The Nintendo Wii is finally launching in Korea, but it will only be able to play Korean-language games. On April 14, Nintendo Korea held a huge Wii debut event at the Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, saying that the console will go on sale on the 26th.
Although Korea is Japan's nearest neighbor, Nintendo has been putting off the release of the Wii in Korea. This would not be so significant if it weren't for the fact that Korea has a huge gaming population and is a country where gaming is supported by the government as an official sport. The Wii was released in North America and Japan in 2006.
Koreans Get Different Wiis
Country codes are usually segmented into N. America, Europe, and Asia, with Korea being included into Asia, but the Wii in Korea will have its independent code.
Thus, The Wiis released in Korea will not be able to play games that are sold in the United States or Japan. Similar to the codes in DVD players, the Korean Wii will have a specific country code that only enables it to play Korean-language games.
This is the second time a country code has been assigned to the game player (the first was Sega Saturn). It is an irregular decision on behalf of Nintendo, because Sony and Microsoft did not assign Korean consoles a separate code when they launched their game players.
While they may be criticized for overreacting, Nintendo is not wholly to blame for being extra sensitive. Its sales of the Nintendo DS portable game player received a blow due to illegal games made in China. Also, game players could buy a special chip for under $100 that would enable them to download games from the Internet.
Bad Luck for Korean Gamers
Unfortunately, game players (those who buy the official games) will have to wait from a few months to over a year for games to be localized. The localization includes language translation and tweaking of minor game functions.
Of course, some hard-core game players in Korea already have the Wii, bought from Japan or the United States. Those players will have to continue buying their games from foreign websites because their players will not be able to play any of the games sold in Korea.
Another boo-hoo for Korean Wii owners will be that their console won't support Game Cube games.
Eight titles will be available for Koreans on April 26: Guitar Hero3, Pangya (golf), Namco Museum Remix, Elebits, Wii Sports, FIFA 08, Rayman 2, and Zack & Wiki.
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