Gaming TV In South Korea

Yesterday we discussed how maybe, someday, competitive gaming will have a place in the states. Today GameSetWatch points out a Gamespot article from last week showing us that (as with many things game-related) the South Koreans have already beaten us to the punch when it comes to gaming TV. From the article: "Two cable TV networks, known as Ongamenet and MBCgame, compete for viewers with their own 24-hour programming dedicated to PC and console gaming. Fierce gaming competitions are held, backed by major corporate sponsors, and studios overflow with live audiences trying to catch a glimpse at players who are practically given celebrity status. The programming is an odd mix of competition coverage, game news, and school-girl-cute window dressing. Curious to know what's on tonight in Seoul? GameSpot News takes you on a trip East, clicker in hand. "

Comments

Koreans started doing this YEARS ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

South Koreans have done this for over five years now. Starcraft: Brood War is the game of choice by far due to its competitive nature and reliance on a player's reaction time, thinking ability, multitasking ability, and strategic and tactical prowess. Other games such as MMORPGs and FPS related titles are somewhat popular but not as complex and skill-based (as biased as it sounds) as Starcraft: Brood War.

This game has turned into a national phenomenon. The South Korean government visited E3 many years ago and decided that they needed to bring their nation into the modern era. They chose StarCraft as the game which they would endorse. Their nation now has millions of StarCraft gamers. Every South Korean who has moved to the U.S. that I know of can hold a relatively complex conversation with me about the intricacies of the StarCraft game and the legendary professional players that are currently in Korea.

Fatality, a gamer featured due to the fact that he is probably the only professional FPS player in the world with more than $250,000 of tournament wins, doesn't even come close to the scene in Korea. There are currently more than twenty professional StarCraft gamers making more than a half-million U.S. dollars per year. This number isn't going to shrink any time soon, either.

This is OLD, OLD, OLD news. StarCraft players have known about this for a LONG time. In 2002, Koreans outnumbered EVERYONE ELSE on Blizzard's Battle.net gaming service by nearly ten to one.

-HFF

Re:Koreans started doing this YEARS ago.

[kevin.fowler]

And my Protoss merely cry as we are Zerg rushed within 30 seconds of play.

Re:Koreans started doing this YEARS ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please stop hipstering up the issue, HFF. Coverage for professional gaming on Gamespot is the first step in making the extended cable marketroids realize there's a market for journalistic coverage of big-money gaming tournaments. Once they catch on, I'll actually have an excuse to abdicate responsibilities in order to play video games - "I'm practicing so I can go pro!"

Re:Koreans started doing this YEARS ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to add that while StarCraft is still popular in South Korea, there are more WarCraft III tournements (thus professional players) going on. When I was in Seoul last April, I watched some reruns of StarCraft and WarCraft tournements on those 42" plasma TVs around 5am while waiting for the first bus to arrive at the airport. My travel companion, a vivid StarCraft/WarCraft fan, was overjoy.

Other random facts of gaming in South Korea:

• Most (all?) professional gamers are in clans sponsored by companies like Intel and AMD.
• There were StarCraft-branded soft drinks and snacks back when it was the game.
• The players have to wear Star Trek-like sci-fi costumes while gaming.
• Koreans generally prefer RTS and RPG over FPS; the game channels never showed a single game of CounterStrike whenever I watched.

COEX Mall

[asavage]

If you are ever in Seoul they often are filming at the COEX Mall. I watched them play a few times last summer. Usually the gamers are dressed up in costumes for the event.

G4 should be taking notes...

[shoptroll]

Seriously, G4 has and always will be a joke. They no longer resemble anything remotely like a technology channel anymore. They have develolved into some sort of MTV/Spike wanna-be targeted at wanna-be gamers in the adolescent market.

Re:G4 should be taking notes...

[jackbird]

I think the cable companies realize it, too. My cable feed still claims to carry G4, but instead shows a channel called OLN that seems to be devoted entriely to the sport of bull riding.

Re:G4 should be taking notes...

[Braino420]

Dead on. I enjoyed watching shows like Screensavers(which they canceled of course), but recently, these shows like X-Play... What.the.fuck. Who the hell is that deustch-bag host? He's that one annoying kid that tries to be cool and funny, but definately isn't.

The teenagers are ruining our tv programs!!!

Re:G4 should be taking notes...

[shoptroll]

Now that G4TV is now showing reruns of TNG I think it's obvious that a merger with Spike might be on the way. Seeing as someone got the bright idea that G4 and TecTV had some overlap, maybe they're trying to move in on Spike's territory.

So much for getting girls interested in games. Maybe they'll absorb Lifetime after Spike?

Are these shows online?

[antdude]

Are these Korean gaming shows available to watch online and/or download?

I remember...

[non0score]

watching the recordings of the South Korean Starcraft: Brood War finals about 5 years ago. It's funny how not only are we behind in having the stations, but the news of South Koreans having these TV stations is so old itself. Of course, that's assuming we even care to have these channels....

I want my game competition channel

[rolosworld]

I wish I had a channel that shows only games competitions.. sort of ESPN for gamers