Let the Games Begin! Singapore Welcomes World Cyber Games 2005 Grand Final

WCG official game tournament to be held with prize worth more than US$ 435,000

Cultural events and fringe activities for public to join

SINGAPORE, November 15, 2005 - The excitement for cyber gaming fans worldwide begins this week as the World Cyber Games (WCG) 2005 Grand Final officially opens tomorrow in Singapore.

Kicking off the five-day mega gaming event this evening is a welcome party at DXO International Plaza for over 700 national finalists from 67 countries who arrive today in Singapore and checked into Costa Sands Resort, the official players' village for the WCG 2005 Grand Final.

The excitement builds up tomorrow with the Grand Final opening ceremony, which will be officiated by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Second Minister of Trade and Industry and Mr Jong-Yong Yun, WCG Committee Co-Chairman and also Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics. The opening ceremony promises to be a colourful display of multicultural performances that will set the gaming spirit for the five-day gaming festival. WCG will also be hosting an opening press conference tomorrow evening for international and local media who will be present to cover the world's largest computer and video game festival.

"We are happy to be here in Singapore to host the Grand Final. Tomorrow will be the start of an exciting week for gaming fans around the world. This year we have greater success in reaching out to more nations to participate in our tournament and we are looking forward to watching them in action," said Mr. Hank Jeong, President and CEO of International Cyber Marketing, organizer for the World Cyber Games.

A Gaming Festival for Everyone

Over the last six years, WCG has been recognized to be the most comprehensive digital cultural festival, bringing youths of the world together to not only compete to be gaming champions but to also create a place of harmony and cultural exchange.

This year, the gamers will compete over total prize worth more than US$ 435,000 and the elimination rounds for all eight official games will start on the first two days - November 17 and 18, with semi-finals and finals taking place on November 19 and 20. In addition, WCG will hold mobile tournament also. Gaming fans can catch this year's hot contenders like USA's Team 3D (CounterStrike & Halo 2), WCG 2004 gold medalists Korea's Ji-Hoon Seo (StarCraft) and Dutch Grubby (WarCraft III) in action at three tournament spots - tournament arena, main stage and cyber space and also from a real time web casting service at WCG official website.

There will also be a game conference to discuss areas of game development industry in Singapore. The conference will be graced by renowned experts in the gaming industry, including Allan Simosen, the chairman of International Game Developer Association (IGDA) who will give a keynote of Leveraging the Online Community and Mr. Tze Lin Ong of Intel will discuss on Gaming Capabilities Assessment Test by and Mr. Robert Krackoff from Razer, will provide the audience insights into the future of e-sports.

In addition to watching the exciting gaming action at the tournament arena, gaming fans will also have opportunities to win a multitude of prizes both onstage and also at sponsor pavilion. Samsung will throw a daily lucky draw to provide chances for the public to win Samsung's MP3 Players and etc. Intel will hold Doom III Mini Tournament, Quake 4 Pros versus Amateurs and Razer will also hold 1:1 Counterstrike 1.6 shootout tournament for the public. Participants can enjoy a myriad of cultural and fringe activities including performances by Singapore bands, a hip hop dance competition, a toy collectible display, magic shows and a daily luck draw to win more prizes.

Following the final tournaments on November 20, a closing ceremony officiated by Mr. Dong Chea Chung, WCG Committee Co-Chairman and also Minister of Culture and Tourism, Korea and Dr. Lee Boon Yang, Minister of Information, Communication & Arts, Singapore and a farewell party will be held to celebrate and wrap up the week-long festival.

Samsung is a worldwide sponsor of the World Cyber Games. The Grand Final is also made possible through the sponsorship support of premier sponsors Intel and Razer and official sponsors SingTel and Video Pro.

WCG Grand Final will be broadcasted through MediaCorp; WCG's official broadcaster at 11:30pm every night from 16-20 Nov., and all the events of WCG are free admission for the public. And for Singapore residents, lucky draw tickets are available nationwide at all SingTel hello shops, VideoPro, selected stores at Funan and Sim Lim Square (DAT Computers and Cybermind/Software Boutique), Ingram Micro Asia at Kallang Bahru and also ASUS Royal Club.

About The World Cyber Games

International Cyber Marketing (www.worldcybergames.com) is the global organizer of the World Cyber Games, the world's largest computer and video game festival, and is the licenser for all World Cyber Games interactive game tournaments to be held in about 67 countries in 2005. This year the winners of each national event series will compete for the world championship title and prizes valued at $435,000. Now in its fifth official year, the World Cyber Games has ushered in a new dimension of e-Sports where game enthusiasts can look forward to some of the most intense and dynamic video game action by the best players on the planet.

For further information, please contact:

Michael Steavenson

Text 100 Public Relations

Global Technology Public Relations

Direct: 212-871-4080

E-mail: michaels@text100.com