i believe fatality has had the most media exposure in the US (print and tv) in the past few years.

The main thing is in Korea gaming is huge, it's main stream, it has a high penetration rate as far as awareness goes in the general population.
In America, it's still not as big despite the big tournaments and handsome cash prizes given away with the media attention that follows it, there is a low rate of awareness in the general american public. There's no David Beckham or Posh Spice of the North American gaming scene where the media falls in love with them and their every move is covered in the papers/tabloids.

I would say with the popularity of Counter-Strike and all the major events that are poping up around CAL and CPL (http://www.caleague.com/) (http://www.thecpl.com/) that will take off pretty soon.. they are already starting to get some major news coverage. Counter-Strike forums are readily avaliable with people that discuss specific players, team strategies, and team match ups just to name a few subjects.

Yes, we haven't had total mainstream gaming stars here, not the way "Slayer Boxer" seemed to be popular in Korea, for example. What will it take? A more significant percentage of the population active in gaming? A deeply memorable star? Controversy and aggressive promotions? The proliferation of television related to games?

There might be the problem of existing social perception; there's still a wound-up spring of conservative social policy in the west waiting to prove that gaming is roughly equivalent to baby-eating.

I don't think we should assume its just one part of culture; the perception of gaming being a lazy pursuit occupied primarily by stoners and geeks is still going strong.

Still, maybe a celebrity is what gaming needs after all. Maybe an existing star marrying a professional UT2003 player, would do it. Legitimacy, after all, is a communicable disease.

"Its Drew Barrymore! And who's that beau on her arm? Why, its <gAtchaM3N>P0rth0s! Looks like he left the Wang Computing shirt at home tonight! Hahaha!"

The DDR scene has it's share of gaming victors. Not necessaritly online, but everyone into the DDR scene knows about JDogg, Take, etc...

I think as soon as virtual reality becomes a reality we will see a much bigger increase in the number of gaming heroes out there. The could be as well known as professional sports players.

"Yes, we haven't had total mainstream gaming stars here, not the way "Slayer Boxer" seemed to be popular in Korea, for example. What will it take? A more significant percentage of the population active in gaming? A deeply memorable star? Controversy and aggressive promotions? The proliferation of television related to games?"

I think it's going to take competitions worth watching. And by that I mean competitions that have large sponsorships, are televised on the main networks, and have large payouts/prizes.

It would probably start with a Quake/Counter-Strike styled tournament, and possibly a Warcraft tournament as well. Backed with ten thousand dollar prizes for the winner, with sponsors like Sony, or Microsoft, and aired on NBC in the middle of a Sunday afternoon.

Extreme sports didn't get truly big until some industry visionaries came up with the X Games, and after that, it was a large downhill landslide of suport.

We need for some gaming industry visionaries to put together a similar tournament, and see what happens from there.

Congratulions for your site. My friend Fabio has indicated you and i like much. Sorry the english, but i am a brazilian.

Anyone remember 'The Wizard,' with Fred Savage? Competitions on par with the Super Mario 3 tournament in the movie would draw plenty of attention, and could branch out into each of the gaming genres for widespread appeal.

An interesting step is Lollapalooza this year, sponsored by Xbox. They hold tournaments for Soul Calibur 2, RTCW, and other games, accompanied by audiences full of people one might not normally find playing Tony Hawk or SC2.

It's all a matter of convergence... giving people who like sports or music incentive to take the extra step to play games like Madden 2k4 or Amplitude is the key.

At a dutch festival (Lowlands) a few years back they held Quake2 tournaments. The great thing was that they made very good use of the Spectator cams. They basically had 3 spectatorcams running around (like cameramen...) and they had a director putting it on the big screen, sometimes even switching to the players views. Very spectacular. It was a lot of fun, even though i didn't make it past the qualifiers...