor Inc (SSI). Please visit www.samsungusa.com for more information.
ABOUT SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductors, telecommunications, and digital convergence technology. The company employs approximately 75,000 people in 87 offices in 47 countries, and posted record US $36.9 billion in sales and US $5.05 billion in net income in 2003. Samsung Electronics is the world's leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductors, TFT-LCDs, CDMA mobile phones, monitors and VCRs
