The World Cyber Games have selected Chengdu, China, as the location for next year's event.
The World Cyber Games, one of gaming's biggest spectacles, will return to the continent which made it famous next year after holding three consecutive events abroad. Following Korea, USA, Singapore, Italy, USA again, and this year's event in Germany, WCG will head back to Asia in 2009 where Chengdu, China will play host to the Olympics of eSports.
As always, the selection process for the host city put emphasis on infrastructure, which is increasing exponentially in the world's most populous country, and government support for the event, which is almost a formality as gaming has such a strong hold on Asia's youth. Chengdu holds a special distinction as the "first place in China to establish ratings for players, referees and coaches. Chengdu is also the first Chinese city to train cyber gaming referees and mandate gaming venue standards," according to the press release, the full text of which is below:
WCG Announces Chengdu, China as 2009 Host City
Wiesbaden, Germany April 8, 2008 The World Cyber Games (WCG) today announced Chengdu, China as the WCG 2009 Grand Final host city for the worlds largest and most prestigious video game tournament and festival. The formal announcement will be made in China on April 23rd when Chengdu city officials and World Cyber Games officials join together for the official signing ceremony in Chengdu, China.
The World Cyber Games Committee considers numerous factors when selecting each years host city, including geography, facilities, infrastructure and marketing plans. For 2009, Chengdu received the overall highest score due to the extensive support offered by local government, accessibility of the Grand Final venue, and high network potential of broadcasters.
As a state-level digital entertainment industry base, Chengdu aims to become the eSports training and tournament center in China, said Mr. Ge Honglin, Mayor of Chengdu. By hosting the World Cyber Games Grand Final, the biggest and most celebrated eSports and gaming festival in the world, we believe we are now well on our way to achieving this goal.
Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in China, is a city rich in history, dating back more than 2,300 years. Chengdu is a cultural center for science and technology, commerce and finance, as well as a hub for transportation and communication in southwest China. The city has already hosted a number of major eSport competitions and is the first place in China to establish ratings for players, referees and coaches. Chengdu is also the first Chinese city to train cyber gaming referees and mandate gaming venue standards.
Chengdu already has an incredible reputation for being one of the worlds elite cities when it comes to hosting video game competitions, said Hyoung-Seok Kim, CEO of International Cyber Marketing, organizers of the World Cyber Games. We have no doubt that they will be a wonderful and exciting host city that provides World Cyber Games players and fans with a unique and amazing setting for the premiere event and competition.
Founded in 2000, the pioneering WCG continues today under the slogan Beyond the Game. Over the years, it has steadily grown to become the worlds largest and most prestigious video game festival and tournament, with an aim to be a total digital entertainment festival for gamers and the general public.
The 2007 World Cyber Games experienced record numbers of gamers and participating countries, with more than 700 players and 70 countries competing in Seattle, USA. The WCG 2008 global tournament culminates with the World Cyber Games 2008 Grand Final, Nov. 5 9, in Cologne, Germany..
Samsung Electronics is the worldwide premier partner for the World Cyber Games. Other global partners include Microsoft Xbox 360 and Games For Windows, Samsung Monitor(SyncMaster), Philips amBX, Procurve Networking by HP, Dust-Off and several others.
Very bad location imo... #1 has it as concerning what happened to taiwanese gamers in seattle. E-sports players and their organizations should look at the current human rights violation situation in Tibet aswell.
I don't think the Olympics will be boycotted and most of the bigger countries refusing to boycott and discouraging it, I don't think WCG will be a problem. Gamers shouldn't have a problem in China... even if they are Taiwanese.
Since when did politics interfere with e-sports? If we should consider the political nature of a country when deciding if it's fit to host an e-sports tournament then the USA should be in the same pool with China regarding 'Human Rights'.
#8, arresting thugs who burned and stabbed more than 20 bystanders to death is human right violation? By your logic, we should all just sit and watch Al Qaeda killing people and not do anything to violate their human rights, right?
i think #10 just watches chinese tv.IT still amazes me how people like #9 can say that USA and China are the same regarding human rights, of course the US made some mystakes and im sure some people payed and will pay for that cause they are a DEMOCRACY, in China they dont have a clue whats that, do you know that chinese tv dont say a word about thigns that happened in London and Paris the latest days.
#13, dude, I live in the great, diverse city of NYC and almost never watch Chinese TV. Here I only get crappy CNN, Faux news, etc. I read NY Times and Washington Post on a daily basis. I think you're the one who is brainwashed.
'Some' mistakes? Haha there are way too many examples to simply say they made 'some' mistakes and it's not a mistake they know what they're doing. Just because they are a democracy doesn't mean it justifies anything they do it's similar to monarchies where royalty can get away with anything simply because they are royalty. First of all how do you know it wasn't covered, do you monitor all the major Chinese news stations or did you read this in the papers? Secondly, just like any other government why would a government focus on the negatives of its regime. Why aren't any stories of USA support and training for paramilitaries in South America being covered on FOX?
ummm, from what i heard the winner of the pgr(correct me if i am mistaken) was booed off stage, things were thrown at him, and people wanted to jump on him, after he raised the Taiwanese flag instead of the Chinese.
not exactly sure of details, this is what i can remember hearing.
#14 im gald you live in NYC and you sould thank them, i see that you are free to talk about politcis tell me can people in China do the same that you are doing here?, NO; so please dont come here and tell me that im brainwhased i feed my own mind i read news all over the world and im clever enough to know whats is propaganda and whats true information, oh wait , no almsot forgot that theres not occidental reporters in Lhasa just cause chinese goverment kicked them all, wonder what they want to hyde.Yeh right.
#20, Free speech does not give you rights to distort facts. I don't think you can get true information on tibet thru western media only. They're mostly biased against China. Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQnK5FcKas and www.anti-cnn.com on how they lie on Tibet. There were westerners who were actaully in Lhasa on March 14 and witnessed what's happene, for exmple, James Miles from the Economist and a Canadian tourist (his blog http://kadfly.blogspot.com) Also there are videos documenting Tibetan terrorist acts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z_prFMROC8
I think gotfrag is about eSports insteand of politics and current events.. what happened last year in seattle wasn't the fault of our delegates, Taiwan wasn't admitted as a country yet. To raise a Taiwanese flag at WCG is definitely hurting the feelings of 1.3 billions of chinese The Tibet affairs has been overly commented since it happened in the year of BeiJing Olmpics,but some of the media just biased their news coverage about what happened. if the chinese gov't wasn't being tolerent and giving Tibetan considerate independence, how can there are so many monks in rebellion? they shouldn't have any monks then in Tibet
Gaming and politics shouldn't be tied together. The Olympics though have and always will be very political. But we are talking about the WCG not the Olympics, so lets not confused this. If anything we should show the rest of the world how games and the youth of different countries can bring people together from different parts of the world.
#28 its not like people don't care about Sudan its just this is one problem that is easier to expose to the public right now on account of Olympics and therefore people will exploit it to show what is happening.
#28 You bring up a interesting issue. Cause China is the main trade partner with Sudan. Sudan gets most of its oil and weapons from China, which they use for their genocide. So basically China is supporting the genocide of millions of innocent Africans.
But like I said before games and political issues shouldn't be tied together. I don't think anyone should boycott WCG is what i'm trying to get at. However, I do agree the picking China wasn't the best place to pick, specially with all the Olympic stuff going on atm.
Before you say things like China is helping the "genocide" in Africa you need to understand the other issues at play.
China is on a very hungry quest for natural resources right? And Africa, especially places like the Congo and Sudan are the most resource rich nations in the world. The reason these nations export so much to China is because the Chinese are one of the only nations willing to invest there. The Chinese do SO much for those governments, in terms of building infrastructure (roads, buildings, and even health centers).
The EU and US will not trade or give much money to those countries because they won't give because of the risk of corruption and human rights violations. They give money with stipulations and those governments need help now. There is too much risk at play to invest into African nations, however because China is so hungry for resources the government spends huge sums of money to a)provide all the capital and infrastructure for not only their operations, but for the Congolese and Sudanese governments.
So, a large part of the reason it is so terrible there is because of Western nations will to make things work and failing to intervene earlier.
Also, I think it is a pretty good location. Basically, anything to make China look good to the outside world with foreign press will get government money.
Oh, and you Free Tibet peoples. Before you get all the Chinese are persecuting Tibetans, know that it works both ways and that they destroyed, looted, and killed many of the Hans Chinese throughout Lhasa during the riots.
#34 Regardless of the other issues at hand. When you get down to the plain facts about it, they are helping Sudan with their genocide, even if its in no way shape or form the reason why they are trading with Sudan. It doesn't make it right, they should as an up and coming super power show the intelligence to see this and try and tell the Sudan gov. that they need to stop killing millions of people.
Also the unwillingness of the US and EU to help Sudan is not a large reason for why that area of Africa is terrible. If you do research you would know that the reason why the Sudanese are killing all the Africans in the area is based on ethnic cleansing. The Sudanese are majority Muslim, and they are killing all the African Tribes in the area. Basically its what Hitler did all over again, minus the world domination. It is not because of lack of international support from Western Countries.
So please don't belittle the involvement that China has in this issue. They play a big role, and very bad role also.
21 ok anti-cnn.com :D don not make me laugh please.I can show you thousans of videos about human rights in China from BBC,CNN and you show me some chinese propaganda as i told you before i feed my own mind, yours was stolen ages ago seems to me.
On the "bight" side i bet that chinese goverment will double prize purse to show us how cool they are.Will they shut down the big firewall thingy? will i be able to watch HLTV :).
China press are hired by the goverment, most western press are free to write whatever they want and is expected to be critical.
If you're used to one it might be hard to tell them apart, so wouldnt go into arguing about "facts" with online chinese. After all it might their work. "Office of spreading the truth abouth the wonderful people republic of china to da mighty interwebs":o
a documentary from BBC about The CIA in TIBET, posted by a Tibetan to YouTube, about US gov funding Dalai Lama and the Tibetan, but US gov aim was not "FREE TIBET" at all, but keep china annoyed once in a while, and US gov stop funding them after US policy changed.
The "FREE TIBET" itself is a jokes, an empty words, even the US gov didnt want the Tibet to be Free, because they would got no pawn to voice out against china on international influence anymore.
and why "Free Tibet" suddenly pop out before china olympics, who control all of it from behind, what is the intention?
#42, Brits have no rights to criticize others' rights practice. You guys colonized countries from around the world in the 1800s, shipped millions of black slaves. Even today you people occupy other nations including Northern Ireland and Scotland. Shame on IOC to award 2012 Olympics to UK!
Are you really that dense? What do nowadays Brits have to do with the imperialist UK of 200 years ago? That's right, nothing. Also, the majority of people in Northern Ireland and Scotland don't want to separate. Unlike the Tibetans. Real DEMOCRATIC polls (I know the Chinese aren't familiar with this at all) would probably turn out a vast majority of votes for separation and independence. F*ck your BS "historical claim" of China on Tibet, by that logic Germany could again invade Poland for the "Deutsche Orden" had owned that land from 1200AD on. You're a tool, China is a dictatorship that violates the human rights and should back the f*ck down. If you like it so much go and live there. Bet you wouldn't like it compared to your current life in the US.
#46, majority of tibetans don't want to separate either. it's the exiles and a tiny minority that want independence. even dalai lama himself claims he does not want independence. you're brainwashed by your biased media and sadly doesn't even know it.
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good food hot chicks ;P
or is it the other way around? :O
Since when did politics interfere with e-sports? If we should consider the political nature of a country when deciding if it's fit to host an e-sports tournament then the USA should be in the same pool with China regarding 'Human Rights'.
Money talks, human rights walks..
Should rather have WCG 09 in Tibet, then our beloved cyber heroes could free the country from supression + play the tournaments.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?i..
http://www.gameriot.com/blogs/The-Starfee..
couldnt find the gotfrag story
not exactly sure of details, this is what i can remember hearing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7..
He just thinks different adn he has the balls to say it loud
what happened last year in seattle wasn't the fault of our delegates, Taiwan wasn't admitted as a country yet. To raise a Taiwanese flag at WCG is definitely hurting the feelings of 1.3 billions of chinese
The Tibet affairs has been overly commented since it happened in the year of BeiJing Olmpics,but some of the media just biased their news coverage about what happened.
if the chinese gov't wasn't being tolerent and giving Tibetan considerate independence, how can there are so many monks in rebellion? they shouldn't have any monks then in Tibet
Free Tibet.
His arguments are completely unfounded and factually incorrect at some parts.
He said that the Chinese government is funding the Tibetan region with 20mil American yearly to fund schools, buildings, etc.
But he left out who they were for... the Chinese, who kicked the Tibetan people out of the region into exile...
>To raise a Taiwanese flag at WCG is definitely hurting the feelings of 1.3 billions of chinese.<
You're a g0ddamn sheep.
But like I said before games and political issues shouldn't be tied together. I don't think anyone should boycott WCG is what i'm trying to get at. However, I do agree the picking China wasn't the best place to pick, specially with all the Olympic stuff going on atm.
Before you say things like China is helping the "genocide" in Africa you need to understand the other issues at play.
China is on a very hungry quest for natural resources right? And Africa, especially places like the Congo and Sudan are the most resource rich nations in the world. The reason these nations export so much to China is because the Chinese are one of the only nations willing to invest there. The Chinese do SO much for those governments, in terms of building infrastructure (roads, buildings, and even health centers).
The EU and US will not trade or give much money to those countries because they won't give because of the risk of corruption and human rights violations. They give money with stipulations and those governments need help now. There is too much risk at play to invest into African nations, however because China is so hungry for resources the government spends huge sums of money to a)provide all the capital and infrastructure for not only their operations, but for the Congolese and Sudanese governments.
So, a large part of the reason it is so terrible there is because of Western nations will to make things work and failing to intervene earlier.
Also, I think it is a pretty good location. Basically, anything to make China look good to the outside world with foreign press will get government money.
Oh, and you Free Tibet peoples. Before you get all the Chinese are persecuting Tibetans, know that it works both ways and that they destroyed, looted, and killed many of the Hans Chinese throughout Lhasa during the riots.
/yay for essays!
Also the unwillingness of the US and EU to help Sudan is not a large reason for why that area of Africa is terrible. If you do research you would know that the reason why the Sudanese are killing all the Africans in the area is based on ethnic cleansing. The Sudanese are majority Muslim, and they are killing all the African Tribes in the area. Basically its what Hitler did all over again, minus the world domination. It is not because of lack of international support from Western Countries.
So please don't belittle the involvement that China has in this issue. They play a big role, and very bad role also.
On the "bight" side i bet that chinese goverment will double prize purse to show us how cool they are.Will they shut down the big firewall thingy? will i be able to watch HLTV :).
If you're used to one it might be hard to tell them apart, so wouldnt go into arguing about "facts" with online chinese. After all it might their work. "Office of spreading the truth abouth the wonderful people republic of china to da mighty interwebs":o
Those in China that do actually have their eyes open end up like this guy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pac..
China should never have been awarded the Olympics. All we can hope for is failure on such an epic scale that no one ever considers it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOhDBo6x2ZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwu5qYosTo0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2iaIcoHBl4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJYamwYSe2M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yMV0-KOY1k
a documentary from BBC about The CIA in TIBET, posted by a Tibetan to YouTube, about US gov funding Dalai Lama and the Tibetan, but US gov aim was not "FREE TIBET" at all, but keep china annoyed once in a while, and US gov stop funding them after US policy changed.
The "FREE TIBET" itself is a jokes, an empty words, even the US gov didnt want the Tibet to be Free, because they would got no pawn to voice out against china on international influence anymore.
and why "Free Tibet" suddenly pop out before china olympics, who control all of it from behind, what is the intention?
Just get the hell out with that crap, idiots.
F*ck your BS "historical claim" of China on Tibet, by that logic Germany could again invade Poland for the "Deutsche Orden" had owned that land from 1200AD on.
You're a tool, China is a dictatorship that violates the human rights and should back the f*ck down. If you like it so much go and live there. Bet you wouldn't like it compared to your current life in the US.
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