UrbanWire

Hey, you over there! Yes you, so you're back in front of the computer screen again, looks like the previous National Healthy Lifestyle Programme didn't get to you huh? How about tearing up the coach potato stereotype of gamers at the Challenge Reality: Game to Fame campaign, launched on Jul 9.

The campaign, jointly organised by local athletes of Team Singapore and IT hub Hardware Zone, is a bold move to encourage young Singaporean video gamers to actively involve themselves in sports, as well as to have some fun with local sportsmen.

This Singapore first will see local gamers team up with our Olympic hopefuls to compete against each other in various common street sports and popular video games, to fight for the grand Challenge Reality championship title. The whole competition will take place over 3 days from Aug 6 at Orchard Cineleisure.

"The campaign plays a unique role in showcasing the latest technology that enhances gaming and helps bring the gaming experience to new user segments," Channel Business marketing manager, Mr Koh Su Hock, said.

Jereme Wong, media director for Hardware Zone, added, "We're taking gaming activity to the next level in this exciting event… as we present an excellent platform to project a positive message to Singapore's youth."

Be warned however that out of all the registrants, GameAxis will only select 20 gamers for the competition. These lucky gamers will have to go through a rigorous physical training programme, under the close supervision of Team Singapore's strength and conditioning coach, to bring them up to shape. Team Singapore athletes, on the other hand, will work out a seldom trained part of their anatomy, strengthening their thumbs, as they polish up on their video-gaming skills with Xbox videogames like Top Spin, DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball, NBA Live 2004, as well as PC games such as FIFA 2004 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.

The 6-week-long campaign, launched in conjunction with the upcoming Olympic Games, was inspired by the growing popularity of video games in today's society. It aims to encourage gamers to actively participate in sports and also to cultivate a more active physical lifestyle instead of just staying indoors and staring at the computer all day long. The campaign will also showcase Team Singapore's determination and fighting spirit to take on any obstacle, whether or not it is sports-related.

"By organising this event, Team Singapore hopes to encourage students who are already good in playing sports-based [video] games to go one step further by involving themselves physically," said Kelvin Chua, general manager and spokesperson of Team Singapore.

These gamers already have "a good foundation to the basics of the sports," he added in his speech at the launch of Challenge Reality: Game to Fame at X-Square on Friday.

Elaborating further, Ms Pam Hu, director, ICT Adoption from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, added that the "combination of virtual and real shows us that online games can help cultivate the sporting spirit in our youths and develop their potential as competitive sportsmen in the playing field".

To find out more about the campaign, you can log on to www.gameaxis.com/challengereality where you can also participate in online contests, know more about the participants, and decide who to vote for as favourites to the championship title. The tournament structure and the event schedule for the competition can only be viewed closer to the competition date.

Or, if you've decided that you've had enough of sitting in front of the computer screen and want to actively participate in the contest, you'll have until July 15, 2pm to register at www.gameaxis.com/microsite/team_singapore/challenge_reality. And if all else fails to get your butt off that chair, you can always give your mind a workout by exploring UrbanWire.