The World Cyber Games is the biggest e-Sports festival on earth, and since May over 40,000 gamers across the US have been battling to qualify for the US Final and we are now at the Regional Qualifier (playoff) stage.

This weekend a Regional Qualifier for the popular game “CounterStrike” – played with teams, 5 on 5 – will be staged at a Miami Game center:

Net Xtreme
13874 S.W. 56 Street
Miami, FL 33175 USA
Phone: 305-408-5307
http://www.net-xtreme.net/

Players who advance during the regional qualifier rounds earn a berth to the 2005 WCG US National Finals, to be held September 8 through 10, 2005 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. All Regional winners receive paid food and accommodation (4 days, 3 nights) for the US Final, plus $200 towards travel expenses, a total package valued at over $750 per player.

In New York, players will compete for a prize pool of $34,000 and a chance at the ultimate honor in e-sports, representing their country. The winners will form Team USA and will travel to Singapore in November to compete against the world’s best gamers at the 2005 World Cyber Games Grand Final and win a share of over $400,000 in cash and prizes.

Nearly 30,000 participants competed in the WCG US preliminary events in 2004; more than 1 million competed globally for an aggregate prize pool of $2.5 million. The World Cyber Games is the event that helped launch the careers of professional gamers such as Counter-Strike gold medalists Team 3D, WCG Hall of Famer and reigning Halo champion Matt “Zyos” Leto, and many other careers in professional e-Sports worldwide.

Game categories and cash prizes for the US Final include:

HALF-LIFE: Counter-Strike - 1st Place $ 5,000; 2nd Place $ 2,500; 3rd Place $ 2,000
FIFA Soccer 2005 - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
Need for Speed: Underground 2 - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
StarCraft: Brood War - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
WarCraft III: the Frozen Throne - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
Dead or Alive Ultimate - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500
Halo 2 - 1st Place $ 2,000; 2nd Place $ 1,000; 3rd Place $ 500