During his term as Taipei City mayor, the former President of Taiwan - Chen Shui Bian cracked down on electronic games, causing positive and negative feedbacks from the public.  Now will games make a comeback?  The Taipei City Government passed the Electronic Game Locations Autonomous Regulation.

Yamay Recreation World has signed a letter of intent with one of the world's top five casino groups to build a resort-based casino. Reserving a land spanning 100 hectares, Yamay Recreation World will file its application as soon as the Gambling Law is approved in an attempt to seize the gaming market.  According to Yamay's plan, the 100-hectare plot will accommodate an international sports arena area (for horse racing and car racing), a "happy shopping" street and more than two resorts to provide 1,200 rooms in total.  One resort will have 120 rooms and Yamay will soon apply for its construction.  The construction is slated to begin in the third quarter of 2008.

Organised by the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Reed Exhibitions, G2E Asia 2008 took place at the Venetian Macao on June 4-5. The event represented close to 180 exhibitors mainly from Macau and other Asian countries. Among them were IGT, Bally, Aristocrat, Elixiru, Aflastreet and Casino Technology.

The first-stage recruitment of GTI Asia Taipei Expo 2008 for VIP customers has already been launched.

To strengthen the management of its entertainment market, crack down on illegal business activities and further promote a healthy development of the market, on August 1-30 the Cultural Market Administration Office of Zhengzhou City conducted a special rectifying activity in the cultural market of the city.

The “Local Standards for Large-scale Amusement Facility Maintenance Requirements” drafted by the Special Equipment Inspection Institute of Shandong Province have recently been approved by the Shandong Bureau of Quality and Technology Supervision as Shandong Province’s first compulsory local standards for large-scale amusement facility maintenance.

Sega opened Club Sega Kohoku in a business building located in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture on July 20.

By the end of 2007, elementary and junior high school students in Taiwan will be able to enjoy fun sports facilities such as dance games, foosball games, basketball machines, nine-square grid baseball games, trampolines and simple rock climbing facilities. Currently many elementary and high schools have unoccupied classrooms.

Taiwan’s Annual Gaming & Amusement Industry Exhibition - GTI Asia Taipei Expo (GTI Expo) 2008 will be held from May 8-10 at Zone B and C of the World Trade Center (TWTC) in Taipei. The year of 2008 has a significant meaning to the exhibition because it happens to be the 15th anniversary of GTI Expo.

The 3rd edition of G-Star is scheduled to be held from 8 to 11 November 2007, and is a joint effort brought out by both the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Korea and the Ministry of Information and Communication, and sponsored by KOTRA.

GLI Australia, the leading independent testing organisation for gaming devices and systems in the Australia Pacific region, has appointed Zelko Galic as Managing Director & CEO.

Astro Corp. entered into an official contract with LT Game Ltd, a Macao-based lottery company on August 22, which according to the contract, commissioned Astro Corp. to manufacture a total of 200 gambling machines dedicated to the casino market.

Sega announced a new operating system at its temporary board meeting on June 13. During the meeting, the board announced that the current President of Sega/Sammy Group - Hajime Satomi would become the President of Sega, and current President of Sega – Hisao Oguchi would become the Vice-President of Sega/Sammy Group.

Feiloli, which has made tremendous accomplishments in its export markets, obtained the “Small Business Innovation Research” (SBIR) award that was promoted by the Technology Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Southern Taiwan University of Technology held “Motion Games - Creation, Development and Test for Users” last month. Aside from releasing more than 10 interactive games which had been developed by undergraduate students of the Game Developmental Technology Department, the university also invited people of the game related industry to participate in the event.

The famous Taiwanese jeans brand Edwin, initially overlooked the potential for investment in the amusement industry. But now the Dabush Company has proposed a plan for building an international hotel in Penghu, one of three planned for the region with a the total investment worth NT$2.5 billion (about US$76 million).

The Japanese government plans to legalise casino gambling next year and is currently drafting the legislation. Seiko Noda of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has said that they hoped to pass the bill by June 2008.

Astro Corp., which mainly develops and manufactures gambling machines, has announced the acquisition of the exclusive distributorship in Taiwan of Sega’s latest game machine “Initial D - IIII”.

According to the statement of Hangzhou City Hall, the sum of the game locations in Hangzhou is planned to be limited to less than 100, and the management of the demonstrative game locations will also being launched from April 1 till the end of 2007.

The 14th GTI Asia Taipei Expo took place in Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Centre on May 10-12; every exhibitor prepared for the exhibition and developed the latest products actively before the opening of the show so as to fulfill the demands of overseas buyers by offering the best and multi-faceted products.

Asia's GEM 2007 took place in Manila, Philippines on March 21~23. The organiser of Asia's GEM 2007 held a Gaming and Investment Conference in the ballroom of Hyatt Hotel Casino, Manila.

In order to win over the development of gambling industry in Penghu, the mayor of Penghu County - Wang Qian Fa, the President of Penghu’s Legislative Yuan – Liu Chen Zhao Lin, and the legislator – Lin Bing Kun, accompanied the local representatives and the petition group to the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan for the petition of their high intention of developing gambling industry in Penghu.

GTI EXPO has entered into a close alliance with Enada which sticks to a groundbreaking initiative by leading the overseas delegates in each country to the other and that also includes having booths to be set at the other party.