Mountain View, CA — Leading Game Center organization iGames, together with 17 of the nation’s leading Game Centers, today announced the creation of the Gamers Tour (www.gamerstour.com), a new series of eSports tournaments geared towards the amateur to semi-professional communities.

Featuring regional and national tournaments, along with a series of online competitions hosted by leading competitive gaming community CEVO (www.cevo.com), the Gamers Tour will showcase the best local gamers from around the US competing for cash and prizes on today’s most popular competitive titles, including Counter-Strike: 1.6 (PC) and Counter-Strike: Source (PC), along with additional games which will be announced shortly.

The Gamers Tour will be focused on complementing the events offered by other eSports event organizers. Many eSports tournament organizers hold high-profile events showcasing the world’s best professional gamers. The Gamers Tour will be focused on providing fun competitive local events for players of a broader range of skill, thereby serving the need for a LAN-based program for non-professionals on their way to competing at higher levels.

In total, more than 32 competitions are planned to take place throughout 2008, with more than $50,000.00 in cash and prizes in the balance. Regional tournaments will offer a set minimum of a $1,000 prize pool. All prizes will be awarded promptly to winning players for their efforts.

The events will take place at Game Centers with a proven history of operating the highest quality eSports events, including X3O Gaming Center in Maryland.

“We are proud to work with iGames and other leading game centers to build the Gamers Tour. Our 2008 Dust-Off Championship Series will be making gaming history for a second year in a row, being the largest tournament ever in the United States to be developed and executed by a gaming center,” said Nick Fitzsimmons, Manager of X30 Gaming Center. “We are looking forward to incorporating the 2008 Dust-Off Championship Series with the Gamers Tour, which will provide more visibility to the thousands of gamers nationwide.”

The Gamers Tour is distinguished in that the events will be accessible to more local players than any other eSports organization with LAN play. As the tour grows, participating locations will be within driving distance of every major city in the United States. The nation’s best Game Center events will be united through a coordinated schedule of tournaments and rankings will be established for players and teams based on results.

“Though many organizations provide online opportunities to play in leagues, ladders and tournaments, game centers, with their in-person atmosphere, are the perfect venue to help strengthen and grow the eSports community,” said Mark Nielsen, Executive Director, iGames. “In addition, the LAN environment offered at game centers provides aspiring professional gamers the opportunity to hone their skills on LAN which is how most big prize tournaments are run.”

Tournaments will be held throughout the year and will be announced as details become available. For more information and a complete list of Game Centers hosting the Gamers Tour, including signup information, visit http://www.gamerstour.com or contact info@gamerstour.com.

About iGames

iGames, Inc. offers a wide range of services to help independent and franchised Game Centers. iGames’ mission is to promote and develop the growth of the Game Center industry. Its services unite Game Centers with the goal of establishing them as the driving force enabling the interactive entertainment industry to become the number one form of entertainment around the world. iGames has established strong relationships with industry leaders to provide a wide variety of products, services and programs to member Game Centers and gamers including software licensing, hardware discounts, exclusive game premieres, tournaments, and game nights. Today the company counts well over 500 centers and 1.2 million gamers, initiating and co-organizing more than 200 events a year. To learn more about iGames, go to http://www.igames.org.

Source: GamersTour.com