$473,000 to play Warcraft III
Jae-ho Jang is a happy man. The 22-year-old video game player has just inked the second largest contract in the history of e-sports to play Warcraft III for a living. His take? A three year contract worth 700,000,000 won, which is roughly $473,000.
Jang has relished the chance to play for a Korean team, having played recently for a foreign team, and promised to live up to his big salary by bringing home a lot of wins. In press conference Jang stated, “I am honored to play for a Korean professional gaming team for Koreans…I will give everything to my fans and FOX team by winning lots of titles in 2009.”
Jang become the second highest paid player in e-sports history. Only Yoo-yeoh Lee has been paid more, getting 750,000,000 won in 2007. Jang earns far more than the highest paid Starcraft player, Bisu, who is paid 150,000,000 won, a relative bargain in comparison.
Via Kotaku.
Starcraft nears one decade
Starcraft will be 10 years old in March of this year. While it was a popular game when it released, I think no one would have predicted that people would still be playing it nearly a decade after its release. Who would have thought that it would evolve into the top e-sport medium in the world? Even today in Korea, 11 professional teams, in a league compromising of over 300 pro players compete for millions of dollars of prizes. Further, the ranks of amateur leagues and tournaments are packed with eager young players. Yes, Korea isn’t the entire world, but you can’t dismiss the influence of that country in today’s professional gaming scene. Read more
Cosplay Nazis in Seoul
January 21, 2009 by Jin
Filed under Games, Off the Wall, Recent
Korean game developer, Dragonfly, throwing all common sense and tact out the door, has decided that using Nazi cosplayers would be an effective way to promote their new game, Karma II.
Perhaps, political correctness or historical sensitive hasn’t quite reached the Hermit Kingdom, but a demonstration like this can’t be seen in a good light. I wonder how this would have been taken if the strapping young men would have been cosplaying in Japanese uniforms? Given the virulent Korean reaction to anything reminding them of the Japanese occupation, I don’t doubt that the young men would be tarred and feathered and perhaps even brought up on criminal charges.
One more picture, this one with a decidely gay Village People vibe:
I'm speechless. It's not the way I would promote a game about WWII.
Read the full article at mmosite.
