A WELCOME attraction for young, old – and the daring – at the Windhoek Show is the recently introduced World Cyber Games (WCG).
Namibia is the only African country with the Korean WCG franchise, brought in by business partners Kenneth Abrahams and Ludomir Lang about two months ago.It is considered the fastest growing electronic gaming event globally, with over 300 million gamers excluding the African market, but it is now registered with the Namibia Electronic Sports Association (Nesa). ‘This is the Olympics of electronic games,’ said Abrahams, but admitted that it is still the preserve of a lucky few due to the limited Internet access and affordability. The WCG is an Internet- and cellphone-based platform that allows electronic gamers to play one-on-one matches, or in groups of five, across the globe. The Namibian franchise offers four games out of a possible ten games chosen by 40 million gamers across the world: Star Craft, which is a strategic game; Fifa 11 (the most popular game), Tekken, and Sports Asphalt, which is a racing game. Visitors to the Windhoek Show can get a taste of playing on the global gaming platform at an affordable price. Abrahams said Namibia is preparing to send gamers to Busan, Korea, from December 8 to 11 for the finals in the computer and video game festival, where prize money runs in the million US dollar bracket. Sponsors are still being sought for the event in Korea, but in preparation, WCG preliminaries and national qualifiers will be held in September and October.
