DeKalb finally is getting a taste of a phenomenon that has swept across Asia and become one of the fastest growing business opportunities in the Eastern world.

Internet cafes are cropping up all over the Chicagoland area and DeKalb now has its own, Cybertron.

Cybertron, located at 901 Lucinda Ave., next to Domino’s Pizza in the Village Commons Bookstore complex, has been operating for about two weeks.

“It’s an entertainment center,” Cybertron co-owner James Choi said. “We’re trying to bring fun to the students, but it’s more than a gaming place.”

Choi explained that he and the other two owners aim to create a complex that gets gamers and computer users out of their homes and into a community.

He explained that the American idea of an Internet cafe comprises a cafe with a few computer terminals.

Conversely, Cybertron follows the Asian ideal of Internet cafes because it has a lot of terminals and an emphasis on the computing rather than the cafe aspects.

However, the facility has a wide range of foreign and domestic beverages and an array of snack items.

“When it gets colder, we plan to expand to more cafe-like items, like bagels and coffees,” Choi said.

The cafe works on a simple premise, hourly payments for high-speed Internet access.

The fee is $3 an hour of usage. Users sign up for a free membership at the facility and decide on a user name, then are assigned a logon ID.

After that, one can sit at a terminal, login and the computer keeps track of how long you’ve been there and how much you owe with an on-screen counter.

“I like the speed,” user Brian Marrant said. “I have cable at home, but this is much faster.”

Choi explained that over 90 percent of his customers come to play the game Counterstrike.

“You can play people in the building or anywhere else,” Marrant added.

With multiplayer gaming, group events and the ability to do anything that can be done at NIU labs, Choi and his partners are trying to create a community for young adults.

“Forty-five to 50 are coming in each day,” Choi explained. “And we expect to pay for the business within three months of operations.”

One huge benefit for students at the facility is the ability to download MP3s at speeds and use the high speed CD burners to create musical creations or movies.

Choi also added that the facility will hold a Counterstrike tourney Oct. 12.