INTROVERSION TEAMS WITH AMBX TO LAUNCH WORLD'S FIRST OFFICIAL DEFCON TOURNAMENT
Indie-game studio, Introversion Software, announced today it has teamed with the makers of the amBX PC gaming peripherals, Philips Electronics, to launch an exciting, three-month DEFCON league and tournament throughout the UK. The event will be hosted by IGUK, the UK's biggest provider of Lan gaming centres, with the Grand Final being played out in the world's largest dedicated gaming centre, Omega Sektor, due to be opened in Birmingham in June.
Since DEFCON's release online last year, there have been many calls to host an official tournament and according to Chris Delay, creative director of Introversion, it's easy to see why. "DEFCON'S an ideal game for a Lan tournament as there's a lot of psychological gameplay going on between you and the other opponents. Playing DEFCON often brings out the worst in people as you're essentially encouraged to betray your friends, and the better you get at doing that, the better you tend to perform in-game. It'll be fascinating to watch how these dynamics play out when everyone's in the same room together."
Throughout the 12-week IGUK league, weekly prizes will be handed out to participants who have been randomly selected via a Frag Lotto. "This competition is as much about having fun and participating, as it is about racking up your DEFCON kill-count," explained Dominic Mulroy of Omega Sektor. "The Frag Lotto ensures that all gamers are encouraged and awarded for taking part, not just the top scorers."
From the IGUK league, 30 of the top-scoring gamers will then be selected to attend the Grand Final where they will compete for a place in the final six-player match. With generous prize donations from Philips Peripherals & Accessories, Logitech and Introversion, finalists will be competing to win over £10k of the latest software and hardware, including amBX PC Gaming Peripherals.
The Grand Final will also be amBX-enabled, promising to make it one of the most exciting and visually immersive game spectacles of the year. The all-new 'ambient experiences' technology will extend the gaming world out of the screen and into the real world using light, colour, sound and even air flow through amBX-enabled peripherals, including LED lighting, fans and rumblers.
Arming DEFCON with amBX will allow armchair generals to actually witness the blinding light, as their intercontinental ballistic missiles land; feel the ground rumble with the impact, as fallout rains down around them; and quite literally blow their enemy's helmets off, through the force of the explosion entering the room via the desk fans.
For those unable to attend the Grand Final, former professional gamer Sujoy Roy will be on hand to provide online commentary and Live Streaming of the tournament over the internet, so spectators can watch and listen to the event from home.
About DEFCON:
DEFCON is an online, competitive, multiplayer strategy game simulating global thermonuclear war. The game, inspired by the 1983 cult-classic film, WarGames, superbly evokes the tension, paranoia and suspicion surrounding the Cold War era. DEFCON was an instantaneous success, receiving an average of 85%+ in game reviews and scores of praise. PC Gamer UK described it as 'pure, deep, utterly unconscionable fun', whilst IGN awarded DEFCON an Editors Choice Award and praised it as 'highly impressive'. DEFCON is currently available to buy online via Steam or from Introversion's online store, and will be available from all good UK retail outlets, from June 15th 2007.
About Introversion Software:
Heralded as 'the last of the bedroom programmers', Introversion Software is a UK based independent games developer and publisher founded in 2001 by three university students. For more information on all of Introversion's projects please visit www.introversion.co.uk.
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lifestyle and technology, delivering products, services and solutions through the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 124,300 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27 billion in 2006, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, personal care and home appliances, as well as consumer electronics. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About Omega Sektor
June 2007 will see the opening of the World's largest Cyber Theme Park in Birmingham's City Centre. This £2m venture has over 450 state of the art PCs and consoles. Its aim is to provide consumers with the ability to play against one another on all the latest multiplayer titles in a full software and hardware retail environment. It has secured support from some of the biggest names in the games industry, including Microsoft, NVIDIA and Intel.
About IGUK
The leading PC Gaming Cyber Café's in the UK, established IGUK in 2001. It was designed to enable and promote PC and console gaming to more people in the UK as well as forming a coherent alliance between these retail centres. This allows IGUK to deal directly with the games publishers and our sponsors and easily organise large-scale national tournaments and leagues open to all, regardless of location and home facilities. Of course, such an alliance yields other benefits such as allowing IGUK members to deal directly with suppliers of hardware, software, accessories and connectivity, giving better pricing and a single point of contact for those companies wishing to sell or promote their products to what was previously a disparate group of organisations. For more information please visit www.iguk.org
Media Contacts:
Introversion Software
Vicky Arundel - Marketing and PR
vic@introversion.co.uk
Philips amBX
Gaming media please contact:
Mark Ward - Account Director, Bastion
mark@bastion.co.uk
Omega Sektor
Andrzej Bania - PR Director
Andrzej@omegasektor.com
IGUK
Dominic Mulroy
dominic@iguk.org