Apple’s iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market and that is certainly no secret. While the phone itself is quite nice, the variety of software offered through the iOS App Store is what’s really going to keep consumers around. If you’ve got an iPhone and are partial to video games you’ll know that there is absolutely no drought of high quality titles offered for the phone along with Apple’s other iOS powered devices.
Of these games, Fruit Ninja is one of the most popular right up there with Angry Birds. If you’re not familiar with the premise of the game you are essentially a ninja with a sword who’s task is to slash as many pieces of flying fruit as possible within a given time period. Seeing how all of the iOS powered devices are touch enabled this is quite obviously accomplished by swiping your finger across the screen with proper timing.
While Fruit Ninja is currently only available for mobile platforms, Korea’s Game Rating Board may have given us a glimpse of the future. According to reports, said Game Rating Board has just given Fruit Ninja for the Xbox 360 a rating. You may be asking yourself how are you going to swipe your finger across the screen with an Xbox 3360 controller but you’re not as the game is set to be Kinect enabled.
Sounds pretty fun but if you choose to go this route I suggest you stay far away from those playing the game as flailing arms have been known to cause some carnage.
The video game industry is no stranger to controversy with many big titles causing waves. Grand Theft Auto, for example, has been criticized time nad time again for allowing gamers to do things like drive drunk, kill police officers and all sorts of other illegal doings. Modern Warfare 2 is another great example which features a level that has the gamer mowing down countless innocent civilians within an airport.
However, now that times have changed and North Korea is causing a ruckus, it’s going to be interesting to see how Homefront does on the market. This game takes place in the near future where the United States has been invaded by a united Korea. Seeing how it’s a very sensitive subject, it is sure to garner quite a bit of negative feedback.
However, Kaos Studios’ Dave Votypka isn’t worried about this, going on to say:
“It seems inevitable that there will be some that may not agree with the events in the game, or don’t believe them. The thing that should be remembered here is that this is a work of fiction. It’s not a prediction, there is no political statement being made, and it’s not a condemnation of any current day situation, country, or person; it’s simply a ‘what-if’ scenario. The North Korean government has been publicly vehement toward the West since the Korean War, so we’re not inventing anything new in this regard. It’s simply a stepping stone that a fictional scenario has been extrapolated from, and it has not been designed to cast the Korean public in a negative light.”
Would you be offended watching Korea invade the United States within a video game? I sure wouldn’t but I’m sure some folk out there will be.
via destructoid
Blizzard likes to keep control of all their IP rights, even if games are broadcast on television, Blizzard wants a cut. Which means they’re not happy when Korean game TV channels MBC Game and OnGameNet have been broadcasting StarCraft tournaments without Blizzards consent.
Blizzard has sued both companies, and they’re now looking to expand the lawsuit to include Korea e-Sports Players Association (KeSPA), which manages StarCraft tournaments. It seems a Blizzard has become quite the control freak, demanding a licensing fee for broadcasting of game tournaments, something which has been going on for at least a decade in Korea.
Korean MMO developer/publisher NCsoft has seen a massive increase in Q1 profits compared to last year; an increase of 315% compared to 2008, or over $105 million.
The results are fueled by the new release of MMO Aion: Tower of Eternity in Korea, which was an instant success. Other titles in NCsoft’s lineup saw an increase in revenue and contributed to the positive financial results, besides Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, which was taken offline lsat February.
Korea has one of the biggest, if not the biggest competitive gaming leagues in the world. Not only do gamers reach a celebrity status, games are regularly televised across the country.
One of the gamers, 22-year old Jae Ho ‘Moon’ Jang, just signed a $470,000 dollar contract to play WarCraft 3 for the WeMade FOX team. Another famous FOX team player Yoon Yeol ‘NaDa’ Lee, got a similar deal (of $490,000) in 2007 to play StarCraft.
There’s no news on how long the contract will run, but since it’s usual for players to “retire” at the age of 23-24, Moon’s contract likely runs 2 years.
