Round-Up: Webzen, Silicon Knights + UE3, Real-Life Katamari

Today's round-up includes new hires for rapidly U.S.-expanding MMO creator Webzen, a new game engine for Silicon Knights, and an important E3 event from Namco, as well as new product news, a letter to the editor, and fresh jobs. - Webzen America Inc., which recently acquired has announced several new executives hired on at its brand-new U.S. offices. Junhyun Kim will be the company's general manager, Peter Matiss will be head of marketing, and Jason Wonacott will be head of corporate communications. "We are very pleased with the new executives we have put in place to spearhead the operations, marketing and corporate communications functions for the company. They will help build a solid foundation for our aggressive growth plans," said Nam Ju Kim, CEO of Webzen. - Silicon Knights, developers of Eternal Darkness and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes before departing from their second-party status at Nintendo, has announced that they'll be using the Unreal Engine 3 for their unspecified next-generation project. "We feel The Unreal Engine 3 is by far the best technology for next generation systems. With its advanced graphic pipeline and technical capabilities Silicon Knights will be able to concentrate on delivering content at a production level previously unheard of," said Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack. The Silicon Knights game that will use the Unreal Engine 3 is currently unannounced. - Namco will be sponsoring an event related to We Love Katamari, the sequel to 2004's critically acclaimed Katamari Damacy, with a real-life ball to stick random objects on. Attendees to this year's E3 are requested to bring unusual (though not pornographic or otherwise filthy) objects to add onto the katamari, which will grow with contributed detritus throughout the three-day show. As Namco notes, "Those representing the Prince also have full right to decline any item." - Also updated today: product news involving Big Huge Games adopting the Ageia PhysX chip, a Letter to the Editor discussing the SAG game voiceover negotiations, and newly updated jobs from companies including 2K Games, Activision/Vicarious Visions, Blue Fang Games, Fastlane Games, Helixe/THQ, Mad Doc Software, and Volition.