Multiplay Announces Birth of New Consumer Gaming Expo

London, 20th July 2007: Multiplay - organisers of the largest UK gaming LAN events - are announcing the birth of a new era for gaming exhibitions. i31, in association with Samsung, will be the UK's largest gaming LAN and industry exhibition this summer with up to 1,500 "Bring-Your-Own-Computer" (BYOC) spaces and 1,200 square metres of interactive exhibition space. The Samsung World Cyber Games National Finals are being held at the event which compliments the big-name exhibitors and cash prize tournaments. With over 80 hours of non-stop gaming and social activities spread across multiple venues and with most of the attendees camping on site, the i-Series events are often described as the "Glastonbury of Gaming". It's all taking place over 10th-13th August at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire, UK.

Headlining the event are Samsung, taking the lead in the exhibition hall with their large "turn-up-and-play" area for the World Cyber Games. Anyone can come along and play in the World Cyber Games and potentially be part of the UK team at the World Finals held in Seattle in October. When tournaments are not in progress, the PCs and XBOX360s on the Samsung World Cyber Games stand will be available for open play.

Industry leaders such as Asus, Packard Bell, Intel, Scan, Philips, Crucial, Antec and many more are all pulling the stops out and organising massive stands with games exclusives, prizes and hands-on demonstrations of new games and hardware technology.

"This is the largest and most interactive exhibition we have ever organised" said Craig Fletcher, Managing Director of Multiplay. "The BYOC gaming LAN is usually the biggest aspect of the event but at i31 the exhibition is giving it a run for its money! There's so much to do whether you're taking part as a BYOC participant or if you're just down for the day as a spectator - it's becoming more and more of a festival of gaming with each event we run."

Exclusive to i31 are special guests Activision who will be giving a live demonstration of the unreleased Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, THQ showcasing Frontlines: Fuel Of War and EA showing off Crysis. Also giving live talks are Vivendi with World in Conflict and UbiSoft with the development team behind Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

To top it all off, Cheryl Cole and Sarah Harding from the hit pop band Girls Aloud will be joining in the World Cyber Games action, courtesy of Samsung. They will be playing some exhibition matches against some lucky winners and also crowning the UK's National Team for the World Cyber Games 2007 in the on-stage presentations.

To find out more about i31, the World Cyber Games and the i31 Interactive Exhibition visit the official event website at http://i31.multiplay.co.uk.

About Multiplay:

Established in 1997 as a games-orientated event management company, Multiplay pioneers the development of gaming festivals in the UK and hosts one of the World's largest online PC gaming services. With the synergy of real-life events and a large online presence, Multiplay is at the forefront of PC gaming in the UK and beyond.

Nicknamed the "Glastonbury of Gaming", Multiplay's "i-Series" gaming festivals are unique in the UK, seeing over 1,500 attendees who all bring their own computers to connect to a large temporary network for 4 days of entertainment. Having expanded in scope, the events now attract a much wider audience, who attend for the interactive exhibition, social activities or just to watch the action unfold in the finals arena. Regular attendance by leading games publishers and hardware manufacturers has built the i-Series into the must-attend event in the UK gaming calendar.

Multiplay spearheads the development of the professional gaming scene in the UK, working with big-name brands to stage world-class tournaments. These are stage-managed and video-streamed by Multiplay's in-house team onto the Internet, attracting a growing audience. Online viewing figures for individual game finals number in the tens of thousands.

Multiplay's online gaming service has gone from strength-to-strength from its inception in 2002 to the mammoth service of over 1,000 game services playing host to over 10,000 players concurrently each night. This makes it one of the largest services of its type in the World. As an ISP running its own network, from gaming-optimised broadband service to high-end hosting operations, Multiplay is able to ensure the quality of connectivity is second-to-none.

Contact Multiplay on +44 (0)845 868 1337 or by email on press@multiplay.co.uk