Starcraft Korean pro gamer crazy speed

Of over 9.5 million copies of StarCraft sold across the globe, 4.5 million are thought to have been sold in Korea alone, according to HanbitSoft, the local distributor.

But the sales are just the tip of the iceberg. The game also had a profound impact on the Korean economy and culture, ushering in a lucrative professional gaming scene and feeding a boom in “PC-bang” gaming cafes.

Professional players of StarCraft are now sponsored by some of the country’s biggest corporations, and top gamers earn salaries up to twice those of the average pro baseball player. The number of PC-bang also swelled from around 100 in 1998 to 15,000 two years later.

A new word was even coined by industry insiders here – “Starcnomics” – to discuss the game’s effects. With StarCraft II debuting worldwide on Tuesday, the big question is: Can Blizzard repeat its performance?

Taken from BBC

A South Korean man has died after reportedly playing an online computer game for 50 hours with few breaks.

The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.

Professional gamers there attract huge sums in sponsorship and can make more than $100,000 a year.