Hello Kitty Online MMORPG Christmas News
For HKO Founders, this holiday season will be extra special! Come celebrate Christmas with all your friends from Hello Kitty Online! From December 17 until December 22, 2008, Hello Kitty Online will once again open its doors to all Founders to celebrate the last party of the year in Sanrio Land: the Founders’ Christmas Reunion!
The Founders’ Christmas Reunion will have new and updated game features and content made exclusively for all our Founders. Of special note:
New Christmas-themed maps!
A brand new winter wonderland complete with snowflakes gently floating down from the sky
The Item Mall is here! You will automatically receive 300 points to spend on exclusive items only available in the Item Mall.
Pets can now speak and will let you know how they feel!
Sanrio Land’s newest city: New York!
Christmas quests! Embark on a fun-filled adventure all over Sanrio Land to put Christmas back on track!
New Sanrio characters! You will meet many new faces in your quest to save Christmas!
Player profile page on SanrioTown that shows your character, farm, pet, buddies and more! Check it out!
In-game new email notification informs you when you have new mail.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – PLEASE READ
The Hello Kitty Online Founders’ Christmas Reunion begins December 17, 2008 at 22:00 EST, and will finish December 22, 2008 at 23:59 EST. Please note that Hello Kitty Online will not be accessible outside of this period.
Only existing Founders will be able to play. No new players will be accepted during the Founders’ Christmas Reunion.
Updates for your game client will be available starting on December 16, 2008. All you need to do is start your game client and wait for the auto-update to complete. If you already uninstalled the game, the game is available for download at the Hello Kitty Online Download Center.
If you have any questions, please email us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com.
Real Money Trading in the Everquest Games
Station Cash
The headline says “FUND…SHOP…ADVENTURE!” The latest twist in Everquest and Everquest II is the ability to purchase Station Cash which can be used to buy “premium in-game items”. The marketplace offers bonus experience potions, equipment, and house pets.
Real Money Trading has come to the Everquest games.
For Sale
Items can be purchased on the market place now. Bonus potions for all three types of experience (AA, Adventure and Tradeskill), pets and outfits for the appearance slots are the initial offerings. The station cash and the items purchased with it are all NO-TRADE.
Patch Notes
Hotfix December / 9 / 2008
STATION CASH
Station Cash is a new virtual currency from SOE that has been created to allow for the purchase of premium in-game items within EverQuest II.
To get started, access the “Marketplace” from the EQII Window within the game. Click on the “Add Funds” button to purchase Station Cash to fund your wallet and then select items to purchase.
Official Information
For beginners getting started, veterans leveling up, players starting alts, or anyone trying to get more out of the game, using SC to purchase in-game items is for everyone. The items available offer new and experienced players alike convenience, customization and fun while providing a unique gameplay experience. Convenience items include potions of various types, from health to experience boosts. Several appearance packs in various armor types make up the customization category. Then for fun, we offer a selection of pets for your house or as travel companions.
What is Station Cash?
Station Cash is Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency that players can buy to fund a virtual wallet. Once a wallet has been funded, Station Cash can be used to purchase premium in-game items through the in-game Marketplace in EverQuest® and EverQuest® II.
Consumer Protection?
This line in the terms and conditions is a bit of a handful:
You agree that SOE retains the unfettered right to modify its games and all aspects of characters, items, points and coin, including Station Cash (collectively, “Virtual Goods”) therein. You acknowledge that SOE has been, is, and will be constantly making changes to its games. You further acknowledge that SOE can and will, in its discretion, modify features, functions or abilities of any element of any of its games or any Virtual Goods (which may, among other things, make the Virtual Goods substantially more valuable, effective or functional, or less valuable, effective or functional, more common or less common, or eliminated entirely). You acknowledge and agree that all Virtual Goods represent a limited license right governed by the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from SOE at any time.
But once you simplify it, you are left with the following statement:
“You … acknowledge that SOE can … modify … any Virtual Goods … which may, among other things, make the Virtual Goods … less valuable … or eliminated entirely.”
That means SOE can change them or even delete them out of your inventory and you have no right to a refund. Do they mean that? They sure do:
YOU PROMISE, THEREFORE, THAT YOU WILL NEVER … BRING ANY CLAIM OR SUIT AGAINST SOE … WHICH IS RELATED TO … A CLAIM THAT YOU “OWN” ANY VIRTUAL GOODS IN ANY GAME [or] A CLAIM FOR THE “VALUE” OF VIRTUAL GOODS IF SOE DELETES THEM AND/OR TERMINATES YOUR STATION ACCOUNT
Veteran’s Reward
Sixes received this little bonus in his email:
As a faithful subscriber we want you to be among the first to enjoy this amazing new game enhancement. With that in mind, we are funding your in-game wallet with 150SC so that you can jump right in and experience item sales now.
That’s a dollar fifty right there, enough for a basic potion and a half … or an electrically charged slimy ooze for your house with change left over.
Of course, there’s nothing you can buy for 50SC so if you want to spend all of your free gift, you’ll have to buy some more - at a minimum of five dollars per purchase. Which … leaves you with 50SC left over again. Taunting you. Forever.
On the other hand, they haven’t mailed me. The whole thing is probably a gnome conspiracy. *sigh*
Posted by Taymar
on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.
Virtual Halloween Haunts
Spooky! This weekend the virtual worlds are full of haunted houses and special events, all focused around one of my favorite holidays: the Day of the Dead or All Hallows’ Eve. I’ve been out of town and fallen behind but luckily there are lots of people out there making sure the information gets out. Here’s a round up of some great bloggers talking about their experiences online that I’ve collected just for you…
Tipa tells us all about the Loping Plains Haunted House in EQ2:
West Karana » EQ2: The Loping Plains Haunted House. Scared yet?
Loping Plains hasn’t seen THIS much action since the Freethinkers threw that Christmas party and the Pumpkin-Headed Horseman barfed seeds and pulp all over Mayong Mistmoore. Everyone was talking about that for months.
Stargrace fills us in on the Everquest seasonal events:
MmoQuests.com » EverQuest Halloween Events
The costumes are a LOT of fun. You can become pretty much any scary creature at all that’s available in EQ, not to mention the fact that there are accessories! Want to wield a broom? A bucket filled to the brim with treats? Then that’s no problem at all. Looking for free treats and goodies to stock pile? There’s a vendor for that too, and what’s more is that they’re all free, no charge. The costumes do have limited charges, and are no rent which means they’ll poof if you log out for too long (they also dissolve on zoning) but the food (although no trade) will stick around later (I filled up my bags, I couldn’t help it, the stats were so nice!).
Ysharros gives some first impressions of WAR’s open RvR special, the Witching Night:
Witching Night in WAR « Stylish Corpse
So far I’m a little ambivalent about this event, or what I’ve seen of it today — which was only tier 2, with Amariel (the Archmage).
The good includes how much fun it is to have gigantic moshes in open RvR; at one point there were 30+ on the Order side in the Troll Country Witching Night PQ, and probably 20-25 Destruction. We owned them several times over, despite having to continually ask our own side to move back *inside* the PQ area.
No one seems to be blogging about their experiences in Kingdom of Loathing but the KolWiki has all the details you need to follow the event:
Halloween is that time of year when Adventurers dress up and scam candy off total strangers. Or something. It occurs each Porktober 8. To go trick-or-treating, you need an outfit. Each round of trick-or-treating costs an Adventure, and is available from the main map
And the WoWInsider has a detailed guide for World of Warcraft’s Hallow’s End event:
Hallow’s End 2008 guide (updated) - WoW Insider
And, while these aren’t quests, don’t forget to trick-or-treat at innkeepers all over Azeroth and Outland for various goodies and neat tricks like pumpkin heads, masks, and magic wands. Don’t forget to visit the Wickerman Festival, done at 8:00 pm server time outside of Undercity each night of Hallow’s End.
And finally, a wonderful response from the Lich King regarding the complaints of WoW being overrun by zombies (via Broken Toys):
World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Announcement from the Lich King;
My deepest apologies.
It is my understanding that my invading forces, in their attempts to besiege your cities and snuff out all life on Azeroth, have inconvenienced the activities of common civilians. In the future, I will ensure that your commanding officers are informed well in advance of planned invasion times so that they may properly fortify themselves.
I have also looked into the issue of my plague being too quick in its purpose and too difficult to cure. Please be reassured that I have taken the matter up personally with my top necromancers and that any further incarnations of said plague should be only a slight challenge for your natural immune systems to overcome. Please forward any additional complaints to either Kel’thuzad or Anub’arak.
Regards,
the Lich King Arthas.
Hey, all we want to do is eat your brains…
Happy Hallowe’en everyone!
Posted by Taymar
on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.
Running a gaming forum is dangerous?
|
Extradition proceedings against a German man accused of murdering a British student he allegedly met on the internet have been delayed after UK police failed to supply the paperwork needed on time. |
LOL ok if anyone here has a problem with me keep it online LMFAO
Running a gaming forum is dangerous?
|
Extradition proceedings against a German man accused of murdering a British student he allegedly met on the internet have been delayed after UK police failed to supply the paperwork needed on time. |
LOL ok if anyone here has a problem with me keep it online LMFAO
Developers Focus on Gold Selling
The hot topic of the week is online gold and Real Money Trading (RMT). Players are buying in-game cash, levels and gear and there is no shortage of companies now happy to supply them, despite serious attempts by game producers to gain control of the issue.
It can be difficult to keep up conversations taking place on blogs instead of newsgroups and message boards, so here’s a round-up of the recent discussion, with a brief quote to give you a taste of the post.
Mark Jacobs (Mythic Entertainment) started things off with this post on his blog: Online Games are a Niche Market:
A banning we will go, a banning we will go. Heave ho off the servers yo, a banning we will go!
I hate gold sellers/spammers. No, that’s not strong enough, let me try again. I HATE GOLD SELLERS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING. Ah, that’s better. Now, why do I hate them you may ask? I hate them for a number of reasons, most of which have been detailed in various interviews I’ve done over the years. And now that they have taken their obnoxiousness to new levels with gold service spamming, I HATE GOLD SPAMMERS EVEN MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.
Syp the Engineer kicked the ball into play with his response on Waaagh! A Warhammer Online Blog:
The Golden Rule
The problem doesn’t lie with the gold selling companies — they suck, yes, and they’re going against the EUALA, yes, but they’re providing a service that is in demand. Let’s re-read that sentence, okay? They’re providing a service that’s in demand. If the potential for pay is high enough, shadowy forces will weigh that against the risk and take their chances. The problem lies with Mike, and people like him. People who have no sense of morality or honor in online games. People who go ahead and buy gold to be instantly gratified, and a lesser extent, friends that see them do this and say nothing.
Tobold posts a surprisingly reasoned response to Mark and Syp on his MMORPG Blog:
WAR and RMT
Syp is right in saying that the problem of gold selling is the demand of gold buyers. But his solution is wrong, because he short-sightedly attributes the demand to notions of “morality or honor”, which is just plain silly. Player’s demand for gold is simply a function of how grindy it is to get gold, and what you need that gold for. And that are all questions of game design. It is a lot easier to solve the problem with good game design than to start a successful crusade to stop people from cheating in video games. Google has 80 million hits in a search for “cheats”, most of which are about video games, that isn’t something we can make go away if we all just hold hands and wish for it very, very strongly.
Michael Zenke of MMOG Nation weighs in with his view of the real problem:
On WAR, RMT, and Goldspammers
The truth, though, is that people wanking about the dishonor of goldbuyers and the scourge of goldsellers should really put it back in their pants. For better or worse goldselling is something that’s … well, I’ll say it outright: in my mind it’s not an issue that players have to worry about anymore. Every game I can think of has done their best to deal with goldfarming and spammers at this point. Every one. It’s 2008, and if you are still getting spammed by goldfarmers in-game it’s becuase the game developers want you to be. It’s as simple as that.
Scott Jennings (author of Massively Multiplayer Games for Dummies) puts forward a detailed solution based on treating RMT as vice on Broken Toys:
How To Stop Gold Farming
However, my belief - and this may well be false - is that enlightened self-interest does in fact work, and given the choice between patronizing other players and bad actors for RMT sales, players will patronize other players.
And that, I believe, would completely devastate the third party markets because there was no financial interest for that free market to develop external to the game.
Chris F of I HAS PC weighs in with a different solution:
$0 DOWN, $199/MONTH 2.3% FINANCING
What we need is some sort of solution. An obvious one, but one I haven’t seen or heard much about (I don’t read every blog and website out there, so sorry if it has) is the simplest one of all. Make gold bind on pickup. Eliminate it from the equation altogether. How can we eliminate gold changing hands, without eliminating item trading? Enter the lovely world of leasing.
Matt (Sparkplay Media) writes about their blind auction and arbitage system on his blog, The Forge:
Dual Currencies in MMOs
At Sparkplay, we’re tentatively planning to restrict credit transfers as well as have the currency exchange (blind auction) that Iron Realms has, and I’m reasonably confident it will keep professional gold farmers out of the game. I firmly believe that gold farming isn’t the problem anyway - it’s the behavior of many of the pro gold farmers that’s the problem. Anyone throwing ‘morality’ out there as an indictment against gold farming is not to be taken seriously on the matter in my book, but it’s certainly legitimate to find being spammed with gold ads obnoxious as hell.
Will the next generation see the end of the gold spam? Certainly it seems to be a priority with the developers of the moment.
Posted by Taymar
on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.
Fiesta Online – Everyone is invited to play the open beta!
Hamburg, September 26th 2008 - Leading European MMOG publisher gamigo AG confirms,
that the European English version of Fiesta Online goes into open beta today. After
a successful closed beta period with a limited number of testers, now everyone who registers
at the official Homepage http://fiesta.gamigo.com/ can immediately download the
client and start playing.
A vibrant community is looking for new members
In Fiesta Online thousands of players can discover a colorful and breathing world full of
adventure. Together they complete missions, hunt for monsters or take part in epic
Kingdom Quests. But what makes Fiesta really special are many useful community
features. The game is not just about training the character in battle, but finding new
friends and spending time with them as well.
But not just its features separate Fiesta from the competition. Great cell shaded
characters and detailed surroundings are making the game a welcome diversion from
usual MMORPGs. Its unique look and thought-out features already made Fiesta a big hit
in Asia and the USA. After the official launch of the German version two months ago, now
players from all over Europe can join the growing community and discover big treasures
and even bigger friendships.
Now free for all!
“We want to thank all participators of the closed beta, who really helped us setting the
game up for a bigger audience” says Elmar Kofler, Product Manager of Fiesta Online.
“Now we are excited to offer the game to all players who want to experience the
fascinating world of Fiesta and help us to polish the game even further for its final
release.”
gamigo invites all interested players to go to http://fiesta.gamigo.com/ to sign up and
join the world of Fiesta Online. The official European version of Fiesta Online will be
released later this year. Like the beta, the final version can be downloaded and played
free of charge with no monthly fees.
Jack Thompson permanently disbarred
US attorney and anti-videogames campaigner Jack Thompson has been permanently disbarred, following a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court.
The Florida Supreme Court approved a recommendation made earlier this year that Thompson should receive a permanent disbarment. The ruling, effective October 25, further required the infamous lawyer to pay legal fees to the Florida Bar amounting to USD 43,675.35.
In handing down its decision, the Florida Supreme Court cited Thompson’s extensive history of public misconduct, along with recommendations from Judge Dava Tunis, the official who presided over Thompson’s 2007 ethics trial.
In response, Thompson has filed a request with the U.S. District Court seeking an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, as well as publishing a press release that claims the Court’s decision is "in retaliation for Thompson’s Tyndale House book Out of Harm’s Way, published in 2005, which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court’s earlier efforts in the 1990’s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry."
However the "Press Release" he gives a completely different reason for why this is happening to him.
PRESS RELEASE:
Thompson responded to the allegation by issuing a press release, in which he states that the disbarment was an act of revenge for him filing lawsuits against the Supreme Court.
"This disbarment is in retaliation," read the statement. "The timing of this disbarment transparently reveals its motivation: This past Friday Thompson filed a federal civil rights action against The Bar, the Supreme Court, and all seven of its Justices."
"This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has. Thompson always wanted to own a Bar. Now, armed with multiple US Supreme Court rulings that no state bar can do what it has done to Thompson, he is set to own that Bar."
——————–
I find it funny that he is throwing blame in random directions, yet he still cant see that his past is very public and everyone can see the truth behind this decision. He is a power hungry loon who thinks the whole world should think and act exactly as he believes, and nobody should have the choice to be different.
I absolutely hate Censorship, and this guy is the living embodiment of censorship. I think it is about time that the court system did something positive and remove this cancer from their system.
Hello Kitty Online Beta Oversubscribed
Massive Demand for Founders’ Beta Accounts
A special announcement for all aspiring Founders: the response to the call for the Hello Kitty Online Founders’ Beta has been overwhelming, and as of right now all Founders’ Beta slots have been filled. We would like to thank everyone who has shown such enthusiasm for Hello Kitty Online. We were so impressed by the response (and the impassioned pleas for acceptance) that we are working hard to increase the quota of Founders, so if you haven’t applied yet, do so now!
To those who have already applied, please keep checking your SanrioTown account. We will be notifying you this week to let you know if you are one of the Founders.
For those who have not yet applied, do not be discouraged! Follow these simple steps:
- Sign up for an account at SanrioTown.com,
- Using the SanrioTown account, send a BLANK email to hkofounder@hellokitty.com.
We want to see all of you in the upcoming Beta, and because of that, we will try our best to accommodate as many requests as we can. We can’t guarantee you will get in, but we are trying our best.
Once again, thank you for your continued support! Keep checking your SanrioTown emails and the HKO Official Blog for more updates!
Hello Kitty Online News: Be a Founder
Hello Kitty Online announces Founders’ Beta
Wanted: Founders for the world’s cutest MMORPG
Hong Kong – September 12, 2008: Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) announced today that Hello Kitty Online will begin an exclusive Founders’ Beta on October 8, 2008. The Founders’ Beta will allow a limited number of users to play the official Hello Kitty MMORPG ahead of launch while receiving Founder benefits and participating in special in-game events.
Hello Kitty Online (www.hellokittyonline.com) is a free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) based on Sanrio’s famous characters. The game transports players into the cute and cuddly world of Sanrio Land, where players will meet and interact with over a hundred Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, Dear Daniel, My Melody, Pochacco, Cinnamoroll, and many others.
Hello Kitty Online boasts several new additions and improvements since the Closed Beta version, and the Founder’s Beta will feature a new game client with an improved interface, improved graphics and special effects, new monsters, new maps, new items, and the opening of London and Paris. The Founders’ Beta will also introduce gameplay changes such an improved skill system, new pet systems and team-play oriented enhancements.
20,000 Founder accounts will be issued on a first-come first-served basis. Players who wish to become Hello Kitty Online Founders are required to sign up on SanrioTown (www.SanrioTown.com) and use the SanrioTown email system to send a blank message to hkofounder@hellokitty.com. Only emails originating from SanrioTown will qualify.
Hello Kitty Online is fully integrated with SanrioTown (www.sanriotown.com) and offers several features of the popular community site, including:
- Fully developed email system available in-game
- Players can create, post and view blogs from inside the game
- Upload, share and view videos in-game
- Social networking options
- Multiplayer mini games with ranking system
