Shacknews Document

The U.S. Army to Partner with iGames for America's ArmySM: Operations
Tournament

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The U.S. Army announced today that it has teamed with iGamesT, a national
organization of Game Centers, to hold an America's Army: Operations
Tournament at Game Centers nationwide. First-round tournament play will
take place November 10th and November 30th, with the championship round
commencing on December 14th.

The first 500 people to sign up will receive a special America's Army:
Operations Tournament t-shirt. Players can sign up at iGames.org.

Players will compete in teams of four. The highest scoring teams from the
two separate competitions (November 10th and November 30th) will be
invited to compete in the championship round on December 14th.

The championship team will receive a Grand Prize trip for four to the
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show in Los Angeles May 14-16,
2003, plus limo service for the day courtesy of eVGA.com, a leading
provider of graphics accelerators. Creative Labs, Altec Lansing and
Logitech are providing additional prizes for first, second and third-place
teams in the December competition.

America's Army is a PC game that provides civilians with an inside
perspective and a virtual role in today's premier land force: the U.S.
Army. America's Army includes two games: America's ArmySM: Operations, a
3D first-person-perspective action game that allows players to experience
Army training and unit operations as virtual Soldiers in light infantry
units; and America's ArmySM: Soldiers, the role-playing portion in which
players navigate Army life challenges to achieve long-term goals and build
lifelong character traits. America's Army: Operations has shipped as a
free CD and is available at local Army Recruiting stations, ROTC
Detachments and Army events listed at http://www.americasarmy.com/.

The CD features missions that were previously available via download from
the Internet (from mirrored sites listed at www.americasarmy.com), plus
two new exclusive missions featuring the 82nd Airborne Division and 75th
Ranger Regiment. America's Army: Operations is also being bundled with
eVGA.com's driver discs. America's Army: Soldiers will be available in
2003.

The Army launched a special RECON version of its America's Army:
Operations game online on July 4th, and followed up with additional
missions and game enhancements over the summer. Since July 4th, more than
935,771 players have registered to play America's Army: Operations, with
568,582 having completed basic training. With over 25.2 million missions
played, at an average of 6-10 minutes per mission, daily gameplay has
grown to a level of over 278,000 missions per day.

"iGames is the perfect partner to help us host this nationwide
competition," said Lt. Col. Casey Wardynski, project originator and
manager of the America's Army game. "We are looking forward to this
competition, and to continuing to work with iGames to build the fan
community around the game as it progresses over the coming years."

"Since the launch of the America's Army: Operations RECON version we have
received a slew of requests from both our member centers and their
customers for events dedicated to the game," said Mark Nielsen, executive
director at iGames. "We are looking forward to working with the Army on
their inaugural tournament and are excited to help bring the game to our
centers nationwide."

In America's Army: Operations, the concept has been implemented in a
strategic and innovative way as gamers always play in a team and are bound
by the laws of land warfare, Army values and realistic Rules Of
Engagement. In squad versus squad operations, where up to 32 players can
join in the same mission, gamers will always perceive that they are on the
U.S. Army team, regardless of which team they join.

If you are not already on an America's Army: Operations team, contact your
local Game Center and they will help you find an appropriate group of
players to team with for this tournament. All team members must play at a
participating Game Center. Players can sign-up at participating centers by
logging onto http://www.igames.org/.

The America's Army: Operations Tournament will support the Teen ESRB
rating of the game. Therefore, all players under the age of 13 need to
have a consent form signed by a parents or guardian.