ACTION HEATS UP ON XBOX LIVE AS THOUSANDS OF COMPETITORS BATTLE TO WIN A PLACE AT THE FIFA INTERACTIVE WORLD CUP EUROPEAN REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS
London, 27 October 2004 - It's the halfway mark of the FIFA Interactive World Cup Qualifying Tournament on Xbox® LiveTM, and the competition is getting intense - with 60 spots in the European Regional Tournaments of the FIFA Interactive World Cup up for grabs, players of FIFA Football 2005 from EA SPORTSTM on Xbox Live are getting hungry for ultimate gaming glory and really showing what they're made of.
Since the FIFA Interactive World Cup Qualifying Tournament on Xbox® Live began on 15th October, over 10,000 virtual footballers have joined the fray to win a prestigious place in one of the FIFA Interactive World Cup European Regional Tournaments.
"The competition is fierce. More than a quarter of a million goals have been virtually scored and over 100 red and 1,000 yellow cards have been "virtually" handed out. One player has a winning streak of more than 63 games, and another player has scored 900 goals to date," said Clive Downie, EA European Marketing Director. "The road to the FIFA Interactive World Cup is not an easy one, but the talented 60 players who make it through will know they are among the best of the best."
Members of the Xbox Live service can play EA SPORTSTM FIFA Football 2005 online between 15th October and 5th November with the top 60 scorers automatically qualifying for the Regional Tournament. Each wins a trip to one of the FIFA Interactive World Cup Regional Tournaments to be held in London (20 November 2004), Paris (4 December 2004) and Berlin (11 December 2004) , where they will get the chance to kick, defend, tackle and score their way to win the ultimate video game bragging rights - being named FIFA Interactive World Player 2004.
Xbox Live members first need to go to the following URL and register for the tournament: http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/fifainteractiveworldcup/qualifier.htm
The FIFA Interactive World Cup is a new video game tournament combining on and off-line football gaming action featuring EA SPORTSTM FIFA Football 2005 on Xbox and Xbox Live. The FIFA Interactive World Cup will travel to six continents from October to December 2004. Not only are football fans given the chance to win the ultimate prize - being named FIFA Interactive World Player 2004 - but at each of the eight Regional Tournaments they will also have the chance to sharpen up their real-world football skills with the football experts, enjoying music from big-name DJs, and lots of surprises. Specific details on each event will be available at http://www.FIFAinteractiveworldcup.com.
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About FIFA
For the past 100 years, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, founded on 21 May 1904 in Paris and better known as FIFA, has continued to provide the essential leadership role to the international football family. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the eighth FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter (Switzerland), guides the organisation today with a commitment to the evolution of FIFA as a modern and dynamic association. The basis of the world's football family is formed by FIFA's member associations. From the founding seven in 1904, the family has today grown to 205 affiliated associations, also organised into six confederations spanning the globe. FIFA's worldwide activities go well beyond its various competitions, such as the world's biggest single-sport event, the FIFA World CupTM. In projects such as SOS Children's Villages and the FIFA Goal Programme, FIFA gives material, financial and promotional support to develop the game and bring joy to underprivileged children worldwide.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, EA posted revenues of $2.96 billion for fiscal 2004. The company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. In 2003, EA had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EA GAMESTM and EA SPORTS BIGTM. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
About Xbox
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About Xbox Live
Xbox Live is the first comprehensive, online game service fully dedicated to fast-action broadband gaming experiences. Xbox Live allows gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a broadband Internet connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console was built from the ground up to be an online gaming system so there's no need to buy additional peripherals.
Xbox Live enables all gamers to find and play with their friends easily; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; and download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.
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