Battling it out in Unreal Tournament

The finalists had to battle through national qualifiers to make it through to the final.

On offer is more than just prestige. During the five-day tournament, gamers will be competing for prizes worth a total of $300,000.

The games selected for the Seoul competition were chosen for their worldwide popularity.

They include the first-person shooter Quake III, which places players in a futuristic world of graphic violence where they have to kill monsters and opponents, and Starcraft: Brood War, which pits three imaginary races of the future against each other as they build armies and destroy their enemies.

Fast growing sport

Networked gaming, in which people compete against each other, is one of the fastest growing cyber sports in the world.

South Korea has one of the world's largest computer games markets, with millions of people online.

There are about 20,000 such cafes in South Korea alone, and World Cyber Games participants can expect to be treated like media stars while they are there.

Steady hand needed for Counter-Strike

The event is sponsored by Samsung, which is aware of the value of the games to the computer industry.

Computer games often require large amounts of memory and fast processing speeds, and are one of the main reasons people buy the latest and most powerful machines and sign up for high-speed internet connections.

Another games tournament is taking place at the same time in Dallas, Texas. The 2001 Cyberathlete Professional League World Championship Event is organised by the Cyberathlete Professional League.

The organisation describes itself as the leading professional computer gamers league in the world.