Hold on to your hats, folks. There's a chance that Capcom may be gearing up for a late 2009 release for Lost Planet 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). According to a slide spotted at the Xbox 360 Invitational in Korea, anyway.

This one's definitely no rumor. Funcom itself has announced on their official homepage that they are cutting "around 20% of the staff...mostly in the Company's Norwegian subsidiary."

There can be no doubt that some of the best gamers in the world are from South Korea. The WCG is a witness to what the Korean gaming force can do. Even outside the WCG, whether it's StarCraft, Warcraft, Counter-strike, and even Tekken, there's bound to be a Korean or two among the best. So now comes this Craiglist posting, where you get to learn StarCraft from a real Korean, and no not a fake one.

If you thought growing up on your hood was tough, wait 'til you experience THQ's Homefront, yet another FPS coming to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Developed by Kaos Studios, this new shooter takes the fight out of the usual jungles, complexes, and fictional planets. Homefront, as the name implies, will have you defending your very own backyard against invading foreigners, and when they walk into your place with guns, you know things are gonna get personal.

Okay, so you've got your agenda finalized. What's the next thing to do? Why, it's to announce the All-Star Speakers, of course.

Evergreen Events, the organizer of the 2008 ION Game Conference, has done precisely that. It's mentioned four important names to take note of. Find out who these four people are after the jump.

Take-Two Interactive Software, the distributor of Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) and other games, has given word that it is planning to expand into Asia Pacific markets. The company has tapped an experienced senior executive to help them establish a foothold in Asia. For more information, don't hesitate to click on the "read more" link below.

During the first ever Games Convention Asia Conference (GC Asia Conference) held in Singapore, many countries proved how the industry is also strong in Asia outside Japan. Singapore, known as a big market for MMORPGs, even took a step forward to announce that they're ready to become a games industry center of excellence.

Minister for community development, Vivian Balakrishnan, revealed that around US$ 330 million (SG$ 500 million) of government funds went to research and development in the digital interactive sector.

A student exchange program called "GAMBIT" is also under way for Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to share their expertise.

Other parts of South East Asia expressed interest in the industry. A memorandum that "signifies the recognition of each other as ideal counterparts for future collaboration and co-operation in this region for the benefit of the games industry" was signed by ten Asian game developers associations from various countries like Japan, Korea, Australia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Asia-Pacific is expected to contribute 40% of gaming industry's US$ 39.8 billion annual revenue by the end of 2008, and Singapore wants a piece of the cake. "Singapore intends to be part of the action," said Balakrishnan.

 

Blizzard's undying love to games that have been on shelves for years is still apparent, as seen with the latest update on StarCraft. It's been almost a decade since the blockbuster RTS' release, yet thousands of fans still play it everyday. Props goes to Blizzard for addressing issues gamers encounter for no extra charge.

The new patch, while nothing stellar, is still something that League players and everyone else will appreciate. Here's the changelog:

• Made stability improvements to replay saving code.
• Fixed a bug where the map download progress was not shown.
• Pressing alt-f4 while in Starcraft and logged into a league now logs you out of the league.
• Updated some of the localization for the league page.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed nukes to fall anywhere on the map.

With all the buzz on StarCraft 2, it's very delighting to see support for this old fogey. StarCraft already made its mark, becoming a national sport in Korea and one of the few video games that double as spectator sports, yet Blizzard isn't just sitting in the back while enjoying royalties. Kudos goes to them.

Slipping back to our business suits, we've gotten word that U.S. market research firm Parks Associates has discovered that online gaming still outweighs video streaming or social networking over the Internet. The report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" claimed that at least 34% of adult Internet users play online games on a weekly basis. Games they play include casual games, confirming the rise in popularity of the casual gaming sector.

 

In contrast, 29% of those surveyed watch short online videos, and a smaller 19% visit social networking sites at least once a week. Additionally, online gaming is also experiencing a major surge in the North American region. Parks Associates observed a 79% year-on-year rise in online gamers, compared to the 46% climb of social networking users.

Still, video streaming users are ascending at a steep 123%, and the online gaming sector would do well to challenge that rate in the following years. The online gaming sector is becoming a ripe source of income, and Parks Associates still recommends the tried-and-tested Western business models for the region.

In the Eastern front, the online gaming sector is becoming a blossoming playground for the Asian gaming industry, as Taiwan, Korea, and China have experienced phenomenally market booms in the previous year. Market predictions are also off-the-roof for the Far East, and it may have already grown leaps and bounds in the first half of 2007.

Because people WoW and click Flash more than they Facebook or Youtube, we'll be monitoring for more developments as they come clicking by.

The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) has recently released an official announcement ticking off the need-to-know facts of this year's Tokyo Game Show (TGS). The freshly wired press release claimed that an anticipated 168 exhibitors will strut their stuff on 1,708 booths over eight spacious halls in Makuhari Messe, Mihama-ku, Chiba City starting September 20, 2007.

 

From 2007 onwards, the TGS will serve as a essential part in Japan's International Contents Festival (CoFesta). And while it will serve as a bid for major publishers towards the end-of-year season of software releases, it will also bring mobile telephony forward to the tech-savvy masses, courtesy of special sponsor NTT DoCoMo.

TGS2007, extending its show to four days for the first time, will also be introducing new exhibitors from around the world, including companies from The Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand, adding to the 51 international participating exhibitors from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.

The business leg of the event is also stretched to two full days, a conclusion of which is succeeded with open exhibition to a targeted gathering of 180,000 attendees on September 22-23. The first two days of the Nikkei co-organized event will be open only to attendees with business in mind, touting a TGS Forum 2007 program keynoted by none other than Kazuo Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment's (SCE) president and group CEO.

Need to know more? Then head on over to the full article, right after the jump!