Asus sets the stage for World GameMaster

With bated breath, fast beating hearts and, probably, sweaty hands, PC gamers from all over the country will clash starting this month in what would be the first Asus Philippine World GameMaster Tournament.

Taking its cue from Asus’ gaming activities in other countries, the Taiwan company’s local office will kick off on Sept. 20 the first installation of the Asus Philippine World GameMaster Tournament where PC gamers will compete for title, medal and cash.

Preliminary elimination rounds on Sept. 20-21 will be held in Cebu and on Sept. 27-28 in Manila. The final rounds will be held on Oct. 24-25 at the Cyberzone SM Marikina.

Open to all PC gamers aged 13 and above, the tournament requires participants to register online at http://ph.worldgamemaster.org and to pay a P300 refundable fee for individual contestant or P1,000 for a team of five gamers. Contestants can enter the official tournaments for WarCraft 3 DOTA, Counter Strike 1.6, and Need for Speed: ProStreet.

During the preliminary rounds, players will draw lots to determine their opponents. The top two teams from Cebu and Davao and top four teams from Manila will compete in the finals for each game, said Jason Teh, Asus Philippines marketing manager. A total of eight players for the final round will compete for Need for Speed, again, two from Cebu and Davao and four from Manila.

“Thousands of Filipino gamers are expected to fight for the title of WGT champion and, Asus, being the WGT official sponsor will give cash awards and medals,” Yu said.

Gamers will use solutions from Asus, Intel and Microsoft. The different games will be fought on machines using Asus P5Q motherboard, Intel E8200 processor, Asus EN9500GT Top / 512M DDR3 VGA graphic card, Asus DRW-2014S1T optical disc drive, Asus TA-M1 with PSU 400W PC casing, Asus VK222H LCD monitor, Sata 320G hard disk drive and with an 800 2G Hyperx RAM.

“Asus, since 2006, has helped carry on the WGT’s vision of bringing the online gaming community together and at the same time provide the total gaming platforms,” said Leon Yu, country manager of Asus Philippines.

The WGT seeks to provide a healthy environment for the best gamers in the country and around the world by allowing them to experience and share in the excitement, sportsmanship, and fun of PC gaming. The first WGT was held in Taiwan.

Game structure

The WGT is now one of the largest international game tournaments that bring together the elite players and the best IT solutions providers for gaming.

For the Philippine leg, organizers designed the competition method for WarCraft 3 DOTA to run for two hours with 5 vs 5 match. For Counter Strike 1.6, also 5 vs 5, there will be nine rounds as terrorists and nine rounds as counter terrorists per team. The first team to prevail in 10 rounds wins.

The Need for Speed: ProStreet tournament will be a one-on-one battle with the host or client to be announced before the match or decided by coin toss. At the end of each match, players must maintain the final screens and receive confirmation from a referee. The first player to complete five laps of the circuit course and cross the finish line will be the winner.

The spoils for the games will be the following:

Need for Speed: ProStreet (Individual Games Prelims): P3,000 (first place), P2,000 (second place), and P1,000 (third place)

Need for Speed: ProStreet (Individual Games Finals): P15,000 (first place), P10,000 (second place), and P5,000 (third place)

Half-Life: Counter Strike and WarCraft III DOTA (Team Games Prelims): P15,000 (first place), P10,000 (second place), and P5,000 (third place)

Half-Life: Counter Strike and WarCraft III DOTA (Team Games Finals): P75,000 with trophy and gold medals (first place), P50,000 with trophy and silver medals (second place), and P25,000 plus trophy and bronze medals (third place). – Alma Buelva