Intel Extreme Masters

Europe's finest World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike 1.6 players to compete in Cologne for $20,000 purse.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on Aug. 10, 2009

Cologne, August 10, 2009 – The fourth season of the Intel Extreme Masters ( www.intelextrememasters.com), the global league of eSports champions, will have its opening Global Challenge event at the gamescom trade show in Cologne on August 19th-23rd. Thousands of fans will watch Europe's best gamers in the disciplines World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike 1.6 fight for $20,000 in prize money to kick off the world's only global eSports league.

The Intel Extreme Masters event in Cologne will consist of a $10,000 World of Warcraft Global Challenge with the world's best teams invited and a $10,000 < span style="font-weight:normal">Counter-Strike SuperCup.

The Intel Extreme Masters SuperCup will feature the World Champions Fnatic from Sweden, the European Champions team mTw from Denmark, the German Champions Mousesports and SK Gaming from Sweden.

An addition to the show will be the $1,000 Intel Extreme Masters Pro/Am Challenge in QuakeLive open for all gamescom visitors.

The Intel Extreme Masters is a series of competitions for eSports champions of over 35 countries from 5 continents, with a total prize purse of $500,000. The fourth season features two Global Challenges, three Continental Championships: in Asia, Europe and the Americas and will culminate with the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship at CeBIT 2010 with the very best teams and players of each Continental Championship participating.

Further details will be revealed at the official press conference at the ESL Intel ASUS Gamezone (Hall 9, booth B-042, B-043) on August 19, 2009 at 11:00 am.

"We are thrilled to bring the success story of the Intel Extreme Masters into its fourth season at gamescom with more countries participating than ever before. It is only fitting that the league would commence at gamescom, in the heart of the vibrant ga ming world," says Sebastian Weishaar, Director of League Operations at Turtle Entertainment.

Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters are available at www.intelextrememasters.com

Intel Extreme Masters

The Intel Extreme Masters is the global league of eSports champions since 2006. The league elevates Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft competition to a new level. eSports champions from Europe, America and Asia struggle for USD 750,000 prize money – All-time record for a global online league. Live tournaments at the worlds largest IT conventions feature the top performers of the season - Global stars in eSports. The league has its exciting final in early 2009, inviting the top teams and players to participate in the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals.

The IP-TV station ESL TV and its global partners present the best games of the seaso n live and reports directly from the offline events.

Turtle Entertainment GmbH

Turtle Entertainment was founded in 2000. The company quickly grew to be the European leader in the sector of electronic sports (eSports). The Electronic Sports League, operated by Turtle Entertainment, is active in 35 different countries worldwide. The league portal www.esl.eu reaches above ten million visits a month generated by more than 2,1 million registered users. Turtle Entertainment has over 170 employees and is located in Cologne, Germany. Twelve international license holders operate the ESL worldwide. Turtle Entertainment owns the majority of the Chinese eSports league PGL (Pro Gamer League) since 2007. Important business partners of Turtle Entertainment are global corporations such as Intel, adidas, Volkswagen, Dell, Suzuki, ASUS, BitDefender, Sennheiser, Windows Vista, Sidewinder, Razor, Alienware and gamed.de. Turtle Entertainment markets its products worldwide using these specific brands: Electronic Sports League (ESL), ESL Pro Series, ESL Major Series, ESL European Nations Championship (ENC), ESL WC3L Series, ESL TV, Intel Extreme Masters, Consoles Sport League, eSport Schulmeisterschaft, eSports Award and ESL Sports. Until December 2008 Turtle Entertainment has paid out more than three million Euro prize money.

Further information is available at www.turtle-entertainment.de

Intel Corporation

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.

Online info at a glance:

- This press release as PDF: www.turtle-entertainment.de/Dateien/PM_IEM_gamescom_en.pdf

- Intel Extreme Masters: www.intelextrememasters.com

- Electronic Sports League (ESL): www.esl.eu

- Turtle Entertainment: www.turtle-entertainment.de

- Company Trailer Turtle Entertainment GmbH (browser flash movie): http://files.turtle-entertainment.de/video/eslpromo.html

Contact:

Turtle Entertainment GmbH

Press Office

Ibrahim Mazari

Siegburger Straße 189

50679 Cologne