By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Taiwanese computer manufacturer ASUSTEK (Asus) is set to introduce the World GameMaster Tournament (WGT) to the Philippines to boost the idea of gaming as a spectator sport.

The WGT is considered as the biggest computer gaming event in Taiwan, which started in 2006 and has spread to India, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom, South Korea, and China.

It highlights mostly PC games including Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) Counterstrike, Need for Speed and the WarCraft 3: Frozen Throne mod Defense of the Ancients (DoTA).

For the Philippines, only three games will be featured, namely DoTA, Need for Speed Prostreet, and Counterstrike, Asus said.

In an interview with hackenslash, Asus Philippines Marketing Specialist Angeline Coo said they will be officially introducing the competition during the first week of September and will start the games soon after.

There will be three regional preliminaries. The first one will be in Davao and Cebu on September 20 and 21, while the Manila preliminaries will start September 27 to 28. Finals will be held on October 24 to 25.

Coo said they are just finalizing the locations where the games will be held.

For Counterstrike, the mechanics will follow the same five-on-five team-based contest. There will be two sets with 9 rounds each. The teams will get a chance to compete as either terrorist or counter-terrorist. DoTA will be four-versus-four while Need for Speed will be one versus one.

Coo said that apart from promoting gaming as a spectator sport, the WGT in the Philippines will also promote Asus as a major PC computer manufacturer.

Attendance to gaming tournaments in the Philippines has been growing in the last few years, starting with the World Cyber Games sponsored by Samsung Philippines. Smaller gaming tournaments have also started particularly on the Counterstrike and DoTA, two of the most popular PC games in the country.