by N Rumas - 03.27.07
You may have seen the massive Xbox bus posted at Kotaku a few days back, illustrating Microsoft’s monumental efforts to promote 360 in Korea. The system is everywhere: stores are filled with demo kiosks, and malls feature hip, stylish Xbox ‘hangouts’ complete with leather sofas, controllers-a-plenty, and huge HD panels.
Everyone seems to like it enough, but outside of the young, hardcore male crowd, not a great many are being moved to purchase the system. I’ve asked a lot of Korean friends why they think this is so, and I always get one answer: It’s too expensive.
Such is the reality here. While Koreans love spending money, they get the majority of their gaming fix via computer, and mostly downloaded at minimal cost, if any (there’s just a tad bit of piracy here, if you haven’t heard). In this day and age, dedicated gaming consoles are considered a secondary purchase at best, and as such, they sell better if they’re cheap.
That’s precisely why DS lite is doing so well already. Ask any middle school kid why so many students already have a DS, and here’s the answer: It’s a lot more affordable than PSP, and it has the Mario game. PSP is a popular item here, but its pricing has made it an aspirational purchase at best for most young people. In the midst of that, Nintendo came out of nowhere with DS lite, got some gorgeous celebrities to pimp it on prime time, and a whole slew of consumers have already switched sides.
The real question is going to come when Wii launches (presumably) later this year. There’s never been a home gaming console that the Korean people have wholeheartedly embraced, but I have a feeling that a mass market-priced Wii together with a Wii Sports advertising onslaught could start a real revolution over here. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
Not many people have just imported it already? How can they bear it.
If computer gaming is so popular there then perhaps Nintendo should think about an ad campaign that showcases some of Wii’s capabilities in an online game form(?) eh, its an idea.
Stuffed - 03.27.07 3:47 am
I used the 360 lounge in Yongsan back when I visited Korea last year. I came away with the impression that the 360 was good but not better enough than the last gen to actually buy.
Carl - 03.27.07 4:12 am
the lounge in yongsan is pretty sweet. i first played GOW there.
N Rumas - 03.27.07 4:24 am
I wish we had classy lounges in the malls in the US.
Drew Kora - 03.27.07 9:04 am
Yeah, unfortunately there’s kind of a line where MS and Sony have to stop before they get absolutely ruined financially. The same is going to be true for even Nintendo for their next system, I would imagine, unless they continue this progression of using cheaper, less powerful architecture… which clearly is working out well for them.
Tony - 03.27.07 2:12 pm
I think it’s a question of AFFORDABLE architecture. Sony and Microsoft’s materials are clearly extremely expensive to develop right now. They’re trying to sell graphics, but considering that (a) it costs the companies ridiculous amounts of money just to make the technology, (b) most developers can’t seem to get them to look that great yet anyway, and (b) it causes problems on other aspects of videogames (namely the actual “gaming” part), it’s just not sensible to be investing so much on merely the technology.
I think Nintendo making their hardware as it is (i.e. the motion sensing technology, along with the R&D) is costing them enough to not make their graphical technology ridiculously high to compete with Microsoft or Sony. Future generations, after these components become cheaper, will make them able to focus on other aspects.
And we’re not just talking about graphics here, though that’ll be improved eventually (the next Wii probably). Sound quality on the controllers, better calibrations, better sensing technology, I think that’ll all be where the future of this will go towards. Unless someone can develop a method of making a 3D image into a hologram (which is probably the next BIG step), it’ll be up to expanding games in all of these aspects.
David Park - 03.27.07 8:56 pm