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.

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.

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.

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?

Yes, I know that you hardcore console folks (I'm looking at you, PSPeeps!) hate seeing this sort of stuff on your blogs, but I'm giving you warning - there's a shameless plug ahead! But we gotta get the word out on two of our newest blogs - and not just any blogs, our first game specific blogs! We all know that MMORPG's are big, and it's the nature of an online beast to have lots of news, updates, patches, mods and upgrades to talk about. These new blogs have been lurking around the QJ network all this week, but it's time to give them the proper introduction they deserve.

Okay, so that one doesn't need much of an introduction. Everyone's heard of a little game called World of Warcraft, right? Yeah, I thought so. It is the MMORPG of our times with millions upon millions of players wandering through the world of Azeroth every single minute of every single day. And that's just the beginning. With the upcoming release of the Burning Crusade expansion, things are about to get even bigger. So it's a perfect time to launch our own WoW blog to keep everyone on top of every single bit of info out there! There's no stopping World of Warcraft from dominating the globe...

...or is there? You see, there's this little gem of a game that's been in the works for over 4 years from the fine folks at NCSoft and Destination Games. At the helm is Ultima Online">Richard Garriott aka Lord British, the mastermind behind the grand-daddy of modern MMORPG's - Ultima Online. With experience and an award winning art team on their side, Tabula Rasa hopes to wipe the slate clean and knock WoW off its high horse. With a unique crossbreeding of 3rd person RPG action with alien-blasting FPS controls and tactics, it might do just that.

TR will soon be hitting the beta stage, and we here at QJ want to be in on the ground floor of what will most likely be the next big thing in the MMORPG universe. This is the place to be if you want to keep up on all the latest news, art renders, screenshots, and developments.

So there you have it - two new blogs to check out, with some pretty snazzy sneak peaks and exclusive content on the way. And a third new blog isn't far behind, and hopefully it will fill the obvious hole in the QJ Network when it comes to gaming news!

CEA to the rescue?

Yeah, we here at QJ are still pretty bummed with the news about the changes in E3, but it looks like the Consumer Electronics Association is planning to be our shoulder to cry on as they are seriously considering the viability of a new consumer and trade event for the games industry.

After that ESA decision to morph E3 to into the E3 Media Festival, CEA believes there's a gap in the industry calendar which they are planning to fill with a freshly designed event based on feedback from the electronic entertainment industry.

CEA president and CEO, Gary Shapiro said that "since ESA decided to eliminate the E3 event in its known format, we have been deluged with inquiries on whether we could fill the tradeshow needs of smaller video entertainment companies. Our executive board met yesterday and unanimously asked staff to explore ways that we can help the gaming community."

The possibility of an E3-like extravaganza from CEA will be decided by the advisory committee led by CEA executives Karen Chupka and Dan Cole with support from companies including Auravision, Majesco Entertainment and NCsoft. For now, things are looking optimistic, according to Ms. Chupka, "a major goal of this advisory committee is to generate gaming community feedback on how best to meet the needs of the industry...As long as there is desire and commitment, we are ready to service this community and will begin looking at venues in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and for appropriate partners."

So what's your take in all these? Do you think the planned CEA event could fill the large gap left behind by E3? What do you want to see in the CEA event? Tell it to us through your comments.