Many companies in the game industry are prioritizing mainland Asian expansions as a way to grow their business and tap into the devoted game market there. According to the Nikkei, Nintendo has reportedly been supporting a South Korean developer who's doing a number of titles including a touch screen-based DS game.

The DS reportedly sold 1.4 million units in South Korea, and 2.6 million game titles. Nintendo is looking at Taiwan as well for DS sales, and will sell localized DS systems in cell phone stores there.

Thompson Financial also reported on what Sony's doing to catch some of that audience:

Meanwhile, the game unit of Sony Corp. (nyse: SNE - news - people ) plans to work with Taiwanese authorities to train game creators starting in September, the Nikkei said.

It will dispatch personnel to a local educational institution to offer instruction, with newly developed games to be distributed online for the PlayStation 3.

Sony Computer Entertainment also intends to expand operations in South Korea, where it distributes video online for the PlayStation 3.

The article didn't specify what sort of expansion of operations Sony is planning, but console penetration has faced challenges in regions like South Korea and China where the audience seems vastly to prefer PC MMOs.

Japan's Nintendo, Sony to explore Asian game market - report [Thompson Financial via Forbes]

Reader Peter sends in these scans of Counter Strike Source ads that ran recently in a Seoul, Korea free daily paper. Peter also explained the country's love affair with the game.

Here in Korea CS clones like 'Special Force' and 'Sudden Attack' are popular despite having sub-CS1 graphics. They are free and players can pay for ad ons. I guess CS Source here will operate in the same way. I found the layout of the ad to be amusing. The history of CS comming out of the clouds, the slightly oxymoronic '2nd premiere' and the sparse nature of the screenshot with only the pistol in screen. Be interesting to see if a free CS Source becomes huge here in Korea.

I wonder how The Orange Box would do there? Hit the jump to see the bottom half of this full page ad.

When the Air Force uploaded a feature on its website of the military life of gamer Im Yo-han, known as the king of the Terran tribe in Starcraft, it was temporarily overloaded with a crush of video game fans trying to access the page. Visitors to the Air Force's website have doubled since it founded its gamers team.

The pro game industry has welcomed the establishment of the military teams. Many pro gamers who have postponed their military service start dates will have to don their uniforms by the end of this year.

The Army is also considering starting their own team. The Navy team will be going by the moniker "Aegis" while the Air Force has dubbed their team with the slightly cooler name of ACE (Airforce Challenge E-sports).

Korean Navy to Launch Online Game Team [Digital Chosun Ilbo - English Edition]

It took a good day of calls and emails, but Blizzard just got back to us about the rumor floating around that Starcraft 2 will be announced next month during their World Wide Invitation in Seoul, South Korea.

According to a Korean website, StarCraft 2 is being developed in 3D with a new race and lots of changes for existing units. The site went on to say that additional details would be revealed during Blizzard's WWI on May 19th in Seoul.

When reached for comment today this was Blizzard's official response:

We do intend to announce a new product at the Worldwide Invitational next month in Korea, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and interest in getting an advance look at what that will be, but players will have to wait until May 19th to find out more. Also, we have a very strong connection with the characters and settings of StarCraft, and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don't have anything new to announce in that regard at present.

So that's a yes on a StarCraft 2, eventually, and a yes to a product announcement next month. The only question now is are they one in the same. Brian Crecente

Samsung, SK Telecom, Shinhan Sponsor South Korean Alien Killers [Bloomberg]
Fatal1ty Heading to Primetime via 60 Minutes

Jim Rossignol, from PC Gamer UK, reposted his excellent write-up on Korean gaming culture for PC Gamer on his website. The rather lengthy article chronicles his trip to South Korea and research into why Korean gamers are both fanatical and so very different from the rest of the world's gamers.

Seoul, South Korea. To a fanfare of Asian nu-metal and the sound of a thousand screaming fans, a young Korean man enters a dazzling arena. Like an American wrestler at the heart of a glitter-glazed Royal Rumble, he strides down a ramp towards the stage. Adorned in what appears to be a space suit and a large white cape, he heads out to meet his opponent on the stadium s ziggurat focus. Amid a blaze of flashbulbs and indoor fireworks he climbs the steps, and is exulted by the thronging crowd. Only twenty years old, and with no less than half a dozen TV cameras tracking his progress, this bizarre figure seems to be unfazed by his predicament. Diligently he waves to the crowd.

My interpreter, the amiable Mr Yang, leans forward. To my brother he is a great hero. My brother can t get enough of this. He has been to see him play many times.

So this guy has a lot of fans? I say, knowing the answer but nevertheless incredulous.

Hundreds of thousands in his fan club, says Yang. Impossible to track the number of people who watch him play.

Impossible, because the man on the stage is on Korean television almost every day. He is about to sit down and play what is close to becoming Korea s national sport: Starcraft. His name is Lee Yunyeol, or in game [RED]NaDa Terran. He is The Champion. Last year his reported earnings were around $200,000. He plays a seven year-old RTS for fame and fortune and to many Koreans he is an idol. Every night over half a million Koreans log on to Battlenet and make war in space, many of them with dreams of becoming like Yunyeol. But his skill is almost supernatural. Few people who play all day long will be able to claim a fraction of his split-second timing and pitiless concentration. Practicing eight hours a day, Yunyeol s methods and tactics are peerless. Well, almost peerless. In fact there are two or three other players who command similar salaries. They might not hold the crown now, and one of them will probably take it from him soon, but for now at least, Yunyeol is king.

While the story is a worthy read and offers some interesting insight into how gamers and game publishers act in Korea, it never really figures out why.

I'm personally fascinated with this topic because I lived in Seoul for a few years back in the early 80s and there didn't even seem to be a sign of the PC gaming boom that has since swept the nation.

I mean, I had trouble finding arcades and there certainly weren't any Net Cafes. I'm guessing that Rossignol is right on at least one reason for the explosive growth, nationalized broadband.

Sex, Fame and PC Baangs: How the Orient plays host to PC gaming s strangest culture [Thanks Jim and Tim]