The NEW South Korea thread: Where players body you like you're Kim Jong-un

WELCOME TO THE NEW KOREA THREAD!

Thanks for the many memories, old thread, but the original front page doesn't hold updated info, and D.Fox isn't even over here anymore.

If you're visiting, drop a line to let us know where you're planning to be and when you plan on coming out to play. If you're moving over here or going to be stationed over here, let us know where you're going to be living, and I will post your info up in the OP. Using the following format:

SRK Tag:
Location: (If you're on base, giving me the name of the base is fine)
Games Played:
Xbox Live Gamertag:
PSN Username:
KakaoTalk ID:

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WHERE DO WE PLAY?

For Street Fighter, pretty much all the arcades are dead zones, and the ones that do exist don't have very good players left. There were two spots for AE arcade play in Seoul, TM Game Land at Isu Station, and Cheonho Fun Zone at Cheonho station. The arcade at Isu closed in early 2013, but Cheonho has now upgraded their cabinets to AE2012, so there may be play out there.

For Tekken, there is still Green Arcade, but I don't know where it is, so your best bet to find that is at TekkenZaibatsu.

For now, in Seoul, our main places to play are at CafeID (You should already know this name by now), and Cong Tuh. Both are console gaming centers, with fixed rate fees for playing there.

Cong Tuh - Seochu-gu, Seocho-dong 1442-10 (Su-bo Building Basement) \ 서초구 서초동 1442-10 수부빌딩 지하 (Closest station is Nambu Terminal \ 남부터미날역, Line 3)
Phone 070-4235-1945
https://www.facebook.com/congpage
Entry Fee 2000KRW for 2 hours, 4000KRW for 4 hours, 10000KRW for 12 hours.
Games Played SSF4AE2012, VF5, DOA5 primarily, but there are players interested in playing UMVC3, Injustice, and KOFXIII there.
I personally recommend coming here for AE play. Plus there are a lot of players here, several of which can speak English. Most notably, Infiltration plays here regularly, and Laugh comes by from time to time.
Just in case you're afraid of getting lost, I made a video tutorial on how to get here from the station:

CafeID - Geumcheon-gu, Doksan 3-dong 963-6 B1 \ 금천구 독산3동 963-6 지하1층 (Closest station is Guro Digital Complex \ 구로디지탈단지역, Line 2)
Phone 010-9959-6936
https://www.facebook.com/IdTourney
Entry Fee 10000KRW for 24 hours. They also have bunks, so you can crash out overnight, included in your entry fee.
Games Played KOFXIII, SSF4AE2012, TTT2, SC5
CafeID is playing host to the Korean qualifier of the Capcom Cup. Most notable players here are Poongko (of Street Fighter fame), MadKOF and Verna (of KOF fame), Knee and Nin (of Tekken fame) and Kura (of Soul Calibur fame)

Fun Zone Game Center - Gangdong-gu, Cheonho 2-dong 414 Basement \ 강동구 천호2동 414 두산 위브센티움상가 지하1층 (Closest station is Cheonho Station \ 천호역, Line 5)
Entry Fee Free. I'm not sure on the price per game anymore. As of 2011, it was 300KRW per play on AE.
Games Played SSF4AE2012, TTT2 (I'm assuming)
I haven't been here since my bachelor party in 2011, so I'm not sure how many people come here anymore for Street Fighter. This was the first place in Seoul to get the AE update, and this is a pretty nice, bright, non-cramped arcade with attentive staff nestled under a GS25 for easy access to drinks/snacks/Ramyeon for makeshift dinner. The arcade itself also sells some drinks as well. As it's a Korean arcade, cabs are stocked with Korean parts, so prepare for an adjustment if it's your first time playing on a Fanta.
Just in case you're afraid of getting lost, here's my video on how to get here (It's a little dated, as it sends you through e-mart, but you can go through exit 5 and skip that part):

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WHERE TO BUY STICKS/SYSTEMS/GAMES

There are several places to buy of notoriety over here. You can go to the world famous Yongsan Electronics Market (Yongsan Station \ 영산역, Jung-ang Line), Gangbyeon TechnoMart (Gangbyeon Station \ 강변역, Line 2), or Nambu Terminal Techno Mart (Nambu Terminal Station \ 남부터미날역, Line 3). There's a small game store at Coex, but not much to look at there, the three I mentioned are good. Comparison shop here, there are many vendors inside each market. Ask them prices for what you want, (이건 얼마예요? - ee-guhn uhlmahyeyo?) and come back if you find they have the best price.

I have seen everything from TEs, to Joytrons, to Saulabis, to Horis for sale over here, so if you have a specific stick you want, you can probably find it.

Alternatively, you can order an Omni and various arcade parts from eTokki.com. This site is ran by Laugh, and has same day shipping in Korea for a flat rate of 3000KRW.

As for games, this is a trickier subject. With PS3, there's no region locks on games, so you can buy whatever games you want over here. Some might be Korean or Asian language only, so be careful, when in doubt, check on the Asian editions of those games on Play-Asia before buying.

For 360 games, if you have a Western 360, it will depend on the game. Some games will be free of region locks, where you can play them on any 360, and some will be NTSC-J, and only work on Asian 360s. Once again, check the Asian version of the game you intend to buy on Play-Asia for compatibility before buying.

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PLAYERS LIST

Seoul

Incheon

Kunsan AB

Osan AB

Suwon

Daegu

Daejeon

Busan

NOTE: We also have a KakaoTalk group chat available. Please add me, and let me know you're from SRK, and I will add you to the group chat.

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FAQ

Q. Will my N. American/European Xbox 360 work in Korea?
A. European, definitely yes, and that goes for Euro PS3s too. Depending on the country, you won't even have to buy an adapter for it to fit in a socket, as South Korea uses the Schuko (Type F) socket. For North America, yes, but it's trickier. Not only do you need to get a new plug adapter to fit into the socket, you either have to get a new power brick or buy a voltage converter. American systems are 120V only, Korea uses 220V. I don't know how much converters are, but I bought a new power brick for my 360 for 25000KRW at Gangbyeon.

Q. Will my N. American PS3 work in Korea?
A. It should. I've seen video of fat American PS3s being ran without a converter in Germany, and Germany is 220V. If you're worried about it, then you can look at the back or bottom of your PS3 for the voltage rating. If it says 100-240V, then you're safe, and you just need to get an adapter so it will fit into a Korean socket. If it says 120V, then you will need to buy a converter.

Q. Why are there no good arcades anymore?
A. Economics suck. Korea had a good arcade scene even 2 years ago, suddenly it's drying up. Places like Cong and CafeID are much more cost efficient to put in long hours of play and still get the social experience that an arcade offers. Some games were also never available outside of Japan on arcade (e.g. VF5FS), so many players gravitated toward home console play.

There's probably other reasons as well, but with CafeID and Cong, the only place to really consider going for that 100% authentic arcade experience, Green Arcade is about the only place left.

Q. How is online play in Korea?
A. Better than the West, for sure. Korea has one of the best average internet speeds in the world, 100MBPS download and upload speeds are not uncommon, and they have good pings with Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The caliber of play will be better than in the west, and the netcode for SF4 functions better than in the west. Marvel netcode is still abysmal here, and I don't know about any other games.

Q. Can I use Korean XBL codes/purchasing with my American account?
A. No. In order to use Korean payment methods, including prepaids, on XBL, you must migrate your account to Korea. There's a benefit in doing it, in that you can have the payment tacked onto your phone bill balance, and pay all of it together. If that's not enough of an incentive for you, and you have a way to pay for stuff on Paypal, you'll be needing to get codes from your native land on eBay, or put a credit card on file that you can purchase points/subscriptions in your home currency with.

Q. GRRR why can't I find opponents online in Korea?
A. Set your region to Japan. It's easy to do on Xbox Live, but you'll literally have to sign up a new account for PSN. Unless you have a Korean natioanl ID card (and I think it has to be a citizen's card, not a foreign resident card), you can't get a Korean PSN account. In all honesty, a Japanese account will net you the most players, since nearly everyone in Asia sets theirs to Japan as well.

Here's a guide on how to set up a Japanese PSN account: http://kotaku.com/5982662/how-to-make-a-japanese-psn-account-on-the-new-psn-and-how-to-navigate-the-store

Q. What about [old/obscure game]? Is there a scene for it here?
A. That's a tough question, because I don't know every scene. There used to be BlazBlue and Melty Blood being played in Isu, but since the arcade closed, I don't know where they play anymore. I know there are ST players, but I don't know where there are cabinets in Korea. I have had a couple players give me their GGPO usernames from here though. There's apparently a SF2CE scene over here, but I don't know where they play.

Other games, you really got me. I haven't heard anything about CVS2 or 3S about here in a LONG time.

Q. What's the difference between Korean arcade hardware and Japanese? I've heard there's a difference.
A. Japanese sticks have a gate and use springs for resistance. Korean sticks have no gate, and use rubber grommets for resistance. The difference is night and day, and if you play on Korean cabinets, you'll have an adjustment phase trying to find your diagonals properly. But they are still pretty quality.

Japanese have two button types, Sanwa and Seimitsu. Sanwa have ligh resistance, and you can actually breathe on them and activate the buttons. Seimitsu are still pretty responsive, but far less than Seimitsu. Korean Crown buttons are sort of in the middle, and have a more rubbery feel to them than Sanwa or Seimitsu. Note that I said, rubbery, not cheap. There is a difference.