I remember publishing an article on MMOtaku that detailed an escalating industry “war” between massively multiplayer online games developers in the two countries.

Here’s an excerpt from that story:

Here’s old news that’s still relevant today: Korean MMOs are losing out in China. According to a 2005 story, a report found “persistent world titles created in Korea” were beginning to lose ground as the Chinese market boomed … Although there are no figures to indicate a further decline in Korean MMO titles in China, the sudden awakening of the dragon in Chinese game developers may be proof enough that foreigners are on the retreat.

Now, China-based online gaming portal 17173 reports that Aion: The Tower of Eternity, an online game developed by Korean giant NCsoft, has topped an online poll on new games in China.

The list includes notable titles such as Aion: The Tower of Eternity, Dragon Ball Online, Dragon Nest, and Atlantica Online.

Go check out the entire list.

Post from: MMOtaku

By the gaming gods! Is it true? Have five days already passed since I last posted? Apparently, yes. Whew! Time flies so fast when you’re having fun. Unfortunately, my five-day hiatus had not been even remotely fun.

Yes, you guessed it. The flu—at least I think it’s the flu—hit me right after New Year’s Eve, right in the middle of writing a Top Ten Asian MMORPGs of 2008 post. Don’t worry, I’ll finish the story … soon.

Right now, I’m just starting to recover. Of course, as a fanatic of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, there’s only one way for me to get back to tip-top shape—that’s by playing my favorite games.

At the moment, I’m playing two MMORPGs more than I’m supposed to (meaning game time is eating up some of my spending-quality-time-with-the-family time and my need-to-post-something-on-MMOtaku time). These two MMORPGs are Perfect World (yeah, it’s still great despite the rise and fall of great Philippine Tiger server clans Guardians and Legacy) and Granado Espada.

What? You mean to say, Joel, that you’ve taken a liking to Granado Espada? Yes … and no. I’m giving the game a chance to redeem itself in my eyes (notice that I said “my eyes,” meaning “in my humble opinion,” etc.). Perhaps PJ Punla of Granado Espada: Dispatches from the New World fame is right. Yes, playing on a new server and reaching new heights with the family and characters I’ve made are great.

My Granado Espada highlights, at least for the moment, include defeating Grace Bernelli in a match (although I did lose about nine times before I figured out how to beat her), taking her character card and creating her in my family barracks, and beating the crap out of Claude Baudez and Andre Janzur. Yes, Granado Espada veterans, I’m a noob when it comes to these events, but I’m happy to be experiencing what you’ve experienced in the past year.

As for Perfect World, I’ve encountered virtual life-changing events, too. First, my character Calumet’s current clan, Intensity, managed to take over Biting-Cold Land from Heroes clan in a great territorial battle. A week later, we also successfully blocked the bid of new clan Hyperion for the right to attack our territory. Why block the attack? Well, it’s like this: Hyperion is composed mostly of characters Level 90 to 101, while Intensity is made up of characters with levels between 75 and 99, with more than 50 percent of the members falling within the 75 to 88 bracket. See the discrepancy? So here’s a word of advice to Hyperion from me: Go find some other clan to screw if you value your integrity. Bullies!

Well, that’s it for now. It’s time to get the juices flowing again.

Screenshot taken by Joel from the online game Perfect World, developed by Beijing-based Perfect World Co. Ltd. and operated in the Philippines by Level Up! Games.

Post from: MMOtaku

So without further ado, I present to you the World of Warcraft Coca-Cola commercial:

Here’s Blizzard’s take on the commercial:

Blizzard has teamed up with iCoke, Coca-Cola’s name-brand presence in China, to create a joint World of Warcraft and Coca-Cola televised commercial, featuring Chinese pop sensation SHE blended with the magic of our cinematics!

Post from: MMOtaku

Truth is, Yuyan Online won’t be released in Taiwan anytime soon. Here’s the lowdown from China-based online games portal 17173:

Chinese game developer Storm Entertainment has announced a cooperation agreement with International Games System, a developer of arcade hardware and software, and operator of online games. Under the agreement, Storm will license its first MMORPG, Yuyan Online, to IGS for operation in Taiwan. The game is set to launch in Taiwan in April 2009.

Wait a minute! What’s Yuyan Online anyway?

Yuyan Online, a 2.5D MMORPG that Storm Entertainment developed in-house, is an adventure and fantasy game with traditional Chinese settings. The background music of Yuyan was made by famous game music studio XiaoXu.

Let me just shut up and ask you to watch this teaser video of the game:

I don’t know about you, but to me the game looks like a Diablo II clone.

Post from: MMOtaku

Check out these videos and judge for yourself if Dragon Ball Online is worth the wait and worthy of the praise and adulation of the animated series’ fans worldwide.

Post from: MMOtaku

I’ve been talking a great deal about Perfect World—a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed in China by Beijing Perfect World Technology and published in my home country, the Philippines, by Level Up! Games—but haven’t really shared much about its features.

Well, here I am, preparing to rectify the oversight in a section I’ve decided to call “My World,” which will feature games I’m currently playing. Right now, I’m deep into Perfect World, so I’ll start with it. Before I go into more details, let me share the first four paragraphs of a story on the game I wrote in April 2007 for GAME!, the Philippines best online gaming magazine:

What’s your idea of a perfect world? Ever since I got this assignment, I have been throwing this question to gamers and non-gamers alike. The answers I received were pretty standard, ranging from the advocacy of world peace to the elimination of poverty and hunger, from freeing slaves working in sweatshops across Asia to freeing an entire country from tyranny, strife and oppression.

What if you have a chance to create your own little Utopia, a virtual world reflecting your vision of paradise? Will all the ideals you hold dear—peace, not war; love, not hatel knowledge, not ignorance—keep the world from tipping over into oblivion? Or are the very notions you detest the ones you will need most?

War and greed play important roles in the lives of the Wu Xia, or swordsmen, the Fa Shih (elemental mage), the Yu Mang (archers), the Yu Ling (priests), the Yao Shou (werebeasts), and the Yao Jing (beast summoners), who all strive to best one another in establishing a “Perfect World.”

“If you think you’ve seen just about everything massively online RPGs have to offer, wait until you experience this game,” said O’Neil Buena, (formerly) the mysterious brand manager for Perfect World of Level Up! Games, which bagged the rights to publish the game locally.

Initially, Perfect World promised 12 features to whet the appetites of the steadily growing MMORPG market in the Philippines, but only 10 made it in the open beta and, later, the commercial versions of the game. These include:

Day, Night, and Weather Shifting
The game shifts from night to day and sunny to rainy on a regular basis, changing the view of each area to suit the time. Sometimes, the fog in-game gets so thick that you’ll have a hard time navigating.

16:9 Widescreen Mode
Allows players to play in widescreen mode to simulate a movie-type experience. Think theater screen.

Mailing System
This enables players to communicate with online and offline friends, clanmates or factions via in-game email. Aside from mail, items and the in-game currency, yuan, can also be sent through the system.

Messenger
Perfect World has an in-game messenger system that allows players to keep track of and chat with friends. The messenger always works, even if you’re outside the game, much like Yahoo! Messenger when you’re not logged in. So fret not, messages sent to you while you’re away will pop up once you enter the game.

Riding Pet System
Pets are not just companions in this perfect world since pets can be trained as mounts, the best mode of transportation in the game.

Partner Ride System
In addition to the coolness factor of getting to ride on pets, you can also “snuggle” another player, preferably of the opposite sex, and ride in tandem.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll write more about this game in the next edition of “My World.”

Post from: MMOtaku

Okay. So we’ve established the fact that you are a player of one or more massively multiplayer online role-playing games. What we haven’t found out, however, is who you are in-game.

No, I’m not talking about the roles you play, including whether you cross-dress as much as your character. What I’m getting at, as the title of this post implies, is your what you name your avatar and how you arrived at such a name.

Let’s start with an example. I usually name my characters after, well, characters in books I’ve read. Yes, books are rich sources for MMORPG character names. My main Perfect World avatar is Malystryx, which I borrowed from the acclaimed Dragonlance series brilliantly written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

In Ragnarok Online, I tended to name them after characters in fantasy books as well. Take, for instance, the fiery haired Tika Waylan, who is a fighter in the Dragonlance novels but a blacksmith in Philippine Ragnarok Online.

For Granado Espada, however, I took a different tact and named my adventuring family “Estranghero” after a character I developed as part of a fantasy novel series. For the first names of the family members, I chose my real name and those of my wife, Joyce, and daughter, Cesky, or combinations of the three, like Joelle, Francesca Jadzia, and Joycelle.

I’ve always thought my characters’ names are well thought out. Yes, almost all of their names are borrowed, but I make sure they fit the genre, or at the very least the characters themselves.

In contrast, I encounter characters in all gaming worlds I’ve been to with names like Tiger and its myriad variations like Tigr, TigerMan, WhiteTiger, Tigger, TigeR … and so on and so forth, especially for characters that look like, well, Tigers. Then we have Foxxy, FoxGirl, Foxfox, FoxyGirl, Foxthis-and-foxthat for all the female avatars sporting cute doglike ears and fluffy tails. Of course, there are also characters named after their owners, examples of which are John, SirJohn, Jo[H]n, nhoJ, JohnAndYoko … ad naseaum.

I don’t know about you, but I just find it funny that most players don’t put much thought into what they name their characters. For me, your in-game name tells much about who you are in real life, whether you should be taken seriously or merely taking others for a ride.

Examples of how important names are in MMORPG dynamics: 1) Would you rather have an item crafted by a character named Theros or MyNoseIsBleeding? 2) Would you place the life of your avatar in the hands of a healer named Mishakal or PureKiller?

What’s your character’s name and how did you come up with it?

Post from: MMOtaku

In a recently released statement, Tan jun, chief executive officer of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd., said the company would operate 20 online games in 2008.

Here’s a quick rundown of Shanda’s plan:

Shanda Interactive has announced plans to operate over 20 online games next year right after bagging the license to operate upcoming 3D MMORPG Dragon Nest, which is being developed by Korea’s Eyedentity Games Inc. Shanda also plans to bring in and operate over 50 online games between 2008 and 2010.

At the earlier Q3 conference call, Shanda president Chen Tianqiao made it clear that the company would focus on four key points for online gaming operator success: licensing, self-development, investment, and co-development.

With licenses to at least four MMORPGs—Cang Tian, Aion, Dragon Nest, and Freejack—in its belt, and the development of games such as Disney Magicboard Online and Over the World waiting in its wings, Shanda seems poised to dominate China’s online gaming market.

Post from: MMOtaku

If my interest in Perfect World wanes any time soon, and if the online gaming gods in my country decide to bring in another Asian-made MMORPG, I’d probably go for Aion, the latest baby of NCsoft, developer of Lineage I and Lineage II, and City of Heroes.

I kid you not when I say that I’m keeping my eye on Aion. It’s one Korean-developed game that you will continue to whet the appetite of Asia’s hundreds of thousands of MMORPG players.

Enter Atreia, the name of the game’s world, populated by humans and human-born demigods called Daevas, who are, as the fate’s dictate, destined to rid the face of the planet off the Krall, one of the savage races (read: enemy, monsters).

The rest of this MMORPG’s story is really run-of-the-mill: Good versus evil, with goodly races controlled by players vanquishing nasty monsters on a rampage.

What makes Aion interesting, however, is the fact that in-game weather effects—rain, winds, heat, etc.—will have drastic effects on gameplay. How so? Imagine a magic-user casting fire spells in the midst of a torrential downpour.

In most current MMORPGs, weather is simply eye-candy. In Aion, though, casters—even melee types—suffer penalties. Here’s an example: If a character casts a fireball in the midst of rain, his spell might as well be as inconsequential as an ant bite. Cast a lightning-based attack in the same situation, however, and the results may be devastating as electricity and water don’t mix.

With the legendary Crytek Sandbox 1.0 as its textures engine, Aion is shaping up as an MMORPG worth waiting for. Now, if only one of the local firms find it in their capitalist hearts to import the game.

Post from: MMOtaku

Must get mind off gold … loot … power! Arrrgh! No, wait, let me explain. My apologies for the absence. Aside from the Internet conking out at the most inopportune times, most of my waking hours have been spent researching more stories for MMOtaku.

This entry’s title speaks for itself. Yes, guilty as charged. I’ve been spending an obscene number of hours exploring dungeons in my game of choice, Perfect World, in hopes of finding and owning more artifacts to aid my avatar in her journey in the mythical world of Pangu.

Woe unto the monsters of the Treasure Grotto, where my team of hardy adventurers—composed of a tanking Yao Shou or beastman, a holy Yu Ling or priest and a captivating Yao Jing or beast summoner—bagged for themselves not just one but two molds of the legendary weapon Diving Dragon Finch Bore.

Pangu, the name of the game world, is dotted with nearly a dozen dungeons populated by fierce monsters, from fierce wolves and poisonous scorpions to treasure-hoarding undead pirates. In these dungeons, from the deep pockets of the boss monsters themselves, are molds or casting tools with which players can craft what the game calls Legendary Armors and Holy Weapons, some of the most powerful enchanted items in Perfect World.

The quest to find the Diving Dragon Finch Bore began more than a month ago, when my wife and I, and a group of new-found friends, decided to brave the Treasure Grotto to complete our gear—mostly heavy and light armor breastplates like the equally coveted Cuirass of the Pirate King and the Cuirass of the Griever, and weapons such as the Maul of Black Iron that increases the physical defense of its wielder with each successful attack.

To say that mold-hunting is addictive is an understatement. It’s more than that. Every time a boss monster explodes into a dozen items (well, not really since the sprites just vanish after each defeat), my hunger for molds increases—exponentially.

What we could not sell, we sold for yuan, the in-game currency. This helped a lot since some of our gear could only be had from boss monsters in another dungeon, the Souless Gate.

The icing on top of our hunting spree was our discovery of two of Perfect World’s most coveted molds—the Ring of Lin Yun that imbues its wearer with a whopping 50 percent adjustment to accuracy, among other bonuses, and the Diving Dragon Finch Bore, a magical implement that boosts a caster’s abilities with bonuses to the intelligence attribute.

To give you an idea of the value of these items, here’s a quick “illustration”: Compared to other molds, the two molds I mentioned above have less than a percent chance of dropping from the two main bosses, Lin Yun and Lang Fang Tian. The Ring of Lin Yun can be sold for a kingly sum of at least 22 million yuan while the Diving Dragon Finch Bore may go for the insane amount of 30 million yuan. The conversion rates: 1,200 yuan = 1 gold (the currency used to purchase stuff from the item mall), 2,000 gold = 100 Philippine pesos, 1 dollar = roughly Php 42. Do the math and find out how much the items are worth.

Now that my avatar is fully equipped—Modified Light Armor Set: Cuirass of the Griever, Dark Underworld Leggings, Captain’s Armlet, Card of the Pirate King, and Diving Dragon Finch Bore—she’s ready to face more complicated challenges, such as Fairy Land and Demon Land, two of the game’s most powerful dungeons.

Post from: MMOtaku