I told you there'd be something special for fortnightly Korean gaming stuff soon, and here it is. We've contacted Kim Kyongsoo and Kim Seongwan, who both formerly worked at Mirinae Software and were eager to share their memories with us. Besides lots of interesting facts about what once was the most representative Korean game developer, there's a lot of insights into how the Korean gaming industry worked and works as a whole, as well as many pieces of concept art and stuff, partly provided by the interview partners and partly retrieved from old magazines.
To avoid having to make compromises with the layout, I've coded it directly in html, so you can read the interview here.
In addition, most of the existing Korean Gaming History article has been tweaked and updated with dozens of new advertisements, covers and screenshots. Part 2 is making slow but steady progress, and there should at least be one larger batch of company profiles before Duke Nukem Forever comes out.
Very surprised at the lack of comments so far - this interview must be a world first for a western website.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fascinating insight - I guess a lot of readers have difficulty relating to it. The Korean industry is alien to most of us. Very impressed with how hg101 has started to become legitimately academic to the history of gaming.
ReplyDeleteThis is what video game journalism should be about, not writing 8-page previews for the next Call of Duty.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the article made one thing clear once more: fuck pirates.