The Gaming Olympics is a worldwide competition to find the world's best gamers. Each country has a finalist who has beaten all others in their country. In the UK the finals to choose the winner, who will go on to be in the worldwide finals, are to be held during the XS Gameshow. Full details are below.

�50,000 Prize Fund / Winners To Represent UK in World Finals

XSgameshow, the first exclusively consumer games event in Europe, is proud to announce that The Virtual Gaming Alliance will be holding the UK finals of their globally renowned videogames tournament at the NEC between 25th and 27th July 2003. The move by The VGA from Stuff LIVE, where the tournament was held last year, reflects the credibility of XSgameshow as the largest and most respected games event for 2003.

Providing the booming UK games industry with a platform from which to communicate and interact with the millions of UK gamers, XSgameshow will be a dynamic feature-driven event dedicated to giving visitors a unique gaming experience that will reflect the alternative reality of videogames. Covering three huge halls at the Birmingham NEC, XSgameshow is the biggest undertaking ever conceived for the European games industry and is set to mark the beginning of a new era for the videogame generation.

The VGA's World Gaming Championship will serve as the qualifying finals to produce an Official UK Team to represent Great Britain at the World Finals likely to be held in South Korea later this year. With a prize fund of up to �50,000 the UK Finals are being organised by the Virtual Gaming Alliance (VGA) and will occupy one of the three halls of XSgameshow. The interior of Hall 11 at the NEC will be transformed into a games tournament arena, holding hundreds of PCs and Xbox consoles, reflecting the designs and textures found in videogames such as Quake III and Unreal Championship. Both gamers and audience alike will find themselves inside a 'bricks and mortar' virtual world, with the ability to follow the individual games being played on large video screens.

Beverley Channell, Exhibition Manager for XSgameshow, says, "We are thrilled to announce XSgameshow 2003 with such an innovative consumer gaming event as one of our main features. The VGA's gaming championship reflects the extent to which videogames are enjoyed by many millions of gamers around the world, and provides a fantastic endorsement for XSgameshow as the first exclusive consumer games event in Europe."

Sujoy Roy, Marketing Director of the VGA, is also delighted with the move to XSgameshow, commenting, "The NEC provides the VGA with a venue large enough to hold a tournament of this size, and allows the public better access to see, compete in and enjoy some of the best video gaming action in the UK. The design of the Games Arena not only befits the Tournament, but also allows for a state-of-the-art viewing experience for the audience."