The News Review:

- Is Shanda Games Recession Proof?
- nline game maker Zynga to open Baltimore office
- Notification of Late Filing of Annual Report on Form 20-F and …
- Perfect World Entertainment fficially Launches Ether Saga nline

Is Shanda Games Recession Proof?
Seeking Alpha
The sector has been a bright area to invest in as China Massively Multiplayer nline Role Playing Games (MMRPGs) gain popularity. For many consumers in China Shanda games have been a less expensive form of entertainment so the industry has enjoyed dollars (or more appropriately yuan) that might have otherwise been spent on travel expensive dinners or new vehicles. It’s easy to see why some investors claim that china online game companies are recession proof. But despite the solid earnings at Shanda and the recent sharp move in the share price SNDA stock still appears to be undervalued with significant room to run. Analysts who follow the company expect earnings to hit $3. 39 per share this year representing an increase of 29% and for 2010 earnings are expected to hit nearly $4. 00 per share – another 17% on top of 2009.

nline game maker Zynga to open Baltimore office
Bizjournals.com
Brian Reynolds previously of both Firaxis Games and Big Huge Games in Baltimore County is opening an East Coast office for San Francisco-based. The company makes games used on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
Related from Z1067fm: The Wildest Game in Modern History

Notification of Late Filing of Annual Report on Form 20-F and …
MarketWatch
94%)(”The9″or the “Company”) filed a Form 12b-25 Notification of Late Filingwith the United States Securities and Exchange Commission today regarding thelate filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 312008. n April 16 2009 The9 announced that it had learned that BlizzardEntertainment’s World of Warcraft would be licensed to another China-basedonline game company following the expiration of the license agreement betweenBlizzard Entertainment and the Company on June 7 2009. World of Warcraftaccounts for a substantial majority of The9’s revenue. The Company isfinalizing its financial reporting treatment and related disclosures resultingfrom the non-renewal as reflected in its financial statements as of and forthe year ended December 31 2008. As a result of the non-renewal of the World of Warcraft license agreementas well as taking into consideration certain other events that occurredsubsequent to year-end in connection with certain other licensed games andlower than expected operating performance of one of its games the Companywill record impairment and certain other charges in its financial statementsfor the year ended December 31 2008. As a result of these charges netincome for the year ended December 31 2008 presented in its annual report onForm 20-F is expected to be between 55% and 75% lower than net income for thesame period presented in the Form 6-K filed by the Company on February 242009.

Perfect World Entertainment fficially Launches Ether Saga nline
IGN
New Difficulty Modes – Now features Easy and Hard modes for dungeons to encourage more casual gamers to compete in quests. Enhanced Gear Upgrading – Enhancements to the gear upgrading system provide players with new options to increase their chances for successful upgrades. New Monsters! – The addition of new elite monsters and the White Dragon world boss further adds to one of the most compelling aspects of Ether Saga nline’s game play. Quests will have “link” which allow players to click on them and automatically navigate to their quest objectives. Unique Races and Classes – Three different races as well as six different classes. Each class having its own unique play style and gameplay.