As some of you are aware, South Korea is teeming with various MMORPGs and most of it follow the free subscription model with in-game advertisements supporting the finances for the game. One of these MMORPGs is Twelve Sky from publisher Aeria Games & Entertainment.

Due to said MMO's recent success in the region, Aeria decided to launch Twelve Sky on a global scale and the pre-open testing phase just drew to a close. Now, the company is announcing that it will begin the open beta phase starting on November 1.

That means that this is your chance to see and try out the game for yourselves. Furthermore, Twelve Sky developer Gigassoft just began a Test Report event on its official website where players can submit their ideas and suggestions to make the game better and more efficient.

This is really an intelligent move from the company to get to know the gamers from other regions. "We have been focusing on the means to localize this oriental fantasy story. And now, we are going to offer the service in English," commented one representative from Gigassoft.

To further entice gamers, Aeria Games also announced that it will be hosting events on November 1 such as gift serial number, treasure box opening, 2x exp, and item drop rate among others. To join the open beta and to know more about Twelve Sky, check out the Read link below.

While the Eastern hemisphere has an uncontested foothold in the online gaming sector, Electronic Arts' director of E-commerce, John Burns, believes that online gaming in the Western front will also rise to the occasion. He claimed that in three years time, the world's online gamers could be spending up to GB£ 2.18 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) every year.

 

At a two-day conference held by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, Burns spoke on the potential growth spurt that the online games industry would experience in the coming years. "Not only is gaming a significant industry in size now but online gaming is an important step for us as an industry," said Burns, being careful to point out that even the rise of female online gamers cannot be barred by the concept of "hard-core" games.

"It is very broad and widespread. There are many people playing online games of all ages, male and female," he added. Burns figured that around 100 million online gamers are spread across the world and its highly likely that the number would increase steadily in the coming years.

If the European situation is any indication, Burns pointed out that broadband penetration in the region has grown from 35% since 2006. He predicts that in about five years' time, it could rise past 45%. "Household penetration of broadband is also exponential - and we are looking at that growing in Europe from 40 per cent now to over 60 per cent in 2012," he concluded.

Taiwan, China, and South Korea have enjoyed an early boost in the MMORPG market, with millions of gamers and game companies contributing to its growth. The player base in some games, like the 60 million user base in Wizet's MapleStory, inflated due to the availability of affordable broadband connections and the spread of Internet cafes.

Burns noted that the sense of community is driving gamers to the online front, where interaction with other human beings through a virtual world entices both the experience and the imagination. "Online games expand your world. And players can replicate in a larger [online] world what they have in the off-line world," he said.

Earlier today, we reported on StarCraft, Diablo Series">Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming "Medusa Demo" at the World Wide Invitational later today in South Korea. No one really knows what this is all about but we've been theorizing, with fingers crossed, that it's related to StarCraft 2 or StarCraft MMO.

Anyway, to those of you who are also anticipating this, we managed to get a copy of the schedule for the said event. It's from online site GGL, the same company that covered last year's event. According to the site, here's how the things should go later and tomorrow:

May 19

• 11:00 to 12:20 : Warcraft 3 Season 5 Consolation Final ( Shy  vs.  Moon)
• 14:00 to 16:00 : Opening Ceremony / Announcement of the New Products
• 16:20 to 21:40 : Starcraft Invitational Last 8 / Warcraft 3 Invitational Last 8

May 20

• 11:00 to 12:20 : Warcraft 3 Season 5 Overall Final
• 12:20 to 15:20 : Warcraft 3 Invitational Semi-final
• 15:40 to 17:10 : Warcraft 3 Invitational Final
• 17:30 to 19:00 : Starcraft Invitational Final
• 19:00 to 20:00 : Closing Ceremony

Capcom's not letting their guard down even if they already have a strong presence in the market. Gamasutra sat down for an interview with Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Research Christian Svensson, and he talked about Capcom's future with much focus on Wii and downloadable content.

Svensson expressed his confidence with Resident Evil 4 going to the Wii, saying "anytime you sell another copy to another user, it expands the brand." Even with the PC version getting patches for improvement, he believes that the Wii version of RE4 is going to be the best out of four platforms.

While Capcom will be releasing several titles available for download on PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms, Svensson stated that it's more difficult to make a Wii downloadable game because of filesize limitations. On the good side, he confirmed the possibility of making original content on Wii if Nintendo gets their processes in order. Apart from that, the only main problem for making downloadable games available is the coordination required between them and the company of the console they want the game on.

Support for Windows games haven't been decided yet, but Capcom is trying to extend its market by focusing on the PC. "If you look at a lot of the developing markets like China, South Korea, and India, the gaming platform of choice is the PC" says Svensson. They seem to have great plans indeed, as he believes that Monster Hunter: Frontier will be big when it goes live in Japan.

For the full interview, check out the Read link below.

If you ask us, it seems that Capcom is really serious in getting a huge portion of the booming MMORPG genre. After expanding to Asia with its consolidated subsidiary in South Korea, Capcom has just announced the first offline event for forthcoming title Monster Hunter Frontier.

The event will commence on June 4 in Shinagawa. Known as Hunter Coffee Hour, the event will be a good venue for players to meet up with the title's development team and join in the ensuing Q&A. More importantly, the progress of the game in terms of development will be discussed along with the reports from closed beta testers.

The winners of the recent Monster Hunter Frontier contest in Japan will also be picked during the event. Accordingly, 100 out of 1,000 names will be handpicked by Capcom for a chance to participate in the above mentioned closed beta testing. During Hunter Coffee Hour, the 100 names will be narrowed down further to about two people.

Monster Hunter Frontier will be released sometime this June.

 

So you want to attend StarCraft, Diablo Series">Blizzard's World Wide Invitational, huh? Good news, then fellow Blizzard fans: the World Wide Invitational to be held in Seoul, Korea won't have an entrance fee at all. According to Blizzard's eternally burning Nethaera, the entrance fee is completely free. Interested attendees, however, will have to register at the event. Yes, you have to be there to register.

The World Wide Invitational will be held from May 19-20 at the Olympic Gymnastics and Fencing Stadiums in Seoul. As officially stated before, the WWI will reveal all of Blizzard's current and future franchises for the coming years. But as rumored, it seems this particular event will make or break the dreams of many StarCraft fans waiting for a successor.

The bad news is that the Invitational still requires you to shell out big bucks for a ticket to even get to Korea, and bide the evenings at a decent hotel room. Unless you live in Southeast Asia and row your way to South Korea across seas and intend to spend your nights in a cozy corner in front of the Stadiums, we're pretty sure many of you Blizzard-heads are tearing your eyes out.

So we guess us World of Warcraft players should just get back to grinding, raiding, trolling, nerf calling, ganking and online chick-hunting, and miss out on all the exciting E-sports competitions, unique panel discussions by the Blizzard developers themselves, and several face-melting hands-on attractions... Yep, so are the days of our lives.

After conquering the MMORPG genre, Blizzard now has plans of going into the mobile industry. Quite curiously, we found out that Capcom is doing quite the reverse as plans to delve in the World of Warcraft-dominated arena were revealed with the help of upcoming title Monster Hunter Frontier.

The title is actually a MMO version of the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation Portable originals Monster Hunter Freedom and Monster Hunter Portable 2. With the upcoming release on June, what Capcom did was open a consolidated subsidiary office in South Korea that will oversee the title's success in the region.

Aside from focusing on online video games, the new Capcom office is also reported to take care of the company's publishing business throughout Asia. The South Korea HQ actually began operations earlier today. This development could only mean two thing: more Capcom titles for our friends in Asia and second, another potential rival to WoW.

How would you feel if we tell you that the newly-confirmed title from Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft 2, is not going to be a real time strategy (RTS) game just like its predecessor, but an MMORPG one?

We know your heads are reeling right now because most fans feel like StarCraft is StarCraft, the ultimate RTS title of its time. One can't fix what ain't broke. The rumor started from online video game site Computer and Video Games, saying that its "well-placed U.S. sources" have informed them that StarCraft MMO will be revealed at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea.

We don't know about CVG's sources but there is indeed an event in SoKor later this month - Blizzard World Invitational. If we are to believe CVG's report, we should all stop calling the new title StarCraft 2 because it's not a sequel. The site's "well-placed U.S. sources" added that it's going to be an MMo spin-off.

Also, we have to keep in mind that StarCraft already has an installed fan base. What happens now to World of Warcraft (WoW) and the rest of the MMO genre? Two Blizzard title battling it out for the top spot? It may sound like golden chimes to Blizzard but not necessarily for fans.

We guess we have to wait until May 19. En Taro Adun! (Yay for... World of Starcraft! -ed.)

StarCraft, Diablo Series">Blizzard announced today the details on their third annual Worldwide Invitational to be held in Seoul, Korea. As you know, the annually-held Worldwide Invitational is Blizzard's way of reaching out to their hordes and legions of fans, get their users' thoughts on their games and basically just foster a connection with the Blizzard-gaming community.

When: May 19-20, 2007
Where: Olympic Gymnastics and Fencing Stadiums in Seoul, South Korea

Like in the previous years, this year's event will also be open to gamers of all ages who will be able to join tournaments on Blizzard titles like World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, etc.

For the non-competitive peeps, the event will also feature panel discussions with the Blizzard developers that'll tackle various topics including game development. Blizzard will also be staging hands-on attractions in the said event. Blizzard's Mike Morhaime says,

With a wide variety of themed activities and competitions to participate in, the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals are a great way for us to show our appreciation to our players. We're looking forward to creating another memorable show for them this year as well.

Stay tuned as we bring you more details on Blizzard's 2007 World Invitational.

 

CMP - the folks responsible for organizing the Game Developers Conference has recently confirmed that they will host a Korean GDC come September this year.

Ah, Korea, land of awesome kimchi, mass-produced MMOs - no offense to the really good ones that came out, cyber athletes/celebrities, the World Cyber Games, and female MMO gamers who sell their virginity for uber in-game items. (A Ragnarok Online myth that's yet to be confirmed, quick, call Jamie and Adam!)

Anyhow, GDC Korea is set to take place from September 13th to 5th at the Bexco Convention Hall in Busan, South Korea. The event is said to capitalize on the country's "fast growing" games community. (What? It's still growing?)

The event is said to consist of a two-day conference on the 13th and the 14th, and an Expo that will run for the full three days. The event is said to also be organized in part by Busan Metropolitan City. For more details on the event, feel free to click our read-link below. It should lead to the official site.