Gold farming is frowned upon by the developers of the games in which this practice is exploited. Gold farming is the practice of constantly playing an online game to accumulate in-game currency and loot. Gold farming is also a lucrative business in the real world. Some people don’t have the time to earn gold through traditional means, so they buy the gold from gold farmers with real money. In China, one former Jixi labour camp prisoner explained to The Guardian how he and others were forced to play games by the guards who were watching over them.

Plants vs. Zombies will be taking on a new form thanks to a partnership between PopCap Games and Renren, a social networking site in China. PopCap’s studio in Shanghai, China will be developing Plants vs. Zombies Social Edition for the social network. A release date hasn’t been announced just yet.

Activision is expanding its Call of Duty franchise just like everyone thought it would. Today the company announced a new development studio named Beachhead that will specialize in creating digital content for Call of Duty. Activision said Beachhead’s content will act as a new platform for Call of Duty and will “supercharge” the franchise.

The launch of a new console in China has been delayed into February. The console known as the eBox was supposed to release this month, but has undergone a delay to allow its developer to spend more time refining and optimizing its software.

Sony Computer Entertainment is moving into China. According to China Daily, the company will set up shop in the Guangdong province where it will start a training and research and development program. This will be SCE’s first time engaging China’s mainland market. Sony will begin to develop games in the region for its PlayStation brand in addition to training employees in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. SCE’s partnership with Guangdong Animation City will help create games that will be sold to other international regions.

Homefront tells a tale about North Korea unifying with South Korea and invading the United States. With North Korea’s mysterious and borderline hostile attitude towards the West in recent memory, the reality of this game hits home in a big way. But North Korea didn’t used to be America’s enemy in Homefront. THQ had a much larger foe in mind – China.

The hack-and-slash franchise, Dynasty Warriors, is being turned in to a MMO and has been in closed beta for a few weeks.

Aeria, the game’s publisher, has opened the Dynasty Warriors Online beta as of yesterday (November 2, 2010) allowing anyone to get into the online chop-chop action.

A huge piracy ring in Taiwan has been brought down by the Intellectual Property Rights Police and the National Police Agency. This is reportedly the biggest bust in the area’s history. The pirates were producing illegal copies of PlayStation 2, Xbox and Wii games.

Here’s an interesting fact that came near the tail end of Take-Two Interactive’s earnings call earlier today. An investor asked how well Grand Theft Auto IV has sold in Japan since October 2008. If you’re only after numbers, GTA IV has sold somewhere in the area of 400,000 copies in Japan.

Apple could be taking a big step in making a more self-conscious mark on the gaming industry. The company is apparently in talks with Chinese game developer Handseeing Information Technology. Handseeing specializes in online gaming and other internet applications.