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Inauro
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
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| WoW: Launches in Taiwan, Hong Kong, & Macau @ Official S |
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Blizzard have announced the launch of World of Warcraft in the Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau regions.<blockquote><em>IRVINE, Calif. - Nov 8, 2005 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, has officially launched in the region of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Players in these territories can now purchase the game at retail or download it from http://www.wowtaiwan.com.tw/06Download/SupportTools/supporttools.asp, create their accounts, and then log on to experience the epic adventure of the Warcraft® series in an immersive and continually evolving online environment.
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<br>The commercial launch of World of Warcraft in the region of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau follows a highly successful open-beta period. During the open-beta test, World of Warcraft reached a peak concurrency -- the total number of testers playing simultaneously -- of more than 140,000 players, with a total open-beta base of more than 800,000 players. Worldwide, the game has a total of more than 4.5 million customers, which is expected to grow with the rollout in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
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<br>"Gamers in these regions have always shown great support for Blizzard games, so it was important to us to launch World of Warcraft there as quickly as possible," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. "We're now looking forward to seeing all of our newest players online and providing them with an unsurpassed gaming experience."
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<br>Blizzard's partner, Soft-World, and its subsidiary, GFI (Game First International), are leading the operation and management of World of Warcraft in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. GFI's dedicated team in Taiwan will provide synchronization of content updates and deliver player feedback to the developers. The team will also offer 24-hour customer service with direct game master (GM) support and local call-center representatives dedicated to helping players with questions regarding gameplay and technical issues.
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<br>To maintain a safe and secure game environment for players, Blizzard has implemented a CD-key-based authorization system for World of Warcraft. This system will help protect the game from malicious hack programs that could negatively affect players' enjoyment of the game. Only players who have purchased an authorized CD key will be able to activate their accounts and enter the game.
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<br>Each CD-key package costs 168 NTD/42 HKD and includes 99 free World of Warcraft points, which are used for game time. Points expire at a rate of 5 per hour (5 NTD/1.25 HKD per hour). Additional World of Warcraft point cards can be purchased for 150 NTD/37.5 HKD and 300 NTD/75 HKD. There is also a monthly card available at 450 NTD/112.5 HKD, which provides unlimited play time for a period of one month.
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<br>For more information on World of Warcraft, including pricing, promotions, and gameplay features, please visit the official website for the region of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau at <a href="http://www.wowtaiwan.com.tw/" target="_blank">www.wowtaiwan.com.tw</a>. </em></blockquote><a href="http://www.blizzard.com/press/051108.shtml" target="_blank">More...</a> |
Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:00 pm |
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Johannes Kepler
Guest
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Can anyone confirm if this is more ludicrous massively multiplayer online segregation? Are there only localized servers available or can the region actually play a game on the world wide web with people around the world?
Can you tell I am a big fan of greedy localization schemes?
We have a few hundred thousand WoW players here in Japan and a few hundred thousand Everquest players (At EQs peak at least, fewer now I imagine). There are Japanese language servers for EQ but nobody plays on them. There are fantastically successful 6 year old guilds in EQ that include players form Japan to Canada to New Zealand on the original EQ servers.
Back then when they started, nobody thought to to seperate regions in online games because they realized that defeats the purpose of creating a massive worldwide virtual world. Segregation is not conducive to that vision.
As for WoW, about 20 of my Japanese friends "live" at my mothers house in Orlando, Florida so they can play on the US servers with everyone else. According to some of the expatriate forums here in Japan, another 500 or more Australians "live" at some blokes one room flat in Brisbane.
The option should be there to play on a localized server in as many native languages as possible.
Boasting a massive online world to explore with friends around the globe as long as they don't live any farther away then Hoboken, New Jersey is silly. |
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Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:35 pm |
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