Malaysian pro-gamers sought for the greatest sporting project of the 21st Century!

Cyber athletes gear up for the 'Olympics' of electronic sports in Silicon Valley, USA


KUALA LUMPUR, 8 May 2008 – Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC), the 'Olympics' of e-sports welcomes a contingent of Malaysian professional video gamers (pro-gamers) to the sixth Grand Finals in San Jose, California, USA to compete amongst the best on this planet this 25-27 August 2008 for the RM800,000 (US$250,000) prize pool!

At the media launch on 6 May 2008, Encik Kamil Othman, Vice President – Creative Multimedia Department of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) announced MDEC's endorsement of ESWC 2008 Malaysia, and kick started the search for Malaysia's top cyber athletes. Nine qualifier road shows held at LAN shops nationwide starting 10 May 2008 until 4 July 2008, will culminate at 1 Utama Shopping Centre from 4 to 6 July 2008 in collaboration with 'Independent Youth Festival 2008' themed 'Celebrating Digital Culture'.

The official ESWC 2008 Malaysia game disciplines include Counter-Strike 1.6 © Valve Software; Defense of The Ancients (DotA) © Blizzard; Warcraft III TFT© Blizzard and Trackmania Nations © Nadeo. Team Malaysia will comprise of one DotA team of five players, one Trackmania Nations player and one WarCraft III TFT player.

Organiser and license owner, Go International Group expects to sign-up 1,000 gamers from the DoTA and Counter Strike Qualifiers alone. Top two teams from each round will be invited to fight it out at the ESWC National Finals. Slots are available for 18 DotA teams, 8 Counter Strike teams; 32 Warcraft III TFT and 32 Trackmania Nations players.

'We aim to raise the standards of e-sports in Malaysia. When youth participate in global competitions like ESWC, it broadens their outlook and creates global dialogue in their local world,' said Jasmine Low, National Director of ESWC 2008 Malaysia and Managing Director of Go International Group.

The gamers will be competing for RM100,000 worth of cash and prizes and an all-expenses paid round trip with travel and five-star accommodation in San Jose, USA in August 2008. Team Malaysia will head to ESWC's Grand Finals to battle for the prestigious title, plus cash prizes. For the first time ever, ESWC will be held outside of France at NVIDIA's NVISION 08 – a three-day adrenaline-pumping visual computing event which includes the 5th annual iGames expo and a Guinness World Record Breaking Attempt for the largest LAN-party.

Dustin Cheah, Group Managing Director of DIS Technology Holdings Berhad, the makers of 'Blue Thunder' and one of the co-sponsors of ESWC 2008 Malaysia added, 'ESWC 2008 Malaysia is a competition which we believe has synergy with our brand, Blue Thunder. Young and energetic! We're pleased to be able to play a part preparing Malaysian youth for a global competition of this scale!'

The excitement builds up as online registrations open today. Anyone above the age of 18 years old can participate. Tournament spots are limited and early registration for all game disciplines are encouraged. Registration is set at RM20 per person. A special feature for gamers during the ESWC 2008 Malaysia season will be the opportunity to experience the latest products from our sponsors including one of the ultimate gaming platforms for enthusiasts – the Intel® Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform, (formerly codenamed 'Skulltrail') which can operate eight processing cores on one system. Other gaming machines on display for gamers to test drive include those that are powered by the Intel® Core 2 Extreme or Intel® Core 2 Quad processors, both of which can deliver unrivalled performance for the latest, greatest generation of multi-threaded games and multimedia applications.

"At Intel, we are always pushing the limits to deliver processing technologies that professional gamers yearn for," said Mr. Ryaz Patel, Country Manager of Intel Electronics (Malaysia). "For those who demand an intense visual gaming experience and crave for more performance when annihilating their gaming enemies, they need not look any further than Intel processors which are designed to change the way gamers think, strategise and play," added Patel, whose company is the co-sponsor of ESWC 2008 Malaysia.


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 and MNC Wireless.


"It is with the invaluable support of our sponsors and partners, that ESWC is alive in Malaysia. Blue Thunder and Intel helped pave the way in the very beginning. We're deepful thankful for their support of ESWC from the beginning," added Low. Tai-Kwong Yokohama Battery shows its support of the youth by 'powering' the road show. "The road show helps us get ESWC beyond the urban setting of the Klang Valley, thus offering more Malaysians a chance to win the trip to San Jose, USA for the Grand Finals", quipped Low. Sendi Mutiara Multimedia provided invaluable support and advice in linking the organisers to their wide network of associates and LAN shops across the country. Steel Series, a professional gaming equipment brand from Denmark is making ESWC its platform to debut into the Malaysian pro-gaming market. Their keyboards, mouse pads and mouse, headsets and peripherals have made their mark at e-sports championships around the world as the brand designed by gamers, for gamers. "This is surely great news for SteelSeries fans as we have appointed Mobile Concepts (M) Sdn Bhd (known as MCM) as our distribution partner in Malaysia and they will offer local support to this event." said Ms Connie Chiu, Head of Sales, Asia. "Go International Group is truly grateful to have SteelSeries, a global leader in professional gaming gears as our pro-gaming equipment sponsor, providing their best gears for first hand experiences and prizes for the excited gamers who have long anticipated for this prestigious brand," said Low.

Importantly, without any hardware, the show won't go on. Thus hardware sponsor which specialises in a unique business of setting up cyber cafes - War.Mart, lends its invaluable support of gamers by sponsoring all hardware to ensure the success of this first ESWC.

Held in conjunction with Indie Youth Festival at 1 Utama, the Organisers have designed activities for youth from all walks of life; indie band concerts with headliners Tempered Mental, Estrella and singer songwriters Mia Palencia, Zalila Lee and Yuna; screenings of winning films from 'E-sports Shorts' - a short film competition which launches today with prizes worth RM6,000, cartoonist display, ladies boxing facilitated by the Malaysian Boxing Association and console game competitions. The festival will also feature game titles from Konami® - Winning Eleven and MetalGearsSolid4, and local game Elven Legends. Nikki Yeo, National Director of Indie Youth Fest said, "As a company, we're always supportive of the independent Arts and Music scene. What we believe is important is to provide a platform for youth to express themselves. Thus, keeping the 'indie' passion and spirit alive,".

The press conference was attended by members of the media, sponsors, supporting partners and a handful of gamers including 'Mutsumi-san' who demonstrated Trackmania Nations while Benjamin 'M4GI_7' demonstrated Warcraft III TFT. For a taste of what's to come at the Indie Youth Fest, local singer songwriter Zalila Lee made up a song for ESWC on the spot! "That, is the indie spirit kept alive! Spontaneous, true and honest," exclaimed Yeo.