本周三，每年一度的大型游戏贸易展览会G-Star在韩国东南部海港城市釜山正式展开。此次会议汇集了来自全球的200多家网络，手机，视频和社交游戏公司及众多游戏爱好者。此次为期4天的G-Star展览会将充分展现目前韩国和海外游戏产业的发展动态，其中囊括了传统电脑游戏和新兴的手机和社交游戏等。不少韩国顶尖游戏开发公司希望借此次机会让其开发多年的大型多人网络游戏与玩家见面。

Visitors-crowd-the-G-Star-global-game-exhibition-in-Busan-on-Thursday

首先，NcSoft公司推出了其在画面和音效都明显改进的新作《Blade and Soul》，这一韩国最大的网络游戏开发公司将在此次G-Star展示《Blade and Soul》试玩版，期待这款游戏可以继承《天堂》和《永恒之塔》的佳绩。

其次，韩国互联网巨头NHN的游戏子公司Hangame在此次G-star上展示了其开发四年的游戏《Tera》，据称目前开发这款游戏的总投入高达400亿韩元（折合3550万美元）。

另外，韩国盈利额排名第一的网络游戏公司Nexon则将在此次G-Star上首次公布游戏《Blood of Three Kingdoms》。而WeMade Entertainment则将揭开其开发了5年的游戏“NED”。

尽管韩国游戏开发商表现出了对网络游戏的无限热情，但无疑平台游戏也是此次G-Star展览的焦点之一。Sony和微软两大平台游戏巨头公司在有意多次回避这一盛会后，此次重磅回归，计划为12月节日季的来临做好宣传准备。

首先，日本Sony娱乐有限公司在阴谋缺席了4年的G-Star展览会后，将在此次的G-Star公布其PlayStation新进展——一款运动感应游戏控制器，及3D游戏。

其次，去年同样缺席G-Star的美国软件公司巨头微软也将利用此次机会展示其最新研发的Kinect传感游戏系统。该公司计划在今年底销售破500万件。

除网络游戏和平台游戏之外，今年开始流行的手机游戏也首次亮相G-Star展会。电脑游戏开发商中也有部分十分看重发展手机游戏和应用市场。

参观Nexon公司展位的玩家有机会试玩游戏《2012：首尔》。据称该款游戏是韩国首款多平台游戏，现可运行与电脑和智能手机平台，其iPhone和iPad版本会在此次展览会上发布，而适应Android系统的应用插件则在将来发布。同时，Nexon表示还将在此次展览上发布旗下热门网络游戏《跑跑卡丁车》的iPhone版本。

而海外社交游戏开发商也希望通过此次会议让更多的韩国游戏玩家了解这种新型游戏。Facebook社交网站最大的社交游戏开发公司Zynga，和Playfish，Playdom等公司都参加了此次G-Star会议，希望在韩国市场寻找合作伙伴。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The largest game trade show in the world’s most avid gaming country kicked off in the southeastern port city of Busan on Thursday, bringing together global online, mobile, video and social game makers and their fans, organizers said Wednesday.

The annual G-Star global game exhibition will run for four days with a record number of more than 200 companies participating, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency.

The six-year-old show is expected to present a multifaceted and dynamic picture of the game industry at home and overseas, from established and still popular PC games to up-and-coming players in emerging mobile and social games.

Korea’s top online game makers are expected to steal the show at G-Star as their long-awaited blockbusters in the popular genre of massively multiplayer online role-playing games will greet gamers.

Computer graphics and sound have made another step forward in “Blade and Soul” by NC Soft Corp., Korea’s biggest online game maker listed on the Seoul bourse. At G-Star, the company will showcase a beta version of the title, which it expects will inherit the success of its “Lineage” series and “Aion.”

Hangame, a game unit under Korea’s Internet titan NHN Corp., is presenting “Tera” after more than four years of development and 40 billion won ($35.5 million) in investment.

Nexon Corp., the country’s largest online game maker by revenue, will debut “Blood of Three Kingdoms” while WeMade Entertainment Co. will unveil “NED,” an expected blockbuster that it has put five years into developing.
Visitors crowd the G-Star global game exhibition in Busan on Thursday. (Yonhap News)

Though Korean gamers have shown a keen appetite for online gaming, console game makers will also share the spotlight at this year’s G-Star. Two global console game giants that have shunned the Korean game fair in recent years are making a splashy comeback with their hands-free gaming systems, hoping to promote new products before the December holiday season.

Japan-based Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., which has been conspicuously absent in the last four years, will present its PlayStation Move, a motion-sensing game controller, as well as 3D games.

U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp., which skipped the fair last year, is using the occasion to make a domestic debut of its hands-free Kinect gaming system, which the company hopes to sell 5 million units of globally by year’s end.

Joining well-established online PC games and console games this year are up-and-coming players in the emerging mobile game sector, which will take on the G-Star stage for the first time this year. Some PC game developers are set to launch mobile and tablet PC applications to take advantage of the increasing amount of time people spend on mobile gadgets.

Audiences who visit Nexon’s booth will get to try out “2012: Seoul,” which the company claims is the country’s first game available on multiple platforms, from PCs to smartphones. The title’s iPhone and iPad versions will be available at G-Star and applications for Android-based gadgets will be released in the future, it said. Nexon will release the iPhone version of its popular online game “Kartrider” at the fair as well.

Overseas developers of social games, a new field of games that are played and shared online through social networks like Facebook.com, will seek to make the genre more familiar to Korean gamers.

Zynga Game Network Inc., the largest maker of social games on Facebook, Playfish Inc. and Playdom Inc., is among a drove of social game developers scheduled to attend the fair seeking local business partners, the Korea Creative Content Agency said. (Source：Yonhap News)