Saturday, March 21, 2009

China declares victory over online game addiction

China's General Administration of Press and Publication claims that the government's anti-game-addiction program is proving successful, as evidenced by new statistics released by the China Youth Social Service Center this week.

According to the CYSSC, the proportion of people under the age of 18 playing online games has dropped 7 percent, to 15 percent of the total online gaming population in China. Fewer kids playing online games apparently translates to less game addiction.

The program requires online game producers to discourage online play for more than three hours by reducing game credits by half after that period. In addition, players are required to register with their real names in order to verify their age.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

China declares victory over online game addiction originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see their terms for use of feeds.

http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/jTRnYSvHizo/

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

So I Guess EverQuest Turns 10 Today [Everquest]

One of the first MMORPGs to pioneer sucking the souls out of gamers and Player versus Player interactions has just turned 10. Here's an elf popping out of a cake to prove it.

Other festivities, both virtual and real-life are planned for EverQuest -- most notably, a party at Fan Faire 2009 in Las Vegas this June and the declaration of Sony Online Entertainment Day in San Diego, California. That's what happens when you win an Emmy, kids, people notice you. Eventually.

EverQuest went live March 16, 1999 and rose to gamer fame over the next decade, spawning 15 expansions and a full-blown sequel that still feeds on the souls of the unwary MMO gamer.

EverQuest 10th Anniversary [via GameSpot, the guys who first awarded it Game of the Year]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/XXIzSFQldnE/so-i-guess-everquest-turns-10-today

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Friday, March 13, 2009

Free Realms introduces not-so-free subscription option

Reposted from Kotaku

Looks like man cannot live on microtransactions alone. Sony Online Entertainment is expanding the earning potential of Free Realms by reintroducing a very familiar MMO tactic: monthly subscription fees. Yes, the game is still technically free, but there's a new premium-tier level to the service.

For $5 a month, premium members of Free Realms will be able to access 5 extra jobs, ranking on Free Realms leaderboards, three character slots and 400 extra items and quests. It appears most of the content in Free Realms will be, er, free for all -- however, we wonder how much content SOE will continue to provide for those that decide to play, but not pay.

The PC open beta for Free Realms is due next month. A PS3 version is also in the works.

[Via Massively]

Free Realms introduces not-so-free subscription option originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/FWRxkJKVB1g/

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Sunday, March 01, 2009

Video of Tabula Rasa's Final Moments

Reposted from Kotaku

Last night NCSoft shut off Tabula Rasa's servers. Early word had it that the Bane horde would either wipe out humanity, or humanity would do the job itself with a doomsday weapon.

I have never played this game (so have, like, not a lot of people, that's the reason the servers were being turned off.) So I have no idea what exactly is going on here. But several final night videos show humanity winning without annihilating itself. Seems the final battle went down in New York City and mankind triumphed. And then everyone was notified they had been disconnected from the server. Whee.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/OXLcOZxvSGk/video-of-tabula-rasas-final-moments

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How Much Do Blizzard Contribute To Activision's Bottom Line? [Activision]

[reposted from Kotaku]

Activision and Blizzard, they're now tight, combining Guitar Hero and Call of Duty's dollars with those World of Warcraft rakes in on a monthly basis. But what's the split between the two?

Activision's freshly-released annual report lets us know (using net revenue as a yardstick).

And the winner is...Activision, who for 2008 (and we're talking calendar 2008 here) raked in $2.1 billion. Blizzard, meanwhile, could "only" pull in $1.3 billion (with 97% of that income derived from World of Warcraft subscriptions). So it's Activision that are top dogs. But that's coming off a year in which Guitar Hero really exploded into the mainstream, and which saw not only the release of Call of Duty: World at War, but also the majority of Call of Duty 4's sales.

The year before that? Blizzard again cracked the billion mark, earning $1.1 billion, while Activision made a net revenue of only $272 million. No wonder Blizzard's books looked so good.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/w6nLtkS5hmM/how-much-do-blizzard-contribute-to-activisions-bottom-line

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Apocalypse Soon: Tabula Rasa going out with a bang

Filed under: MMO

It seems that NCsoft will be ushering the fairly unsuccessful Tabula Rasa off this mortal coil in a somewhat unorthodox, yet completely awesome fashion. Soon-to-be-retired players won't be popping champagne and mingling during tomorrow's server shut-off festivities -- no, they'll be pushing back one last onrush of bloodthirsty Bane combatants in a cataclysmic event that will likely see the annihilation of every living thing, ever.

Players were warned in an in-character message on the Tabula Rasa site that should their defenses crumble during the Bane's final onslaught, humanity will turn to its ominous-sounding "last resort weapon," which will ensure the complete destruction of both sides of the conflict. The missive's reasoning was concise -- "if it is truly our destiny to be destroyed," it explains, "we are taking them all with us." Tabula Rasa may have not made a flashy arrival onto the MMO scene, but it sounds like NCsoft is making sure it has one hell of a departure.

Apocalypse Soon: Tabula Rasa going out with a bang originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/pRqj4eWCBys/

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