Korea readies for StarCraft II, Aion
2008/10/27 00:33
Koreas are already anticipating the release of Blizzard’s StarCraft II which will be released sometime in 2009:
The new game will undoubtedly have big shoes to fill as it was Korean gamers who made StarCraft one of the most successful video games ever.
Blizzard so far has sold more than 4.5 million copies of StarCraft in Korea alone and the game also spawned an industry of Internet cafes, called ``PC Rooms,'' that are now ubiquitous around the country.
The game was also responsible for the emergence of ``e-sports,'' with millions of viewers attracted to professional StarCraft players battling on television with live commentary and analysis from experts.
While Korean game developer NCsoft will start a beta next month to preview their new multiplayer online game Aion:
It's hard to imagine rival game companies rooting for NCsoft, the industry's undisputed kingpin, but that is the reality of a domestic gaming scene that hasn't seen a mega-hit in the past few years.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to make a difference in the saturated local market where gamers have been growing cold to the cookie-cutter emulations of World of Warcraft and other previous hits.
Once the darlings of the KOSDAQ market, investors have been snubbing the stocks of online game publishers as well, with only NCsoft and Neowiz Games trading above 10,000 won per share.
이올린에 북마크하기
