New Rules to Increase Gameplay and Spectator Excitement Worldwide

Simplified Player Regulations, Easier to Comprehend

Maximum No. of Players Increased to Two Teams in Team Play Games

Seoul, Korea May 11, 2009 – World Cyber Games (WCG / www.wcg.com), the premier international video game competition, today announced the official rules and player regulations for the 2009 tournament. These policies and guidelines will be applied in all online qualifiers, local preliminaries and national finals in WCG participating countries.

The new tournament rules and player regulations reflect feedback collected from past and present WCG Champions, e-Sports Professionals and the online community on the official WCG website. Other aspects such as official maps for games, specific settings and overall processes were updated to improve the pace and gameplay that continue to make WCG tournaments exciting for gamers and spectators worldwide.

Similar to last year, player regulations for WCG 2009 consist of participant qualification, auto-berth, and more. These regulations are designed to provide clear guidelines for players competing in the WCG 2009 tournaments. Much like the standard for participation in the Olympics, all players competing in the WCG 2009 Grand Final must have proof of citizenship to their country. In addition, if the player has multiple citizenship, he/she can represent only one country. All players who were born after November 11, 1991 must present a consent form in order to participate. Regarding age restriction, WCG follows ESRB rating standards.
 
In addition, the maximum number of players allowed on each national team is three people (for single player games) and for team play games the number has increased to two teams (One team in 2008). Under the auto-berth rule, medalists in the WCG 2008 Grand Final are allowed to participate in the National Finals, without competing in local preliminaries.
 
Lastly, if national team players cannot attend the WCG 2009 Grand Final due to sickness or any other unforeseen event, he or she may be replaced with the next-highest finisher in the National Finals up to two weeks before the first day of the Grand Final. As for Counter-Strike, the team whose substitution exceeds two players will be disqualified and replaced by the next highest finishing team.

''The World Cyber Games continues to evolve with the input from the eSports community, whose perspective enhances the excitement and equality of the tournament,'' said Hyoung-Seok Kim, CEO of World Cyber Games Inc., the global organizer of the World Cyber Games. ''We will take an ample amount of time to obtain feedback and suggestions from the gaming community to improve the rules.''

The World Cyber Games 2009 official tournament rules are as follows:

Guitar Hero World Tour* [view more]

• Match type: 1 vs. 1 Pro Face-off
• Song list:

1 . Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

2 . Van Halen – Hot For Teacher

3 . Bullet For My Valentine - Scream, Aim, Fire

4 . Metallica - Trapped Under Ice

5 . Motorhead - Overkill

6 . System of a Down - BYOB

7 . Dream Theatre - Pull Me Under

8 . The Living End - Prisoner of Society

9 . Ozzy Osbourne - Mr Crowley

10. Sting - Demolition Man

Final Song: Joe Satriani - Satch Boogie

StarCraft: Brood War (1 v. 1 RTS) [view more]

• Added Map: Colosseum II, Destination

·         Removed Maps: Neo Baekdu Daegan, Ride of Valkyries

·         Online Maps (Battle.net): Blue Storm, Python, Tau Cross

·         Offline Maps: Blue Storm, Colosseum II, Destination, Python, Tau Cross

• Version Change: 1.15.3 to 1.16.1

TrackMania Nations Forever [view more]

·       Match Type: Cup

·       Maximum number of players is four

·       Five round limit with two warm up rounds

·       Tracks will be announced soon

·       National preliminaries and finals can be held in ‘Time Attack' mode. Please refer to your countries' organizer.

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (1 v. 1 RTS) [view more]

• Version Change: 1.22.0.6328 to 1.23.06352

FIFA Soccer 09 (1 v. 1 Sports) [view more]

·         ‘Soccerbot2009' patch used

·         Details on Longball use during match is allowed

Red Stone (4 v. 4 Team MMO) [view more]

• Number of players has changed from 2 v. 2 to 4 v. 4

The rules for Carom3D, Counter-Strike, Asphalt 4: Elite Racing and Virtua Fighter 5 Online remain the same as last year.

To review the complete list of specific game-by-game WCG 2009 rules and player regulations, please visit the following links.