Women currently make up 40 percent of the gaming population, and females over 18 are playing almost twice as much as males under 17, according to the Entertainment Software Association's "2008 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry."

As a cornerstone for competitive female electronic sports, SteelSeries iron.lady is a unique and popular gaming event held in China, gathering the top female professional Warcraft 3 delegates from across Asia in order to battle against each other for the ultimate title of "Super iron lady." With a 2008 audience of more than 3.7 million people in China alone, SteelSeries iron.lady represents and signifies the strength, determination and ability of female gamers to compete at a professional level. More information available at http://www.steelseries.com/ironlady.

“Female gamers are having a significant impact on the gaming industry and are influencing how we design our products," said Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries. “We're excited to introduce our professional gaming products to the growing female audience and players. Whether they chose to use our signature black and white products or chose to distinguish themselves with pink, gamers know that SteelSeries designs the best tools to compete with to win."

"It's great to realize how the perception of female gaming has changed to what it is nowadays, and we as women are gaining more and more recognition. High quality products dedicated to female players, like the new iron.lady headset from SteelSeries, really help to carry on this development, and show that female gaming has become a force to be reckoned with" says Lidia "SK.lidy" Poulin, who recently won the ESWC Grand Final with her teammates from SK Gaming.

The SteelSeries iron.lady Siberia Full-size Headset was developed in cooperation with professional gamers to ensure that the soundscape, specifications and comfort is suitable for long gaming sessions. The headset is also designed for multi-functionality. Apart from using the headset for PC-gaming, this product has been designed so gamers can use it with their favorite MP3-player, handheld gaming device or practically any other kind of portable digital device.

The SteelSeries iron.lady Siberia Full-size Headset, with an MSRP of 64.99 EUR, will be shipped in Q4 2008 and will be available from www.SteelSeries.com, NewEgg.com, Amazon.com and other resellers.

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