MORE participants, more games and more women - that sums up the Singapore finals of this year's World Cyber Games (WCG), which began yesterday.

Close to 1,000 participants are competing to represent Singapore in the world finals, to be held in Germany from Nov 5-9.

Last year, about 800 gamers took part.

One reason for the higher numbers is that a wider variety of games, including the phenomenally popular Guitar Hero III, has been included in this year's competition line-up.

Events such as mobile phone gaming have been introduced, giving participants the chance to try their hand at titles that have not been released commercially, such as Asphalt 4, in which competitors play a racing game on mobile phones. The gamer who clocks the shortest time around the track wins.

There are also throwback events.

Instead of taking on each other on video screens, World of Warcraft (WoW) enthusiasts could take part in a trading card gaming tournament, with winners qualifying to represent Asia at the WoW Trading Card Games world championship in Paris in October.

And in a nod to the Formula 1 Grand Prix here next month, organisers of the WCG chose a racing theme for the event, held at Suntec Convention Halls 402 and 403.

The floors of the halls have been laid out with a racing track motif, and racing games made available on Xboxes and demo 'race cars' for spectators. And to cater to diehard petrolheads, real race cars are also on display.

In the competition proper, 424 gamers made it out of the preliminary rounds to enter today's finals.

The winners of the finals will move on to the WCG Asian championship, to be held tomorrow and on Sunday at the same venue.

They will face gamers from 13 other Asian countries.

Singapore's top hopes are Mr Mohamed Phirkan, 19, who is in the Fifa 2008 competition, and Mr Wilson Chia, who is taking all comers in the fighting game Virtua Fighter.

Mr Mohamed Phirkan, whose nickname is 'xtr3me3', said that he quit his studies at Nanyang Polytechnic to focus on gaming.

'It is a sacrifice, but I think it is for the better,' he said.

He added that he is optimistic about his chances of qualifying for the world finals in October, as he is completely focused on gaming and has been training for several hours each day.

In his speech to kick off the event yesterday, the chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Rear-Admiral (NS) Ronnie Tay, noted that the WCG is growing 'from strength to strength'.

The event is also attracting a wider group of competitors. In the past, gamers aged 16 to 29 competed, said RADM Tay, but now, people between the ages of six and 35 are taking part.

The growing appeal of the WCG, he said, proves that 'one is never too old to compete in cyber games'.

tanwz@sph.com.sg