SouthPeak's apparently betting big on Ninjatown, X-Blades, Edge of Twilight and the rest of its lineup, which will include follow-ups to Two Worlds, hoping for big hits. According to Takahashi, SouthPeak is hoping to ride Two Worlds, which it considers its biggest to-date success, to fiscal year revenues of $30 million.

The publisher just went public in April, through a semi-complicated "reverse merger" situation it recently went through in April with Global Services Acquisition Corp - the quick story on that deal is the merger let SouthPeak go public without an IPO.

SouthPeak Interactive raises $12.9 million for indie games [VentureBeat]

Rohit Sharma, the chief operating officer of Zapak Digital Entertainment, told DNA Money the company is also looking at investing in content developers for gaming, from countries like US and Korea, and has a kitty of $5 million to $10 million for the same.

The ADAG-promoted venture is expected to invest $100 million in Zapak's three verticals — gaming portals, gaming cafes and content creation — over the next 3-5 years.

"We are launching a European site and a Chinese site and are looking to be a global brand very soon. We may also invest in some studios because software creation and ownership are key in gaming," Sharma added.

It's nice to see players other than China, Korea, and Japan getting in on the act. I wonder, though, how many gaming portals of the casual variety does the world really need?

Zapak's game for global play [DNA India]

[Winking Entertainment CEO Gary Zhang] remembers that even three years ago foreign companies had their online games outsourced in China because of its low production costs. But now it is not only about the cost, but great market potential as well.

"The United States and Japan have rushed to the market, which means they have to find a Chinese partner to sustain the business. Conflicts between foreign companies and domestic operators (are common), as we can see from the past," he says, adding that well-developed outsourcing companies like Winking might be the best solution.

PlayNoEvil predicts "it is quite likely that these companies will grow to be the next generation of publishers and that these outsourced firms will be buying the traditional computer game publishers."

Fund and Games [China Daily via PlayNoEvil]

The broker started coverage of the video-game sector with a neutral rating. In a report, analyst Eric Handler noted that the market is growing, with new gamers attracted by "interesting hardware choices" that are driving "greater creativity" among video-game publishers.

However, he added that slower sales of new consoles than expected and " overextended" company valuations will limit upside in the group for the near term.

Financial stuff makes my head spin; I guess it's a good thing I'm going into a field where I'll be broke for the rest of my life, thus not having to worry about it.

Video-game Stocks Have Limited Upside For Now, Lehman Say [CNN Money]

Coasting on the laurels of the DS and the DS Lite's popularity, Nintendo posted a profit of 95 billion yen ($808 million dollars). Even with the Gamecube as a stagnant third-place in last generation's console wars, the wild success of the DS has completely validated Nintendo's risky ventures. That Nintendo has done so well on what was considered an experimental handheld probably bodes well for their success with the Revolution.

One interesting comment in the Bloomberg article is that the wild success within Japan of the DS Lite caused Nintendo to sell handhelds meant for export. We wonder if that accounts for Nintendo's failure to announce an American DS Lite launch date officially.

Nintendo Full-Year Profit Gains on Stronger Dollar