Why Korea Has Not Caught The Nintendo Fever

In Korea, the land of MMORPGs and LAN gaming, one would have thought that their gamers would take no notice of the recently-launched handhelds or the upcoming next-gen consoles. Apparently, many were wrong in this belief. It’s not that they’re not interested. In fact, there has been a clamor for such devices and gadgets, especially for those from Nintendo. Electronics shops carry Xbox 360 and Playstation demo booths and merchandise a-plenty. But where, oh where has Nintendo gone, and in a country where mothers are desperately trying to find any Mario or Mario-related game for their children? A writer relates the sad truth about Ninty merchandise being nowhere in the region.

N. Rumas, a gamer and writer from 4-Color Rebellion was able to get down to the bottom of this mystery during his stay in Korea. Posing the question of why there was a DS Lite shortage in the country despite the plentiful stock, as well as a response to numerous complaints about the type of customer service that the unlucky people who managed to get defective Nintendo items have been receiving, Rumas manages to trace everything down to Nintendo’s Korean distributor, Daiwon.

This company has been notorious in the Korean gaming community for not delivering. Daiwon, who is also the distributor for Studio Ghibli as well as various other manga and anime properties, has also already been accused by most gamers for just taking their clients’ money and then doing nothing.

Rumas tries to get some concrete answers directly from the people at Daiwon by paying them a visit and having a word with the head of the company. As it turns out, their offices are smack in the middle of the red-light district in a dingy building, and the whole company was composed of more or less four people.

By writing about this particular experience in the (too small) world of Nintendo Korea, Rumas hopes to be able to convey the urgency and gravity of this situation to the Nintendo honchos, if they do intend to make it in a market that has long been wanting them but has also long been denied.

Nintendo Korea needs a revolution.

In Korea, the land of MMORPGs and LAN gaming, one would have thought that their gamers would take no notice of the recently-launched handhelds or the upcoming next-gen consoles. Apparently, many were wrong in this belief. It’s not that they’re not interested. In fact, there has been a clamor for such devices and gadgets, especially for those from Nintendo. Electronics shops carry Xbox 360 and Playstation demo booths and merchandise a-plenty. But where, oh where has Nintendo gone, and in a country where mothers are desperately trying to find any Mario or Mario-related game for their children? A writer relates the sad truth about Ninty merchandise being nowhere in the region.

N. Rumas, a gamer and writer from 4-Color Rebellion was able to get down to the bottom of this mystery during his stay in Korea. Posing the question of why there was a DS Lite shortage in the country despite the plentiful stock, as well as a response to numerous complaints about the type of customer service that the unlucky people who managed to get defective Nintendo items have been receiving, Rumas manages to trace everything down to Nintendo’s Korean distributor, Daiwon.

This company has been notorious in the Korean gaming community for not delivering. Daiwon, who is also the distributor for Studio Ghibli as well as various other manga and anime properties, has also already been accused by most gamers for just taking their clients’ money and then doing nothing.

Rumas tries to get some concrete answers directly from the people at Daiwon by paying them a visit and having a word with the head of the company. As it turns out, their offices are smack in the middle of the red-light district in a dingy building, and the whole company was composed of more or less four people.

By writing about this particular experience in the (too small) world of Nintendo Korea, Rumas hopes to be able to convey the urgency and gravity of this situation to the Nintendo honchos, if they do intend to make it in a market that has long been wanting them but has also long been denied.

Nintendo Korea needs a revolution.