FPS World is a modern spin on the pop-up shooting gallery with a gaming-themed spin.  

"I gave it a try and for about three bucks you get forty shots of semi auto action," says South Korean-based reader Peter. "You get to slap a second magazine in and the shooting range is done up to look like a typical fps scene."

The companions were working the NCSOFT Blade & Soul booth. The two companions were professional models hired by NCSOFT, the company stated, but the costumes were provided by the modeling company and not NCSOFT.

G-Star does not allow booth babes in bikini or underwear style costumes in exhibitor booths. Skirts must cover the pelvis. Tops must cover one third of the companion's back. Companies who refuse to follow this guideline will be punished — first a verbal warning, and the third time, G-Star will cut the booth's power. G-Star even has the right to ask companies to leave the event.

The crackdown on booth companions is so that the event is not known as "Girl Star". Instead, G-Star is known as "The game show that kicks out out cosplaying booth companions for wearing outfits less revealing what you'd see at the beach."

Over-revealing Blade and Soul Showgirls Are Ordered Out of Gstar 2009 [News.mmosite.com]

Must tone those thighs! That's model Ryu Ji Hye as Chun-Li. She's an announcer on Ongamenet's Street Fighter IV show. Not sure who the dude is.

Ryu Ji Hye Street Fighter IV Ongamenet Promo Video [Really Cute Asians]

Fan made character design to the rescue! A post on South Korean site ThisIsGame.com has a re-worked Juri — an abnormally high quality one for a character that was just revealed. But that doesn't necessarily mean, the tweaked design is better.

"Based on your opinions I removed the double pony tails, made the eyes less sharp, and added TaeKwonDo uniform," the ThisIsGame.com post reads. "This certainly is Koreanisque, but it is too plain; I think it is actually bad for a game character's rendering."

Agree? Disagree? Fight!

한국식 주리를 만들어봤습니다 [ThisIsGame Thanks YJ!]

There is a reason for Capcom including a Korean fighter, it seems. Producer Yoshinori Ono explains that while making the arcade version, the president of Capcom pointed out that there wasn't a South Korean fighter in Street Fighter. The reason for giving Juri a Korean background is to appeal to a wider gaming market audience.

According to Ono, South Korean players might have wondered why there was never a Korean fighter in Street Fighter, but there have been Korean fighters in Tekken and The King of Fighters.

For example, South Korean fighter Baek Doo San first appeared in 1995's Tekken 2, and Kim Kaphwan, leader of the KOF Korean team, has appeared in SNK titles since 1992's Fatal Fury 2.

『スーパーストリートファイターIV』に韓国籍のキャラクターが参戦した理由 [はちま起稿]

While the gameplay looks a little "been there, done that", it's not the only overly-familiar thing about the trailer. We could swear we've heard that music somewhere before...

[Sudden Attack]

The virtual golf rooms measure the distance the ball travels, and the newest golf rooms feature game systems that can reproduce famous courses in 3D.

In a crackdown late last month, the police pinpointed 39 video golf rooms and booked 36 of them for violating laws on food cleanliness. Many of these video game rooms reported themselves as sports facilities, but took part in activities like selling alcohol and introducing customers to prostitutes.

Police say that these types of "perverted businesses" have increased in number. "We will continue to inspect new types of immoral businesses."

Korea Beat › "Screen Golf" Rooms Getting in Trouble [Korea Beat via ROK Drop]

Now a gameplay clip is out, is there still need for the hyperventilation?

Previously, some were calling the game "an embarrassment" to South Korean gaming to which SK-Imedia replied, "Debating (as to if it's a rip off or not) is like having blind men touching an elephant and describing what it looks like. We will reveal the gameplay soon. Other than that, we have no comment at this time."

해브(H.A.V.E.) 온라인 플레이 영상 [Tagstory Thanks, Tae Ho!]

H.A.V.E. Online is being called "an embarrassment" to the Korean game industry. Check out this comparison clip and judge for yourself.

Last week, we reported that its publisher SK iMedia has not commented about the likeness. Well, the company finally has made a statement. Korean web portal DC News did a phone interview with the publisher. "Debating (as to if it's a rip off or not) is like having blind men touching an elephant and describing what it looks like," said SK iMedia. "We will reveal the gameplay soon. Other than that, we have no comment at this time."

신작 게임 'H.A.V.E.', '팀 포트리스2'와 비슷하다? [DC News Thanks, Torokun!]

An homage?

Even with the otaku toy twist, the game is a little too close to Team Fortress 2 for some on the Korean internet, where the game is kicking up a mini-controversy. The game is being called "an embarrassment" to the Korean game industry.

H.A.V.E.'s publisher SK iMedia has not made a comment about the Team Fortress 2 likeness. Check out the trailer comparison shots and wonder to yourself why they called this game H.A.V.E. and not Toy Fortress Story.

Missed opportunity, that.

팀 포티리스 2 표절 + 오덕화 ‘피규어 TPS' H.A.V.E 영상·스크린샷 공개 [The World is just awesome Thanks Torokun!]

So if you are going to really learn StarCraft, then ByunTae wants you to learn it from an "authentic Korean". That's right, not a fake Korean, an authentic one. From his Craigslist posting:

Hi, my name is ByunTae from South Korea. I have been playing Starcraft since 1998 and I was born and raised in Korea. I'm 100% full blooded Korean, meaning I have been gifted with unparallel talent to master any video game, particularly, Starcraft: Brood War. I'm also experienced in Counter-Strike, I am able to perform bunny hops, my best score on a public 32 player game was 171-2 with 170 kill streak. I'm offering my expertise in Starcraft to be taught to non-Koreans that wishes to have the skill of a Korean player.

ByunTae goes on to claim he's advised and coached Korean pros and will teach you unit management, map strategies, how to use in-game bugs to your advantage, and even basic Korean "to communicate with Koreans on Battle.net". He goes on to add:

My lessons will result in:
Faster APM (actions per minute) - average professional gamers range from 250-550. Average player is about 100.
Better Win/Loss Ratio
Chance to become a professional gamer in Korea - Celebrity status, especially for foreigners, like Guillaume Patry (Grrr...) and Bertrand Grospellier (Elky)
Bragging rights, that you're as good as a Korean in Starcraft
You will be called a hacker because you're so good.
Korean girls will be intrigued that you're such a good Starcraft player.

My lessons are offered to only non-Koreans or American born Koreans because they lack the blessing from the Gaming God, Norazi.

The price of this "authenticity" starts at twenty-five bucks an hour.

Starcraft lessons from authentic Korean (richmond / seacliff) [Craigslist Thanks AJ!]

One bundle includes a region-specific TV tuner, 32MB memory stick, and a PSP. The other two? They're Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection bundles — as game site Siliconera points out, the year-old-game is quite popular in South Korea. You know another way to say "popular"? That's right, hot.

PSP Bundles Have "Very Hot" Advertising In Korea [Siliconera]

Forget that the game doesn't support motion controls! There's grinding. There's also jello, a 8mm camera and a dude on a motorcycle in the video if you're into that kinda stuff.

The song is a cover. Dance pop outfit Fin.K.L. released the tune back in 2000 on their album Now. That video also has a PlayStation — but, a PS2. Sign of the times!

The K-Pop group is best known in Korea for its reality show and single "Tell Me", which caused a dance craze of sorts. Next month, the Wonder Girls are set to make their US debut.

Wonder Girls - Now [world wide asianz via PlayStation Joystiq]

"A lot of our elementary school children have Nintendo game machines," the president informed senior policymakers, "Why can't our companies develop products like that?"

Nintendo recently announced that the DS has reached two million in sales in South Korea.

It's not like major South Korean corporations haven't tried to make portable or console hardware. They just haven't been as successful at home or abroad due to a lack of game software support.

PC gaming, however, has been incredibly successful for South Korean companies, making the president's remarks all the more peculiar.

"I don't think government officials have a good understanding of the realities of the country's IT industry," said an official from a local Internet company. "You don't have the right to be daydreaming about Nintendo, when Korean online game firms, which are actually doing well overseas, feel they could do better if the government wasn't biting at their ankles." Zing!

Industry Sarcastic To Lee's Nintendo Comment [The Korea Times via GamePolitics] [Pic]

The 15-year-old told police that he torched the warehouse, located at the top of a four-story building, because "his computer games did not go well." The fire did an estimated four million won in damage.

What a great way to kick off 2009 for gamers.

Teen torches warehouse over poor computer game performance [Live News]

In a meeting Wednesday about plans to develop the game industry in the country, Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yu In-chon said they country's game industry hit a billion-dollar export goal this year.

The minister plans to kick start 60 projects in the country, including a $200 billion game fund, to help South Korea become one of the largest gave developers in the world. That's right, he's looking at you Japan and the U.S.

This has gotta mean good news for Korean-based developer NC Soft.

Gov't Betting on Computer Game Industry

For example, Aroon Tan, president of Games Exchange Alliance (GXA), suggested that Singapore—which has ambitions of becoming a regional games hub—promote itself as a gateway for foreign game developers to Asia. Based in Singapore, GXA aims to help game companies overcome commercialization hurdles and bring game titles to market across Asia.

Tan explained that setting up physical presence in several Asian countries is a challenge for North American and European game companies. However, Singapore's policies provide relatively lower barriers to entry to the country and the region, he told ZDNet Asia.

"Singapore offers lots of incentives, making it an attractive first market to enter the region," he said, adding that at the recent Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, exhibitors he met were keen to do business in Asia.

The export market is still a giant hurdle — while there are South Korean and Chinese companies making quiet, but successful, inroads to Western markets, quality localization remains something that many companies haven't quite managed to do.

Asia must localize for global gamers [ZDNet Asia]

Many companies in the game industry are prioritizing mainland Asian expansions as a way to grow their business and tap into the devoted game market there. According to the Nikkei, Nintendo has reportedly been supporting a South Korean developer who's doing a number of titles including a touch screen-based DS game.

The DS reportedly sold 1.4 million units in South Korea, and 2.6 million game titles. Nintendo is looking at Taiwan as well for DS sales, and will sell localized DS systems in cell phone stores there.

Thompson Financial also reported on what Sony's doing to catch some of that audience:

Meanwhile, the game unit of Sony Corp. (nyse: SNE - news - people ) plans to work with Taiwanese authorities to train game creators starting in September, the Nikkei said.

It will dispatch personnel to a local educational institution to offer instruction, with newly developed games to be distributed online for the PlayStation 3.

Sony Computer Entertainment also intends to expand operations in South Korea, where it distributes video online for the PlayStation 3.

The article didn't specify what sort of expansion of operations Sony is planning, but console penetration has faced challenges in regions like South Korea and China where the audience seems vastly to prefer PC MMOs.

Japan's Nintendo, Sony to explore Asian game market - report [Thompson Financial via Forbes]

Reader Peter sends in these scans of Counter Strike Source ads that ran recently in a Seoul, Korea free daily paper. Peter also explained the country's love affair with the game.

Here in Korea CS clones like 'Special Force' and 'Sudden Attack' are popular despite having sub-CS1 graphics. They are free and players can pay for ad ons. I guess CS Source here will operate in the same way. I found the layout of the ad to be amusing. The history of CS comming out of the clouds, the slightly oxymoronic '2nd premiere' and the sparse nature of the screenshot with only the pistol in screen. Be interesting to see if a free CS Source becomes huge here in Korea.

I wonder how The Orange Box would do there? Hit the jump to see the bottom half of this full page ad.

When the Air Force uploaded a feature on its website of the military life of gamer Im Yo-han, known as the king of the Terran tribe in Starcraft, it was temporarily overloaded with a crush of video game fans trying to access the page. Visitors to the Air Force's website have doubled since it founded its gamers team.

The pro game industry has welcomed the establishment of the military teams. Many pro gamers who have postponed their military service start dates will have to don their uniforms by the end of this year.

The Army is also considering starting their own team. The Navy team will be going by the moniker "Aegis" while the Air Force has dubbed their team with the slightly cooler name of ACE (Airforce Challenge E-sports).

Korean Navy to Launch Online Game Team [Digital Chosun Ilbo - English Edition]