noooo you could never catch up to the starcraft awesomeness that exists in korea. you'd have to have a tv channel solely dedicated to watching gameplay, with throngs of girls screaming players' names as they shout or weep with each victory or slaughter. i just don't see it happening any time soon...

i'm not saying it's going to necessarily acheive that level of importance here... in fact, it seems rather impossible given the way the korean gaming scene is ruled by their reliance on lan houses, etc.

but if any game is set to make any kind of impact here on the sort of scale that starcraft did in korea, it's halo 2. and thankfully, it's quite amazing. i watched matt finish it yesterday while i was making gameplay movies, and it's truly better than the first in every respect. in fact, i'll have much less problem listening to the sheer adoration for the series now that bungie has delivered a product that lives up to all the acclaim the game will no doubt garner.