In light of Sunday's Academy Awards it seems timely to discuss a market access issue for foreign movies in China that may also impact foreign games in the future. Historically 20 foreign films per year are allowed access into China, though it seems that fewer actually make it in each year. Some US movie studios have claimed that only 5 American movies per year have been allowed access to Chinese theaters. That provision was revised last week, and from now on 34 foreign movies per year will be allowed. However, the 14 additional movies must be in either 3D or IMAX formats. That is a big "catch." Perhaps more foreign games will be allowed (though there is no stated quota as there is for movies).

Trion Worlds' popular Rift MMOG will be operated in Southeast Asia by Asiasoft, a leading regional online game operator. Just a few weeks ago Trion announced that Rift will be operated by Shanda in China, and the company also announced a licensing deal in Korea to CJ E&M Games.

For a long time industry observers wondered why Apple had chosen China Unicom over China Telecom as its partner in China, since China Telecom is a far bigger mobile operator with greater reach. Now the question can be put to rest because Apple has signed China Telecom on in addition to China Unicom for sales and contracts for its iPhone products, including high-speed data plans.

In an article on game.people.com, a Chinese journalist stated that there are two main problems facing the Chinese games industry: homogenization of games and "shanzai" games. We have long stated that there are too many cultural, mythical history games in China - many following the theme of the Legend of the Three Kingdoms - and that more differentiation is required to keep gamers interested in new titles. This article goes a step further to say that not only is the theme getting stale, but the repetitive nature of game development along the theme stifles Chinese game development as a craft because there are too few original games being created. It is a bold article, but one that does ring true. Shanzai is a term that usually refers to counterfeit products, such as fake iPhones or fake Gucci purses. It is unusual to see it in this context of copycat game development.