New York - April 15 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) - Gillette [PG], the world’s leading grooming brand, and EA SPORTS, a label of Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS) crowned four new champions last night at the Gillette – EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming Tournament on Xbox 360 in New York City.

This year’s Gillette – EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming tournament on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft kicked off on November 18, 2009, and participants competed against other players on the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network. In its second year, the global competition attracted more participants than last year with over 350,000 registered — making it the world’s largest online multisport gaming tournament. The tournament consisted of one nine-part qualification round and one knockout round in three regions – the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Regional champions competed against each other on leading EA SPORTS titles (EA SPORTS FIFA 10, Madden NFL 10, NHL 10 and Fight Night Round 4) for the chance to be crowned a Gillette – EA SPORTS Champion of Gaming and have the chance to earn a one-on-one matchup with some of the biggest names in sports; Gillette Champion Derek Jeter, as well as professional football quarterback Matt Ryan, professional soccer player Landon Donovan and hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Well-known Xbox LIVE Director of Programming “Major Nelson” served as the Master of Ceremonies and Spike TV was on hand capturing the live event for a special program that will air on May 6, 2010 at 11:35 p.m. ET.

“Through our partnership with EA SPORTS, we’ve created an annual event that gives gamers around the world a chance to win the experience of a lifetime and go one-on-one with some of the biggest stars in sports,” said Steve Fund, Global Marketing Director, Gillette.

“We’re excited that for the second year in a row we were able to provide gamers from around the world this unique platform to show off their exceptional gaming skills,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “On behalf of EA SPORTS, we congratulate the Gillette – EA SPORTS Champions of Gaming for their outstanding performances and a terrific competition.”

  The global finalists (Champions bolded), listed by region, are as follows:

  The Americas
  --  Michael Matz, WiWhiteWarrior, United States (Madden NFL 10)
  --  Ryan Parker, RJP3030, United States (Fight Night Round 4)
  --  Mani Jamshidian, Mani_Jam, Canada (EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 10)
  --  Sam Najafi, LSN3, Canada (NHL® 10)

  Europe
  --  Christian Walter, WKW969, Germany (Madden NFL 10)
  --  David Wright, DERITY, United Kingdom (Fight Night Round 4)
  --  Matthew Bushell, dig hugharse, United Kingdom (EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 10)
  --  Viktor Ghamari, GHAMARI, Sweden (NHL® 10)

  Asia-Pacific
  --  Steven Leonard, stevennfl, New Zealand (Madden NFL 10)
  --  Roberto Evangelista, t0yz0r, Australia (Fight Night Round 4)
  --  Stephen Coorey, scoorey, Australia (EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 10)
  --  Paul Robards, xADAPTORDIEx, Australia (NHL® 10)

For complete details on the tournament or tournament rules, visit www.easports.com/gillette or www.gillette.com/easports2010.

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