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Archive for September, 2010

Dragona Flies to Philippine

September 30th, 2010

MMORPG <Dragona> of Liveplex is going to be available in?Philippine.

As ‘Gameclub’ which is a local game portal site run by Liveplex’s local subsidiary publishes it,?Philippine?is the 4th country <Dragona> flies to after Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao.

“The foreign service has been proceeded along with the local service. With?collaboration?of experience in Philippine, <Dragonica> will be available in Philippine. We are looking forward to exporting it to more countries,” said HoSun Kim the CEO of Liveplex.

260 comments »

Posted in Korean Games Industry, The Philippines

Tags: Dragona Liveplex

Blizzard Korea Summoned to Governmental Audit in Korea

September 29th, 2010

Michael Gilmartin

Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism(MCST) has requested Michael Gilmartin, the president of Blizzard Korea, to appear to the governmental audit in Korea as a witness. SeungJae Choi, the chairman of Cooperation of PCbang in Korea(CPIK), has also been requested.

Summoning Michael Gilmartin and SeungJae Choi together is interpreted as to ask about policy regarding distributing games to internet cafe(PC Bang).

CPIK has complained Blizzard Korea since last July?about their payment policy for the internet cafe such as pre-paid payment of a package game, no premium benefit for internet cafe, the price which is extremely expensive compared to what individual users pays, and paid Battle.net which was announced as free-to-play at first.

They both must be appeared to the audit on Oct. 4th otherwise they could be charged a fine for maximum US$ 8,750 or be sentenced to jail for maximum 3 years if no reasonable excuses accompanied.

303 comments »

Posted in Korean Games Industry

Tags: audit Blizzard Korea

Revising Rating System on Korean Indie Games

September 29th, 2010

A bill with a name of ‘Supporting Creative Activity for?Amateurs’ is submitted to the National Assembly on Sept. 28th.

The bill is to exempt rating fee for amateur creators include indie game developers. Indie game developers have needed to pay at least US$ 300 in order to release their non-commercial games.

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Posted in Korean Games Industry

Tags: indie game

Gravity Takes Over Barunson Interactive

September 29th, 2010

A global online game company Gravity announced the acquisition of Barunson Interactive on Sept. 28th.

Gravity owns 50.8% of share at US$ 11.7b and acquired the managerial right of Barunson Interactive.?Barunson Interactive is founded in 2003 and has developed MMORPG <Dragonica> and so on.

“By taking over Barunson Interactive which is recognized as a online game expert developer internally and externally, Gravity is now able to reinforce the development force and global service,” said Ono Toshiro the CEO of Gravity. “Gravity will build better competitiveness as a global online game company by creating synergy with Barunson Interactive.

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Posted in Japan, Korean Games Industry

Tags: barunson interactive Dragonica Gravity

Rappelz Ready to Shake Middle East

September 28th, 2010

GALAlab announced its self developed <Rappelz> is preparing a promotion in big size and is succeeding in Middle East market as the first online game in Arabian.

<Rappelz> is being published via Gamepower7, a local publisher in the Middle East, and is now ranked 3rd in top online game of Arabmmo.com.

“We appreciate the gamers for their love and interest in <Rappelz> which is the first online game in the Middle East where is an emerging market with unlimited potential. We will do our best to satisfy our gamers,” said DaeHee Bae the director of global business development of GALAlab.