Press Release: 1999-06-07: USC STUDENTS WIN COLLEGIATE ONLINE GAMING CHAMPIONSHIP

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: SegaSoft (archived)

Collegiate Gaming League to Offer $5,000 Scholarship for Fall Season

SAN FRANCISCO (June 7, 1999) - HEAT's Collegiate Internet Gaming League (HEATCIGL), the largest, free online multi-player gaming league for college students, today announced that two students from the University of Southern California (USC) have won the first ever HEATCIGL Championship title.

The "Trojan team" - students Eddie Huang (code name: Tr0janH0rse) and Gordon Luk (code name: Tr0janAeneas) - beat out students from Boston University in the final round of HEATCIGL's Spring tournament, solidifying their first place standing. Huang and Luk were presented with the HEATCIGL Championship Cup at E3 in Los Angeles on May 14. The perpetual trophy will be awarded annually to the winningest college team in North America.

"We are giving college gamers exactly what they want - the chance to compete against their peers and defend the honor of their school," said Matt Callaway, HEATCIGL director and manager of community development for HEAT.NET. "With nearly 3,000 students from more than 500 colleges competing this semester, the HEATCIGL program has doubled in size and surpassed our expectations for success."

In addition to the HEATCIGL Championship Cup, each Trojan team member walked away with a Voodoo3-2000 card, Kenwood's FreeTalk(tm) FRS Radio, a Multimedia speaker system, Diamond Multimedia's Rio PMP300 player, Diamond Multimedia's HomeFree Wireless home networking card and a $500 Shopping Spree to a store of their choice.

The spring tournament kicked off on April 4th, with 128 college teams featuring 256 top gamers competing in Quake II, 2-vs-2 team matches. The final prizes for the spring tournament totaled more than $10,000 and included a fully loaded Gaming PC, Voodoo 3 cards and pizza for most competing college teams. Participating companies included DealDeal.com, Any Mountain, Outdoor World, Wicked3d, GameDealer.com, Diamond Multimedia, CDNow, Dominos Pizza and 3DFX.

HEATCIGL OFFERS FALL SCHOLARSHIP

New for the upcoming Fall season - kicking off in early September - HEATCIGL will offer a $5,000 college scholarship as one of the prizes. The first ever HEATCIGL scholarship will go to the winner(s) of the league's Fall tournament. The scholarship and other prizes promise to fuel another semester of hot tournaments and intense competition.

About HEATCIGL

HEATCIGL http://www.heatcigl.net is the only free, online multi-player gaming league for college students. Since its launch in September 1998, more than 3,000 students from 500 schools in North America have registered for free to compete in HEATCIGL tournaments and events. On HEATCIGL.NET, schools compete for prizes from sponsors and for the HEATCIGL Championship Cup - the HEATCIGL championship title. HEATCIGL tournaments focus on a variety of game genres, featuring popular multiplayer games such as Quake, Quake 2, Sin, Battlezone and more. HEATCIGL is currently working with Creative Labs and animalhouse.com on a variety of league programs designed to increase membership and offer special opportunities for HEATCIGL members.

HEATCIGL has students participating from over 500 colleges, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon University;	University of California at Berkeley; Colgate University; Texas A&M; University; Princeton University; Virginia Polytechnic University; Boston College; Duke University; Columbia University; Michigan State University and the University of Southern California.

ABOUT SEGASOFT NETWORKS INC.

SegaSoft Networks, Inc. (SNI) develops and operates online gaming services and technology, including its flagship network HEAT.NET. Located in San Francisco, SNI is a privately held company whose shareholders include CSK and Sega Enterprises. For more information about SNI please visit www.segasoft.com.

SegaSoft, HEAT, HEAT.NET and Degrees are trademarks of SegaSoft Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.