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.

If you enjoyed the last Nordic Game conference and are looking forward to this year's event, we've got some news for you. Quite a number of big name speakers will be sharing their thoughts at the Business and Production part of the program. To find out who will at the event, head on over to the full article.

In the GSTAR Game Expo held in South Korea, Nexon Korea’s international business division general manager Jamie Kang has revealed that they've been working on an Xbox 360 port of the MMORPG Mabinogi for over a year now. He also shared some details about Maple Story DS, which he said will not be an MMORPG like the original Maple Story but an action-adventure RPG.

Want to know more? You can find the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

The first Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC) coming September 6, 2007 will have numerous regional game industry leaders to speak at the two-day conference, so goes the official announcement made earlier today. The press release named Joonmo Kwon, CEO of MMORPG tycoon Nexon and Nexon Mobile, to be one of those to speak at the GCAC in Asia and Pacific (A&P) commercial hub Singapore.

 

The event will be held alongside an open-to-all GC Asia Exhibition which will run up to September 9 - two days longer than the conference - in an effort to spur exposure of the region's most reputable game companies to investors, retailers and the public alike. But more importantly, Asian game developers will be able to tout their best products to international publishers.

In addition to Mr. Kwon, who will be addressing attendees on Mobile Development, James Miller (Lead Program Manager, Microsoft, USA) will prime the region's developers in the views of third-party publishing. And because A&P is a region of oft-outsourced game developer studios, a panel consisting of Charles Speyer (COO, Glass Egg Media, Vietnam), Alexander Fernandez (CEO, Streamline Studios, Netherlands) and Bob Bates (Board of Director, IGDA, USA) will tackle issues with outsourcing and its overall effect to the game industry.

Other discussions will express opinions on the growing trend of game financing, often the source of funds for independent game developers the world around. As of press time, the GCAC is accepting registrations online, reachable through the Read link provided below.

The DS version of the PC RPG Maple Story has not only been re-confirmed by its Korean gaming developer Nexon, the company even gave it a release date: sometime September 2007.

News of Maple Story for the DS first surfaced at E3 2006. Since then the buzz died down until these recent info came out. According to resurrected buzz, Nexon has a dedicated team headed by the company's Managing Director Hyong-No Kim working on the game.

The DS version will stick to the game's PC gameplay such as the variation of jobs, skills, and battle system. But new elements aimed specifically for Nintendo's bestselling handheld will be added. Maple Story will be a side-scrolling action RPG with an avatar code system.

Maple Story DS will be released in a special DS bundle initially in Korea. Don't worry, the game will also be available in Europe, US, Japan, and Australia.

Here's something for Nintendo fans hoping for more good news before the end of the year. A new FF title for the Wii? We'll...get back to you on that. Nintendo announced that it's formed a partnership with Korean game publisher Nexon for the Wii.

As Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in a recently held press conference:

We plan to actively support Korean game software developers who have great expertise in developing online games and support their advances into foreign markets, Nintendo has started a game development partnership with NEXON, creator of the online racing game Crazyracing Kartrider and Korean publisher of the popular MMORPG Maple Story.

The speech was made in front of Korean media, as an announcement of Nintendo's subsidiary plans in the area. Iwata also discussed plans for a Korean language version DS Lite for January 18, with a planned Asian Wii launch late in the year, after language localization is completed.

For one, we're happy that given the normally tense post-war sentiments felt between Japan and Korea, that this event ends on a happier note. And in other news, Kim Jong Il spotted near the Wii kiosks, after failing to acquire a PS3...