Let’s Ease the ‘Soccer Craving’ with Games

The game providers, who had tearful faces with decreasing of users during the World Cup, are heading for a ‘massive counter attack’ facing the peak season, summer vacations of all schools.

The online game provider ‘Net marble’ (www.netmarble.net) reinforced some games such as Gostop and Mah-Jong for the adult users who are suffering from the ‘soccer craving’ after the World Cup. It increased the devotion and interest levels by increasing the betting points, and it provides game money, with which can buy different avatar items, as a bonus to the users. It also introduces the ‘Gostop 2’ for four players, which is an upgraded version of the ‘Gostop,’ which allowed only 3 players to play at one time.

The ‘Webzen’ (www.webzen.co.kr) co-hosted the ‘2002 We Love Art’ festival at the KOEX outdoor plaza in Samsung-Dong, Seoul on the 17th with the Ire Communications. In this event, they showed the techno performance and fashion performance by the artists with a concept of the online game ‘MU’ and stressed the ‘game as an art.’

In the game blind date site ‘Candy Bar’ (www.candybar.co.kr), which is operated by the game maker Sunny YNK, changes the World Cup related items and provides summer games by introducing the ‘ladder love studio,’ which gives the users chances to have blind date by playing the ‘ladder game.’

Reported by Nah, Sung-Yub cpu@donga.com

The ‘Crazy Arcade’ of M Play, who provides ‘old arcade’ type online game service, is officially providing the ‘Tetris.’ This game has special features such as a visual effect of the pieces of blocks flying all over when you break on line and explosion sound.

Upgrades of the existing games and release of new games are also vigorous. The online game provider Softmax recently upgraded its game community ‘4 Leaf’ (www.4leaf.co.kr) with new items and services. It added exchange functions for characters and items of ‘the Genesis’ and ‘Magna Carta,’ and also added a shopping mall to by items.

The Joy On newly opened a game portal site ‘Joy On Dot Com’ (www.joyon.com). It is providing online games such as ‘Big Merchant,’ ‘Lagheim,’ a board game such as ‘Alggagi,’ and some educational contents for young children.

The CCR added a Pinkle Map and an observer mode to the ‘Portris 2’ (www.x2game.com) and introduced the final ‘Portris 2 Blue V.600’ on the 20th, so it already has the ‘post World Cup System.’