World Cyber Games U.S. Finals Get HD Broadcast

Internet billionaire Mark Cuban's HDNet high-definition broadcast network has announced that it will show the 2005 World Cyber Games U.S. Final, premiering Thursday November 10, 2005 at 8pm EDT, a relatively notable North American television appearance for competitive gaming. Featuring games for Xbox and PCs, the show will focus on the country's best Halo 2 players as they battle for cash prizes and the right to represent the United States in Halo 2 against elite Xbox gamers from 67 countries in Singapore later this month. The 2005 U.S. Final will also feature Counter-Strike championships on the PC, as well as the country's best FIFA Soccer players. The event itself was held in early September, and winners in each category for the New York event have formed Team USA, who are traveling to Singapore to compete in the 2005 World Cyber Games Grand Final. Overall, more than 1 million gamers competed globally to reach their national final and for a chance at an aggregate prize pool of $2.5 million. "We are very excited about covering this championship," said Mark Cuban, co-founder and chairman of HDNet. "These battles are incredibly competitive and we find that the combination of all of this great action, coupled with high definition coverage makes this event just as compelling on television as it is in person." "The World Cyber Games has helped to pioneer e-Sports, much the same way that HDNet has helped to pioneer High Definition television," said Hank Jeong, CEO of ICM, the global organizers of the World Cyber Games. "This ground breaking show signals that the era of e-Sports has finally arrived in the United States."