More layoffs are happening in the gaming industry, this time from NCsoft. But it's not as drastic as rumors that circulated this week claimed. Details after the jump.

It's a bit late, but given the timeliness of Jeff Brown's opinions of late, we thought this might clear up some air on the ESA issue. It appears that a copy of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) document accounting for the financial transactions at the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has made it to the hands of the media, and what has been discovered might be the real reason why major members are bailing from the premiere software organization. Check the full article for more details.

Activision, Vivendi, NCsoft, and Her Interactive have already dropped from the E3. It seems that another company is going to jump ship from the upcoming event. From the looks of things, id Software might soon follow suit as they are unsure about their plans for E3. Find out more in the full article.

Normally, a major event such as E3 would have all the big name companies attending it.  This year will be different, though, as five publishers have decided to drop out of the event altogether. Part of the reason may be due to reported bad blood between them and ESA president Mike Gallagher. More on this after the jump.

Consoles are getting pretty powerful, not only in terms of hardware but in connectivity as well. With that kind of foundation, MMOs have slowly made their way onto consoles; one of the more notable being Final Fantasy XI. But are games like FFXI only the first of many? Will MMOs soon be as popular on consoles as they are on PCs? NCsoft's president Chris Chung thinks so. Check out the full article to read more.

 

Tandem Events recently announced that NCSoft's Richard Garriott and Microsoft XNA Group's Chris Satchell will be keynoting the event at the second Develop Conference & Expo to be held in Brighton, UK this July 24-26. With speakers such as game legends Peter Molyneux to also appear as speakers at the event, the two will tackle issues with creativity and community and the future of the MMO game.

Satchell's main speech will dive into Web 2.0 keeping two of the four key themes of the conference in mind: creativity and community. Using online social phenomena such as YouTube and MySpace as examples, Satchell will expound on how the gaming community drives Web 2.0 direction and development and how it will effect the online gaming scene.

"Lord British" Garriott will share his vision of the future massively multiplayer online game and the possibilities that can be achieved by developing for the medium. Garriott will also share his experiences in developing games and share it with the budding developers of the European community.

The organizers of the event, Tandem Events, have also announced that the conference already has an amazing line up of speakers slated, stating in the official press release that "the speaker line up is already reading like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the video game industry." Event director Andy Lane concluded the announcement, saying:

Develop is still three months away, but already we have a fantastic line up in place – of both speakers and sessions – for conference delegates, who will be travelling to Brighton this summer from all over the world. It goes without saying that we’re delighted to confirm Chris Satchell and Richard Garriott as two of our keynote speakers.

Although NCSoft's Guild Wars may not have World of Warcraft like numbers to back it up, the game, it's community, and it's no subscription fee model works. With over 3 million copies sold, two expansions and an upcoming sequel, the game is definitely creating a place for itself in the MMORPG saturated world of PC gaming.

The big question now is if NCSoft is willing to move their unique take on MMO gaming, and bring it to the console realm, especially now that Microsoft and Sony are in heavy competition when it comes to providing online experiences to their gamers.

When Ben Miller, a Game Designer at ArenaNet, was interviewed by Eurogamer, and asked if they're considering moving into the console space much in the same way that Square-Enix has with Final Fantasy XI, Miller responded: "We are focused on PCs right now. I think consoles remain an interesting opportunity for Guild Wars in the future, but that's not something we've announced any plans for at this time."

As Ben Miller described their model during the interview, "You buy the game once, you can play it for as long as you want. And the new content we introduce in the future you can choose to buy or not to buy..." some of us here at QJ feel that the said distribution plan would fit perfectly with the way the PlayStation Network or the Xbox Live Marketplace works.

Given that the developers have gone through great lengths in order to differentiate their game from other MMOs out there - by making it have gameplay aspects that are unique to it - and more importantly differentiate themselves from games like World of Warcraft, a move to console space is definitely opportune.

For the complete interview, and a whole lot of talk about Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 feel free to head to it via our "read" link below.

Somehow the impression is made that South Korea is literally a territory all to its own when it comes to video gaming. Off the top of our heads: it's MMO-saturated, you've got people widely acclaimed there for video game pwnage, and where else is Starcraft turned into a national sport? NCSoft, which counts Guild Wars, City of Heroes/Villains and the upcoming Tabula Rasa among its MMO titles, is Korean-based.

What are the chances South Korea will make a dent in the next-gen wars? We can't hazard any guesses (really, we can't) but we'll soon find out anyway as Sony and Nintendo spool up for their respective PS3 and Wii Korea launches. The Korea Times reports that Sony hopes to get their console out before June, with Nintendo following suit in the second half of the year.

Microsoft's already there, having been released a year ago. The observation was that the online PC-dominated southern half of the peninsula would be one tough nut to crack. And Korea Times can't report on MS Korea's sales, because it's being kept "confidential" (their words, not ours). On the other hand, MS Korea director Kim Dae-jin made the observation that better copy protection in the next-gen Xbox 360 should make it easier for console game publishers to thrive in the market, and that sales are "satisfying".

A cited poll by the RuliWeb game community suggest that 36% would swing for an Xbox, 29% for the PS3, and 33% Wii. We'll see how the next-gen counter adds up after the Korean launches.

Analyst Rhian Hibner was on gaming news the other day and he brings with him some unfriendly comments for the upcoming PSP title Family Guy and the rest of the industry. We are not quite familiar with this guy Hibner but fortunately, stalwarts of the industry are just around the corner and are ready to defend the kingdom.

Accordingly, Hibner had seen the PSP title and thought it was poorly produced. He then made some rants and uttered baseless and hasty generalizations. NCSoft former employee Brian Plauche couldn't agree less with Hibner as he wrote: "To use one game to make blanket comments regarding the industry displays ignorance regarding modern games. I can say with confidence that he is completely out of touch with the industry."

Plauche then reiterated that graphics is not just as simple as 1-2-3. It is actually composed of entwined features such as dynamic lighting, world size, sound, musical score, story line, artificial intelligence, environment interaction and physics. Plauche even went further by saying: "Physics and interaction with artificial environments are such important developments that soon players will have to add a physics card to their computers just to ensure the game can be played properly."

In the end, the former NCSoft employee couldn't help but praise the Splinter Cell franchise and Halo on X360 and upcoming MMO Tabula Rasa. The X360 titles according to him have penetrated unprecedented levels and are only possible with the hardware in next-generation consoles. Lastly, Tabula Rasa was given the thumbs up for revolutionizing MMORPG titles by skipping grinding and just enjoy game play.

This may be a stretch, but it's still gaming related. Hey, if you're really anal about "worthiness" be patient, there's mention here of a prize that you might want. Now that the warning is done and over with, here we go.

Mary-Margaret.com, a company in the field of international recruitment services for the interactive entertainment industry is celebrating its tenth year. Because their feeling nice, they're holding an online contest and the prizes include passes to attend the Game Developers Conference 2007 in San Francisco. If in case you're wondering if that conference will fit in your gaming/brewing schedule, GDC 2007 is from March 5-9.

Given that they're into recruitment for the gaming industry, the contest is aptly named "Upgrade to Next Gen." Good title, nice spin. Anyway, they'll be giving away three prize packages valued at $3,500 each. Winners will also get to stay at The Mosser, a hotel that's a block away from the Moscone Convention Center. They're also going to be giving away a bundle of software courtesy of NCSoft, Iron Lore Entertainment, and The Guildhall at SMU. Contest registration is open online until February 1, 2007. Here are the Prize details:

VIP Prize

• VIP pass to GDC 2007
• Two invitations to the GDC Choice Awards VIP Reception
• Two night stay at The Mosser
• An Xfire™ Alienware Area-51 Series Extreme Gaming PC
• Deluxe software gift pack
  

NCsoft: Guild Wars, Auto Assault, and City of Heroes
Iron Lore Entertainment: The RPG hit Titan Quest and two Titan Quest T-shirts
The Guildhall at SMU: One copy of Guitar Hero II for Sony PlayStation2 with Guitar Controller and one copy of Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code for Sony PSP

Giga Prize

• Giga pass to GDC 2007
• Two night stay at The Mosser
• Deluxe software gift pack (same pack as above)
  

Mobile Prize

• Mobile Plus pass to GDC 2007
• Two night stay at The Mosser
• Deluxe software gift pack (same pack as above)

If you want to join you can click on our read link below, you could go to their official site for more details about the contest. One last bit: don't you find it weird that for a "go next gen" contest the prizes involve PC and PS2 stuffs? Sigh. We wonder who's going to get a lifetime achievement award at the con this time around?