Wii launching in Korea on April 26

Back in July 2006, Nintendo opened an office in South Korea and seemed to have plans to begin bringing its products to the tech-savvy nation. However, almost a year went by before the DS Lite was released into the South Korean wilds, with local heartthrob Jan Dong-gun roped in to promote it.

At the same time, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that the Mario Factory was now planning to "move aggressively" into the Korean market and that the Wii was going to appear there late in 2007, a statement the exec revised in October to sometime in 2008.

Now the Wii has been officially dated to be released in South Korea on April 26 and will be priced at 220,000 won ($224).

There will be nine games available for launch: Wii Sports; Wii Play (which comes with an extra controller); Rayman Raving Rabbids 2; Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure; FIFA 08; Elebits; Namco Museum Remix; Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock; and Super Swing Golf Season 2. The games will retail at a variety of price points, with the lowest being Namco Museum Remix at 38,000 won ($39) and the highest being 88,000 won ($90) for Guitar Hero III with the guitar.

Ten games will be available for download through the Wii's Virtual Console at launch: Mario Kart 64, Contra III, Cybernator, Super Metroid, Super Mario World, Gradius III, Kirby's Adventure, Super Mario Bros., Antarctic Adventure, and Donkey Kong. These will cost between 400 and 800 Wii points each, as they do elsewhere.