More online football video games for South Korea

Football seems to be the hottest issue in the online videogames industry this World Cup year and, in South Korea, two new products are available: Extreme Soccer from SonicAnt and Redcard from E-Zen. According to The Chosun, Extreme Soccer "takes the game to the streets" where players can choose anything from one-on-one to four-a-side instead of the traditional eleven. Fewer players, of course, mean faster and more intensive game play. The interface only uses four direction keys and six additional keys to make it easy even for beginners.

Redcard is also a street-football game but puts more emphasis on the characters than Extreme Soccer. Under license from the Korean Football Association, gamers can play with stars of the Korean national team such as Ahn Jung-hwan or Park Ji-sung. It also features an RPG-like character development system. That means gamers can develop their characters into specialists in certain positions, make them learn various special tricks and also modify their appearance.

"Not everybody can play sports, but everyone can play sport games," said Kim Taek-jin of NCSoft. "That's why they have been such a big part in the international videogame market and will increase their share in the online game industry as well."

See also: Online edition of 'FIFA Soccer' for South Korea (9 Feb)