Multiplay Launch i33, The UK's Largest Gaming Festival

Southampton, 18th January 2008: Multiplay, organisers of the largest UK gaming events, have launched i33 - the next in their series of record-breaking games festivals. With over 80 hours of non-stop gaming, social activities spread across multiple venues and with most of the attendees camping on site, the i-Series events are often described as the "Glastonbury of Gaming". It all takes place over 21st-24th March at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire, UK.

Thanks to a promotion during the Christmas period, Multiplay already have nearly 700 "Bring Your Own Computer" participants confirmed. The total number of gamers reaches 1,500 - all of whom will be bringing their own computers from home for a mammoth weekend of multiplayer gaming.

Big money tournaments are a regular feature at the i-Series and i33 sees 10,000 Counter -Strike: Source and 6,000 Call of Duty 4 tournaments, as well as a host of others including Halo 3 on the Xbox 360, Unreal Tournament 3, Team Fortress 2 and World in Conflict.

"i32 was such a huge success that we're having to pull out all of the stops for i33" said Craig Fletcher, Managing Director of Multiplay. "i33 will continue the trend of each event adding something new to the series and our 2008 LAN parties will be ones for the record books. With so many people confirmed already it's shaping up to be our largest event to date."

One of Europe's leading games exhibitions takes place at the event alongside the LAN party where day-visitors can see the top names in the industry showing off cutting-edge games technology.

For those who want to come to play but cannot bring a PC, Multiplay and Packard Bell have teamed up to provide "Turn Up and Play" machines for some of their tournaments. TUP tickets allow gamers to turn up and use provided machines for their tournament matches, without having to bring their own.

With a whole host of other social activities and thousands of gamers in one place, i33 is set to break Multiplay's own record for the largest UK LAN party. To find out more about i33 and how you can get involved visit http://www.multiplay.co.uk/i33

About Multiplay: Established in 1997 as a games-orientated event management company, Multiplay pioneers the development of gaming festivals in the UK and hosts one of the World's largest online PC gaming services. With the synergy of real-life events and a large online presence, Multiplay is at the forefront of PC gaming in the UK and beyond.

Nicknamed the "Glastonbury of Gaming", Multiplay's "i-Series" gaming festivals are unique in the UK, seeing over 1,500 attendees who all bring their own computers to connect to a large temporary network for four days of entertainment. Having expanded in scope, the events now attract a much wider audience, who attend for the interactive exhibition, social activities or just to watch the action unfold in the finals arena. Regular attendance by leading games publishers and hardware manufacturers has built the i-Series into the must-attend event in the UK gaming calendar.

Multiplay spearheads the development of the professional gaming scene in the UK, working with big-name brands to stage world-class tournaments. These are stage-managed and video-streamed by Multiplay's in-house team onto the Internet, attracting a growing audience. Online viewing figures for individual game finals number in the tens of thousands.

Multiplay's online gaming service has gone from strength-to-strength from its inception in 2002 to the mammoth service of over 1,000 game services playing host to over 10,000 players concurrently each night. This makes it one of the largest services of its type in the World. As an ISP running its own network, from gaming-optimised broadband service to high-end hosting operations, Multiplay is able to ensure the quality of connectivity is second-to-none.

Contact Multiplay on +44 (0)845 868 1337 or by email on press@multiplay.co.uk