South Korea: the next next-gen battlefield?

Somehow the impression is made that South Korea is literally a territory all to its own when it comes to video gaming. Off the top of our heads: it’s MMO-saturated, you’ve got people widely acclaimed there for video game pwnage, and where else is Starcraft turned into a national sport? NCSoft, which counts Guild Wars, City of Heroes/Villains and the upcoming Tabula Rasa among its MMO titles, is Korean-based.

What are the chances South Korea will make a dent in the next-gen wars? We can’t hazard any guesses (really, we can’t) but we’ll soon find out anyway as Sony and Nintendo spool up for their respective PS3 and Wii Korea launches. The Korea Times reports that Sony hopes to get their console out before June, with Nintendo following suit in the second half of the year.

Microsoft‘s already there, having been released a year ago. The observation was that the online PC-dominated southern half of the peninsula would be one tough nut to crack. And Korea Times can’t report on MS Korea’s sales, because it’s being kept “confidential” (their words, not ours). On the other hand, MS Korea director Kim Dae-jin made the observation that better copy protection in the next-gen Xbox 360 should make it easier for console game publishers to thrive in the market, and that sales are “satisfying”.

A cited poll by the RuliWeb game community suggest that 36% would swing for an Xbox, 29% for the PS3, and 33% Wii. We’ll see how the next-gen counter adds up after the Korean launches.

Somehow the impression is made that South Korea is literally a territory all to its own when it comes to video gaming. Off the top of our heads: it’s MMO-saturated, you’ve got people widely acclaimed there for video game pwnage, and where else is Starcraft turned into a national sport? NCSoft, which counts Guild Wars, City of Heroes/Villains and the upcoming Tabula Rasa among its MMO titles, is Korean-based.

What are the chances South Korea will make a dent in the next-gen wars? We can’t hazard any guesses (really, we can’t) but we’ll soon find out anyway as Sony and Nintendo spool up for their respective PS3 and Wii Korea launches. The Korea Times reports that Sony hopes to get their console out before June, with Nintendo following suit in the second half of the year.

Microsoft‘s already there, having been released a year ago. The observation was that the online PC-dominated southern half of the peninsula would be one tough nut to crack. And Korea Times can’t report on MS Korea’s sales, because it’s being kept “confidential” (their words, not ours). On the other hand, MS Korea director Kim Dae-jin made the observation that better copy protection in the next-gen Xbox 360 should make it easier for console game publishers to thrive in the market, and that sales are “satisfying”.

A cited poll by the RuliWeb game community suggest that 36% would swing for an Xbox, 29% for the PS3, and 33% Wii. We’ll see how the next-gen counter adds up after the Korean launches.