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Sony suspends PlayStation Store for PS3 in Korea, blames new law about selling to minors
Sony has been caught unawares by a legal change in South Korea, which prevents under-18s from being asked for their names or ages for the purpose of account authentication. No sooner had the company announced a half-price sale at its PS Store and then it was forced to pull the whole thing down in order re-work the interface and make it compliant. It's expecting to reopen it sometime "this year," but in the meantime the Store is strangely still accessible to PSP and Vita users of any age, while multiplayer and other PSN functions will continue to run on PS3. There must be a lawyer somewhere for whom this all makes complete sense, and hopefully they work for Facebook.
PlayStation Store taken down in Korea in compliance with new law
A new "Game Industry Promotion Act" going into effect in South Korea on July 1 will make it illegal for an online service to ask someone under 18 to verify the account with their real name or age. In response, Sony is taking down the PlayStation Store in that region, pending compliance with the law. Sony hopes to resume PSN service sometime this year. Online multiplayer will continue to be available through PSN, and the PlayStation Store will remain open for PSP and PS Vita users.This decision seems to have been a sudden one for Sony – it announced a sale on 2K games through PSN the same day, just before announcing the closure of the store.
LG backing off tablets for now, would rather circle smartphone wagons
LG has decided not to chip in any more tablets to the huge pile that's already out there, and will focus on smartphones instead. It hasn't exactly stormed the market anyway -- with recent tab offerings like the Optimus Pad LTE falling flat -- and has said that the move would free it up to improve its No. 4 spot on the world's cellphone charts. It insists the decision has nothing to do with Microsoft's recent Surface announcement, and says it doesn't compete in that particular sphere anyway. So that's that.
Blade & Soul unleashes its Korean open beta trailer
With Blade & Soul's South Korean open beta starting this week, NCsoft released an action-packed trailer to highlight the game's characters, attitude, and insane combat sequences. It's... pretty nuts in several ways. Whoa, is he juggling that guy in the air with his sword? That cannot feel good! That lady is so unconcerned about her general welfare that she's just strolling through combat and swatting down bad guys like flies! And is that...? It is. A girl with a mustache and bunny ears? Huh. Let's just roll with it. While we don't know when Blade & Soul will be making its way overseas, the title is scheduled to launch next month in Korea. In the meantime, you can check out the trailer after the jump and let us know what you think!
South Korea bans botting in online RPGs
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is announcing a new law next month that will make botting in online RPGs illegal. According to this governmental body's calculations, 60% of all in-game items traded for real currency were obtained by automated programs. The law will also ban the listing of items in arcade games as real property that can be exchanged for cash. The maximum penalty for breaking this law will be 5 million won (approximately $4,300) and five years in jail. It is interesting to note that while the announcement states that the law's purpose is to "halt all virtual item trades," only botting is being banned in online RPGs. So WoW players who buy and sell gold will not be breaking this new law (though they do break the TOS), unless they are using bots to farm. This distinction also means that the Diablo III Real-Money Auction House will not be made illegal by this law; thus, South Korea's previous decision about the RMAH has not been negated. Since the new law will not be announced until next month, some details may change. Regardless, the government sees botting and virtual item trades as barriers to a "healthy game culture," and it is willing to use legal means to eliminate the problem.
South Korea banning trade of in-game items
South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will enact a ban on commercial trading of in-game items starting next month, the Korea Times reports. Like the online gaming curfew, this move is aimed at reclaiming students' time for non-game-related activities. The ban specifically targets the use of bots that allow automatic collection of items, which the ministry estimates as the source of 60 percent of items on the virtual market.The ban also prevents arcades from handing out gift certificates for in-game items, as that has resulted in the certificates being traded for cash.A different restriction on virtual goods was recently enacted in South Korea's neighbor, Japan: the Consumer Affairs Agency banned the "compu gacha" scheme, in which players buy randomly selected virtual items, with bonuses for the completion of sets.
Nexon pays $685 million for 14.7 percent of NCsoft
Nexon is now a minority shareholder in MMO publisher NCsoft, having purchased 3.218 million shares of the company from NCsoft chairman/cofounder Taek Jin Kim to the tune of ₩804.5 billion ($685.43 millon) – 14.7 percent of total stock. This makes Nexon the largest shareholder in NCsoft, according to VentureBeat.The purchase is part of a two-year agreement between the two South Korean game companies, though the specifics of said agreement remain shrouded in mystery. This announcement comes somewhat cooly on the heels of reports that claimed Nexon had designs to take over EA; reports that ended up being far less interesting than originally thought. Update: Nexon has informed us that the deal was a "one-time purchase" and that they "have not made any announcements about any future plans."
Samsung Galaxy S III on SK Telecom mixes 2GB of RAM and quad-core, importers break out credit cards
There's a Galaxy S III with a quad-core chip, and there's a Galaxy S III with 2GB of RAM. Never the twain shall meet? They reportedly will at SK Telecom: a comparison sheet leaked to Phone Arena has the South Korean carrier's SHV-E210S variant combining the 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad with the 2GB of RAM that the dual-core versions receive as a consolation prize. It's even supposed to keep LTE, which could suggest that Samsung isn't wedded to Qualcomm for 4G in South Korea like it is for North America. The phone's 4G support loses steam outside of its native country, and it gains an ever so slight amount of bulk, but we're looking at what could be the best of both worlds for Samsung's flagship. We have a hunch that a few foreigners might be eager for an import, or a surprise vacation to Seoul, when the E210S arrives in July.
LG launches 13.3-inch X Note Z350 / 14-inch Z450 laptop with third-gen Intel Core power, WiDi and an SSD
Evidently, "Ultrabook" isn't a "thing" in South Korea. Or, at least not in the translated press release we've just gotten our mitts on. LG is getting the weekend started right with a proper successor to the Z330, and the X Note Z350 is absolutely a looker. It's a 13.3-incher that does its best to appear just like every other Ultrabook currently on the market, boasting a typical silver motif with black chiclet keys and a glossy LCD. A smattering of palm rest stickers work to further mar things, but the third-gen Intel Core i5 / i7 within makes up for most of that. We aren't told what kind of GPU is under the hood (we're putting our bucks on Kepler, for the record), but there's room for an SSD and a built-in Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) module to beam out 1080p content sans cabling. Pricing, battery life and most other particulars are being kept under wraps for now, but we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more. Update: Looks like a 14-inch Z450 is also on tap, but outside of the diagonal screen space, mum's the word on specifications.
Samsung unveils South Korea-bound Galaxy R Style: 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, LTE and ICS on board
Not satisfied with the launch of its newest creation, the Galaxy S III, Sammy's taken the wraps off of yet another member of the famed galactic family: welcome the Galaxy R Style. While Samsung isn't coming out and saying it, the device is essentially a follow-up to last year's 4.2-inch Galaxy R -- and although the handset keeps a similar form factor, it's changed quite a bit on the inside. For example, the 4.3-inch (960 x 540), 9.79mm thin R Style now houses an LTE chip, 16GB of onboard storage and a TouchWiz flavor of Ice Cream Sandwich. As if that wasn't enough, the slab also packs a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU and a 5-megapixel camera to take care of those filtered Instagram shots -- all while being powered by a 2000 mAh battery. Samsung's R Style will be priced at 700,000 won (around $590) when it goes on sale in South Korea later this year. If we were there, we'd take two. %Gallery-156535%
South Korea's FTC reportedly raids Google again over lack of cooperation
Google might be in trouble for how it handled an earlier raid by South Korean officials over antitrust concerns. Insiders claimed to AllThingsD that the country's Fair Trade Commission stormed Google's Seoul offices again on May 28th after the company allegedly stonewalled the investigation in suspicious ways. Among the accusations, Google supposedly deleted files and asked staff to work from home rather than face inquiries. The FTC's goal was still to answer complaints from local search firms Daum and NHN that Google was unfairly making it difficult to use a non-Google search engine in Android. Google still says it's cooperating with regulators, but the assertions if they're accurate would paint a different picture. They certainly don't alleviate pressure in the US over similar subjects.
Diablo III becomes fastest-selling PC game ever, deluge of broken PC mice likely to follow
Chalk one up for an at least temporary resurgence in PC gaming. Blizzard can vouch that Diablo III has set a new record for the fastest-selling PC game to date: at 3.5 million copies trading hands through Battle.net downloads or retailers in the first 24 hours, and 6.3 million after a week, that's a whole lot of people battling the biggest of Prime Evils in a very short time. Naturally, a Blizzard-obsessed South Korea is accounting for even more activity, where over 39 percent of play at local gaming houses can be pinned on the action RPG, and the tally doesn't even include the 1.2 million bonus copies coming through a World of Warcraft annual pass promo. Before console gamers start packing up their PlayStations and Xboxes in symbolic resignation, D3 isn't the record-setter for the most copies of any game sold in one day -- that distinction goes to Modern Warfare 3's 6.5 million copies spread across multiple platforms. That's still enough to spur on some furious clicking and possibly a glut of dead mouse buttons, but you'll be glad to know there are suitably-themed replacement mice waiting in the wings.
Samsung's SHV-E170K has dual-core Snapdragon, LTE and an inferiority complex
We're sure Samsung isn't playing favorites... but after that rather extravagant product launch just the other week, it seems it's released another phone to market with barely a streamer nor slice of cake in sight. The phone in question is the SHV-E170K, and will be coming to South Korea's KT network. The handset was announced with minimal details, other than having a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD (960×540) display, LTE, 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel shooter up front. However, with a little bit of internet cunning (i.e. some discovered benchmark tests) SammyHub has determined that we're dealing with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 on top of Android 4 (TouchWiz'd by the looks of things). It should be out later this month, again, alas, potentially in its sister's shadow.
Mobile Miscellany: week of April 30th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we saw the first rollout of Verizon LTE from one of its rural partners, and both the Optimus L7 and Xperia U were spotted for Fido. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 30th, 2012.
South Korea opens up cellphone sales, networks wary of the 'free market'
South Korea's Communications Commission is wresting control of the domestic cellphone market away from operators. From May 1st, it is opening the handset business open to any vendor, who will sell phones unlocked so consumers can decide their choice of network. The plan is aimed at lowering prices by introducing competition between the retailers -- although some voices in the industry have expressed concerns that the operators will withdraw discounted offers in retaliation. Naturally, the KCC is determined to ensure a better deal for consumers, and is already strong-arming wayward networks into ensuring that doesn't happen.
RIFT kicks off service in Korea
MMOs generally don't sojourn too far from home. Outside of launches in the US and Europe, it's rare for a western game to be adapted to the Korean or Chinese market; far more often games from those markets get shipped here. But it does happen every so often, and such is the case with RIFT. As of today, the game has officially started its full commercial service in Korea under the guidance of NetMarble. The game is also launching with several of the usual launch events such as promotional giveaways, although they're of limited utility if you don't read or speak Korean. It's an unusual export, but with several Korean games making major promotional pushes in the US (such as Aion and TERA), it might be the time to see if cross-cultural appeal works in the other direction. And if you're familiar with the language and want to see how the game plays when adapted, now's the time.
LG's 5-inch Optimus Vu shipping soon in white (in Korea, at least)
Just under two months after LG's Optimus Vu got priced for the hometown market, in flies news that another hue will soon be on those very same shelves. The 5-inch, 4:3 ratio'd Android smartphone will soon hit South Korea in white, purportedly targeting the "younger" market -- you know, folks who like "cool" things (a translation for "refreshing," we're told). Folks can look for the device -- which should remain unchanged outside of the external color -- to hit SK Telecom as early as next week, but there's no word on when (or if) it'll spread to other markets.
Video from South Korean launch of new iPad
Today Apple launched the new iPad in an additional 12 countries around the world. While eleven of the countries -- Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela -- are relatively small markets, the new iPad also went on sale in South Korea, one of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet and one of the major tech markets in Asia. Check out the video below, first posted by Apple 2.0, to see South Korean Apple fans lining up for the new tablet at a local Apple reseller. Apple's new iPad international rollout isn't done for the month either. One week from today on Friday, April 27, Apple will begin selling the new iPad in an additional nine countries: Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand. The new iPad will then be available in 56 countries around the world.
Report: HP's South Korean offices raided over alleged price fixing
Korea Times is a publication that isn't shy of the odd bold statement and today it's claiming that HP's South Korean offices were raided on suspicion of price-fixing deals made with IBM and Oracle. The country's Fair Trade Commission seized documents, computer records and questioned employees over alleged price-rigging on public-sector contracts. A company spokesperson said that the visit was routine, while FTC officers refused to comment about ongoing matters, but what is clear is that if any wrong-doing is found, the case will be turned over to prosecutors with the aim of commencing criminal proceedings for those responsible.
New iPad launching in 21 additional countries this month
Apple today issued a press release announcing the new third-generation iPad will go on sale in another twleve countries starting on Friday, April 20. Notably, one of the twelve is the important South Korean market. The other eleven countries include Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. Then one week later on Friday, April 27, Apple will begin selling the new iPad in an additional nine countries: Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand. Both the Wi-Fi and 4G models will be on sale and available through Apple's online store and at select Apple Authorized Resellers. The new iPad will be available in 56 countries around the world as of April 27th.
