EM 3 Global and Europe Continental Finals to be held at CeBIT

The Electronic Sports League has decided to merge both Extreme Masters 3 Europe Continental Final and the Global Final in one place, being it one of the world's largest IT fairs, CeBIT. At first, only the Global Finals were scheduled to take place in Hannover, as usual, but three months away from the event, they have decided to merge both finals into a spectacular six day event.

According to the plans, the Europe Continental Final will be held in the first three days, from March 3rd to 5th, being immediately followed by the Global Final from the 6th to the 8th of March. Up for grabs in this six day e-sports event will be $280,000 to be distributed among the two games, Counter-Strike 1.6 and World of Warcraft, being $175,000 for the first leaving the WoW'ers with $105,000 in prize money.

As the name says, the Europe Continental Final will feature the best teams from Europe and will qualify a select few for the Global Final, which will host some of the best in the world. Already qualified for Europe Final are SK Gaming and mTw, both are at the top of their respective groups as they have won all their matches so far. Concerning the Global Final, the qualified teams are Made in Brazil, x3o and Gravitas Gaming as a result of the America Continental Finals held past November.

In January we will know which teams will fly over from Asia as the Continental Finals for Counter-Strike take place between the 16th and 18th in the Chinese city of Chengdu during the Digital Entertainment Expo. The city is already on the e-sports map as it has hosted several e-sports events already and it will feature the WC3L Season XIV Finals, also in January 2009.

The Extreme Masters 3 world circuit will be ending in Hannover, Germany. $80,000 will be given away within the first three days during the Europe Continental Final. For the Global Final, the great sum of $200,000. Powered by Intel, this might just be the tip of the iceberg as ESL has been surprising everyone season after season, what's in store for the fourth? Only time will tell.

Extreme Masters 3 (upcoming)

Asia CS Continental Final
- January 16th-18th
- Chengdu, China
- Digital Entertainment Expo
- Counter-Strike 1.6
- $60,000

Europe Continental Final
- March 3rd-5th
- Hannover, Germany
- CeBIT
- Counter-Strike 1.6, World of Warcraft
- $80,000

Global Final
- March 6th-8th
- Hannover, Germany
- CeBIT
- Counter-Strike 1.6, World of Warcraft
- $200,000


Related
www.esl-world.net/masters