Gaming is serious business.
Gaming is fun.
Gaming is,...for everyone!

That's not the official verse of the World Cyber Games, but that is exactly what electronics major Samsung intends to do, take the gaming culture to the masses.

Samsung, which is the the worldwide sponsor of the World Cyber Games, along with WCG strategic partner for India, Indiagames, announced the launch of its India pre-prelimenaries for 2004 in Bangalore on July 28.

The World Cyber Games 2004 India launch (From left to right) Vishal Gondal - Director India Games Ltd, Vivek Prakash - Vice President Marketing Samsung India Electronics Ltd, Sushil Luniya VP Operations Sify, Sanjiv Keskar AMD Head of India operations.

Other partners include AMD which is the CPU gaming partner and Sify Iway whose Cybercafe chain across cities in India shall be the venue for the pre preliminaries.

Promoted on the lines of the International Olympic movement and with more than 55 nations participating, the WCG have the full support of the Korean government and are headquartered in South Korea.The Indian participation in the games began in 2002.

Speaking to Animation 'xpress about his association with the WCG , Indiagames founder and director Vishal Gondal says, "We want to promote the gaming culture in India. There is great potential for gaming in India, also as the gaming culture gains ground, those in the game development industry like us will have a greater talent pool available to recruit from as game developers always arise out of a subset of gamers"

Expressing his anticipation for this year's event, Vishal added, "The scale and the size of the WCG and the manner in which it is conducted and marketed, makes participation in the WCG an aspiration amongst gamers. It exposes a lot of new people to the gaming experience. Last year we had preliminaries in 4 cities in India and had 25,000 registrations. This year we have increased the number of cities to 12 and with the kind of marketing blitz that Samsung has lined up, I would'nt be surprised to see a total turnout touching around 5,00,000 online registrations."

Participants honing their skills

In order to create an awareness amongst the estimated 14 million PC users(Indian) Samsung has launched a major online initiative and has links to register with the WCG on MSN, Rediff, C2W, ESPN, TechTree and Samsung India websites.

An official release quotes Mr. Vivek Prakash, Vice President (Marketing), Samsung India Electronics Ltd. saying, "Today's mainstream media environment revolves around the theme of interactivity. People enjoy entertainment they can control, and experiences in which they are fully involved. PC gaming - as a holistic entertainment tool today delivers just this type of interactivity."

Side view of the promotional Mobile Van (Model)

The electronics major has also launched alliances with Citibank, Shoppers Stop and Dominos promoting Samsung Magic Bright PCs through the WCG.

Meanwhile the sify association for WCG means that it gets visibility on the popular sify website as well as at all Sify i-ways.

Amongst other promotional activities include promotions in schools, and cavalcades. A World Cyber Games Mobile Van is going around 12 cities across the country where the games would be held.


The 12 cities where the India round of WCG pre prelims shall be held are Bangalore, Baroda, Chandigarh , Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi & Pune. Participants have to first register with the WCG, which can be done online at the Samsung or WCG website. Participants can also register offline at the venue of the games.

WCG India Schedule & Official games
(Check web site for revised dates)
Stage-I Pre-prelims :
Either at SIFY I-way(s) or on the WCG micro-site

Stage-II
12 city preliminaries.
PC Gaming Zones are being set-up for people who pass Stage-I

Stage-III
Semi-Finals and then the Finals at Mumbai on August 23, 2004.

The 5 official games
1. Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment),
2. Counter Strike (Valve Corporation),
3. Need for Speed Underground (2004 Electronic Arts Inc.),
4. Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004 Epic Games Inc.)
5. FIFA Football 2004 (2004 Electronic Arts Inc.)

The representative organisation of the WCG, has its headquarters in South Korea and is co chaired by Yun Jong-Yong, Vice President of Samsung Electronics and Namgoong Jin, South Korea Minister of Culture & Tourism. The entire operations of the WCG are overseen by ICM (International Cyber Marketing), which is the worldwide organizer and marketer of the WCG Global Movement. ICM is responsible for establishing and maintaining the global network of strategic partners who plan and run various WCG events including preliminary rounds and national finals.