There isn't much to say except that only in South Korea could a group of game developers have an autograph session with a turnout like this...

(And the line keeps growing!)

When it comes to booking live music, the folks who run the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational don't mess around. Video Games Live was there, an organization that has top orchestras and choirs perform music from popular video games synchronized with exclusive in-game footage. For this particular event, the VGL choir and orchestra performed the beloved themes from World of Warcraft and Starcraft (which you can see here and here).

Read more...

If you ever get home sick while you're Seoul, don't fret: there are plenty of American establishments where you can enjoy the disgusting comfort foods of home. Like this TGI Friday's, where the even the Korean servers wear flair and disgruntled looks...

Read more...

While we were walking around the city, we visited a "PC bang," or a South Korean internet cafe. There are over 20,000 PC bangs in South Korea; compare that with around 12,000 Starbucks or 31,000 McDonald's worldwide. PC bangs provide a place for young Koreans to socialize and play online games on computers with high speed internet connection. It costs 1,000 Won ($1) per hour and players can just check out the games they want to play. Although there were only a few people there during the daytime, PC bangs get really packed in the evenings.

Read more...

In the never-ending quest for B-roll, John, Pete, Melissa and I

woke up extra early and hit the streets of Seoul this morning, specifically the Namdaemun Market in the center of the city. It was fairly easy to navigate and we found a lot of cool things to shoot. The area is mostly shopping: clothing, kitchenware, miscellany... and lots and lots of shoes. Piles of shoes. There was also an array of interesting food vendors along the way. But words can't really describe it, so eyeball some super touristy photos after the click.

Read more...

Walking around the Olympic stadium waiting for interviews, we couldn't help but notice champion StarCraft player Kim Taek-Yong (a.k.a. "Bisu") being hounded by reporters and camerapeople. Apparently, he did well and will be playing in the finals tonight.

The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade hot air balloon was hard to miss. We didn't think they were giving out rides, but then we spotted a few journalists shooting footage from up there. So naturally, we decided to test our luck for the sake of interesting B-roll (really, we just wanted to ride in a hot air balloon). After GT John negotiated for us in Korean, we were able to snag a ride. Although I'm afraid of heights, it was pretty amazing to view the Blizzard-fest from up above.

Read more...

Once the news dropped on StarCraft 2, the journalists headed into one of three designated press rooms to file their stories using the wired internet access (the wireless network in the stadium inconveniently crashed, at least for me anyway). If you were unable to get your wireless internet to work and were unable to find an open space in the press room... well, too bad. But it's just as well: as the hot day went on, the press room began to smell more and more like the inside of a hobo's shoe. Not to mention what our companion GH Pete dubbed "the grubby-journalist-hand sandwiches" -- the complimentary sustenance immediately ruined by the filthy hands of frantic gaming journalists and/or the stench of 30 of them crammed into one small area. Bon appetit!

Read more...

In between interview times, Pete, Melissa and I headed across the street from the Olympic stadium to find some food. We found this neat little cafe that served Korean cuisine, but looked like a hipster bar in Williamsburg. I ordered Bulgogi, a traditional beef dish served with kimchi, rice and seaweed soup. Apparently, you're supposed to dump the rice into your bowl and violently mix all the ingredients together (not including the seaweed soup) with your metal chopsticks. It was extremely tasty and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't ever had Korean food.

Like I mentioned earlier, Korean competitive gamers are as famous as our own professional sports athletes. During Blizzard's presentation (and prior to the StarCraft 2 announcement and demo), they introduced some of the top players for each of the tournaments: StarCraft, WarCraft III, and new this year, World of Warcraft. (Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that this was the most Blizzard tournaments they've ever held in one place). Many of the players were South Korean, but there were several representatives from Sweden, France, China, Japan, the United States and Canada as well. And when they came on stage, one-by-one like a basketball line-up, the crowd screamed wildly.

Read more...