Tag: Wemade »

I went to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year for the first time. The event is a sprawling, industry-level spectacle with huge press conferences during the first couple of days and then a ton of booth appointments and special behind-closed-doors meetings for industry insiders and outsiders alike.

The surprising thing to me this year was the prevalence of mobile gaming across all strata of the gaming conference, from heavy hitter console makers like Microsoft to newcomers with tons of cash, like Korean-based WeMade Games. In addition to stalwart, veteran publishers like Disney, EA / Chillingo and Gree, there were iPad and iPhone games on offer from traditional console game companies like Majesco (Legends of Loot, Sci Fi Heroes), Ubisoft (Watch Dogs with cross-play to iPad, Assassin's Creed: Utopia), and Square-Enix (Final Fantasy Dimensions).

Even Microsoft got into the act with SmartGlass, a new initiative that will let users control their Xbox consoles from their iPads, with the potential to interact on a game by game level in the near future. I'm pretty excited about this concept, to be honest.

Similarly, Sony Online Entertainment demoed Planetside 2, a massively multiplayer online first person shooter for the PC, with a killer feature: the iPad app that comes along with it. This app will let users voice chat (!!) in real time (!!!) with other faction members, access maps that are synced with live servers, and see a ton of info about weapons, armor, etc. Pretty darn slick, if you ask me.

And don't get me started about the brobdingnagian and competing mobile publishing booths placed a small walkway apart from each other on the show floor. Juggernaut Gree had a booth bigger than many small countries, with Korean-based newcomer WeMade Games a tiny Angry Birds slingshot distance away. Ignoring the games for a moment, the two companies vied for attention with bright lights, attractively clad women, and - in Gree's case - drink coupons for an on-site bar.

All in all, E3 was a blast, and incredibly instructive. Console makers, PC game publishers, and the folks from Japan and Korea have it figured out: iOS gaming is here to stay.

We sat down with WeMade CEO Kisung Kim at E3 to discuss their push into mobile and tablet gaming and to get a look at the games they are announcing now.

WeMade is a Korean company established in 2000; they are well known in the PC gaming and free to play markets in Asia. With revenues of $120 million in 2011, and 20+ million users in over 200 countries, they are well established indeed. They saw the sea change coming and decided to start developing for mobile and tablets in addition to PCs. That development of small and large gaming projects for iOS and Android began stealthily around two years ago. Their mobile goal is to create games that core gamers will like in addition to social casual titles. These games will be tailored for the mobile experience, yet still have the gameplay that core gamers want.

At E3 they announced a few games and promised to release a total of 20 games for iOS and Android in 2012 alone. With the exception of the first game, all of their announced releases will be free to play. Let's rundown some of the most interesting looking games they have in the pipeline.

Project Dragon
The first one, by far the most ambitious, is code-named Project Dragon. This Diablo-like 3D, third-person RPG hack and slash is already looking very impressive. It's a full scale MMO with up to 5,000 users per server. It includes everything you'd expect, including a guild system, crafting, and quests. In a true example of tailoring the experience to mobile, this title has an optional and innovative control scheme that can be used to trigger seven different attacks. No release date is known yet, but expect it in the fall or late summer.

Chaos & Defense
Next up we have a player vs. player tower defense / castle defense type game. It's an interesting mix of genres and finished right, it could be a big multiplayer hit.

Each player starts out with their own tower at one end of the play field. You then build defense unit creation towers. (Or are they creep creation towers?) There are four classes, each with 6 different units for a total of 24 upgradable towers/units. Once you have units created, you send them off to attack the castle of your opponent. First one to destroy the other players tower wins.

Initially this seems simple, but combine the complexity of which defense tower to build and what unit type to create and deploy and this could get really interesting. Considering my love for TD games, I'm really looking forward to this one, launching later this month.

Goblin Mobile
The 2D side scrolling fighting game is alive and well. Goblin Mobile is a sort of Final Fight / Double Dragon action game with some RPG elements thrown in. The addition of 4 player co-op quests doesn't hurt either.

Social Games
In addition to the more core games above, WeMade also debuted some more social games including Vikings Online, Pet Island, Goblin Mobile, and more.

Social title Vikings Online, available in July, is a 3D adventure game where you can not only farm and craft, but you can also go on quests and boss fights with your friends' characters.

Pet Island is a straigh-up cute island-based farming social game. With a strong teen and female focus, this title will be great for some, but not for me.

Friend Fighter is sort of a blend of core/social. It's a Street Fighter / Tekken type button masher fighting game, but you have the ability to challenge your friends and fight them, even if they are offline.

Hero Square Online is sort of a social farming game with bits of RPG thrown in. One of the key differences, and one that makes this a bit more social than the usual, is that you can attack your friends' "farms," do damage, and even take over their land in the game.

Rhythm Scandal is a four player online rhythm game, which has party game written all over it.

Stay tuned for more details as we get them. WeMade may have come out of nowhere, but it certainly looks like it will be here for a while.