Never has the future of online gaming been so controversial in the last decade until now. So much of the world has participated in the virtual world battles that the consequences won't always go unnoticed. On January 7-9, 2007, "State of Play IV: Building the Global Metaverse" conference will be held in Singapore. The core topic will revolve around "the unique regulatory and cross-cultural challenges posed by the growth of transnational virtual worlds."

Statistics reveal that the online gaming market in the Asia Pacific region generated some $1.4 billion in annual revenues last year. The trend continues,so it's expected that the figure will triple by the decade's end. It's significant to know that much of this growth have been attributed to Chinese gamers, as evident in the much-attended Chinajoy conference and software show early this year. But of course, most gamers in the Asia-Pacific region such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have also contributed to this phenomenon.

Understanding "what might be" is indeed a challenge. The number of attendees in this conference may even surpass that of Chinajoy's. The conference schedule and registration information will be announced on September 1st, but as always, we'll keep you posted.

The conference is to be sponsored by Harvard, Yale and New York Law Schools, Texas' Trinity University, and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

Based on the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the epic fantasy MMORPG, Kingdom of Warriors will headline WEBZEN Inc. which is about to showcase a number of exciting MMORPG titles at China's largest entertainment software show, ChinaJoy, on July 28-30.

Kingdom of Warriors is being developed to attract the rapidly growing Chinese online gaming market. It has been in the top five most anticipated games consistently, as compiled by respected Chinese website 17173.com

"I'm thrilled that our online games, including Kingdom of Warriors, have received such a great response from Chinese gamers and the local press," said Nam Ju Kim. "WEBZEN plans on stepping up its brand awareness in China through this year's ChinaJoy, and solidifying its image as a global brand in the local market." He is also slated to give a specila presentation at the convention on July 27, 2006, will cover successful global strategies for video game companies.

The much-anticipated massively multiplayer online first-person shooter Huxley and Project Wiki, a casual fairy tale based MMORPG with intense levels of cooperative interaction, will also be showcased alongside Kingdom of Warriors.

WEBZEN invites everyone to drop by their booth and give Kingdom of Warriors a try. They are located in the center's main exhibition area, Hall 1, at the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC).