G*: Microsoft Korea To Release XBLA Edutainment Title

Author: by Brandon Sheffield, Seoul

Following Microsoft Korea's claims of a major lead over PlayStation 3 in the territory, Gamasutra has learned that an edutainment game is planned for Xbox Live Arcade in the region, alongside six Korean-developed Xbox 360 retail titles. "We’re trying to publish more games that can be played by anyone," says Xbox 360 marketing coordinator Dae Hwan Lim to Gamasutra at last week's Gstar conference. "There’s a casual game coming by a Korean company, and an RPG also developed by Koreans (referring to Softmax's Magna Carta), and an edutainment game." This XBLA game comes alongside six retail projects that Lim says are in the works for the Xbox 360 from Korean developers, including Nexon's Mabinogi, StudioNine's Superstar, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, Webzen's Huxley, the aformentioned Magna Carta, and one other unannounced title. A number of these titles are likely to be released outside Korea, thanks to the Western-centric popularity of Microsoft's console, although a minority of them are thus far confirmed for Western release. As for the edutainment game for Xbox Live Arcade, "It’ll be an English learning game," he said, subsequently admitting, "My English is very poor, so it’s for me!" Gamasutra will have more on the fascinating South Korean game scene over the next few weeks, in the form of interviews with the major South Korean game companies, and including an in-depth Microsoft Korea interview.