Man dies after 50 hour videogame binge

Playing video games shouldn't be a way to qualify for the Darwin Awards, but thanks to a South Korean man, that seems to no longer be true.

According to Reuters, the man, identified only by his family name, Lee, died after a 50-hour binge in which he played online battle simulation games almost nonstop. Police in the southeastern city of Taegu said the 28-year-old man died of heart failure nearly three days after sitting down for the first time at a cybercafe there.

The only times he got up, apparently, was to visit the bathroom, eat or take a quick nap.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official told Reuters.

According to one South Korean news agency, Lee had recently quit his job to devote more time to playing video games. That, of course, is an entirely new twist on the usual, "I'm quitting to spend more time with my family" reason for bailing on a paying gig.

And, sadly, Lee had apparently just told his mother--who had been looking for him after he didn't return home--that he was about to leave the cafe when he keeled over.