Kotaku: Only In China

China Launches "Virtual Property" Insurance

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EDT

Live in China? Own property? Virtual property? Sunshine Insurance Group Corporation might have you covered. More »

Meet Final Combat, China's Shameless Team Fortress 2 Rip-off

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:00:00 EDT

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The game makers of China, not content to let the Koreans corner the market on Team Fortress 2 clones, have created their own in Final Combat, only this one is way, way more blatant than previous efforts. More »

Chinese Prisoners 'Forced' to Play Video Games, Farm Your MMO Gold

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:00:00 EDT

Inmates at China's Jixi prison labor camp are tasked with backbreaking, mind-numbing work: mining rock, carving chopsticks by hand, and assembly line work. Some are even forced to endure grueling video game play, farming for gold in online games. More »

Chinese Toymaker Forced to Apologize for Gundam Ripoffs

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 18 May 2011 02:00:00 EDT

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China loves Gundam. But China doesn't always love copyright law. That can be a problem! More »

Call Of Duty For China Is Free To Play

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:40:00 EST

The people who publish Call of Duty have been talking about their plans to bring more players into the online multiplayer fold, specifically targeting Asian players. Today, Activision finally divulged some details on its Chinese Call of Duty plans. More »

You're One To Talk, Japan!

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 02:00:00 EST

A giant mecha statue is going up in China. It looks like Gundam — if Gundam was sickly orange and built by men on bamboo poles. Japanese netizens are holding this up as another Chinese rip-off. Is Japan really one to talk? More »

China's Game Machine Slaughter House

Brian Crecente — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:30:00 EDT

While it appears that nearly all of these 600 video game machines are used for gambling, it doesn't make their death at the hand of Chinese police any less tragic. I can see copies of World of Warcraft going into a bonfire next. More »

China's New Battle Against Engrish

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:30:00 EDT

While the botched "Engrish" translations in video games like Zero Wing, the Ninja Warriors and Metal Gear have provided us with years of amusement and long-running memes, officials in China are trying to stamp out mangled English. More »

Chinese Gov't Tries To Officially Ban Gold Farming

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:20:59 EDT

Friday, the Chinese government attempted to address the reported $500 million gold farming industry, said to employ some 400,000 workers, in the form of a ruling on the exchange of "virtual currency" for real world cash. More »

Game Addict Swallows Saw Blades to Commit Suicide

Brian Crecente — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:00:00 EST

A 23-year-old Beijing game addict was rushed to a hospital after swallowing five pieces of saw blades in an attempt to commit suicide, the Beijing Legal Times reports. More »

Giant Online Revenue Falls, Still Rockin' the Chinese Market

Maggie Greene — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:30:00 EST

Despite declining stock value, Giant Interactive — the company behind the intriguing MMO Zhengtu Online, which is a mix of MMO, gambling, real money transactions, and gold farming — is still tearing up the Chinese market. Steve of PlayNoEvil has some interesting analysis up of some recent numbers, which have indicated the the average revenue per player has dropped to around $41 USD (RMB 282). Giant is moving to encourage 'steadier' playing, instead of simply buying up cash shop items like there's no tomorrow, so the drop was expected. Still, the money being made is pretty impressive for a domestic game (drop and all): More »

Shanda Bans Player, Sued For Causing 'Emotional Distress'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Poor Shanda. Poor Chinese game companies! A surprising number of suits have been brought against them in the past year, but this — for a more reasonable 11,000 RMB ($1600) — takes the current cake. Shanda froze the account of a Legend of Mir player (for unspecified reasons), who is now suing for emotional distress and the return of his virtual items: More »

Moving Beyond the Neon Lights in Chinese Gaming

Maggie Greene — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:30:00 EDT

In China, it's the glitzy cities that get the attention — Shanghai in particular is the city that garners the most attention in scholarship (and frequently in the press). I was somewhat relieved to see that this is not confined merely to China specialists, but game industry watcher types as well — the most recent 'China Angle' column at Gamasutra looks at games outside of the publicized hotspots, where large portions of the user bases are found. Giant Interactive, developer of Zhengtu Online, recently purchased a stake in one of China's largest social networking sites, in an attempt to grow their market. But that's not the only way companies are trying to acquire ever greater number of players, oh no: More »

Chengdu Police Arrest Two Gold Farmers

Maggie Greene — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Steve at PlayNoEvil noted this little news story, which involves two Chinese gold farmers who have pulled in over $200K USD being arrested in China. Why? How, exactly? Well, it would appear that one of the pair felt they were being swindled out of profits and reported his partner to the police: More »

Chinese MMOs Go After Tibetans ... Er, 'Drug Smugglers'

Maggie Greene — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Oh, the punny, punny Chinese language — an article from an Indian site noted that a "new online game" is offering Chinese players the chance to go after people engaging in cangdu (smuggling drugs, 藏毒) which, if you use the other pronunciation of the first character, sounds like zangdu (Tibetan independence, 藏獨). Some perfunctory nosing around revealed some frighteningly nationalistic rambling and cranky Taiwanese gamers, though at least one 'game' would appear to be new content for an existing MMO, QQ Huaxia. Says the (unnamed in the article) company: More »

Titanic 1912, the RPG: A Review

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:00:37 EDT

I just about died laughing at this lengthy and vitriolic review of the Shenzhen Nanjing bootleg/grey market Titanic 1912. It's long, it's funny, it's worth a read. The quality starts in the first few paragraphs: More »

China Launching 'Operation For Tomorrow' Crackdown

Maggie Greene — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:30:23 EST

What would modern China be without campaigns? This one's lacking in a snappy name and related propaganda, but the government is gearing up to go after those hotbeds of moral decay, crime, and WoW: internet cafes. Introducing "Operation for Tomorrow," targeting unlicensed websites, internet cafes, and porn. More »

China Trying To Keep Out Foreign MMORPGs

Maggie Greene — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:30:56 EST

It's no secret that foreign games, be they WoW or Korean imports, are wildly popular in China - thus, in a clear case of local protectionism, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has instituted new regulations to keep out foreign game companies: More »

Chinese Government Cracking Down on Online Gaming

Maggie Greene — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:30:38 EST

Despite governmental efforts to the contrary (gaming addiction 'bootcamps,' time-limiting systems and the like), China's gaming population just refuses to be fenced in. The Chinese market is growing by leaps and bounds, which - unsurprisingly - is making the government just a wee bit skittish. Due to rampant piracy, lack of game ratings, and more illegal internet cafés than you can shake a stick at, the government is worried over reports of rising numbers of gaming addicts (and what they see as a related rise in juvenile crime). Will the fact that previous measures haven't exactly had the desired effects mean that the CCP is going to throw their hands up in defeat? Of course not: More »

Chinese MMO of the Weekend: ELF Online

Maggie Greene — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:30:00 EST

Oh, how I wish I had seen the original press release for Happy MMO's ELF Online. The sketchy translation both in-game and on their website leads me to believe the press release must have been a true gem. It's clearly a game that's not taking itself too seriously (running into a "wet nurse for newbie"? A "baby mode"?), and Jeff Freeman has a funny look at gameplay and environment in ELF Online. Considering the number of free to play Chinese MMOs that take themselves way too seriously, it's almost refreshing (though perhaps hiring some starving ex-pat to provide translation services wouldn't be such a bad idea): More »

Zhengtu: Where RMT, Gold Farming and Gambling Reign Supreme

Maggie Greene — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

I was thrilled to come across a most glorious article on Chinese MMORPGs (specifically, the wildly popular Zhengtu Online), translated to English from the original that appeared in the Southern Weekly. As Steve at PlayNoEvil sums it up, "While wimpy Americans can whine about "cheating" in online games, quibble about Real Money Transactions (RMT), complain about gold farming, gripe about power-leveling, and otherwise aspire to a mythical "purity" of game play, the most popular game in China, ZT Online, from Giant Interactive has embraced all of these things.. and online gambling to boot." More »

Shanda Sued, Forced To Pay For 'Stolen' Virtual Items

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

Shanda - one of Mainland China's heaviest hitters in the MMORPG world - was asked by police to remove virtual items from a player's account during an investigation into the sale of stolen virtual items. Shanda did - then forgot to give them back like the police had told them to. When the player discovered his missing virtual items, he flipped his lid and sued them. Shanda lost and has been ordered to apologize and pay a restitution of 5,000 RMB (a little less than $700 USD) - but to add insult to injury, the player has even more lawsuits in mind: More »

Chinese Kid Becomes 'Fire Mage,' Sets Fire to Classmate

Maggie Greene — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST

Ai you - to add to the ever growing collection of bizarre stories from the Chinese gaming world comes news that a 17 year old high school student has been sentenced for setting a classmate on fire. What does this have to do with gaming, you ask? Because the kid 'thought' he was a WoW fire mage. Now, in China, the 'but the video game made me do it!' defense doesn't work so well (the kid was sentenced to 8 years in prison, his accomplice - who lured the victim outside with the old line about wanting to chat for a bit - was sentenced to 7, and both boys and their families were ordered to pay a 760,000 RMB restitution - over $100K USD - to the victim and his family), so there's nothing to gain - nor a lawsuit to pursue - by pointing the finger at Blizzard, The9, or Warcraft. From billsdue: More »

'The Warlords' Hitting Theatres and PCs Next Week

Maggie Greene — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:00:37 EST

On December 13th, China (and the rest of Asia, apparently, excluding Japan) will be treated to the dual release of a big-budget movie (starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro) and an MMO version of the film, both entitled The Warlords [投名狀]. My ears perked up at all of this for two reasons: (1) the setting is the Taiping Rebellion, during the waning years of the Qing dynasty (and one of my favorite subjects) and (2) announcements about impending MMO releases equal one thing in China: fantastically bad press releases. And indeed, NetDragon and the Central Motion Picture Corporation don't disappoint ('night-errant' culture?). The Warlords is apparently only the beginning - the NetDragon CEO makes references to even more games based on movies (and TV shows and books and ...). Full release after the jump, and lots more info at the game's website (in Chinese). More »

MGame to CDC Games: This is All Your Fault!

Maggie Greene — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:30:59 EDT

The MMORPGs may all be clones of each other, but at least pan-Asian game related legal battles are entertaining: MGame, a South Korean company, responded this week to the two lawsuits filed last week by CDC Games (as we mentioned last weekend), which cited breached contracts and lack of technical support (among other things) as a basis for their suits. This legal battle is quickly devolving into a 'they said, they said' battle. MGame alleges that they dropped CDC Games for non-payment of license fees for the wildly popular MMO Yulgang; CDC hasn't responded to these allegations, and it looks like there might be even more heated battles soon: More »

Beijing Perfect World's Video Contest Winners

Maggie Greene — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:00:45 EDT

Beijing Perfect World, one of Mainland China's biggest players in the online games market, ran a contest for gamers to put together movies showcasing their idea of 'a perfect world.' The interesting thing is that the winning video actually got aired on China Central Television (the national TV network, better known for all sorts of fantastically dramatic Chinese soap operas - at least, that's what I fondly remember it for). I took a look at several of the prize-winning videos - some of them are obviously more game-related than others - and it's good for quite a bit of entertainment. True to BPW form, the press release is a gem in its own right. Take a look at the winning videos here and find the full release after the jump. More »

College Freshman In China? No Computer For You!

Maggie Greene — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:30:04 EDT

Via Ars Technica comes a Chinese article on one of the latest (and potentially least offensive) ways officials are trying to combat internet addiction and people dropping dead of gaming binges: freshmen at a number of Chinese universities aren't allowed to bring computers with them to school. Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University recently joined the growing ranks of Chinese universities who have instituted such a ban. On the surface, I guess it makes sense - no computer = no easy access to the magical online = no WoW binges, at least in theory. But the plethora of internet cafes and quick and easy access to those oh-so-seductive games means many are suspicious about the efficacy of such bans: More »

Regulating China: 'Crackdown or Censorship'?

Maggie Greene — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:00:00 EDT

It's been a tough year for China's gaming world: intellectual property disputes, internet addiction boot camps, new government regulations, cafes and companies ignoring those new regulations, all punctuated by the occasional death-by-marathon-gaming. NBC has a roundup of this year's events, and brings up the broader issue of government censorship under the guise of keeping tempting materials out of the hands of minors and/or people who are going to game for 3 days straight, then drop dead of a heart attack: More »

Shanda Says No to Men Role Playing Women Characters

Maggie Greene — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:40:11 EDT

Shanda Entertainment - one of Mainland China's heavy hitters in the gaming industry - announced that their subsidiary, Aurora Technology, has frozen accounts of male players who have elected to play as female characters in the King of the World MMORPG. Apparently there are no bans on women playing male characters, but women (and men-wanting-to-play-as-women) will be required to prove their gender via webcam. How exactly is this all going to work? And is it going to last? Who knows - but it certainly seems very odd and not prone to lasting long: More »

Get Your Ninetudo DS Accessories

Maggie Greene — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:30:18 EDT

Two summers ago, a friend of mine went to mainland China for a vacation - unluckily for her, she forgot her DS charger in Taipei. Fearing she'd have to go a day without checking in on her Animal Crossing village, she didn't realize that the wonderful world of Chinese bootlegs would be coming to her rescue: the Ninetudo DS power adapter! Those jokes about the Sonya PS3 didn't seem so far-fetched. Wonderland posted this photograph of the actual article (from a Flickr photostream by Crys) - so if anyone's stranded in China with no DS charger, fear not: it's Ninetudo to the rescue. More »

Chinese Editorial Calls for RMT Ban

Maggie Greene — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:00:40 EDT

A "rather sensationalized editorial" (as Worlds In Motion describes it) by Ma Jun in the Shanghai Daily suggests that the government should step in an add another level of control to the Chinese MMO industry: banning the sale of virtual goods for real money. While the author takes a dim view of the conditions gold farmers and their ilk work in, they take a really dim view of the people who make their living stealing account passwords and equipment from virtual avatars: More »

China Opens Kinder, Gentler Camp For Online Addiction

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:20:20 EDT

According to Chinese state run media, some 13 percent of Chinese internet users are qualified as addicts—they're simply unable to cut the cord between themselves and internet porn, cybersex and, deadliest of all, online video games. While the American Medical Association appears to still be on the fence about classifying heavy players as addicts, China has no such qualms, initiating a program for those who need their electronic fix and need it bad. More »

China Introduces Anti-Corruption Game

Maggie Greene — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 12:30:48 EDT

The government of China's Zhejiang province decided to go after children and teach them in no uncertain terms that corruption is bad and everyone ought to do their part in ensuring corrupt party members, their families, and mistresses ought to die a painful death - in late July, they introduced 'Incorruptible Fighter' so players can slash their way through corruption and to a wonderful, corruption-free paradise that has no earthly connection to the China of today: More »

Chinese Anti-Addiction Measures Not Going So Smoothly

Maggie Greene — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:30:35 EDT

Despite mandating that all Chinese companies install anti-addiction measures on MMOs and the like by the beginning of July, things aren't going as smoothly as intended: 20 companies have failed to implement the systems and the government isn't too happy about it. Notices have been sent out, and if the companies fail to comply with the requests of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), they will have their internet service suspended (and the games will be shut down until they do comply). More »

Dead Or Alive Online Screens

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:40:36 EDT

Yesterday's announcement of Dead Or Alive Online for the Chinese PC gaming set posed more questions than answers. Is it a fighting game? No, not really. Why isn't Team Ninja working on it? Dunno. Frankly, we're not even sure how the game is going to work when it's released in Asia next year. Today, however, Tecmo released some of the game's artwork, giving us a more straightforward idea about what it will look like and a vague impression of how it might play. Showing some of the game's common areas, cities and superdeformed characters, including Lei Fang, Kasumi and Jann Lee. There's also a very shiny logo. As I wrote yesterday, my interest level in DOA Online is low—well beneath the Earth's crust—but it's like a fatal car accident. I can't look away! More »

Dead Or Alive DDs Coming To PCs

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:40:15 EDT

Team Ninja's 3D fighter series Dead or Alive is making the jiggly jump from consoles to PCs in the form of Dead or Alive Online scheduled to hit sometime between now and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. DOA Online won't simply be a port of an existing console or arcade release, instead it will be a "completely new game featuring the characteristics of a PC online game" which most likely means it's six different flavors of rotten garbage. More »

Kung Fu Hustle Online Coming From SOE

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:20:39 EDT

Sony Online Entertainment and its SOGA Studio are developing a game based on Stephen Chow's 2004 international hit Kung Fu Hustle. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's being developed specifically for the Chinese market, with no indication of a global release. More »

Obsessive Gaming Blinds Player

Brian Crecente — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:00:50 EDT

And you thought checking out porn on the Internet would make you go blind. Chinese gamer Xiao Yu suffered a detached retina and eventual blindness thanks to too many hours playing computer games. More »