It's one thing to look at the past in order to learn from it; it's quite another thing to examine the present and to see which direction you're heading toward. In the light of recent developments, various game industry insiders have taken to doing precisely those things. More reflection ensues in the full article after the jump.

With their strong library of annual franchises, Electronic Arts has gone out on a limb to say that games have longer lifespans today. To prove their point, EA talked about MMOs, DLCs, and their ten-year plan for the upcoming game, Spore (PC, Nintendo Wii, DS,  Mac, Mobile). More details after the jump.

The steady stream of high-quality games as early as the first quarter of 2008 continues, proven by this week's line-up of releases which includes Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, the next Ace Attorney, and Dynasty Warriors 6. A very promising Devil May Cry-esque MMORPG is also on the way, while Need for Speed is in for another lap. The rest of this week's releases await at the full article!

Tired of seeing ordinary looking, dirt-smudged heroes steal the limelight in your favorite video games? This short list of fashionable video game characters shows that it's possible to look snazzy while saving the day, and the girl too. Check out the full article!

Despite hitting some snags in the form of Sega, SCEA, Capcom, and Microsoft backouts, it appears E for All is gaining steam after getting big boosts from dozens of other movers in the gaming industry who have confirmed participation. To prove that E for All is going smoothly as planned, IDG World Expo is now announcing that Future US, Inc. will be publishing the official show magazine for the said event.

This is big news especially for those who are familiar in the ins and outs of attending conventions like this. Why? Event magazines not only provide attendees with a good source of show floor guide, exhibitor and product information, special features and interviews, it's also a great souvenir - it goes right beside event press IDs and pictures with booth babes. Anyway, IDG World Expo CEO Mary Dolaher expressed the same enthusiasm after saying:

We're thrilled to team up with Future to create "E for All Magazine," the event’s official show publication. Given Future’s experience producing publications such as Official Xbox Magazine, PSM: Independent PlayStation Magazine, PC Gamer, Maximum PC and Next Gen, we’re greatly anticipating the creation of a top-notch magazine and commemorative keepsake for this inaugural event.

The magazine will be a 64-page collector's edition in support of the inaugural E for All. Contents will include feature stories, game reviews, product highlights, a full expo schedule, floor plan and exclusive features, interviews with acclaimed game developers, and a user-generated car art from Forza 2. E for All magazine will also carry a commemorative cover to give spice to the said event which will take place October 18-21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center - told you it's a keeper.

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.

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.

Call it "Monster Hunter goes MMO." I'd personally call it Monster Hunter on 'roids! Well, the installments on the PS2 and PSP are quite a catch as they are, but bring it over to the virtual network world and you're talking about monster overload in Capcom's Monster Hunter Frontier.

To help you with all that hunting though, third-party manufacturer Elecom is offering a 12-button controller for the game, and it looks much like a PS2 controller, with a few tweaks and changes. The controller attaches to your PC via USB. It's actually going to be the recommended input device for playing Monster Hunter Frontier, as the buttons were mapped strategically to best way possible.

The controller can operate on both Analog and Digital modes, and comes with a USB cable strap and CD driver.

 

Definitely upping the ante for the in-game content providing firm, Double Fusion is now upgrading their senior levels with game industry marketing veterans from all fronts: consoles, PCs and even MMOs. Still pending as to which company this dynamic ad content provider will be merging with, as least now they have Directors worth the company's reputation.

 

According to an official press release, Euro-based Double Fusion has appointed Daniel Best, Europe">David Miller and Itzik Ben Bassat to positions in the senior European management team. Daniel Best, former Online Commercial Manager of The Independent, is now the Sales Director for the European front.

As former Director of Brand Marketing for SEGA Europe, David Miller will now be heading the Director position of Business Development and Marketing in Europe. He has also worked for Capcom, Electronic Arts and Virgin. But perhaps most out-worldly of appointments was Itzik Ben Bassat, who is best known for being a part of Vivendi's image upgrade of Blizzard Entertainment.

Surprisingly, Ben Bassat was considered "the architect" behind World of Warcraft's success internationally, and also responsible for upgrading Big Blue from a simple games development studio to a company focused on online entertainment. If you wanted someone to blame for the lack of focus on Starcraft 2 and Starcraft: Ghost, now you've got a name.

It looks like the titles that Double Fusion touches are sure to sport lots of in-game ads for sure. This news is almost enough to make us wonder, how would PlayStation Home look if Double Fusion got the "go signal" from Sony? Downtown Tokyo? *shudder*