Behold the glory of an epic Starcraft battle staged by folded paper. We've read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and we wonder if making a thousand Hydralisks counts toward wish fulfillment as well? We definitely hope it would count toward our wish of an origami based RTS that's for sure.

The photos in the gallery below were originally found on a Korean Yahoo groups website and since then have wandered across the internet for people's viewing pleasure. The pieces get much more detailed on closer inspection and are quite impressive. Now this is what we call "Folding@home."

[Via Hemmy.net]

Electronic Arts has acquired a stake in Chinese publisher The9, Gamasutra reports. The US-based publishing powerhouse will have 15% of the The9's common stock, which amounts to US $167 million. The two companies also announced a licensing agreement that makes The9 the sole publisher of FIFA Online in mainland China.

EA had previously half-denied reports of an investment, saying that at the time there was "no signed agreement with The9." Rumors of an investment date back to at least September 2006. EA Asia Online president Hubert Larenaudie stated that he believes this is "another significant step" in building EA's presence in Asia.

It is unclear how this arrangement might affect The9's relationship with EA rival Vivendi, who licenses the massively popular World of Warcraft to the publisher.

That 80GB PlayStation 3 that's been kicking around the FCC's filing cabinets for awhile isn't just being considered, it's finally going to see a release. In South Korea. According to a press release on Sony's South Korean site, the 80GB version will be released on June 16 for KWR 518,000, or $556. That's less money for more geebees!

While Sony denied a European release to GamesIndustry.biz, we can't help but think all that FCC paperwork wasn't someone's idea of a good time. With the 20GB model out of the way, and a cacophony of critics asking for price drops, it sounds like an opportune time to add this second SKU to the PlayStation 3 lineup worldwide.

[Via Engadget]

For the past eight months EA has been offering FIFA Online for free in South Korea. The strategy being: if you can't beat 'em (software pirates), join 'em. Much like any other company that owns digital media sought after by consumers, EA has had to contend with the free, albeit illegal distribution of its products across the internet. So FIFA Online is free in South Korea ... with a catch.

EA has divided the cost of FIFA into micropayments, sold as "enhancements." Want to extend the career of a star player? It'll cost you some change. The approach has proved agreeable to consumer habits -- and presumably less conducive to piracy. Since last May, EA has sold roughly 700,000 enhancements. Cha-ching!

Who says DS can't handle an MMORPG? South Korean publisher Nexon has finally confirmed its bringing a version of Maple Story to Nintendo's handheld. Unlike standard sprawling MMOs, Maple Story is a side-scroller with chibi-style visuals and an emphasis on shopping. Peep this ridiculous teaser trailer.

Maple Story will debut on DS this September. Nexon has yet announce plans to release the game outside of South Korea.

[Via DS Fanboy]

Game censorship is a big news item in the past few months. Political types of all walks of life enjoy trying to stifle the medium by passing laws that don't hold up in court in the US and even get through without much of a hitch in Europe. On the other side of the world, one nation is going the opposite direction.

South Korea, which recently proposed an anti-gold farming bill, has pulled censorship on games depicting military action against their northern neighbor. Under the ban, any game that was negative toward North Korea was not permitted for sale in the South, citing they would only inflame the existing tension. However, wiser South Korean lawmakers finally realized video games have little impact on the real world, cut the rule and games like Ghost Recon 2 can now be sold.

Lawmakers from the West take note; South Korea has the right idea. When they're sitting right next to an unstable tin-pot dictator and decide that games aren't going to cause a mass invasion, we should start reassessing this whole "games make people violent" kick. Our only hope is wiser people end up in leadership positions who actually try to solve problems instead of deflecting the responsibility on an unrelated party.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism in South Korea has proposed a bill prohibiting the sale or purchase of virtual currency for anyone gaming in the country. According to the Ars Technica article, no limits would be imposed on trading.

Never mind how logistics of trying to enforce such a law, a full prohibition on a billion-dollar industry is simply a reaction to a trend which legislators have little understanding of. Even if enacted, virtual consumerism would continue to grow. A bill that taxes virtual economies would be more realistic, but could such a bill be enforced?

After years of letting disreputable third-party vendors take care of their South Korean business, Nintendo led us to believe in July that they would hold the reins by opening up its own branch in the company. So far, we've been misled.

According to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, Nintendo will take control of the South Korean operations and release the DS Lite on January 18, followed by the Wii in late 2007.

Noting that selling their products to a predominantly MMO market will be like "selling women's cosmetics to men," Iwata repeated the company's modus operandi in that they will focus on creating a "new entertainment culture" that they undoubtedly hope will appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. We've heard all this before, so don't hold your breath until Nintendo makes good on its so far empty promises to the region.

The official Nintendo of Korea website is live and features local celebrity Jang Dong-gun playing his DS.

File this under "too despairing to be fiction." 4 color rebellion has been investigating Nintendo of Korea, which was supposed to launch in July to show a bigger drive into the South Korean market. Currently, Nintendo is distributed through Daiwon, who "does a notoriously terrible job of handling Nintendo."

Unfortunately, it seems Nintendo's foray into South Korea has been less than stellar. As 4cr explains in a first-hand account, Nintendo of Korea is more of a red herring, and all distribution is still run by the infamous Daiwon.

The entire account is disgusting, with one Daiwon representative, who "spoke like an uneducated thug," displaying open animosity about the company. "Did you see Nintendo written on this building?!," he exclaimed, "we don't ****** care about that ****!" The account indicates Nintendo either does not care about the Korea, or has decided not to put effort into infiltrating the market. With the worldwide Wii launch fast approaching, Iwata et al. need to re-examine its focus on penetrating new regions.

First SARS, then bird flu, and now video games. In the past three years, South Korea has been a hotbed for the contemporary world's most deadly plagues.

Despite government intervention, an estimated 1 million South Koreans exhibit symptoms of the most severe stages of the gaming virus, forcing many to drop out of school or quit their jobs. Some are so sick they can barely eat or maintain an appropriate level of personal hygiene. In 2005, at least seven individuals fell victim to the disease, and according to a recent survey, 6 out of 10 South Koreans, ages 9 to 39, show signs of infection.

Some speculate that the gaming plague has found a home in South Korea due to the country's fascination with new technology, a government policy that encourages the internet as an engine for economic growth, and a prevalence of urban, high-rise apartment blocks that make broadband networks commercially viable. It is not known at this time, to what extent, the video game virus has spread beyond South Korean borders. Here in the US, the threat level remains 'orange.'