GO! ESWC MALAYSIA

750 gamers from 50 countries to compete for a slice of the US$250,000 prize pool at the fifth Electronic Sports World Cup in August 2008

Kuala Lumpur, 6 July 2008 – Malaysia will be participating in this year’s fifth Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) - the ‘Olympics’ of e-sports (professional PC gaming competitions). Master licensees and Organiser, Go International Group Sdn Bhd announced the champions of four video games at 1 Utama Shopping Centre today at the closing ceremony of the 3-day Indie Youth Festival.

Guest of Honour, Encik Kamil Othman, Vice-President of the Creative Multimedia Content Initiative of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) whose department has endorsed the event, presented the Champions with their trophies.

ESWC 2008 Malaysia attracted a total of 1027 participants who signed up for Qualifiers in Klang (78 players), Ipoh (42 players), Johor (102 players), Sarawak (54 players), Sabah (138 players), Subang Parade (90 players), Subang (60 players), Penang (60 players), Melaka (168 players), 1 Utama (235 players). In addition, the Winning Eleven 2008 © Konami casual competition attracted 128 players.

Champions of ESWC 2008 Malaysia won cash and prizes worth a total of RM100,000 and gained an auto-berth to the ESWC Grand Finals to be held in San Jose, USA from 25-27 August 2008. For the first time ever ESWC will be held outside of France at NVIDIA’s NVision 2008 - a 3-days adrenaline-pumping visual computing event which includes the 5^th Annual I-Games expo and a Guinness World Record Breaking Attempt for the largest LAN party.

The champions won Steel Series pro-gamer equipment, Manli Graphics cards, Warcraft game sets, Yokohama Battery and Blue Thunder premiums. Aside from the Counter Strike team, champions also won return airfares from Kuala Lumpur to San Jose, USA inclusive of five-star accommodation and breakfast. The organiser is working on raising funds for airfares for the Counter Strike team of five players.

Results after the jump

Trackmania Nations Forever © Nadeo (1v1)

Champion : Tang ‘Luige” Chee Keong

1^st Runner-up : Mohd “Chapree” Syefri bin Mohd Zulkefli

2^nd Runner-up : Fadli “r0r1]sn@ke.spotgamers” Khalid

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne © Blizzard (1v1)

Champion : Yan “eNet | Paulyan” Meng Choon

1^st Runner-up : Lee “M1-NOX” Hoong Kit

2^nd Runner-up : Yap “ct-serry” Tong Lian

Counter Strike 1.6 © Valve (5v5)

Champion : Hybrid (Sanjay “sniggy” Anantharajah, Leong “fions” Khaw Jin, Gerard “rico” Anand, Abdul “jab” Hakim B. Yazid, Abdul “bobo” Azim B. Yazid)

1^st Runner-up : LZ

2^nd Runner-up : NaturalOnes

Defense of the Ancients © Blizzard

Champion : Kingsurf (Lee Wen Chek, Ng Wei Poong, Lee Vei Siang, Chua Chee Cai, Mar Yung Chia)

1^st Runner-up : Cybertime

2^nd Runner-up : ICE-W4SI

Crowd favourite, team KINGSURF from Johor Bahru took home the Champion’s title as Malaysia’s Best Defence of the Ancients (DotA) © Blizzard team. KINGSURF had also won the gold medal at the E-Sports Thailand Championship (ESTC) held in Bangkok last April 2008.

Themed ‘Celebrating Digital Culture’, the 3-day Indie Youth Festival and ESWC 2008 Malaysia events introduced a ‘novel’ festival, which brought together indie musicians, singer songwriters, cartoonists, motorsport enthusiasts and video gamers. Over 25,000 visitors experienced 3-mega days of the ultimate gamer experience at participating sponsors’ booths.

ESWC 2008 Malaysia is made possible by: Co-sponsors; DIS Technology (the makers of Blue ‘Thunder’) and Intel Electronics (Malaysia), Sponsors; Tai-Kwong Yokohama Battery and Sendi Mutiara Multimedia, Hardware sponsor; War.Mart, Pro-gaming equipment sponsor; Steel Series, Operational sponsor; E-Club Online Management, Media sponsors; Game Axis and PC Gamer magazines, Official broadcaster; 8TV, Official venue sponsor; 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Supporting partners; Play Interactive, EMI Malaysia, Extreme Garment, MNC Wireless, Viewsonic, Official Drink; Cool Rhino.

Special mention goes out to the other partners who made both the event a success: New Era for contributing Guitar Hero sets, Gamers Hideout, Persatuan Komik Malaysia, Motorsport Playground for the three performance cars on display, Lifestyle Solutions for the display set sofas and all our marshals and crew.

INDIE YOUTH FEST

Held in conjunction with ESWC 2008 Malaysia is the ‘Independent Youth Festival’ – an event, which celebrates independent spirit, self-expression through the Arts and the celebration of pop and digital culture. Three indie nights of great music promised, with over 18 acts by bands and singer songwriters at the Indie Taxi Stage like One Buck Short, Tempered Mental, Deserters, Mia Palencia, Reza Salleh, Yuna, Zalila Lee and also an open mic segment. Visitors played console and computer games (Trackmania, Winning Eleven, Guitar Hero), view short films, watched cartoonists work and complete a 400-metre long cartoon strip. There were displays of performance cars by Motorsports Playground, ladies boxing demonstration, meeting of ‘Click Happy’ Flickr photography group, also display of pro-gaming and IT gadgets by sponsors of ESWC 2008 Malaysia at their booths.

Note to the Editor:
Interviews with the Malaysian Champion teams, tournament marshals, or interest to review Sponsors’ products can be arranged. Kindly email us at novapr@gmail.com

Media Inquiries:
Jasmine Low c/o Go International Group Sdn Bhd

HP: +6017 623 0288 // Email: jasminelow@gmail.com

Photos from the event are available upon request. Kindly email us or call (03) 7727 0093.

FACT SHEET
About Go International Group Sdn Bhd
A marketing and communication solutions company founded in 2006, Go International Group abides by four values; Sharing of Insights, Integrity, Valour and Love. Official organiser and license owner of ESWC in Malaysia, Go is committed to serving youth. It produces events, which empower young Malaysians to step up into the world. The group has pledged to enhance e-sports via ESWC 2008 Malaysia; and to produce an independent short film on the event. Go has avidly supported the ‘indie’ scene via its regular community project, Doppelganger Open Mic and Stage, which has offered youth a platform for creative expression since 2002. More about Go International Group at www.gointernationalgroup.com; more about ESWC 2008 Malaysia at www.eswc.com/malaysia.