First off, I’d like to thank MMOtaku’s avid readers, those who visit the blog every day, those who come and go for a dose of MMORPG news, reviews and what-have-yous, and those who have dropped in just to take a gander at what we have to offer. Without your constant support, MMOtaku would have floundered a long time ago.

Second, I’d like the acknowledge the inputs and help of several key people in the life of MMOtaku. To Mike Leaño, former b5media Video Games Channel editor, for putting trust in my abilities to bring the blog to life; to PJ Punla, pioneer blogger and player of Granado Espada Southeast Asia, for showing me that love for video games extends beyond playing them; to Siege Malvar and Alcarcalimo, for keeping me on my toes, a constant reminder that MMOtaku does have readers who crave insights on MMOs available in the market today; and to Joyce, my wife, for being the rigid wall off of which I throw my ideas to see if they stick.

Third and last, I salute the growing online games industry in Asia for giving us topnotch games (yes, despite Mike Leaño’s opinion that MMOGs developed in Asia are, ehem, excrement. These games are getting better, and they’re grabbing the attention of MMOG players in different parts of the globe.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I give you the best of MMOtaku:

November 2008
Granado Espada SEA pioneer pooh-poohs IP e-Games’ ‘mishandling’ of game
Zhu Xian: I came, I saw, I … got disappointed
Endless fun with Perfect World character customization

October 2008
Beach Volleyball Online: The latest craze
Florensia: Kill-stealers and other dregs of society are moving in
RF Online to go offline in November

September 2008
E-Games clamps down on Cabal botters
Perfect World: Bots popping out of the woodwork
NBA Street Online: Soon, real soon
Requiem Bloodymare: New race, yes, but what’s there to like?

August 2008
MMO Etiquette: Stop poking me!
Granado Espada fails to please Chinese market

July 2008
9you crushes Audition shutdown rumor
China’s online games market: 147 million players!
Dragon Nest: The King of MMORPGs

June 2008
Perfect World inks deal with IP e-Games
Requiem Bloodymare launched
Perfect World: Jump hack? Stop crying wolf

May 2008
MMO Etiquette: Pay it forward
Fly For Fun Penya Hack!
Khan Online Philippines bows out

April 2008
Philippines to host Ragnarok World Championships
In this part of the world, MMORPGs and cosplay go hand in hand
Pandora Saga to grace Philippine shores

March 2008
Fantasy Westward Journey online posts 166 million concurrent users
They’re cute and cuddly, and they’re coming to your PC
Not so supa anymore

February 2008
RF Online Crimson Dawn is now online
Blog post on Perfect World clan too hot to handle?
Third job classes coming to Ragnarok Online
Blog post on Perfect World clan’s struggle stirs hornets’ nest

January 2008
GigaMedia bags license to operate Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Reign of Revolution: No rules, just power
Counter-Strike Online to give other online shooters a run for their money
Top Ten Thursdays: Best MMORPGs in the Philippines

December 2007
China’s Perfect World claims strong presence in Asian MMORPG capital Korea
What’s in a(n MMOPRPG) name?
The Vista Trap: How to make your Asian MMOs work on Microsoft’s latest baby
FlyFF Philippines launches Volcane Legends
MMO war: Korea versus China

November 2007
Craving for a slice of Zhu Xian
Asian MMO, meet world

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

Post from: MMOtaku

I’m getting confused by the translation of titles from Chinese to English. Last time I checked, this latest online game from LineKong Entertainment Technology Co. Ltd. was called Blooded Westward Journey. Recently, online games portal 17173 labeled the game as Westward Journey. Now, in an official press release from LineKong, what was once known as Blooded Westward Journey and simply Westward Journey is now Journey to the West. Fortunately, the title of an MMORPG doesn’t really impact much on how it is received by players.

Here’s an excerpt from the official announcement:

LineKong Entertainment Technology Co. Ltd., a leading third-generation enterprise in the Chinese online gaming industry, has officially launched its first independently developed game Journey to the West. This is the first time that LineKong has demonstrated its own research and development strength since its establishment, and this product is currently the only online game based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

As a 2D massively multiplayer online action role-playing game, Journey to the West is developed by Neptune Studio, a subsidiary of LineKong. The game uses LineKong’s self-developed game engine and is designed to truly reproduce the “Havoc in Heaven,” “Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon,” “Havoc in the Dragon King’s Palace,” and other classic plot points from the story. At the same time, the game will stay true to the elements of the novel that people are familiar with in a realistic way so that players can truly experience the original Journey to the West.

“Journey to the West is the heavyweight masterpiece which has been in development since the establishment of LineKong. The game was developed by our domestic, first-class R&D team which is up to one hundred members. I believe that this realistic style game will break the current market status of themes on the westward journey. At the same time, it is a signal which declares that LineKong will enter into the phase of mass production. And for the third generation online game enterprise, it is also the foundation of our rapid rise,” said Wang Feng, chief executive officer of LineKong.

LineKong is a young interactive entertainment enterprise founded in March of 2007. The company specializes in the development and operation of online games. LineKong has built a perfect R&D center, an operation and service center, and a marketing and sales network covering all of China. The company has many large online games such as The Legend of Kung Fu, Hero, Warrior King, and Super Adventurer, and its products can be categorized as turn-based games, ARPGs and casual games.

Concept artwork for Journey to the West downloaded from the LineKong site.

Post from: MMOtaku

This one is definitely for the books. Fantasy Westward Journey, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed in China, has hit the magic number of 1.66 million in concurrent peak users.

According to online games portal 17173, this milestone is made doubly important as “the Chinese online game market has seen outstanding foreign products while locally produced games receive considerably less attention.”

“So many Chinese online game operators prefer to license Korean or American MMOs or are into the habit of copying classic games,” the portal said in an article. “Fantasy West Journey, as one of the few original games developed in China, has made a remarkable achievement, proving that Chinese online games can also be outstanding.”

Fantasy Westward Journey is based loosely on the famous Chinese folk tale Legend of West Journey. Aside from player-kill, treasure-hunting, and pet-raising, Fantasy Westward Journey also gives Chinese players a high level of interaction not commonly found in other MMORPGs.

Post from: MMOtaku