The Grand Award of 2008 Korea Game was held by the Korea Association of Game Industry on December 16 in SETEC. In spite of the freezing cold weather, there were a tremendous number of people gathered there to watch Korea's best online game of 2008 be chosen. It was quite hot inside not only due to all the lighting, but also due to a fever gripping all the participants, press and visitors waiting to see the hero of the night. The winner turned out to be Aion of NCsoft (CEO Kim Taek-jin), as many game industry professionals had expected before the event.

NCsoft broke its own record at the Grand Award of Korea Games by being awarded the grand prize three times. The company captured its first grand prize with Lineage in 1998, and got its second with Lineage 2 in 2003. Even though eleven game companies have received this award in total, NCsoft is the only company that has received it more than once.

Prior to the Grand Award of 2008 Korea Game, the Global Online Game Awards 2008 was held by KOGIA in the same venue. There were six categories of awards in the Global Online Game Awards 2008. World of Warcraft by Blizzard, Counter Strike, FIFA09, EVE Online, Cart Rider, and City of Heroes were awarded.

 

The following is an interview with Simon Carless, game magazine publisher and one of the judges at the Global Online Game Awards 2008 - Ed.

Q: Please introduce your publications to our readers.

A: I'm publisher of Game Developer magazine, which is a trade magazine which goes out to 35,000 of North America and Europe's top game developers, and also publisher of Gamasutra.com, which has more than 500,000 monthly readers and deals with the art and science of gaming.

Q: How did you choose the best game to win Were the choices difficult

A: The choices were tricky because so many games are well made and fun to play on their own. Essentially, each of them has their own charms which have attracted a lot of keen players, and in many cases, each has carved out its own specialization or niche area. So it's rough to differentiate them.

Q: Can you speak a little about the differences between Asian and Western tastes in online games

A: There are definitely notable differences, but most of them are to do with the cultural touchstones, for example Asian games that use local history and folklore to make them more culturally relevant to the area they are published in. There are also titles like World of Warcraft which show that you can make a great game which is a hit worldwide, though - so maybe we're not so different after all!

Q: As a publisher, please tell me about what you anticipate in the game market in 2009.

A: More consolidation, as the big publishing companies get bigger, relatively speaking, and some of the medium sized developers get squeezed out of business. There's an increasing split between the massive companies with genuine blockbuster titles and the small, self-sufficient ones with a tiny amount of employees and a loyal fanbase, and I expect that to continue. Get stuck in the middle with games of insufficient quality, and you may be in trouble.