Pro gamers will hit the road this month when the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) kicks off its world tour in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 10, and travels to eight other cities throughout 2005. Graphics-processor maker Nvidia will sponsor the tour, which offers a cash purse of $1 million.

　　The CPL World Tour will bring cyberathletes to Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Düsseldorf, Dallas, Sheffield, Stockholm, Beijing, and Santiago to battle in rounds of Painkiller. The grand finals will be held in late November in a US city to be announced in July. The champion will win $150,000, and others will win smaller amounts depending on their ranks.

　　Gamers across the globe can follow the tour through webcasts on the CPL World Tour site or via Internet radio broadcasts hosted by the Team Sportscast Network.

　　At each of the stops, Nvidia will host exhibits of its products and will equip tournament PCs with its GeForce 6800 graphics-processing units. Nvidia is also contributing funds to unofficial competitions based on other games, such as Day of Defeat and Warcraft III, at some tour stops.

　　"We applaud the CPL's endeavors to promote the sport of competitive gaming in an entertaining and high-profile way," said David Roman, vice president of corporate marketing at Nvidia.

　　The CPL was founded to turn video game competitions into a professional sport. It has held some 35 live tournaments worldwide. For more, visit the CPL Web site.