Dirty Korean Starcraft players who have taken bribes and thrown matches are sweating bullets these days as the hammer has dropped on a widespread scandal that implicates many of the nation’s top pro players. With the assistance of sAviOr, who is one of the best known Starcraft players in South Korea, gambling brokers allegedly bribed at least 11 players to throw matches for around 2,000 to 6,000 dollars a piece and ran a ‘training institute’  to foster new cheat talent.

eSports are bigger and more respected in South Korea than they are anywhere else in the world. They even have a cable channel there wholly dedicated to airing footage from Starcraft matches, so this scandal is devastating to loyal fans of the respected Korean circuit and the Korean public at large.

Starcraft is really a kind of new South Korean national pastime and top players are regularly treated like celebrities by the country’s youth. As a result of this overwhelming popularity for eSports, and predominately Starcraft, a culture of gambling has grown up around the circuit that is equally huge. There is big money motivation for unscrupulous brokers to fix matches. Two of three indicted brokers in the scandal reportedly made around $140,000 doing it. This indictment, however, is the first time the practice has ever been reliably detected and investigated.

The fallout from the scandal is likely far from over, so we will keep you up to date on how it develops. Let’s hope this serves as a lesson to competitive gaming circuits the world around.

via: Kotaku/Softpedia

And now, a topical funny:

BlizzCon 2009 is officially happening.‚  The fourth annual convention for all things Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, August 21^st and 22^nd.

This year’s BlizzCon will be bigger and better than ever before.‚  Due to a high forecast of attendees, floor space will expand from three convention halls to four.‚  That’s an entire extra hall for you and your raiding pals to soak in Blizzard’s latest offerings.

Blizzard has been known to keep secrets, but when they’re ready to divulge, BlizzCon is usually where it happens.‚  Who knows, maybe we’ll finally get a glimpse at the World of Warcraft movie fanboys have been screaming for, or perhaps, their next non-World of Warcraft MMO.‚  One thing is for sure, whatever coveted secret Blizzard decides to unveil will blow our minds.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and founder of Blizzard Entertainment says,

“We’ve been amazed by the incredible response to each of our previous BlizzCon events,” and that‚  “We’re pleased to be bringing the convention back to Anaheim this year, and we look forward to this new opportunity to meet Blizzard gamers from around the world.”

And why shouldn’t he be. ‚ With hands on time with pre-release titles, discussion panels with Blizzard developers, competitive and casual tournaments for attendees, great prizes, commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard universe, and a silent auction, this year’s BlizzCon looks to be aiming for new heights.

Keep an eye on the BlizzCon 2009 official site for further details regarding ticket availability and pricing.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft^(R) and the Warcraft^(R), StarCraft^(R), and Diablo^(R) series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net^(R), is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

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