WON.NET ANNOUNCES FINALISTS IN HALF-LIFE: OPPOSING FORCE LIVE THE DREAM TOURNAMENT
Finalists to Compete During Launch Party on November 10 in San Francisco
BELLEVUE, WA (November 3, 1999) - WON.net, dedicated to integrating
the Internet into games, and Sierra StudiosTM today announced the four
finalists in the Half-Life®: Opposing Force® Live the Dream Tournament
being hosted by WON.net and Clan World Network. The finalists now head to San Francisco for
a live Championship Tournament held at Club-i on November 10, 1999.
The Championship will be played using Half-Life: Opposing Force (a.k.a.
Op For) developed by Gearbox Software, and will also serve as the launch
party for the game. The entire event will be broadcast live on The Game
Dive from 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm PST.
Event details:
- What: Half-Life: Opposing Force Live the Dream Tournament
Championships and Launch Party
- When: Event begins at 5:30 pm and is a media-only event until 10 pm.
After 10 pm, the doors will open for public participation.
- Where: Club-i, 850 Folsom Street, San Francisco, Calif., 415-777-2582
- Online: www.GameDive.com live broadcast with chats and interviews
The four top players competing on November 10 are Matt Draws
([DFA]Recognize) from Sacramento, Calif., Richard M. Christinson
([DFA]Fenixx) from Sacramento, Calif., Jasen Torres ([LMS]!gnoleb) from
Burbank, Calif., and Atticus Culver-Rease (Voltron) from Berkeley, Calif.
Half-Life: Opposing Force includes over 12 new multiplayer levels created
by 3D action industry All Stars. Op For also features an expansive new
single player episode where players return to the Black Mesa Research
Facility from the exciting new perspective of a soldier sent in to eliminate
Gordon Freeman. The title, which is being developed by Gearbox
Software, is on schedule to ship in November.
Media: To RSVP for the November 10 championship and launch party,
please contact Michelle Stephens, WON.net PR Manager, at
michelle.stephens@won.net or 425-649-9064 x5189 or Genevieve
Ostergard, Sierra Studios PR Manager, at gostergard@sierra.com or
949-362-2643.
About the Tournament
The Live the Dream tournament takes place in three rounds. The first
round of tournament play, which had over 400 players and was completed
on October 24, consisted of 16-player free-for-all (single player
elimination)
style matches played on Valve's Half-Life Bootcamp map. The top 12
players round Round One competed in Round Two over Halloween
weekend, October 29 through October 31. The four top players from Round
Two are advancing to the Championship Tournament taking place during a
live event on November 10, 1999 at Club-i in San Francisco, Calif.
Championship players will compete using Half-Life: Opposing Force. This
tournament will be the first time Op For is seen and played by consumers.
Game Dive will broadcast the championship round live over the Internet at
www.gamedive.com.
Prizes for Round Two winners who advance to the championship
tournament include airfare to San Francisco, hotel accommodations
provided by Renaissance Stanford Court Hotel and $200 spending money
for the purpose of participating in the championship round. Prizes for the
championship include $1000 and a WON.net jacket (retail value $200) for
first place, $500 and a WON.net jacket for second place and a WON.net
jacket for third and fourth place winners.
Additional information and tournament rules can be found online at
http://www.won.net/community/tournaments/half-life.
WON.netTM, dedicated to integrating the Internet
into gaming, is one of the largest aggregators of Internet enabled games,
with over 40 live and playable choices, including 22 free online-only games
from seven major developers. Some of the site's highlights include YOU
DON'T KNOW JACK® the netshow, HOYLE® card and board games,
Homeworld, Half-LifeTM, TRIBESTM, StarsiegeTM, Red Baron® 3D,
Wordox, The Cypher, Acrophobia and SpiritWarsTM. WON.net also features
daily game news from the industry leading site Imagine Games Network
(http://www.ign.com) and strategy guides from leading publisher Prima
Publishing. WON.net also develops proprietary technology tools for
games including WONswapTM (http://wonswap.won.net), the easiest way
to download and install user-created content; Game DetectorTM, offering
players the easiest way to find and join a server-based game on the web;
and GameSearch.net (), the best, most
complete internet search engine focused solely on games. WON.net is an
autonomous business unit incorporated within Havas Interactive, the
largest publisher of consumer PC software in the world.
Founded in January 1999, Gearbox Software is a team of veteran 3D game
developers collected in Dallas, Texas. The Gearbox crew is made up of
artists, designers, and programmers who joined forces to form their own
development house after stints at a variety of companies, including 3D
Realms, Microprose and Ritual. Half-Life®: Opposing Force® is
scheduled to be the first offering from this talented new studio.
Founded in 1996, Valve develops entertainment software. Half-Life is
Valve's debut title. Since its release in November, 1998, Half-Life has won
over 45 game of the year awards from publications that include PC Gamer,
Computer Gaming World, and CNET's Gamecenter. Valve's upcoming
title, Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms recently won the E3 Game
Critics' Award for Best Action Game and Best Online Game. More
information about Valve is available through the company's web site at
www.valvesoftware.com.
Sierra On-Line, Inc. is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software.
Sierra is a division of Havas Interactive, a global leader in interactive content, and is one of the world's largest publishers of education, entertainment and home
productivity software. Its divisions, Blizzard®, Coktel, Knowledge Adventure®, Sierra™ and WON.net™ are famous for releasing critically acclaimed and award winning titles.
Havas has operations in the US and in Europe and is a subsidiary of the French publishing house Havas, part of Vivendi Communications.