Gitex 2009: Intel Extreme Masters global challenge comes back to Dubai

On October 17-24 the fourth season of Intel Extreme Masters. The Global Challenge will feature a world class tournament in Counter-Strike 1.6 with $25,000 in cash prizes and the first ever Quake-Live competition held outside America, with a prize purse of $6,500.

The event will gather players and teams from three different continents, including last year's winners mousesports from Germany, Intel ExtremeMasters World Champions fnatic from Sweden and the world's best Quake-Live player, Shane "rapha" Hendrixon. For the first time Dell's gaming brand Alienware will put to the test the high-end Alienware M17x, the official laptop of the Intel Extreme Masters. The Aienware M17x laptop will also be available for purchase at the DELL shop at Gitex.

The Global Challenge will have its kick-off with Quake-Live on October 17-19, followed by the Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament on October 20-22. The audience at Gitex will not only be able to watch exciting matches on stage but will also have a unique chance to participate in a tournament with the world's best computer gamers: on October 18-19 a local Counter-Strike qualifier will be open for two spots in the Global Challenge.

On the final two days of Gitex there will be a free-to-enter Quake-Live Pro/Am Challenge with gift bundles from Roccat, the official provider of PC peripherals for the Intel Extreme Masters.

"Dubai is one of the world's most prestigious locations and we are very proud to bring the Intel Extreme Masters back here in our fourth season. We chose this venue to stage the first ever QuakeLive LAN event outside the U.S. specifically because of the success of last year's Global Challenge in Dubai," says Michal Blicharz, Senior Product Manager at ESL.

The Intel Extreme Masters is a series of competitions for eSports champions of over 35 countries from 5 continents, with a total prize purse of $530,000. The fourth season features three Global Challenges, three Continental Championships: in Asia, Europe and the Americas and willculminate with the Intel® Extreme Masters Global Finals at CeBIT 2010 with the very best teams and players of each Continental Championship participating.