Some game called Aion hits a mill in China?

Ok, whatever. It's 6 and I'm supposed to get off work now. 6:10 now, fuck. Ok I'm totally going, but I feel it my duty to update this blog once in awhile, especially whenever some exciting or at least relevant news in gaming in China comes along. So here it is. A game, that I have never heard of, called Aion, has hit a million users in China! Break out the bubbly everyone! It's time to celebrate, for some reason:

Within the first four days of launch, Aion pulled in one million players who happily paid for at least one hour of gameplay, reports GI.biz.Shanda Interactive Entertainment began charging users an hourly rate for the MMORPG’s “Yao Sai Pan Long” scenario, but despite the success, Deutsche Bank has told investors to hold off on purchasing stock in Shanda. This was due to player concerns over the cost, high hardware requirements and the current lack of in-game content.

Anyway, I'm sure people might know that MMO PC games are the big thing in China, most likely because it provides them with a sense of social worth that they don't otherwise find in school, home, or the underside of a toilet seat. Sorry that was rude. I don't know why Chinese like MMO games so much, and I don't know why Asians besides Japan but maybe including Japan like microtransactions so much. I mean, accessorizing a character that doesn't really exist? WTF? Anyway, I like to burn field mice so who am I to speak?

(thanks VG247 via GI.biz!) 

StarCraft II beta in China???

Pigs have just flown out of an ass somewhere. Ok, not yet... it's still just a rumor, but wouldn't that be crazy? Why China? Chinese don't play StarCraft, they play CS and WOW. Korea or the US would be more logical testing grounds, so I'm not sure I buy this.

(Thanks VG247 and Qj.net)

Fucking Brilliant

GDC imitated, Chinese-piracy style: IDGA not happy

IGDA, which hosts of the Game Developers Conferences that are held all over the world, isn't happy with Howell Expo for borrowing the GDC name for its own GDC event. I'm not up on my corporate soap operas, but this sounds like it could be a doozy:

Following legal pressure from Think Services on the organiser of the LOGIN conference to dissolve its partnership with Howell Expo's copyright-infringing China GDC event in July, the IGDA has now followed suit and deleted any reference to the developer conference from its website.

The organisation had previously noted that its members were able to take advantage of a 10 per cent discount for the event, but that has now been removed - although the savings will still apply to Howell's other property, ChinaJoy.

Oh the drama!! Can't wait to find out who slept with who after cheating on so-and-so behind the barn. I hope someone's twittering updates in real-time.

(Thanks Joystiq via GI.biz!)

China's online gaming numbers are out!

The money shot:

San Francisco firm Pearl Research has published a report detailing the growth of the online games market in China. Seems it grew over 63 percent in 2008 to $2.8 billion.

It’s estimated that the market will grow to $5.5 billion in 2012. Over 70 percent of China’s 298 million internet users are under 30 years old.

That's pretty awesome. How about adding console gaming to the mix, eh China???

(Thanks Edge via VG247!)

Six Days in Fallujah--too soon?

Not surprisingly, a game set in a war that hasn't even finished yet is drawing some flack.

A highly decorated British Army colonel and the father of a lance corporal killed in action in Iraq has criticized the game and called for it to be banned.

“It’s much too soon to start making video games about a war that’s still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history. It’s particularly insensitive given what happened in Fallujah, and I will certainly oppose the release of this game,” he said.

Reg Keys, whose son Thomas was a Red Cap killed by an Iraqi mob in June 2003, added: “Considering the enormous loss of life in the Iraq War, glorifying it in a video game demonstrates very poor judgment and bad taste. It is particularly crass when you consider what actually happened in Fallujah.

Interestingly this article is quoting British soldiers, not American. The game is said to have been developed in collaboration with some US Marines--and collaborators are always evil--so perhaps US game developer Atomic Games is handling the game carefully? Or perhaps the game portrays the US as heroes and the Brits as cowards? I could live with that, but it might perturb, bemuse, or even dare I say nonplus the Queen.

I feel that these soldiers, while understandably sensitive to the situation, are reacting prematurely. At least wait and see what the game is like before assuming it is "glorifying" the war. Of course, as is said of war films, perhaps there's no such thing as an anti-war game?

(thanks disturbingly named gadgetophilia.com via ANI!)

update: WSJ has a more detailed rundown of the source material for the game: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123902404583292727.html

OnLive? Sounds more like OnDead to me hahahah

That is a pretty inane title for what could be a pretty cool system, dontcha think? OnLive, which will attempt to deliver gaming to any crappy PC or tv screen via some sort of orgasmicly quick video compression scheme and He-Man strength servers, is not something I'd have cared to mention on this blog except that:

Although OnLive's servers are for North America, the company does have international plans in mind. And in fact, Perlman pointed out that Internet Cafes across Asia use low-end PCs, making the OnLive service perfect for those venues, and certainly a great business opportunity.

Hmm... Asia? Well Korea and Japan, sure. But Internet speed can royally suck my fat schnoz in China, where connections for home use, as far as I know, top out at 8mbps, and .5mbps upload. And 8mbps is retardedly expensive, and I am going to assume only exists in major cities where still only 1% of 1% of 1% of residents bother paying for it. Would be nice if China started getting its FIOS on.

(Thanks gamedaily.com!)

Zeebo--for 3rd world gamers?

I find that offensive--why build a crap gaming system for poor people? Do you think they even have time to play games? They're busy eating dirt or something.

Whooaaaa there Bill "Atlas Shrugged" Evans, get away from the keyboard. Thank you. But Bill is right about one thing, Zeebo, created by a company of the same name, is a budget video game system that's being targeted at developing nations, what business people like to call "emerging markets". China is one of those markets, although that might be exclusive of tier 1 cities, but maybe not.

What makes the Zeebo stand out besides its Super Nintendo like power to grip one's imagination and paralyze it before it can lose its sense of disbelief is its game distribution mechanism--no cartridges, no discs, and not even online transfer in the traditional home network sense. Nay, it uses 3G technology to let people purchase and download games over the mobile phone airwaves.

Obviously the Zeebo is all about affordability, and I ain't not gonna knock that. It's a noble endeavor to bring gaming to people that want it but aren't ready to drop 2-3000 kuai on a console, and microtransactions, which it seems it may have potential for, are something Asians dig more than Westerners. so good luck Zeebo, I wish you well, and certainly weller than those knock off systems China loves to churn out every time a real console maker releases a new system.

There's a gold rush on in China

For virtual gold, that is! Yes, people who play WOW in the West apparently prove that China is correct in instituting restrictions to online gaming to curb addiction, but China should also extend that to include curbing the spread of total stupidity that virtual gold actually has value. It's electrons, people. 1s and 0s. Blizzard's servers go down, your life's true meaninglessness will be exposed, and then you'll have to go play Everquest or whatever it was you played before you lost yourself in the macabre void of WOW. WOW is really such an appropriate acronym for that game. WOW people that play it as if their life depends on it like nothing else are dumb. WOW people have virtual funerals in-game and WOW for the sake of opening my mouth once more.

But as I was saying, virtual gold farming is big business in China. There are, according the report linked here anyway, 1,000,000 people in China engaged in gold farming. Their work earns $2 billion US mind you in revenue. Holy cow patties that's no chump change. And that's just the conservative estimate. As Nicholas Deleon on Crunchgear writes, and he can write it better than I, having never played the game,

In all my days of playing World of Warcraft, though, to be fair, I haven’t played since Christmastime, I never even thought about buying gold; it’s just dumb. You either have a guild that hooks you up with gear, or have a friend who’s 60 levels higher than you who is willing to waste two hours killing mobs and running you though instances. That’s how the game is meant to be played, not by buying success off some kid in Asia who’s half-starving and mining all day. ::shakes head::

(Thanks Gamesindustry.biz via crunchgear.com via technews.am!)