Over 100 of Ireland's top video gamers will forget about the Ryder Cup later this month as they compete in the Irish leg of the Olympics of their own chosen sport.
A total of 136 entrants will attempt to qualify for the finals of the World Cyber games on the same weekend as the world's top golfers clash at the K Club in Kildare.
Dr Stephen Brennan, managing director of the Digital Hub Development Agency, said the sheer size of the event on September 23 and 24 marked an important development in Ireland's games industry.
Dr Brennan said the World Cyber Games, like the Ryder Cup, is a global sporting tournament.
"Worldwide, almost 1 million people will participate in the event," he said.
"Harnessing the technical and creative talent in Ireland is the key to the development of the games industry.
"Bringing the World Cyber Games here is an important milestone in that development as it shows the scale and quality of grass roots gaming.
"At present there are three significant game studios - Havoc, Pop-cap Games and Eirplay in The Digital Hub, it was therefore natural for us to host Ireland's first Cyber Games."
At the Irish Finals, participants will compete in a number of Xbox and PC games for the chance to represent Ireland at the international World Cyber Games in Monza, Italy in late October.
Free tickets for the event which takes place at the Digital Hub, the government agency charged with developing Ireland's digital media sector, at Digital Exchange, Crane Street Dublin 8, can be obtained from http://www.worldcybergamesireland.com.