Microsoft anthem echoing at World Cyber Games

Microsoft for sure is one brand which not only is the jack of all trades but rather master of too many. The Bill Gate lead software mammoth is now all set to rock the floor at the World Cyber Games too.

The WCG announced on Thursday that the software giant has signed on to become the premier sponsor of the annual game competition for the next three years. Samsung Electronics will however remain the official worldwide sponsor of the WCG sharing the room with Microsoft as a primary game sponsor. The new sponsorship deal will make Microsoft extend its dominance further over the reign it held since 2003 over the gaming platforms in the competition until at least 2008.

As said by WCG in a press release Microsoft is not only sponsoring competition in Italy, but also national championships in South Korea and the US, as well as three "pan-regional" championships. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but in addition to whatever financial considerations exist, Microsoft will be supplying all the hardware for the 2006 through 2008 competitions. One need not to acknowledge the adulation the WCG platform receives world wide with more than a million competitors worldwide each year competing for the Holy Grail in world of gaming. The 2006 World Cyber Games about to be held in Monza, Italy (home of the F1 race track) over five days in October following the lineage will be another grand podium offering nearly US0,000 in prize money .

There will be no points guessing now that what makes the software giant land up in the gaming quagmire…making Windows and Xbox 360 -crown jewel of Microsoft's gaming division as the official gaming platform the space for sure doesn’t exist for the players like Sony and Nintendo at WCG. As said by Peter Moore, corporate vice president - interactive entertainment and devices division, Microsoft, said, "Over the years, we have admired the incredible growth of cyber sports, and WCG's role in expanding the reach of these worldwide tournaments. Because of WCG's history as a truly global gaming competition, it was a logical choice to team up with them and extend the reach of these events even further."

At the 2005 World Cyber Games, competition covered 6 PC titles (Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA Soccer 2005, Need for Speed: Underground 2, StarCraft: Brood War, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War) and 2 console games (Dead or Alive Ultimate and Halo 2).The move by Microsoft however till now has not that big an impact as only one game selected for this year's WCG--"Project Gotham Racing 3"--is a Microsoft product.

Coming back to Xbox platform-Microsoft infant launched in November 2001 which has managed to achieve outstanding success being the most powerful video game and entertainment system, delivering the best games, the next generation of the premier Xbox Live online gaming service, and unique digital entertainment experiences that revolve around gamers, the fame and position which the firm relishes in the desktop domain is still something Xbox is luring for. Gamers are still ready to use platforms where the widest choice of games is available and, at the moment, that still happens to be Playstation, notwithstanding the delayed release of PS3.