WCG Heads to Seattle

The World Cyber Games Committee this week announced the location of the 2007 World Cyber Games Grand Final competition. The event will be taking place in Seattle, Washington, whose general surrounding areas are the site of many video game-related companies. Among others, Valve, Microsoft, and Nintendo of America are located within King County, which also encompasses Seattle.

Last year, nearly 700 finalists from 67 countries competed in the Grand Final event in Singapore. Over 55,000 people attended the five-day festival to cheer on their respective countries, participate in new game demonstrations and meet people from all over the world they had previously only talked to online. ...
Started as the World Cyber Challenge in 2000, the WCG was first officially held in 2001 and continues today under the slogan, "Beyond the Game." It has grown into the world's largest computer and video games festival with more than 1 million competing in 2005 in local, regional and national qualifying tournaments.

Organizers expect up to 700 of the world's best gamers will travel to Monza, Italy, in October, 2006, to participate in the Grand Final of the most prestigious e-Sports competition and enjoy a well-rounded festival designed to promote culture and social harmony among world gamers.

The 2007 event will be the second time the World Cyber Games take place in North America; the first was in 2004 when they were hosted in San Francisco. This year's finals will take place in Italy; the featured games are Starcraft: Brood War (PC), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (PC), Counter-Strike (PC), Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War: Winter Assault (PC), FIFA 06 (PC), Need for Speed Most Wanted (PC), Dead or Alive 4 (X360), and Project Gotham Racing 3 (X360). The WCG's official site has more information.