Long time reader, thought it would be time for my first post. First off I grew up in Seattle but now I am living in a small island in Korea teaching English. Anything else feel free to ask me.

 Now for some game news. In Korea there are stores called Emart (think Walmart but smaller) Up until now they have always had a few PS2 games and some xbox 360 games, no Wii or PS3 ever. Today I went in and they had a new DS display up (before that they had no handhelds) They had mario kart, new super mario bros, nintendogs, and Winning 11 (which is a huge soccer/football game in Korea that is very popular on the PC) Now in Korea PC gaming is huge, there are PC rooms everywhere. Anywhere you are you can see 2 or 3 PC rooms. But I think if they start to push the DS in Korea that is another huge market for Nintendo. Especially since the DS is cheap and it doesn't have competition from the PSP (at least from what Ive seen) Also if the DS grabs a hold in Korea then that just opens up things for the Wii since it has a lower cost then the PS3 and 360. Now I live in a pretty small place in Korea, but I have been to Seoul a few times and have seen the DS around a bit. So anyways good news for Nintendo if they can open up and gain marketshare in Korea. Which has a rapidly growing economy and I think they would enjoy gaming on the go. If I see anything else interesting from my small corner of the world I'll let everyone know.

 P.S. My birthday is today, yeah! I wish they had Wiis in Korea so I could get a chance to play one.  I'm stuck with my old xbox and video projecter (which is pretty sweet I guess)

Happy Birthday champ, let me guess, being Korean, you got a computer game.

hmm I thought Koreans were all about starcraft

Happy birthday and welcome.

happy birthday!

I bet you play Ragnarok online

Hahaa Koreans are all about Starcraft on basic cable here they usually have two channels that show Starcraft games. Other big games are Sudden Attack (Korean Counter-Strike, Maple Story, and Kart Rider which is like mario kart) So no I didn't get a computer game, and I'm not Korean. I was born in Seattle. I just come to Korea to teach for a year and spend some time outside of the US. Which I am becoming less of a fan of... but that is another topic.

Hello, I am also an American living in Korean. I have been here for about 3 years. I live in Seoul.

 The situation is a bit strange here. Korea has traditionally been put off to the side for console manufacturers.

360 launched late last year.

PS3 is scheduled to come out late this month I believe.

Nintendo DS just came out a few months ago, and nintendo has been publishing about 2 games per month. Thankfully, they are all being translated into Korean. In just a few months it has sold about 200 thousand units.

Nintendo Wii is slated to come out later this year, but there is no date as of now. Nintendo is really stepping up and I think they will do a good job. They used to sell their gamecube and gameboy products through a 3rd party company here, but recently established Nintendo of Korea. They also set the goal of 100% translation for their games.

PSP has been pretty popular here, but I never see anyone playing games on it. They always are just watching movies. It sold about 350 thousand units.

 I think one problem that console games have not caught on here is that a lot of these companies never translate them. Would you want to play games that you can't understand? Microsoft has been doing a pretty poor job of this and Sony has been slacking off as of recently. However, they may put more effort into translating PS3 games as most of them are said to be translated.

grbox if you want some info on games in korea check out www.ruliweb.com. It is all in Korean, but you should be studying it if you are living here. Also, if you want to get a Wii, next time you go to Seoul check out Yongsan electronics market. I bought my Japanese Wii there when it first came out. Also, if you ask around you should be able to get it modded so you can play English games.

Happy B-day! I bet the food there is awesome, I used to know someone from Korea and she could make the best food ever.

Greetings, I lived in Washington for a while, Bellevue and Seattle!!