I May be 63, but I am Still the Game Boy...

Today, FIFA announced the arrangements for the FIFA Interactive World Cup Grand Final in Berlin on 24 May. In a press release issued today, excerpts quote FIFA as saying:

The battle for the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2008 crown will get underway at the Sony Center in Berlin on 24 May 2008. After a busy qualifying season over seven months with live qualifier events in 20 countries around the world, and with over 25,000 players having competed in the online qualifiers... FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer will represent FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

“I am very impressed with the level of the participants. It is clear that they have been practicing hard, and like any football event, practice is one of the most important things. The FIFA Interactive World Cup is establishing itself as a premier gaming tournament, and the only one under the FIFA banner. I am also an avid gamer, and the gaming aspect of FIFA08 is unbelievable, it gives the impression of watching a live game,” said Chuck Blazer, who added: “I think it is apt that there are now 32 competitors, which mirrors the number of teams in the FIFA World Cup. This tournament is a serious one, and like its big-brother tournament, the FIFA World Cup, it is not the prize money that encourages good performance, but the pride of being crowned a FIFA world champion.”

The winner of the Grand Final will claim the brand-new FIFA Interactive World Cup Trophy along with USD 20,000 in prize money. In addition, the champion and a companion will be invited to attend the FIFA World Player Gala 2008 to see this year’s top male and female footballers crowned.

I have been around this event for several years now. I helped launch this one for Sony a few months back in Leipzig and put some clips together for a meeting with Sony officials back in December. The Herb Alpert music I had put on the sound track was stripped off the slide show due to lack of rights when I tried to post it to my UTube site. The pictures reamin, so if you can use your imagination and hum along, you can see this silent video of some of the fun we had in Leipzig and in Amsterdam last year.