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Taiwan's computer game players win gold in Seoul

Wu Yu-jen (吳右任) and Huang Yu-kuei (黃裕貴) won a gold medal for Taiwan on Thursday night at the finals of the World Cyber Games (WCG) in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

Their success was followed later the same night by Liu Kai-hsun (劉凱勛) and Huang Cheng-pin (黃政彬), who added another gold medal for Taiwan, also in the nation-to-nation competition, in the "War Craft: Reign of Chaos" PC game competition.

The Wu-Huang team beat formidable rivals from Canada, the US, France and Spain in nerve-racking competition to take top spot in the PC game "The Age of Mythology."

According to Wu and Huang Yu-kuei, the US team was particularly tough to deal with, as they used certain tricks that were considered in violation of the rules, leading the Taiwanese side to lodge objections with the referee.

Wu and Huang Yu-kuei will each be awarded a medal and a cash prize of US$7,000.

Liu and Huang Cheng-pin, who will also be US$7,000 richer, said they burst into tears when they realized they had won following five days of bad luck and poor performances that had almost prevented them from qualifying for the final round.

Gamers have been competing for medals in seven official games, including six PC games, namely "Age of Mythology," "Star Craft: Brood War," "War Craft III," "FIFA 2003," "Half-Life: Counter Strike" and "Unreal Tournament 2003," as well as one Xbox game, "The Survival Project."

Nearly 600 top gamers from 55 countries are taking part in the games -- the world's largest festival for gamers and digital entertainment culture -- being held at Seoul's Olympic Park. The games started on Oct. 12 and end today. In addition to 36 medals, the World Cyber Games Committee, which is sponsoring the event, has allocated a total of US$350,000 in cash prizes.

The top three cash prizes for nation-to-nation competitions are US$7,000, US$5,000 and US$2,000, while the top three prizes for individual winners are US$20,000, US$10,000 and US$5,000.

Cash prizes for the five-member group competition -- which will be held exclusively for the game "Counter Strike" -- are the highest, at US$40,000, US$20,000 and US$10,000 for the top three places, according to the sponsor.

Meanwhile, the World Cyber Games Committee decided on Thursday that next year's finals will be held in San Francisco, marking the first time that the event will take place outside of South Korea.
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