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GamersFirst CEO Joshua Hong to run for California Governor, we're told.

Irvine, Calif., April 1, 2010 – Joshua Hong, CEO and founder of GamersFirst, has declared his intent to participate in the 2010 race for California Governor; replacing Governer Schwarzenegger; who is ineligible for re-election this year. Joshua Hong addressed his public through a video released to various news sites this morning at 5:00 a.m. EST/8:00 a.m. PST and posted on the company’s website: www.Gamersfirst.com/Vote4Josh.

“I have pondered this decision at great length and am eager to join the esteemed ranks of California’s past gubernal candidates,” says Joshua Hong in his video release this morning. “In the past ten years, I have really seen California embrace global thoughts and ideas and incorporate them into our state’s processes. However, the focus has been on over-examined issues like the economy, schools and healthcare. Real Californians are tired of hearing about these issues. What people really care about is entertainment and video games. From experience, players are sick of big corporations charging exorbitant costs for video games and consoles. I want to incorporate the ideas of Free2Play, which I brought to this industry and trademarked. I will use my gubernatorial term to propagate and instill Free2Play to Californians. With our loyal Free2Play community of nearly 5 million in California, the strength of that bond will push me into the position of 39th governor of California!”

In 2003, Governor Schwarzenegger won the race with 3,654,385 votes, beating Cruz Bustamante by 1.3 million votes. Joshua will be running as an Independent against Helene Nightingale, Markham Robinson and Steve Weidman. Joshua Hong’s campaign will be running out of his Orange County office in Irvine, Calif.

Joshua has yet to announce his campaign advisor and team, however, he has decided to run the campaign with the idea that the campaign will run solely on the promise of Free2Play and the Free2Play community.

“Obviously this is not the first time Josh has been in a leadership position and definitely not the first time he has considered candidacy,” says Rahul Sandil, Joshua’s long-time friend and VP of Global Sales and PR at Gamers First. “We’ve talked about this for years and he wanted to wait until the timing made sense for him, and when California was in a place where it was receptive to fresh logic and ideas, like Free2Play video games for all. California needs a fresh look on what’s really important to our state and Josh is the man for the job!”

In true Free2Play tradition, Joshua has extended an invitation throughout California and the United States to access Gamers First’s online game titles for FREE at www.GamersFirst.com/vote4Josh and join the Free2Play party.

If you are interested in additional information regarding the campaign or speaking with someone at the local headquarters, please feel free to contact Joshua’s press secretary, Ronjini Mukhopadhyay at Ronjini@GamersFirst.com or call (949) 870-3813.

About The Candidate

Joshua Hong is the founder and chief executive officer of GamersFirst. Joshua is an entrepreneur with an industrial engineering degree from Purdue University and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Joshua’s vision of Free2Play was brought to the Western Hemisphere after traveling on a business trip in Korea; when he decided that the potential of this type of business model could be shared and communicated across business platforms and ideas. More recently, Joshua wants to implement the principles of Free2Play in the political arena to alleviate the pressures of the economic downturn the past three years.

GamersFirst, is the first Free2Play massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) publisher in the United States; shaping a new emerging segment of gaming in the $13 billion video games industry in America and expanding Free2Play on a global level. Founded in 2001, GamersFirst was the first to launch several massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) titles; that are completely free to download and play. You can visit the company’s website at www.GamersFirst.com and sign up for a FREE account.

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