Birmingham Salvo Wins US$500,000 Grand Prize and Title of CGS 2008 World Champions
- Birmingham Salvo Defeats San Francisco Optx 22-15; Dean “Picaso” Sutton and David “Daveyskills” Kelly Named 2008 CGS World Finals MVPs

LOS ANGELES—July 29, 2008, Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional gaming league, announced that Birmingham Salvo defeated San Francisco Optx 22-15 in the 2008 World Final championship match last night to win US$500,000 and the coveted Mountain Dew World Champion trophy, following a thrilling live competition broadcast to more than 450 million viewers worldwide. The competition aired live in the U.S. exclusively on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network and will air on G4TV this Saturday, August 2 at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT, and in August and September on BSkyB in the UK, Eurosport in Europe, ESPN STAR Sports and STAR throughout Asia, and STAR in Australia.

“I’m extremely proud of my team right now,” said Michael O’Dell, General Manager for Birmingham Salvo. “They truly deserve the title of World Champions. We faced a lot of tough competition throughout the season, but when our backs were against the wall, every player demonstrated the skills and the poise to step up when it mattered the most. My players spent hundreds of hours practicing this season, and their hard work paid off tonight.”

Months of mental and physical training paved the road for Birmingham’s successful championship run. The CGS 2008 season began in March, as gamers from across the world competed in NFL-style Combine events with the hope of winning CGS professional gamer contracts. 18 teams emerged, comprised of the best gamers in the world who all had their sights set on winning the CGS 2008 World Final, the $500,000 top prize for this year’s CGS World Champion team, and the Mountain Dew Trophy – the ultimate symbol of excellence in competitive gaming. Eight top teams advanced to the World Final, which kicked off in mid-July and culminated with tonight’s championship match.

“CGS fans everywhere join me in congratulating Birmingham for such a momentous victory,” said Andy Reif, CEO and Commissioner of CGS. “Birmingham had some of the most exciting and close matches that pro gaming has ever seen coming into the Championship Match. However, they proved themselves dominant. We couldn’t have asked for a more worthy champion in our second season.

Each CGS team features a total of ten athletes, each specializing in an official League game. Five of the ten players comprise a Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) squad which competes in five-on-five matches. FIFA 08 is played one-on-one. Each CGS team also has a mixed-doubles team of two DOA4 players, who play against other teams in one-on-one matches. The racing game Forza2 is played by two players on each team in a two-versus-two format.

For more information, please go to http://www.thecgs.com/

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Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts at E3 2008 footage and interview with Melissa Batten from Microsoft Game Studios brought to you by COIN-OP TV and Kombo.com

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EMI Classics and Video Games Live today announced that they will be collaborating on a CD. Titled Video Games Live: Volume One, the album will feature songs from Kingdom Hearts, Tetris, Castlevania among many others. The CD has been compiled by Video Games Live co-creators Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall with performances by the Slovak National Orchestra, The Crouch End Festivaal Chorus and Martin “The Video Game Pianist” Leung.

“If Beethoven were alive today, he would probably be a video-game composer… he was always ahead of the curve,” said Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico. “One of his goals in creating music was to control the emotions of the person listening to it. This is exactly what we as game composers are constantly trying to accomplish.”

Source: GameDaily

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Mike (BlankLogo.com) and Rob from COIN-OP TV attended Anime Expo 2008 this week in Los Angeles. Attendance increased this year with numbers higher then 34,000 and growing over the weekend! Not familiar with Anime Expo? Shame on you! AX is the big one for all things anime, cosplay and Japanese culture! The exhibit hall is full of over 100 vendors and companies out to sell and show you their fantastic goodies. Cosplayers (people with costumes of their favorite anime or video game character) frequent the floor in full force. In many ways the cosplaying alone is reason enough to attend this event, however, if you are not interested in that there are many other forms of entertainment.

In rooms around the exhibit hall you can find panels with special guests of honors like voice actors David Hayter (Metal Gear Solid 4), Toshihiko Seki and performer Shoko Nakagawa. Anime Expo 2008 has taken over most of downtown Los Angeles, including not only the Convention Center but the Nokia Theatre. Having access to the Nokia Theatre is a bonus and houses events like AX Idol and the Masquerade. Forget long lines and waiting out in the sun for hours – having the event in the LA Convention Center is a plus because wait times are extremely short for registration and just about everything is under the roof.

Lucky for us – video games were represented at the show, as well. Namco Bandai was present showing off a major upcoming title in Soul Calibur IV and Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, Nexon had playable versions of their hit games Audition, Maple Story and the recent hit Mabinogi and D3 Publishers brought along Bangai-O Spirits for the DS and Naruto Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2 for the Wii.

For those attending this four day event – be sure to wear comfortable shoes and bring water bottles as there is much to see and enjoy!

For more visit: http://www.anime-expo.org

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