You think you're excited about Starcraft II?
by Justin McElroy 
{ May 19th 2007 at 9:00PM }
We know that the announcement of Starcraft II has all but caused the internet to explode, and we admit to being totally stoked enough by that intro trailer to describe ourselves as "totally stoked" in a public forum. But can you imagine what it must be like in Korea? Seriously, can you imagine? It would be like people in the United States finding out that there was a sequel to American Idol that would also power their cars. We thought on this Starcraft Saturday it might be helpful to remind you how it looks when an entire culture hovers near the brink of insanity and is subsequently pushed off.
Watch the above video, those are 10,000 people waiting for the announcement of the game. Watch this feature. If you can get past the extremely energetic host, you can see an American guy wishing that he had been born and raised in Korea so he could be a "rock star" ... of Starcraft. Read this blog to get 1UP's James Mielke's first-hand account of the madness. Our question to you: Do you pine for a culture like that of Korea, or are you happy losing you mind in the privacy of your own home?
Watch -- Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Gaming in Korea
Read -- BWI Live Blog From Seoul, South Korea
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GaryM @ May 19th 2007 9:27PM
Personally, I would have loved to have been there with my fellow StarCraft nuts when they announced StarCraft II.
gir @ May 19th 2007 9:27PM
It's official. Koreans are the most insane people in the planet.
kingofwale @ May 19th 2007 9:32PM
although no offense, those people don't look too excited,
I hope at least they were treated with food and some freebies. Enix Square plans better party tho.
aaron @ May 19th 2007 9:33PM
Terrible clip....it looks like that was before the real announcement.
Roland @ May 19th 2007 9:43PM
OMG! I cant wait. StarCraft was the best RTS ever and one of the funnest multiplayer games online. As long as they can keep the hackers out this will be the only game to pull me away from Halo 3.
mflynn00 @ May 19th 2007 10:10PM
that yahoo guy is F*&^&^ annoying
Slaziman @ May 19th 2007 10:12PM
Huh? They don't do anything
Darb2k @ May 19th 2007 10:23PM
CBC up here in Canada showed a documentary about professional gaming in Korea. Definitely better then those ones posted.
Check it out,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P39gP4QnXxE
alex2ex @ May 19th 2007 10:53PM
are you stupid or what??? this is before the announcement you morons.
Alcevious @ May 19th 2007 11:01PM
Is the video supposed to not show anybody's reaction?
Murdoink @ May 19th 2007 11:05PM
Watching SCII's debut trailer that was recorded live on the event is crazy, all those koreans cheering when they see the SCII logo onscreen is just insane (not that I didn't cheer when I watched it at home)
alex2ex @ May 19th 2007 11:07PM
can you read?? }"Watch the above video, those are 10,000 people WAITING FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the game."
dsub @ May 19th 2007 11:49PM
If gaming ever becomes that "huge" in America, I will likely stop playing games. I can't stand when games are given a machoesque "competitive" nature. I just want to have fun. I could care less if some uber 733t dipship just pwned me.
SC2 @ May 20th 2007 12:42AM
I just saw the preview trailer and gameplay videos. It looks awesome. A group of Zealots slaughter marines, who are then wiped out by siege tanks, that are eaten up by protoss immortals, who gets beaten up by some marines with jumpacks which are then defeated by Protoss Stalkers. Really cool.
http://starcraftgamer.com/2007/05/20/starcraft-2-cinematic-trailer-and-gameplay-videos/
Brian B. @ May 20th 2007 12:56AM
That guy who said there were people in the mall watching it is right! I went there during the summer at the Samsung station Co-EX Mall and they were filming a game match up live! thats insane !
Kyrra @ May 20th 2007 4:02AM
@8
Thanks for posting that link. That was a great overview of the Korean culture around video games.
Region2 @ May 20th 2007 7:21AM
Ah yes Starcraft. I'm waiting for you. A second starcraft will come out for a new generation of college students that will discover the joys of weed and SC and discover that going to class isn't that important. I want to see how many kids get kicked out of their school from not studying due to too much SC.
Neebs @ May 20th 2007 9:18AM
@#8
They showed that here in America as Gamer Generation on our various Discovery Channels.
kevinski @ May 20th 2007 11:17AM
I'd like to see the video for when the actual announcement takes place. I mean, I was pretty amused whenever I saw the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkXeVmRYhM
That should go to show just how enthusiastic Korea is as far as StarCraft goes.
squid @ May 20th 2007 12:06PM
Hey man, thanks for the sweeping generalization about Americans.
Gouki4u @ May 20th 2007 4:04PM
Being there, and going completely insane when they played the cinematic trailer would have been fun. Check out the video of it on youtube, and listen to the cheering. It is nuts. I can only imagine what that crowd looked like then.
I'm not as completely stoked as the average Korean gamer I'm sure, but being in that kind of environment is contagious.
ZippyDSMlee @ May 20th 2007 11:37PM
I have 3 wishes for SC2 1&2 better AI and when you put it on hard the AI will be evil and 3. have twice as many active units than WC3....
laesperanzapaz @ May 20th 2007 11:53PM
PC, meet killer app.
Killer app, meet PC.
arkling @ May 21st 2007 12:56PM
I think this is aweszome, (Starcraft 2) but why do I get the feeling that the timing is somewhat related to Halo Wars ?
Jake @ May 21st 2007 8:22AM
@24
No offense to Halo Wars, but Starcraft 2 is much, much bigger. Halo fans aren't necessarily RTS fans and they're different platforms (Halo Wars 360 only?). Millions of people are buying Starcraft no matter what. It would be like Halo3 setting its release date based on Killzone 2.
Jack of No Trades @ May 21st 2007 8:40AM
Don't count out Halo Wars yet. I bet that game will be alot better than expected.
Saneless @ May 21st 2007 9:28AM
I'm happy I live in a culture that allows me to do things OTHER than play one particular video game forever and ever. I'd rather be the worst person in the world at Starcraft than lead that life. You know, things like getting drunk, hanging out with friends, writing, listening to music, watching video games, having sex, laughing, and just generally having a life. Though I will admit I'm sure most of the starcraft people over there probably have better lives than most WoW players here.
sketcher @ May 23rd 2007 2:16AM
Dude from the yahoo games clip looks like Quagmire from family guy