For the players, and for many spectators, it was a tense final. Two powerful athletes fought it out head-to-head, with onlookers around the world glued to their screens in silent anticipation. But this was no regular sports tournament's climax; it was the final of the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), the culmination of a year's worth of qualifiers worldwide, and the game everyone was watching was Painkiller.

After losing early on in the last round of qualifiers, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel made a comeback and faced off against Sander "fnatic.Vo0" Kaasjager for the final. Having won 5 out of the 9 worldwide CPL events, Vo0 was seeded first and many expected him to come out victorious—however, Fatal1ty pulled out all the stops and beat Vo0 in four straight games for a fantastic win, pocketing the $150,000 top prize. The final was broadcast via MTV—and may be replayable—adding to the sports-like atmosphere, with gamers on IRC and voice channels worldwide screaming in unison at a suicide or a sneaky escape.

Gaming as a viable spectator sport? Whatever next.

[Ed: Unfamiliar with British phrasing? "Whatever next" is a simple abbreviation of the more unwieldy "Whatever will those crazy cool cats think of next?" — watch this space for more in the "British English 101" series!]