1）据彭博社报道，近日有传闻称韩国网游巨头有可能收购北美游戏公司EA。而在这个说法流传之前数小时，EA股价则上涨8.1％，达到每股16.23美元。

EA-Nexon(from insidegamingdaily.com)

虽然EA到今年5月就成立满30周年，但近年在行业内的声誉却不甚理想，不久前曾被《Consumerist》读者票选为2012年“最糟糕美国企业”。但据ShackNews报道所称，EA的市值过高，所以不太可能被其他公司所收购。

2）DFC Intelligence最新报告指出，韩国在线游戏市场规模发达程度居世界之首，预计2016年产值将近50亿美元（游戏邦注：2011年产值为27亿美元）。

south korea flag(from blogcdn)

据DFC所称，韩国在线游戏市场的先进性体现在“近乎理想的基础设施条件”（包括全国范围的用户认证ID、多样化的支付渠道，低成本而高速的宽带网络）这一点，这也正是促使韩国网游行业蓬勃发展的一大动力。

该报告还显示，韩国用户是全球PC游戏人均投入最高的群体，韩国发行商有85%收益来自在家玩游戏的用户。但分析师Insun Yoon也指出，韩国游戏行业存在市场饱和的问题，其产品将面临更多创新压力。

3）据GamesIndustry International报道，前Disney Online高管Mike Goslin与其他迪士尼元老最新成立了Rebel Entertainment公司，打算面向Facebook开发即时在线的大型多人游戏。

rebel-logo(from evilavatar.com)

Goslin目前是Rebel Entertainment首个项目的总经理，将面临来自Rumble和Kixeye等公司的竞争。

4）日本手机社交游戏公司Gumi最近在韩国和新加坡分别成立新工作室Gumi Korea、Gumi Asia（游戏邦注：其新加坡工作室将由前EA亚洲高管David Ng担任主管）。

Gumi游戏目前在Mixi、Mobage和GREE等日本社交平台的注册用户已超过1000万，去年12月份宣布其每月收益达600万美元，其中多数来自虚拟商品交易。该公司至今已融资3200万美元。

5）据games.com报道，Zynga日前针对Zynga.com平台上的游戏推出了“快速加载”（Fast Load）功能，支持玩家快速进入游戏而无需坐等加载时间结束。这种缩短加载时间的技术可以为玩家带来好处，但也存在一个问题——在玩家跳转到另一款游戏时，它就无法发挥作用。

castleville-logo(from games)

例如你在《CastleVille》中获得动物时，中途想去《CityVille》种植庄稼，你可以激活《CastleVille》的“快速加载”功能，立即跳转到Zynga.com主页，但你进入《CityVille》并种完庄稼之后想返回《CastleVille》时，就还是需要等到加载时间结束才能回到《CastleVille》。

假如玩家保存并开启将Zynga.com浏览器标签，就可以无需等待加载重复往返于同一款游戏，但如果关闭了浏览器窗口或者重启电脑、开启另一款Zynga游戏，就会返回需要等待加载的状态。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Is Nexon about to buy EA?

By Josh Wittenkeller

According to the rumor in a Bloomberg video report this morning, South Korean free-to-play giant Nexon made a bid to purchase North American game developer, Electronic Arts. While this news in itself is pretty unexpected, the fallout so far has been equally surprising.

Just hours after the rumor began to circulate, EA’s stock saw an 8.1% spike to $16.23. It seems Nexon, whose revenue is comprised almost entirely of web and download games like Maple Story, might actually have some purchasing power over Electronic Arts, producer of AAA franchises such as Mass Effect, Battlefield, and Madden.

While the story is just conjecture until actually proven, this positive investor reaction will help push another speculation: digital distribution just might be the future of gaming.

EA, which will be turning a whopping 30 years this May, has been in a bit of an identity crisis in this area. As a longstanding veteran of physical games for consoles, EA has slowly pooled its resources into making a name for itself in the realms of social and mobile gaming, competing with top dog Zynga for the number one spot.

After “winning” the vote for worst company in America 2012 by Consumerist readers, EA hasn’t exactly been glorified by the media lately. Many of the harshest recent criticisms for EA stem from digital-based decisions, such as downloadable content. While the award itself is pretty questionable when compared to the practices of Bank of America and at&t (also in the contest), it goes to show that videogame consumers are extremely outspoken.

Nexon, on the other hand, has been producing solely digital content since 1994, and have been able to thrive in today’s gaming market with very little change. Expected to make a 53% increase in profit this year, their hold on the digital economy is likely here to stay.

Is an actual Nexon purchase of EA likely? Not very, according to ShackNews. Besides the fact that EA’s market cap is too large to allow for a feasible purchase from another company, a purchase would be bound to cause confusion amongst consumers. Both EA and Nexon are geared specifically for the demographics of their own countries, and both have radically different philosophies in game design.

Even though an actual purchase will likely never go through, the rumor (and results in the stock market) is an impressive testament to Nexon’s growth in the online marketplace.

Additional rumors state that Nexon has been approaching multiple global electronics companies for expansion, so this likely won’t be the last time we hear from Nexon. If Nexon’s trends of upward growth continue, this kind of story might actually become a reality in the near future.（source:gamezebo）

2）Korean game market most advanced in the world, growing to $5B by 2016 – analyst

by Eric Caoili

South Korea’s online game market is the most advanced in the world, and will generate nearly $5 billion in 2016 (compared to $2.7 billion in 2011), according to research firm DFC Intelligence.

DFC calls the country’s market the most advanced because of its “near optimal infrastructure,” which it believes is responsible for Korea’s success in the online games space and in pioneering business models like free-to-play.

Key elements that make up that infrastructure include a national ID for user authentication, diverse payment methods, low-cost high-speed broadband that DFC says has almost universal penetration, dedicated eSports leagues, and cable channels dedicated to online games.

In its new The Korea Game Market report, the group says that infrastructure will help the country’s annual revenues grow by around 9.7 percent each year for the next five years, reaching almost $5 billion by 2016.

It also claims that Korea has the highest per capita spending on PC games in the world, and that similar growth will occur in other markets as broadband penetration increases (DFC estimates that Korean publishers generate 85 percent of their revenue from consumers playing at home).

DFC analyst Insun Yoon points out that there are still challenges in Korea’s game market: “There is a problem with market saturation and it now takes really innovative products to standout from the pack.”

The firm also points out that online games have suffered a negative stigma in the country recently due to fears of online game addiction, and the Korean government has pursued a number of new laws to combat the issue. （source:gamasutra）

3）Disney veterans to fire up yet another Diablo-style game on Facebook

by Joe Osborne

Their name is Rebel Entertainment, and these ex-Disney game designers think that their dungeon-crawling social game will be better than the rest when it lands later this year. Former Disney Online executive Mike Goslin and other Mouse House expats’ confidence rests on one pillar: real-time, online and cooperative mutliplayer inside Facebook.

Real-time multiplayer on Facebook is a concept that’s certainly been done before, but not within a fantasy hack-and-slash setting. “I think the big differentiator is really playing with real people in real-time, not just playing a single-player game that has sort of social features that allow you to communicate asynchronously,” Goslin told GamesIndustry International.

“The only way to retain players is to give them more to do, give them more content. To me the best and longest-lasting content is community.”

Goslin is the head of Rebel Entertainment’s first project as GM, and faces stiff competition from developers like Rumble and perhaps even Kixeye, as both look to unleash similarly-styled role-playing games on Facebook this year. Of course, this is all assuming that “hardcore” gamers seek such an experience on Facebook. Then again, teaming up with a few buddies in real time to give a few monsters what for sure does sound like a blast.（source:games）

4）Japanese social game firm Gumi expanding in Asia

by Eric Caoili

Tokyo-based Gumi, one of the largest mobile social game developers and publishers in Japan, is expanding its presence in Asia with new offices in South Korea and Singapore.

The two branches will operate as Gumi Korea and Gumi Asia, respectively, with Electronic Arts Asia’s former senior director David Ng heading the latter. The Singapore office is putting together a team of developers, which will work with the other branches to release smartphone games for both Singapore and the international market.

Gumi has more than 10 million registered users across its games (e.g. Yakuza Wars, Pirate Wars) on multiple Japanese social networks like Mixi, Mobage, and Gree. Last December, the company said it made $6 million in revenues each month, mostly from virtual good sales. It has so far raised over $32 million from investors. （source:gamasutra）

5）Zynga’s Fast Load attempts to squash long loading times

by Brandy Shaul

While leveling up in Facebook games is often a source of pride for gamers, as larger Homesteads or Farms allow you to show off the many fruits of your digital labor, those bigger land spaces and additional decorations, animals, etc. cause a definite slowdown in the speed in which your games can load – perhaps even making it so slow that you decide to stop playing altogether.

In comes Zynga with an attempt to rectify that situation, as the company has started rolling out “Fast Load” to its games that are available on the Zynga.com platform. Fast Load allows you to immediately jump back into the game you were just playing if you happen to leave the screen, without sitting through a loading time. This is great in theory, as the elimination of loading times should mean less frustration for gamers. However, there’s one major problem with the Fast Load technology: it becomes useless the second you jump into another game.

Let’s say you were in the middle of harvesting animals in CastleVille and decide that you wish to go plant some crops in CityVille. While heading back to the Zynga.com homepage will allow you to activate the CastleVille Fast Load to immediately jump back in, the second you go into CityVille, this CastleVille Fast Load is lost. That is, if you finish planting those crops in CityVille and want to go back to CastleVille, you’ll need to wait for the game to load all over again.

So, what good is Fast Load? Well, that depends on how often you’ll play the same game throughout a single day, as keeping Zynga.com open in a browser tab will allow you to jump back into a single game time and time again without waiting for it to load. If you close the browser window, restart your computer or just load any other Zynga.com game for any reason however, you’re back to square one.

Ultimately, Zynga’s attempt to decrease the effect of loading times on players is admirable, but it’s definitely not a perfect setup. Still, it offers promise for future developments, and we can definitely only go up from here.（source:games）