Red Bull Training Grounds Heads to the Sunshine State With Full Weekend of eSports Action and Analysis at Full Sail University

SANTA MONICA, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 16, 2013) - Competition never sleeps. On the heels of the inaugural Red Bull Training Grounds at Red Bull North America headquarters in Santa Monica last month, the next stop for this professional videogame athlete invitational will be the sunny skies of Florida, July 26^th - 28^th. Fans from around the world can tune in to the live digital broadcast, as eight invited pro players will head to Full Sail University in Winter Park, for a weekend of intense scrimmage and expert analysis. With Blizzard Entertainment's award winning real-time strategy game, StarCraft® II as the playing field, on-site experts Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham and Ben "Mr. Bitter" Nichol will call the shots for the viewers at home, as well as give each player a turn in the analysis booth to discuss the performance of their competitors and develop strategies for upping their game.

Located just outside of Orlando, Full Sail University is opening the doors of their state-of-the-art performance venue, Full Sail Live, to host this elite eSports tournament. An award-winning media and entertainment institution, offering campus and online degree programs in areas including Game Development, Game Art and Game Design, Full Sail University alumni and staff have contributed to some of the biggest titles in gaming, past and present. No strangers to the enormous eSports scene, Full Sail students will also be invited to witness these heated battles live, from the comfort of their own campus, and the thousands of eSports fans at home can tune in via the Live Digital Broadcast on www.redbull.com/eSports, which airs all three days of the tournament.

After two days of round-robin competition, day three of Red Bull Training Grounds culminates in a tournament between the final four players standing, with the top cash prize of the weekend on the line -- as well as an invitation to a future high stakes tournament in 2013.

The first ever Red Bull Training Grounds took place June 21^st - 23^rd at Red Bull North America headquarters in Santa Monica focused on Blizzard's StarCraft II, and provided over 200,000 views to 26,000 peak concurrent viewers on Sunday, June 23^rd alone, with over 20 hours of expert play and in-depth analysis. After three days of battle, Jo "Golden" Myeong Hwan, a Zerg player from South Korea, came out on top, taking home the $2,500 prize purse after a grueling set of matches against teammate Bae "Sound" Sang Hwan.

Visit Redbull.com/eSports for news of who the lucky eight initiates will be at the Red Bull Training Grounds at Full Sail University, with StarCraft II as the playing field. Fans can also view the action live as it happens all three days of the Red Bull Training Grounds by visiting Redbull.com/eSports, which uses the Twitch TV player for all of its LIVE eSports coverage. Follow @redbullESPORTS and @FullSail on Twitter, #traininggrounds.

About RedBull.com/eSports

Redbull.com/eSports is the digital source for the latest news, tournament coverage, interviews, video features and live digital broadcasts for the eSports community. Giving fans in-depth access to eSports scenes, Redbull.com/eSports provides the competitive gaming audience a venue to connect with personalities and players of the sport, as well as one another.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^® and the Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® franchises, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's track record includes sixteen #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.net^®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

About Full Sail University:

Full Sail University is an award-winning educational leader for those pursuing careers in the entertainment and media industry. Founded in 1979, Full Sail has been recognized as one of the Top Five Game Degree Programs by Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the Best Music Programs by Rolling Stone Magazine, and one of the Best Film Programs by UNleashed Magazine. In 2011, Full Sail received the "21st Century Best Practices in Distance Learning Award" from the United States Distance Learning Association, was named the "School/College of the Year" by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges, and was recognized as one of the Top 100 Social Media Colleges by Studentadvisor.com.

Full Sail offers on-campus and online Master's, Bachelor's, and Associate's degree programs in areas related to animation, art, business, education, graphic design, film, marketing, web development, music, recording arts, sports, and video games. Full Sail graduate credits include work on OSCAR®, Emmy®, GRAMMY®, ADDY®, MTV Video Music Award, and Spike Video Game Award nominated and winning projects.

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