Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced that Battlefield is coming to the online gaming market in Asia. The game will be co-developed by EA and Neowiz Corporation as part of an-ongoing partnership between the two companies, and Neowiz Games will have the exclusive publishing rights for Korea. Availability of the Battlefield online offering in other Asian markets including China, Japan and Taiwan will be announced in the coming weeks.

Pearl Research, parent company of RedlineChina, believes that EA has always had fans of its games, but not consumers in Asia as the company has struggled in the past to monetize its products in Asia. The company has achieved a level of success with FIFA Online in Korea and hopes to take these findings and apply it across other countries such as Taiwan and China, where its market share is still minimal.

Tencent (HKG: 0700) today launched the open beta testing for its SoSo WenWen (SSWW), a search engine function similar to Baidu’s Zhidao. Based on user generated content, SSWW provides a platform for its users to ask and answer each other’s questions.

According to local sources, the launch of the highly anticipated World of Warcraft (WoW) expansion pack Burning Crusade will be further delayed to July in China. Launched in the US and Europe in January 2007, Burning Crusade is WoW’s first major expansion since the game’s launch. The added content and increased character level cap are expected to enhance the performance of WoW and encourage former players to come back to the game. Operator The9 (NASDAQ: NCTY) announced in its Q4 2006 earnings conference call that it will launch the Chinese version of Burning Crusade in Q2 2007.

Xinhua Finance Media (NASDAQ: XFML) announced on Monday June 4 that it will acquire Chinese mobile service provider Beijing Mobile Interactive Co. (M-in) for $10 million plus cash and stock considerations, depending on M-in’s performance in 2007 and 2008.

China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) today commercially launched its own mobile IM service Fetion. Unlike Tencent’s mobile QQ, Fetion will be a free service. In addition, Fetion will support VOIP chats for $0.02 to $0.03 per minute.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced the formation of EA Casual Entertainment, a unit dedicated to developing and publishing games for consoles, PCs, handheld devices and mobile phones. Kathy Vrabeck has been appointed to lead the group as President of EA Casual Entertainment. In a statement, EA said that all over the world, consumers are playing games that don’t require hours of intense concentration with the common denominator being casual fun. New games, franchises and licenses to be developed and published by EA Casual Games will be announced in the future.

The company will align its internal resources to focus on the growing market for highly accessible games. In China, Pearl Research believes the casual games market is highly commoditized, intensely competitive and dominated by advanced casual games. All these factors pose a significant challenge for the company as it seeks to capture market share in the region.

The Broadband World Conference opened June 5, 2007 at the China World Hotel in Beijing, China. Pearl Research, parent company of Redline China, will cover the event in the next two days. After an Opening Ceremony highlighting the development of the broadband industry, China Network Communications Group Corporation Chairman, Mr. Zhang Chunjian, delivered the first keynote address. He noted the enormous potential for the development of the broadband industry in China and announced that China Netcom (Public, NYSE:CN) is currently increasing the speed of ADSL nationwide. This would be done to fulfill China Netcom’s “Broadband Olympics” commitment when it was granted the fixed network sponsorship for the 2008 Olympics in China.

Later in the morning and afternoon, plenary panels were headed by industry figures such as Stephan Scholz of Nokia-Siemens Network and Wei Leping, Chief-Technology Officer of China Telecom (Public, NYSE:CHA), who spoke of the potential challenges and opportunities of the broadband industry in China. Scholz predicted that over $4 billion dollars would be used to upgrade to the next generation of IP technology. The telecommunications industry is also reinventing itself to embrace converged services; a so called “Grand Slam” of voice, video, data, and mobility.” Wei stressed that difficulty in managing these services would increase as the industry moves to increase customer choice. More applications, more complicated networks, and more channels would require greater effort on part of the suppliers. “We have entered a new age of internet technology,” said Mr. Zhang Chunjian, “and both the challenges and opportunities are boundless." Pearl Research/Redline China will continue coverage of the event tomorrow.

Amazon has increased the amount that it is investing in Chinese online retailer Joyo.com. In addition Joyo.com has changed the name of its site to "Joyo Amazon." The announcement came at a press conference in Beijing hosted by Joyo.com's president, Hanhua Wang, and Amazon.com founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. In 2004, Amazon.com acquired Joyo.com Limited which, through a Chinese entity, provides technology and consulting services for the Joyo.com Web site.

Market research and consulting firm Pearl Research releases a report analyzing Best Buy’s (Public, NYSE:BBY) strategy in China. The Chinese consumer electronics market is potentially valued at $100 billion and represent one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Tian City, the operator of popular casual game Popkart (Kart Rider as it is called in China) today announced an agreement with Korean developer Nexon to operate the latter company’s new casual game Bigshot.