Electronic Arts and ESPN Announce First-of-Its Kind Televised Video Game Competition With X Games Pro Boarder.REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 1998-- Game Players Can Test Their Mettle Against Top Professional Snowboarders in a Special Tournament Series That Will Have Its Championship Game Broadcast During ESPN's Coverage of the Winter X Games in January 1999 Electronic Arts(TM) (Nasdaq:ERTS ERTS Electronic Arts, Inc. (stock symbol) ERTS Earth Resources Technology Satellite (US NASA) ERTS Embedded Real Time Systems ERTS Enhanced Remote Transit Shed ), the world's largest interactive entertainment software company, has teamed up with ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network for an exciting, first-of-its kind televised interactive entertainment game competition centering on its popular snowboarding game, X Games(R) Pro Boarder(TM). The competition will be featured as a lifestyle event at ESPN's upcoming Winter X Games scheduled for Mt. Crested Butte, Colo. from Jan. 14 through 17, 1999. Ron Semiao, director of programming for ESPN2, explains, "The inclusion of X Games Pro Boarder is part of an ongoing effort to remain close to our alternative sports viewership and to mirror the culture and lifestyle of the Winter X Games' target market. We're incorporating X Games Pro Boarder into the Winter X Games as a lifestyle element rather than an athletic competition. "Not all of our viewers can pull off 720's on a snowboard, but they can do it in X Games Pro Boarder, and it will enable them to better connect with our athletes." The competition will pair up eight professional snowboarders with eight finalists who will have pre-qualified at promotional events at selected malls across the United States. No purchase is necessary to qualify and there is no cost involved in entering the tournament. Each mall qualifying event will feature an eight-hour day of competition. Qualifying will take place on the PlayStation(R) version of the game, and winners will be determined by the highest computer generated score of the day for completion of the game's Half Pipe run. No other forms of entry will be available. Winners of each qualifying round will receive two round-trip flights to the Winter X Games at Mt. Crested Butte, Colo. (minors must bring a guardian), hotel accommodations for three nights, four days; transportation to and from the airport and event site; and $400 spending cash. The final game competition will take place at Rafters Restaurant, located at the base of Mt. Crested Butte, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15, 1999. The final competition will be held as a single elimination bracketed event using the PC version of X Games Pro Boarder. The highest computer generated score from each match-up will move on to the next bracket. The champion will be awarded an official X Games Gold Medal. Qualifying tournaments will be held in special X Game Pro Boarder promotional display areas at the following shopping malls: -0- -- Dec. 12 in New York/Nanuet, N.Y. at Nanuet Mall -- Dec. 12 in Chicago at The Brickyard -- Dec. 12 in Houston at Alameda Mall -- Dec. 19 in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas at Irving Mall -- Dec. 19 in Torrance, Calif. at Del Amo Fashion Center -0- Tournaments have already been held in Boston, Seattle/Tacoma and Philadelphia. X Games Pro Boarder for the PlayStation was released to stores on Nov. 10, 1998, and represents the only snowboarding game to feature eight professional snowboarders as well as the ESPN and X Games brands. Winter X Games competitors like Olympic medallist Shannon Dunn, Peter Line, Todd Richards and Tina Basich worked closely with the game designers to ensure X Games Pro Boarder truly captures the snowboarding lifestyle. Each professional snowboarder helped design every phase of X Games Pro Boarder -- from the more than 2,000 trick combinations to the rider's apparel. "This is an excellent opportunity to extend a unique competition to gaming enthusiasts and beyond," said Frank Gibeau, vice president of marketing for EA. "Video and PC games are steadily becoming a more integral part of our entertainment lifestyle so it's exciting to be able to introduce such an event to a national television audience." The third annual Winter X Games will take place Jan. 14 through Jan. 17, 1999 in Mt. Crested Butte, Colo. The Winter X Games annually gathers approximately 250 of the world's best snowboarders, skiers, ice climbers, snowmobile racers and snow mountain bikers, who compete for more than $250,000 in prize money. ESPN, ESPN 2, and ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. will combine to televise 17 hours of original programming, while ESPN International will distribute the Games worldwide. Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN, Inc., The Worldwide Leader In Sports, is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds the remaining 20 percent interest in ESPN. ESPN, Inc. includes four domestic television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS), ESPN International (21 international networks), ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in New Britain, CT in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. , ESPN Regional Television, OCC OCC See: Options Clearing Corporation OCC See Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). , SportsTicker, The Big Fights, Inc. and ESPN Enterprises, overseeing brand extensions such as ESPN Zone, pay subscription packages, consumer products and ESPN -- The Store. X Games Pro Boarder carries an ESRB ESRB Entertainment Software Rating Board ESRB Estrogen Receptor Beta ESRB Explosive Safety Review Board rating of "E" (Everyone) and is available for MSRP MSRP Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price MSRP Message Session Relay Protocol MSRP Multi-Species Recovery Plan (US Fish & Wildlife Service) MSRP Member of the Society for Radiological Protection (UK) U.S. $49.95 for the PlayStation and U.S. $44.95 for the PC. Developed by Radical Entertainment of Vancouver, British Columbia, EA is distributing the PC version worldwide and distributing the PlayStation(R) version worldwide (except in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East, parts of Africa and the former Soviet Union) under license from Disney Interactive. For more information on the game and the tournament, visit the product Web site: www.proboarder.com. Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of $909 million for fiscal 1998. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and advanced entertainment systems such as the PlayStation(R) and the Nintendo(R) 64. Electronic Arts markets its products under seven brand names: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS(TM), Maxis(TM), ORIGIN Systems(TM), Bullfrog bullfrog, common name of the largest North American frog, Rana catesbeiana. Native to the E United States, this species has been successfully introduced in the West and in other parts of the world. The body length is 4 to 8 in. (TM) Productions, Ltd., Westwood Studios(TM) and Jane's(R) Combat Simulations. EA has international subsidiaries or distribution in more than 75 countries worldwide. The company has 11 major development operations located throughout the world based in San Mateo, Irvine and Walnut Creek, Calif.; Baltimore; Austin, Texas; Maitland, Fla.; Seattle; Las Vegas; Vancouver, British Columbia; the United Kingdom and Japan. PC Requirements Required: Pentium(R) 166 MHz or equivalent, Windows(R) 95 or Windows 98, 32MB RAM, 8X or faster CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). , 75MB available hard drive space (additional HD space required for Direct X(TM) installation and Windows swap file A disk file used by Windows for its virtual memory. A virtual memory system temporarily stores segments of the application on disk when there is not enough memory to hold all the programs called for. The swap file in Windows NT, 2000 and XP is PAGEFILE. ), 2MB AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) A high-speed 32-bit port from Intel for attaching a display adapter to a PC. It provides a direct connection between the card and memory, and only one AGP slot is on the motherboard. or PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). video card 100% Microsoft(R)-compatible mouse, keyboard, DirectSound(TM) compliant sound card Direct X 6 (included on CD). Recommended: Pentium(R) 200 MHz MMX (MultiMedia EXtensions) A set of 57 additional instructions built into the Pentium MMX chip for improved multimedia and modem performance by performing mathematical operations on multiple sets of data at the same time (see SIMD). or equivalent, 155MB available hard drive space (additional HD space required for Direct X installation and Windows swap file), 4MB AGP or PCI supported 3D accelerated video card, DirectInput compatible gamepad. Multi-player modes supported: 1 CD per PC required for all multi-player modes. Modem to modem (2 players, requires 28.8 KBPS modems). Serial connection (2 players, requires null modem cable An RS-232 cable used to connect two computers in close proximity for file transfer. It attaches to the serial ports of both machines and simulates what would occur naturally if modems and the phone system were used. It crosses the sending wire with the receiving wire. and 16550 UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) The electronic circuit that makes up the serial port. Also known as "universal serial asynchronous receiver transmitter" (USART), it converts parallel bytes from the CPU into serial bits for transmission, and vice high-speed serial port). Local Area Network (2-8 players, requires TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. or IPX (Internetwork Packet EXchange) The network layer protocol in the NetWare operating system. Similar to the IP layer in TCP/IP, it contains a network address and allows messages to be routed to a different network or subnet. LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. and network card). Internet play (2-8 players, requires at least a 28.8 KBPS connection and Internet Service Provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. ). 3D Accelerator chipsets supported: 3Dfx Voodoo(TM), Voodoo Rush(TM), Voodoo2(TM), Voodoo Banshee banshee female specter, harbinger of death. [Irish and Welsh Myth.: Walsh Classical, 45] See : Death banshee spirit with one nostril, a large projecting front tooth, and webbed feet. (TM); 3Dlabs Permedia(TM) 2; ATI Rage Pro; Intel(R) i740; Matrox Mystique(TM) G200, Millennium G200; nVIDIA(R) Riva 128(TM), Riva TNT; Rendition V2100, V2200. Note to Editors: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, ORIGIN Systems, Maxis, Westwood Studios and Bullfrog are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts or its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Jane's is a registered trademark of Jane's Information Group Ltd. PlayStation is a registered of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. ESPN, ESPN Digital Games, X Games and Pro Boarder are trademarks of ESPN, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their owners. |
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