Monday, July 23, 2012

Golf Gamebook: USA vs. Europe Golf Challenge

The future of golf tournaments is here; for the first time all golfers in the USA and in Europe can enjoy golf together, regardless of age, gender or HCP. The six-week GameBook Cup, is open to all golfers from the two continents and can be played on any course in the world. With the help of the latest mobile technology, the GameBook Cup offers a more social and equal way of experiencing golf. Join Here

Inspired by the legendary golf tournament the Ryder Cup, the GameBook Cup launches as the first transatlantic golf challenge of its kind ever. All golfers from the USA and Europe are invited to play in the fun and friendly golf challenge. Experienced team captains have been nominated; Team USA has British Open Champion Stewart Cink as the Captain, and Team Europe is led by European Tour golfer Johan Edfors.

“I think this is a wonderfully innovative idea. In honor of the Ryder Cup year I think it is appropriate to expand the joy of golf with a truly global approach. And, I think that GameBook team’s creativity in utilizing social media and the latest technology is exceptional. Golf tournaments are fun and social, but they can be so much more with this new golf app. I will do my best to build to great Team USA.”, praises British Open Champion Stewart Cink.

“I had an opportunity to test this golf concept last year in a tournament between two nations, Sweden and Finland. It was very engaging and an extremely fun experience. I will recommend my fellow pros to join this contest. My vision is to have a diverse Team Europe, professionals and amateurs playing together.” says Johan Edfors, Captain of Team Europe in the GameBook Cup and three-time winner of European Tour events.

“Both in the US and in Europe we value the important landmark tournaments. The encouraging and inspiring culture deserves to be further embraced, and that’s what we are doing. GameBook Cup differs only by the fact that anyone can participate. And to make things more interesting, we will throw some nice prizes to random participants each week.” says Mikko Rantanen, CEO of GameBook Inc.

“We have managed to fine-tune our golf app and the supporting mobile technology into such good shape that we decided to put it to a real tough test. And of course, we wanted to offer an unforgettable golf experience to all golf lovers in the USA and in Europe.” says Kalle Väinölä, Founder of GameBook, PGA pro.

“The only thing a golfer has to do is to play a round of golf anywhere in the world and enter his or her scorecard using Golf GameBook. We will automatically include all scores from golfers who are registered respectively in the USA or in any European country”, continues Kalle Väinölä.

The world’s largest golf challenge will be held between July 30th and September 9th, 2012, and it is free for golfers and golf clubs.

For more details about the GameBook Cup http://www.golfgamebook.com/cup

About Golf GameBook

Golf GameBook has provided live scoring and leaderboards at hundreds of events in Europe and the US, including the 2011 HP Byron Nelson Championship Pro-Am.Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have hosted their own events with Golf GameBook Live Scoring; Arnold Palmer’s Kingdom Cup (2011 and 2012), and Jack Nicklaus International Invitational (2011). The Stanford Men’s Golf team used Golf GameBook for living scoring at its recent Amer Ali Invitational event in January. Golf GameBook was featured recently in the Apple iTunes App Store Highlights section in the Nordic region, a position that has only been achieved by a relative few Nordic companies, including Rovio, publisher of the popular ‘Angry Birds’ franchise.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Livestream to Broadcast Open Championship Live

NEW YORK – July, 11, 2012 – Market leader for live event coverage, Livestream, today announced that it will broadcast live coverage of the R&A’s behind-the-scenes channel, @TheOpen LIVE from this year’s Open Championship, golf’s oldest Major. Royal Lytham & St Annes host the 142nd Championship, where @TheOpen LIVE coverage will begin on Wednesday, July 18th, broadcasting for 6 hours each day through the end of play on Championship Sunday. The action will be broadcast on http://new.livestream.com/theopen event page and will be streamed live on Opengolf.com, Facebook and Livestream.com, as well as The Open’s iphone and Android applications. Viewers will enjoy live video with real-time chat, photo, social media and text updates, all of which will contribute to the ultimate golf viewing experience.

@TheOpen LIVE produced onsite at Royal Lytham & St Annes will give audiences the chance to instantly interact with presenters and guests as they go behind the scenes at golf’s oldest Major. Livestream and the R&A are partnering to provide viewers with a unique glimpse of the atmosphere of The Open, wherever they are in the world. Coverage will include post-round press conferences, exclusive interviews and access to never-before seen elements of The Open. The comprehensive production will result in a total of 30 hours of live material from this year’s Open Championship.

R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson said, “Building on the success of last year’s production, we are again delighted to bring worldwide golf fans an enhanced opportunity to interact with, and enjoy the game. Livestreaming the on-course play, as well as the behind-the-scenes action provides a 360 degree view of the game that is very compelling to our viewers.”

“This broadcast provides golf enthusiasts who want to see more of the event exactly that – more golf, more exclusive interviews and more access. The livestream offers them a chance to feel part of the action with our HD quality video and interactive features,” said Max Haot, Co-founder and CEO of Livestream.


About Livestream

Livestream (Livestream.com) is the market leader for live event coverage. With simple to use technology, our service allows anyone to broadcast live to the web, as well as being the top destination for live content from around the world. Our content partners include Facebook, The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, Associated Press, HBO, AT&T, PepsiCo, Electronic Arts, Adidas, The Academy Awards, Warner Bros. Records, and Paramount Pictures. Livestream operates with over 120 full-time staff members in 4 offices—in New York, Los Angeles, Bangalore and the Ukraine. The service is available for free (advertising-supported) or as a feature-rich, monetizable, premium subscription for business. The new.livestream.com is an innovative new platform, available in beta, that combines live event coverage with real-time photos, text, and video clip updates posted using web browsers or mobile devices. The technology supports live blogging, live and on-demand HD video powered by Akamai HDNet, and real-time posting tools.