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TAIWAN - A teenager collapsed and died after a marathon gaming session at an Internet cafe.
The 18-year-old, identified only as Chuang, had gone to an Internet cafe in Taiwan to play 'Diablo 3'.
He reportedly had not slept and eaten while playing the game for 40 hours.
An attendant at the cafe found Chuang resting on a table on July 15 and woke him up.
Chuang took a few steps, then collapsed. He was pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital.
Some Chinese websites reported that police said he suffered a pulmonary vein embolism - a condition where blood clots form in the body when a person sits in the same position for several hours.
The police added that they will conduct an autopsy.
A doctor at the Tainan hospital where he was treated said that it was also possible that the continuous gaming had caused Chuang too much excitement, making his heart beat abnormally and causing sudden death.
Blizzard, developer of "Diablo 3," released the following media statement when news of Chuang's death broke:
"We're saddened to hear this news, and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We don't feel it would be appropriate for us to comment further without knowing all of the circumstances involved."
The statement continued: "While we recognise that it's ultimately up to each individual or their parent or guardian to determine playing habits, we feel that moderation is clearly important, and that a person's day-to-day life should take precedence over any form of entertainment."
This is the second video game-related death in Taiwan this year.
In May, a Taiwanese man died while playing video games at an Internet cafe as dozens of other patrons carried on for hours afterwards apparently unaware that they were sitting near a corpse, according to police.
The 23-year-old checked in at the cafe in New Taipei city on Tuesday night and was found dead but still sitting rigidly on a chair with his hands stretched out the following night by a waitress, police said.
The waitress last saw him talking on the phone around noon on Wednesday and his body had apparently been sitting there for up to nine hours without any of the 30 other people in the cafe noticing.
An initial police investigation found he might have died of a cardiac arrest triggered by low temperatures.