The World Cyber Games announced yesterday the official game titles for the 2008 edition of the global esport tournament. While the majority of the changes were not unexpected, there were some changes that raised eyebrows.

One of the major changes was the removal of the Dead or Alive franchise, a long time staple of WCG, in favour of Virtual Fighter 5. Although the change was a shocking one, it was not entirely unexpected. Last year, there was insider talk that DoA might be dropped for either Tekken or Virtual Fighter, and it seems that it finally happened this year.

The Halo franchise will also see it return to the WCG with Halo 3, which replaces Gears of War as the Xbox 360 action title. The last time Halo featured in WCG was in 2005, and it was played 2 v 2. This time round, Halo 3 will still be a team game, but in a 4 v 4 instead.

Other interesting additions this year include hit guitar simulation game Guitar Hero III, an official mobile title Asphalt 3, as well as Red Stone, a 2D MMORPG published by Samsung.

DotA Allstars, an unofficial custom map modification for Warcraft III that has garnered a following worldwide, did not make the cut. Hopes were raised that other major esports tournament franchise would follow suit after the Electronic Sports World Cup decided to add DotA to its official game pool, but these hopes have now been dashed.

PC Games

• Half-Life: Counter-Strike 1.6 (5 v 5 Team FPS )
• Starcraft: Brood War: (1 v 1 RTS)
• WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne (1 v 1 RTS)
• Command & Conquer 3: Kane