Gaming News - October 2006

Monzo, Italy (October 24, 2006) - World Cyber Games today announced that Wesley Cwiklo has won the world title in Project Gotham Racing 3.

From WCG:

The Grand Final of the World Cyber Games concluded after four days of intense gaming, with the youngest member of Team USA going undefeated to bring home the gold in Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360. The Grand Champion title for the World Cyber Games 2006 was awarded to Team Korea, who reclaims the title after four years. Team Russia took second place in the medal tally with one gold and one silver, while Team Germany placed third with one gold and one bronze medal. Teams Canada, China, Poland and USA won one gold medal, respectively.

Wesley "TTR Ch0mpr" Cwiklo was crowned WCG 2006 Project Gotham Racing 3 champion after an amazing undefeated streak in Monza. At 17, Wesley is the youngest member of Team USA and the sole medal winner for this United States at this year's competition.

Wesley's final opponent was also his teammate and friend, Christopher Hogfeldt of Sweden. Both players are members of TTR, a team of Project Gotham Racing players who have banded together on an international level for fun, but also to challenge themselves as the best players across the globe. Their plan worked, as the TTR team featured six of the eight top finishers in this year's tournament.

Billy Son, captain of Team Korea, said, “We haven’t been crowned Grand Champions since 2002. This year, we came to Monza to reclaim that title. The Korean players proved they are the best.” Yeon Sung Choi, best known by his gamer tag “IloveOov”, won the final match of StarCraft: Brood War, against another member of his team, Sungjun Park. Their first and second place finishes heavily contributed to Korea snagging the WCG trophy of the Grand Champion.

Sunday’s on-going final matches kept the large audience on the edge of their seats, watching the finals play out on large screens with Italian commentators turning up the volume. Additional gold medals went to the winners in the following categories: Xiao Fen Li of China, known as “SKYCN”, for WarCraft® III: The Frozen Throne™; the Polish Team Pentagram for Half Life: Counter Strike™; and German Daniel Schellhase for FIFA 06.

The Closing Ceremony capped off this year’s festivities, including the award presentations to the medallists, a concert by popular Italian bands and a farewell party for players. Magda Gomez hosted the closing ceremony and total of USD$462,000 were awarded to the medallists in 11 games including eight official games, one special tournament and two invitational tournaments. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the WCG flag was handed over to Ralph Morton, Executive Director of Seattle Sports Commission, which will host the WCG 2007 next year.

Following the awards and under a sky illuminated by spectacular fireworks, 700 players from all over the world said goodbye to Italy and to the sixth WCG Grand Final at the farewell party.

The World Cyber Games drew the attention of many Italian government officials including the participation of Filippo Penati, President of Province of Milan and the Italian Minister of Sports, Giovanna Melandri, who declared: “WCG represents a special occasion for Italy and Europe.”