Ready, Set, Go! A Classic GameTakes Off (NAPSA)—One of the newest competitive crazes is actually one of the oldest—a strategy game EP AR that’s been around for about 4,000 years, one that players claim is much deeper, more challenging and morefulfilling than chess. Go was invented in China, and throughout much of Asia it’s as popular as poker or Scrabble here in the U.S. In Chinait’s known as weigi, Koreans call it Baduk and in Japan, where it’s the national game, it’s known as I-Go. A key impetus for the resurgence of Goin this part of the world is the success of the award-winning film A Beautiful Mind, which has arrived on DVD and homevideo. In it, graduate student John Nash (played by Russell Crowe) partakes in a high-intensity game of Go in a Princeton courtyard. What many people may not realize—especially those who are just picking up the stones for the first time—is that Go has always had a strong following in the U.S. The American Go Association has local clubs all over the country, and members usually meet to play at cafes, coffee shops or game centers; the best players compete in tournaments. Go’s lasting appeal has to do with the fact that it’s a game of simple rules but complicated strategy. To borrow the slogan of another puzzler that’s joined the growinglist of long-since-forgotten fads, Go takes “minutes to learn, a lifetime to master.” A Beautiful Mind, the powerful EEaa) A classic strategy game serves a key scene in the Academy Award winning film A Beautiful Mind. story inspired by events in thelife of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr., is an inspirational testimony of the courage of the human spirit. This $175 million box office smash directed by Ron Howard—which won four Golden Globes and four Academy Awards, including Best Picture—comesin a special Awards Edition two-dise DVD set and video cassette. Released by Universal Studio Home Video, the DVD features over six hours of captivating entertainment hosted by Best Director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer, including a 22-minute featurette “Inside A Beautiful Mind” offering behind-the-scenes interviews, never-before-seen deleted scenes, the groundbreaking Total Axess™ DVD-ROM element, exclu- sive interviews with John Nash himself and much more. To learn more, visit the Web site at www.universalhomevideo.com.
