World’s Largest Online Gaming Tournament Kicks Off Globally

June 24, 2004 - Global Gaming League announces the 2K4 Online Season, a seven-month period in which top players have the opportunity to win their share of $75,000 in cash and prizes. The new season comes in tandem with the launch of GGL's enhanced website, GGL.com--the most advanced 24-hour online gaming environment connecting a global community of gamers representing 140 countries. "We are thrilled to be able to provide, along with our partners, the largest purse ever to our online members," according to GGL Founder and CEO Brett W. Hawkins, Jr.

The 2K4 Online Season features nine games, including five first person shooter titles (Counter-Strike, Quake III, Unreal Tournament 2004, Call of Duty and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory) and four real time strategy titles (Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Starcraft: Broodwar, Age of Mythology: The Titans and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors). The new season consists of five team and six one-on-one competitions.

Ensemble Studios, publisher of the Age of Mythology and Age of Empires series, is matching the GGL's prize purse for "The Titans" and "The Conquerors" tournaments. "Ensemble Studios is happy to match the cash prizes as a 'thank you' to our community," says Tony Goodman, President of Ensemble Studios. "We hope events like GGL's tournament will reward those ES online fans that have been so loyal to us."

The enhanced GGL.com gaming environment allows 2K4 Online Season competitors, free access to GGL game servers for match play and practice. Among the new benefits of GGL.com:

* Players can now actively communicate with other players via an integrated buddy list, private messaging, linked IRC messaging, e-mail and message board forums.

* Players can create, recruit and manage teams and can post team news pages in addition to mass-messaging entire teams or specific squads.

* A member feedback system lets players rate their playing experience, encouraging good sportsmanship and helping the GGL community self-police against abusive members.

* A sophisticated challenging system allows players to schedule matches to be played instantly or in the future taking into account both players timezones - facilitating international competition

Commenting on the new gaming functionality, GGL director of technology Amir Haleem stated, "GGL has taken another giant step toward becoming the most comprehensive experience available for the serious online gaming community. Our goal will always be to listen to our core audience and incorporate the most popular changes they request as well as making continual enhancements to maximize the experience of multiplayer gaming."

For more information visit www.GGL.com.

SOURCE Global Gaming League