Small Games to Play Big at G-Star Show

By Cho Jin-seo

Staff Reporter

``Don't put your eggs in one basket'' is the Korean game companies' new catch phrase. Having learned from previous experiences about the danger of making a single, big investment in a blockbuster game, firms are opting for having a lineup of small, casual games that deal with diverse subjects such as life itself.

Major game publishers such as Nexon and NHN are to show off their new games at G-Star game expo starting this Thursday at KINTEX, Ilsan. So far, the list of new games gives the impression that the firms will try to attract crowds with the quantity of new games, if not with their quality.

Nexon, the publisher of the popular ``Kart Rider'' racing game, is to showcase 11 games at the expo including seven new ones. It is the largest number being introduced by a single company.

``We're happy to unveil this many games that we have ambitiously prepared,'' said Min Yong-jae, chief marketing officer of Nexon. ``We are going to provide endless joy to visitors during G-Star.''

Each of the 11 games from Nexon are rather small in scale compared to the firm's previous blockbuster games such as ``Zera,'' which turned out to be a massive disaster last year, but have distinctive features. For example, ``SP1'' is a multiplayer online role-playing game with the historic background of the United States and Europe of the 1950s. Another eye-catching game ``Husky Express'' is a dog sleigh race in the arctic.

Other unique idea includes ``Bubble Fighter'' which features cartoon characters whose job is to shoot each other with water guns. In ``Trash Buster,'' the weapons turn out to be vacuum cleaners ― they suck in everything on the screen, even a passenger car or a house, which will give ``eccentric'' fun to users, according to the company.

Other firms are also trying to diversify their portfolios with a range of small, fun games instead of a few blockbusters.