Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

The day before Otenami Haiken tournament, the korean players had an interiview with people from AM2. This is the first part of the interview.

Katagili, Wangan Kage, and the advertisement specialist Takuan particapated in the interview from AM2 along with a well known VF player Kyasao.

(My apologies for possilbe incorrect spellings on the people's name.)



The participants

-Shinz-

The Akira Kid. He is a pro gamer in Korea now.

-POS. Akira-


Shinz's brother.

-Lanei-


A wolf player from Korea who is fluent in Japaneses. He did translation for the Koreans.

-Kyasao-

No explanation necessary. =)

-Katagili-

The director of Virtua fighter series. If one asks about the producer of VF series, he is the one.

-Wongan Kage-

The programmer of Virtua fighter series. A friend of Kyasao.

-Takuan-

Am2 ad specialist




- About the condition of Korea's Virtuafighter scene-

Takuan: How popular is VF in Korea?

Shinz: As an arcade fighting game, it is quite popular.

Kyasao: Whenever there is a tournament in Korea, it
drags about 200-300 participants. That number is even bigger than that of Otenami Haiken3. (laugh)

Takuan: How many machines of VF are there in Korea?

Lanei: We have more than 100 card accessilbe machines.

Everyone: That much?

Kyasao: When I visited Korea last time, there were only 2 machines. Is that true?

Lanei: Yes. It seems like the matter of importing machine has gotten easier. The number of machines in Korea has been increasing.

Takuan: Which character is most popular in Korea?

Lanei: It is Akira. You can check the character usage rate in arcade, and if you see it, in almost all the arcades, Akira is the #1.

Kyasao: Is Akira popular due to its character design?
IMO, it is because of Shinz and POS.

Shinz: I think differently. I think it is because Akira has an image of a main character of the series.

Kyasao: Hmmm

Everyone: laugh

Katagili: what was that "Hmm"? (laugh)

Kyasao: Nothing really. (laugh)

Wangan Kage: Why do you two use Akira?

Shinz: I use him because when I first saw him, he looked cool. It is not necessary for the fact that he is the main character in the series.

Takuan: Who's the least popular character in Korea?

Shinz & POS: Shun!

Everyone: laugh

Kyasao: Actually, there's no shun player in Korea.

Lanei: Well. However, we have more Shun players in VF4 than before.

Takuan: Shun's unpopularity is the same in the two countries.

Wangan Kage: Well. At least, Shun is not the least popular charcter in Japan.

Katagili: That's true even though he is very close to the bottom. (laugh)



-Making money while playing games? [What's progamer?]-

Takuan: I heard that there are progamers in Korea. How do you become a progamer?

Shinz: You need to be placed high about 3 times in the major tournaments, or if you become famous, you can get a scout offer from pro teams. However, the ones who make big money are rare, and in fact, there are a lot of poor progamers. (laugh)

Takuan: I am not sure if I can ask you this but, how much money do you make when you win a tourney?

Shinz: In a relatively small tourney, you make about $10,000, and in a major tourney, you make about $20,000.

Kyasao: With $10,000, you can live a fun life without having to work, right?

Lanei: Normally, what Shinz said was about Starcraft tournaments which is the most popular game in Korea. Money varies based on popularity of games.

Kyasao: You can live without any concern for 1 year with that much money If you own a house, right? Because Koreans normally earn $4 per hour, and prices of food are about $3....

Takuan: Things are relatively cheap in Korea compared to what I thought before. If you make $4 per hour and work 8 hours a day (calculating...)
Anyhow, is it possilbe for foreigners to become a progamer in Korea?

Lanei: There are foreigne gamers in Korea.

Takuan: Oh! That's great. Consequently, being a pro is a good thing. Is there any Japanese progamer in Korea?

Shinz: Not that I know of.

Kyasao: Can I be one if I come over? (laugh)

Shinz: Let me see. (laugh) If you are one of the top players in the world, I think it is possilbe.

Takuan: Do progamers play games all day long because it is their job?

Shinz: Prior to a big tourney, only playing game is allowed. Usually, there is a coach who takes team members out to lunch or something, but otherwise, you are not allowed to go outside.

Katagili: Interesting. Is there no earning if you don't do well in tourneys?

Shinz: Some teams pay monthly to their players, and some teams pay based on the result in tourneys. If you do well, you will make more money.

Katagili: Hehe. This really is a business and job. It is amazing since there is no progamers or such in Japan.

Shinz: The most famous progamer in Korea makes $200,000 a year.

Everyone: Damn...........!!!!!!

Takuan: That's like pro sport players. There should be a lot of people who want to become a progamer.

Kyasao: $200,000 a year....? That's one year worth of no work.

Katagili: Only one year of no work? It is way more than that!! (laugh)

Shinz: It seems like all he(Kyasao) thinks about is no work and all play. (laugh)

Everyone: laugh

Katagili: In order to become good at games, is there any thing you can do without a lot of practices?

Shinz: (laugh). Well, in order to become really good, you should do a lot practices.

Takuan: How does other people see progamer as? In Japan, there is an image of gamers=dark.

Lanei: The image of gamers was not good in Korea before, either. However, due to the recent game broadcasting on TV and all the magazines about the game, being a progamer has even become a goal for today's kids in Korea.

Kyasao: The image of gamers look different from that
in Japan. Is it because Korea has prize for the
tournament winners?

Wangan Kage: There is no prize in Japanese tournaments. Did prize exist for the touneys from the beginning?

Shinz: Not from the beginning; however, it has settled in after games started being broadcasted on TV.

Kyasao: TV broadcasting seems very necessary. I heard Korea has a 24 hour game channel.

Lanei: There is one even though that's for cable TV. There is also one on the national channel.

Takuan: There were some game Japanese channels before, but they do not exist anymore.

To be continued.....


Source: www.virtuafighter.co.kr
Translated by maddy

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

gooood stuff.. very interesting, ill defenitlly read the continued.. thats what gaming is evolving to..a pro sport like football or hockey...i bet it will be just like that in a few yrs or so..good stuff maddy

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

[ QUOTE ]
rezned said:
i bet it will be just like that in a few yrs or so

[/ QUOTE ]
in a few years...you mighta said that a decade ago.....I guess somebody doesn't know who Slayers_Boxer` is /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif
- - -
Much appreciation Maddy, they seem to have a good sense of humor.
- - -
Being a pro-gamer in Korea, but not actually being from Korea is insanely difficult from what we have seen over the years in Starcraft, I think Elky and AMD_Grrrrr are the only ones that really stick out in my mind.

Isn't there an all Starcraft channel in addition to a competitive video game channel? BAH~! It'll never be like the fantastic quality of G4, and X-tended play /versus/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Great job maddy. Thank you for taking the time to translate it.

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Dang, Maddy, just was I was getting around to working on the Japanese version. Oh well, you saved me time of translation. ^^

I can think of a few pro gamer types in Japan - Homestay Akira comes to my mind, simply because he's so very good with several different things.

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Thanks for translating this Maddy /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

I have got to get to Korea. It is the promise land. /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

$200 000 a year?

Jesus!

*runs off to book a plane ticket*

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Here is the second part of the interview.


The participants

-Shinz-

The Akira Kid. He is a pro gamer in Korea now.

-POS. Akira-


Shinz's brother.

-Lanei-


A wolf player from Korea who is fluent in Japaneses. He did translation for the Koreans.

-Kyasao-

No explanation necessary. =)

-Katagili-

The director of Virtua fighter series. If one asks about the producer of VF series, he is the one.

-Wongan Kage-

The programmer of Virtua fighter series. A friend of Kyasao.

-Takuan-

Am2 ad specialist


-About Korea's overall video game scene-

Takuan: What games are popular in Korea thesedays?

Lanei: Now, it's Starcraft. There will be a tournament final match in the Cham-sil baseball stadium.

Everyone: Ohh!!

Lanei: It is a home stadium for the Seoul pro baseball team, and I heard that the event will be held there.

Takuan: Will it be broadcasted on TV?

Shinz: Of couse.

Takuan: Only pro gamers are allowed to participate?

Lanei: Not necessarily. You can participate as an amature; however, pros have some advantages over amature players.

Takuan: Do pro gamers win tournaments most of time?

Shinz: Winners tend to be out of pro gamers most of time, but recently new faces've been doing well in the tournament compared to veteran players.

Kyasao: It seems like there is a surge of new generation. Is there any case in which someone is very strong but never becomes a pro? It might be something like, "I don't want to play games as a job. It shoud remain as a hobby." (laugh)

Shinz: No, I doubt it. (laugh)

Takuan: Are there any other big tournaments for other games except for Starcraft?

Shinz: Warcraft tournaments are pretty big,too.

Wangankage: Real time simulation games are big in Korea.

Takuan: Are these two the main games being played in Korea?

Kyasao: What about Quake or Counterstrike?

Shinz: There are not many people playing Quake since it's been 3 years after the game's got released. There are not many Counterstrike playes in Korea, either.

Kyasao: In other words, RTS games are more popular than FPS games like Quake.

Lanei: Exactly. The trend has begun with Starcraft, though.

Katagiri: Recent version of Quake looks confusing when I try to watch the game...

Takuan: Wait, weren't you quite good at Quake back in the day, Katagiri?

Katagiri: I only played Quake 1, and as far as Quake 1 is concerned, I was in the top 5 in Japan.

Shinz: Well, Isn't it true that there were only like 5 people played Quake in Japan? (laugh)

Everyone: (laugh)

Katagiri: Maybe! (laugh)

Takuan: Are there any popular pro teams?

Lanei: There are.

Shinz: Teams are usually associated with companies.

Kyasao: If companies, you mean sponsors?

Lanei: Yes.

Katagiri: Hehe- It really is like pro sports.

Takuan: So, do players wear clothes with their companies logos on when they play in tournaments, such as F1 racer?

Lanei: Yeah. They wear something like astronut uniforms when they play. (laugh)

Wongankage: Then, are mouses or Keyboards used by pro gamers sold well in the market?

Shinz: If he's a famous pro gamer, there is certain model for that player. In fact, the ones that used by pro gamers in the past often become very expensive due to the premium.

Takuan: what is the game that you two have been playing a lot recently then?

Shinz & Pos: VF!

Everyone: Ohh!!!! Thanks!

Takuan: Is there any other games of which you are interested in becoming a pro gamer?

Shinz: I like FPS personally, so if there is a chance, I want to play those games.




-Talking to the producers!! "I want this in VF"-

Takuan: If there is something like "I want this in VF", tell us about it, such as I want 4 buttons in VF. (laugh)

Shinz: No, thanks. (laugh) I want VF to have a Korean character.

Takuan: Japanese people have an image of Korean style fight= Taekwon-do. How about this?

Shinz: Taekwon-do will be nice.

Takuan: He said he wants Taekwon-do in VF, Mr.Katagiri. (laugh)

Katagiri: Well, even though he said it now(laugh), VF4 has already come out. If it were not out yet...(laugh)

Shinz: In addition, no altitude differece will be really nice...

Everyone: (laugh)

Takuan: It sounds like you don't really have complains for VF4. Is that right?

Shinz: Yes. VF4 is very good.

Everyone: Oh! Oh!

Shinz: VF4 feels more like VF2, so I like VF4 a lot.

Wongankage: Well, in other fighting games, there are a lot of flash stuffs, such as when you hit someone there is keen flashlights going on. VF doesn't have anything like that, but I think that's the taste of VF. What do you think about that?

Shinz: When I play a game, if there are too much flashlights, it bothers my eyes. So, I prefer a game without it.

Kyasao: The matter of comfortableness of eyes. (laugh) Did you notice that when you played VF for the first time, these are different colors for a counter hit and a normal hit?

Shinz: Yes, I reconized that.

Kyasao: Hehe. Nobody in Japan knew that.

Wangankage: There are quite many people who didn't like that back in the day.

Katagiri: At first, a lot of people used to say to me many kinds of things such as, "Don't put those colors in the game. " It made me kinda upset.

Shinz: Well, I don't think the colors are that much noticible.

Wangankage: Nowadays, people are saying that if there were no color difference for hits, they would never even be able to tell. (laugh)

Kyasao: Yeah. Don't forget to ask for an installation of VF-net system in Korea.

Lanei: Ah, we all need to ask for that. (laugh)

Katagiri: As far as VF-net in Korea, we'd really like to do it, but decisions are normally made by the higher people.

Takuan: It is the matter of higher people in the company. I am sorry.

Lanei: Every VF player in Korea has PC version of VF.net accounts.

Kyasao: Right. They are all doing Battle Arena by sharing all account names and passwords. That way, in the Otenami Haiken 3, there were cheering messages from other players came up, such as "Go!" or "Don't lose!". (laugh)

Takuan: It can be used that way. I didn't even know that.

Kyasao: Since these people are the producers(laugh), you better tell them everything you want.

Katagiri: Wait.(laugh) Tell me your opinions, please.

Shinz: I think that In VF2 aggressive players have advantage; on the other hand, in VF3 defensive players have advantage over aggressive players.
I really like the fact in VF4, the game feels more like VF2 style. Please try to make next titles VF in a way that aggressive play style have advantage over defensive play style.

Katagiri: I will try hard.

Wangankage: Are you OK with opposite 2-takus?

Shinz: I think that's a sure thing.

Wongankage: Oh, is that true? Do you understand it when I say opposite 2-taku? (laugh)

-> I assume that Wongankage told Shinz the Japanese term of opposite 2-taku, but Shinz was able to understand the meaning of it.

Lanei: Yes. We do.

Kyasao: Some terms like low punch in Japanese can be understood by them because we are not far away.
Even in the US, I talked with a japanese about opposite 2-taku, and he said "Ah". (laugh) KG cancle throw can be well understood as well.(laugh)
So, in Korea's tournament, if you say "That guy uses lots of low punches" in Japanese, the player would understand and stop abusing them. (laugh)

Everyone: (laugh)

Takuan: That's it for the interview.Thanks for all the participants.



Source:www.virtuafighter.co.kr
Translated by maddy

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Thanks big time dude

 

Re: Otenami Haiken 3 aftermath-The Korean players' interview with AM2

Yeah, RTS is huge in Korea, and Koreans utterly dominate the scene. I was in the Age of Kings scene for a while (where I got this name, btw). RTSes proliferate in Korea, because of all those PC-Bangs, which are pretty much like arcades with PCs. There are even PC-Bangs in US neighborhoods with high concentration of Koreans. I can think of about 10 such locations in the NYC area alone. Oh, and the high broadband concentration - I think something like 80% of households have broadband in Korea (compared to the US, where most people have no internet connection, or use AOHell). Btw, $200K in Korea, is a lot more than $200K in the US. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif