The Cape Town cyber community will be rocked by the largest computer gaming event ever to be held in the city - the Cape Cyber Sports Challenge from 4 to 11 July at the Acacia Airbase.
In addition to more than 300 local contestants, the event - known as the Lan2K Winter Hot Box LAN - has attracted entries from as far afield as Durban and South-West Africa.
All competitors will compete on a social level in week-long, non-stop tournaments devised to determine the best computer gamers and teams of gamers called "clans".
Lan2K is the first round of the National Cyber Sports championship and the first seven-day LAN marathon event to be held in SA. It has attracted R50 000 in cash prizes as well as a host of sponsored product prizes.
The event is designed to showcase the ability of local organisers to host an event on this scale as a precursor to their bid to host the World Cyber Games 2010 in the Cape.
Corex, a key event sponsor, will use the event to exhibit - in action - a number of products which it targets at the gaming community, many of which will be given away as prizes to successful competitors.
These include PC chassis and other products from Thermaltake - which are solely distributed by Corex in SA - and the latest Asus motherboards, graphics cards and optical storage devices.
A complete list includes:
* Thermaltake chassis, accessories, cooling systems, PC modifications and accessories.
* Asus MB NForce4 SLI, Intel 955X motherboards - which provide both Intel and AMD Platform options, the NVidia GeForce 7800GTX /6800Ultra and ATI 850XT and Asus "Quietrack" optical storage devices.
Fred Lu, managing director of Corex, says the event will give the South African youth a different perspective on the personal computer (PC).
"PCs are evolving constantly and are becoming more stylish and adventurous in their design with new chassis - such as Thermaltake`s Tenor Series - making their appearance.
"Today, it is easy for users to add in mid- and high-end motherboards, graphics cards and optical storage devices and incorporate TV tuners, DVD players and recorders and gaming consoles to create complete entertainment or gaming centres."
Lu says Corex was the first company to foresee the potential of the gaming market in SA and has taken steps to support the gaming community by bringing new product offerings into the country targeted at this market.
Lu adds that Lan2K is designed to promote healthy, competitive, social interaction between competitors.
"Corex supports the organisers in their efforts to unite the youth from all walks of society and help them share in a highly skilled, mind-developing, non-contact sport."
In future, Lan2K will host a large event every month, and will move throughout SA on road shows later in the year.
Lan2K is planning a 2 000-person LAN for next year, which will attract the best gamers from all over the world to compete in the largest cyber gathering ever.
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