Thousands Of Gamers In Town For Ocean Center Event

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Daytona Beach, FL - Thousands of people will gather on Daytona's beachside this weekend to virtually beat each other up and watch others literally do the same.

For the first time in the event's nine-year history, the CEO Fighting Game Championships moves east from Orlando to Daytona Beach, setting up shop in the Ocean Center starting Friday until Sunday.

Known as one of the largest fighting game competitions in the world, around 8,000 people are expected to be at all the CEO Gaming events this weekend, according to founder and organizer Alex Jebailey.

"The beauty of CEO... [is] the people that just come from all over," Jebailey added. "I always want somewhere [where] those people can have a good time, check out the locale and kind of have the whole to ourselves."

Past editions of the CEO Fighting Game Championships - which stands for Community Effort Orlando - had over 10,000 people show up from 47 states and 30 countries. Those kinds of numbers, according to Jebailey, required a much bigger venue for future events than Orlando's Central Florida Fairgrounds and the Wyndham International Hotel.

"Just the space," Jebailey said when asked why he liked the Ocean Center. "The ability to have an arena, as well [as] the location, having the huge Hilton Daytona Beach next door."

Also helping matters is the Ocean Center's recent Internet speed upgrade from 200 megabytes to 1 gigabyte of bandwidth.

The big draw will be the numerous cash prize tournaments based on popular fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat as well as a professional wrestling event headlined by Kenny Omega on Friday night.

Those who attend the event - which is open to the public - can also check out the "Jebaileyland Arcade" with more than 70 games inside, an "Artist Alley" and an exhibit & vendor area.

Click here for more about the CEO Fighting Game Championships, including ticket prices.

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