Video Game Fever Heats Up As Nations Prepare For World Cyber Games Grand Final In Singapore

First Female Gamer From Austria Set to Compete at Grand Final

SINGAPORE, October 20, 2005 - World Cyber Games (WCG) fever has hit countries worldwide as the Grand Final for the planet's largest PC and video game tournament draws near. Over 700 gamers from 67 countries will travel to Singapore for the WCG Grand Final competition at Suntec City from November 16-20, 2005.

Over the past year, the WCG has attracted an increasing number of gamers worldwide to participate in local and regional gaming events, with only the best from each country advancing to the Grand Final. Spurred by a soaring popularity of e-Sports, new countries continue to join the global network of World Cyber Game countries. Greece, Croatia, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Belarus, Macedonia, Pakistan and Bangladesh will debut their best players for the first time in Singapore.

"We are pleased to see more cyber gamers taking on the challenge to compete at this year's Grand Final. With the record number of participating countries and gamers growing once again this year, the World Cyber Games has truly evolved to become the gaming equivalent of the Olympics. We are now preparing for a very exciting line up of events in Singapore," said Mr. Hank Jeong, President and CEO of International Cyber Marketing, organizer for the World Cyber Games.

Among the 50 countries which have completed the National Finals are Korea and the United States, which will send 26 and 16 top gamers to the Grand Final, respectively. Both American and Korea participants advanced after grueling three-five month preliminary regional competitions, which ended in intense three-day championship tournament national finals.

Both National Finals in Korea and the United States generated extensive interest from the public, with more than 20,000 spectators attending the tournaments.

The National Finals this year also attracted some interesting participants including:

• The youngest participant in WCG history - three-year old Amin Golnam competed in the prelim finals for Iran, playing 'FIFA Soccer 2005' with a joystick since he was too small to reach the computer keyboards. Although he did not qualify for Singapore, Amin's talent was given due recognition by spectators.

• The first female cyber gamer - Verena Vlajo qualified as a member of Team Austria, playing 'Dead or Alive Ultimate'. She was previously selected to represent Austria at the 2004 Grand Finals in San Francisco, but did not participate due for personal reasons.

• Russia and Germany share training camp - The members of Team Russia and Team Germany converged in Hamburg to test their skills in an effort to maintain their reputation as WCG Grand Final competitors to watch. Russia ranked second in 2002 with three gold medals, but had difficulty in matching that performance again in. The five-day training camp offered the Russian team a better atmosphere and IT infrastructure to practice. In addition, Germany, as one of the strongest shots at winning the overall medal count sending a delegation of 23 gamers, has their sights set on first place again after earning the overall title at the WCG Grand Final in 2003.

With the completion of most national finals, the widely anticipated WCG 2005 group drawing will be held on October 19, 2005 at Ongamenet Game Studio in Korea to decide the match position of Grand Final players. Players and Fans can check out the results of Group Drawing in real-time at WCG official website. For more information, please go to http://www.worldcybergames.com/hottopics/ht_hotnews_view.asp?cont_seq=3816&page=1&catalog_seq=20

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

Korean National Final StarCraft Champion Seo Ji-Hoon swings the national flag proudly at the closing ceremony

Youngest ever World Cyber Games participant - Amin Golnam from Iran

The first female participant in World Cyber Games Grand Final - Verena Vlajo, from Austria.

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 $430,000. 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.

Michael Steavenson

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