WCG USA Halo 3: ODST Locked and Loaded Tournament
Event attracts 4,000 players and onlookers to New York.
NEW YORK, NY. October 27, 2009 - Over 4,000 fans and gamers converged on the Samsung Experience in New York City's Time Warner Center this past weekend for the first annual World Cyber Games Halo 3: ODST Locked and Loaded Tournament. The latest in a series of year-long video game events from the World Cyber Games (WCG), the premier international video game competition and festival, Locked and Loaded featured elite Halo teams from around the United States in an all out battle for cash and Samsung electronic prizes.
After an intense two days of competition, Team MoB Deep rolled through nearly 20 participating teams to capture the tournament title. Team Amped held second place and won Samsung Digital Cameras while Team NYz Finest rounded out the weekend's winners by taking third place.
The bronze medalists at last year's WCG Grand Final in Cologne, Germany MoB Deep - which is comprised of Adam Konen, Rowan Cook, Lee Santos and Leland Jones III - has shown once again that they are one of the world's elite teams as they did not lose a match the entire event.
"Even though Halo 3: ODST is not a part of this year's WCG Official Game lineup, we felt a standalone tournament would be the perfect way to thank the Halo communities that have supported the WCG throughout the years." said Aaron Smolick, Director of Marketing for World Cyber Games USA. "We are looking forward to more events like WCG Locked and Loaded in 2010 which will be accompanied by several major WCG announcements in the upcoming months."
Additionally, throughout the weekend attendees were invited to compete in impromptu 'Free-For-All' competitions in Halo 3: ODST and The Beatles: Rock Band for cash prizes. The players who bested all challengers in Halo 3: ODST were Rowan Cook and Lee Santos while Michael Najman rocked supremely in The Beatles: Rock Band. Michael will also be a part of TEAM USA at this year's Grand Final in Chengdu, China, although for a different game. At Chengdu, TEAM USA will face-off against 80 other countries and over 800 challengers in 10 of the world's most popular games to win their share of over $500,000 in cash and prizes and the title of the world's best gamer. In 2007 TEAM USA took top honors in the Grand Final in Seattle, WA while finishing 3rd overall last year in Germany.
For more information about the WCG Grand Final and TEAM USA please go to http://www.wcg.com/usa.
ABOUT THE WORLD CYBER GAMES
The World Cyber Games ( www.wcg.com) is the premiere global e-Sports tournament and festival, with about 800 players from 78 countries participating at WCG 2008 Grand Final. Founded in 2000 and credited with launching the professional careers of many of the planet's top competitive video game players, the World Cyber Games uses a year-long tournament format, which begins with online, regional and national competitions in each country. National finalists then convene to compete in the ultimate international tournament in e-Sports, The World Cyber Games Grand Final, where each country's best players battle for the largest and most prestigious prizes in competitive gaming. The WCG 2009 Grand Final will be held in Chengdu, China.
Contact
Blain Howard 212-689-6360 blain_howard@bhimpact.com
Aaron Smolick 914-479-0070 X10 aaron.smolick@wcg.com