from http://sg2.the9.com/news/main/147432.shtml
Quick comment: ‘Kingdom heroes 2 OL’ goes into OB from May 10
十二年经典传承，新3D巅峰巨作，中国首款开放式战争网游《三国群英传2 Online》于2010年4月25日24：00圆满完成中国大陆地区盛世内测。4月26日《三国群英传2 Online》将开启全新旅程开放不删档测试游戏大区激活和客户端下载，迎接从5月10日开始的中国大陆地区大规模不删档测试。
from the All roads lead to Beijing dept.
Demonstrating depth of field, advanced lighting and rich textures
NASDAQ listed Sohu company, Changyou, today announced their multi-license technology deal with BigWorld for the development of multiple online game titles :
Xiaojian Hong, CTO of Changyou asserted that Changyou has the best game development team in China and always strives to make the best online games. He said that “The BigWorld engine is the best MMOG solution worldwide and has success stories in China. Changyou has licensed BigWorld without hesitation. I believe that we will leverage the BigWorld engine in our upcoming 3D products to make them mature and perfect. Changyou will continue to strive to produce many higher quality MMOG titles for end-users.”
Full release over the wire and now also here.
Quick Comment: BigWorld engine powered 3D MMORPG Guichuideng goes into closed beta this month after 2 years long development by Shanghai Youqu.
由上海游趣网络首款完全自主研发的大型全3D纯中国探险网游《鬼吹灯》Online即将与10月19日正式开启封测之门。
全3D画面 顶尖引擎制作
《鬼吹灯》Online，采用国际顶尖的“Big World”引擎，历时2年，倾力打造，全3D画面精美流畅。作为中国境内授权数量最多、应用上最为成功的网络游戏引擎，BigWorld引擎在本届ChinaJoy上展现了其强大的应用能力。而游戏中精心录制了数十首背景音乐，风格迥异，委婉动听，有的雄浑深厚，有的悠扬婉转，根据所处场景的切换贴合画面氛围播放，令探险过程中始终体验到余音绕梁的境界。
纯中国风 古代现代完美结合
游戏剧情在中国大陆上展开，内蒙古-查干哈南北岸、旧时的北京火车站、古色古香的潘家园。随着游戏的进行，玩家游历中国大陆的同时，会渐渐接触到已鲜有流传的十六字阴阳风水秘术、世代相传的明器、还有掩埋在山林和地下的古城墓穴。当你带着驾驶着现代的坐骑，背着新型的防身武器，踏上这片土地，古代和现代这一刻在你眼前同时出现了。
机关解谜 探险之路惊险刺激
游戏初期，你将会先接受各种考验你胆量和机智的训练。在全息影像中预见未来将面对的怪物；在训练室帮助鼠灵和他的主人解开几世的束缚；普度被纸娘附身的少女的灵魂；在黑暗中点灯照明；越过机关陷阱在无名将军手上夺取明器。
当你踏上中国探险之途的时候，你也许又会遇到白昼和谐安宁，而一到黑夜就出现邪恶事物的村庄；会进入前辈们曾经在生死边缘挣扎过的古墓副本；你还会在途中遇到到遇上共同战斗的生死挚友。
更险恶的路程等待着你，敌对势力-“龙盟”的加入让你和你朋友的探险之旅更为艰难。你真正的探险才刚刚开始……
一段扣人心弦的探险之旅，即将在这个秋天展开！10月19日，锁定《鬼吹灯》Online封闭测试，与你一同揭开这款纯中国全3D探险网游的序幕！
《鬼吹灯》，真的来了！
from the We’ve only just begun dept.
Seeking Alpha offers up some initial observations surrounding the strong debut of Netease’s BigWorld powered title, Tian Xia 2:
TX2 reached 245K PCU during first week of open beta. NetEase’s 3D game Tian Xia II (TX2) reached 245000 Peak Concurrent Users (PCU) on September 26, according to my tracking in the chart below. This represents a 32% increase from 185000 on September 19, the day before TX2’s open beta. During this 7-day period, TX2’s server capacity expanded 36% to 53 server groups. These two data points (32% and 36%) show that TX2’s usage level has increased at a similar pace to server additions, and indicate the game’s strong ability to attract new users.
from the Better reviewed than Dead dept.
After posting some very solid numbers for Tianxia 2 over the weekend, let’s head over to MMO Culture to check out Cinderboy’s review of this Netease’s title :
TianXia 2 is one of the typical oriental fantasy MMORPG churned out from China, but its the really refined graphics, questing and simplicity which really captivated me. The game was actually in Beta a few years back, but I suppose the company, Netease, had to do some financial shifting to acquire the rights for WoW China, hence the long delay for this game. In case you are wondering, WoW China’s chaos is soon to end in the coming weeks. Here’s my short journey so far as one of the 8 clans available, the pure magic damage clan.
For more on the game, fantastic screenshots and detailed opinion, head over to MMO Culture.
from the Gather Stats dept
Tian Xia II (TX2) had a strong open beta debut. NetEase (NTES) launched the open beta testing of its 3D game TX2 on Sunday, September 20. According to my tracking in the chart below, TX2 reached 227500 Peak Concurrent Users (PCU) on Sunday, surging 24% from 185000 in Saturday. During the peak time of Sunday, TX2’s overall server utilization rate was about 90%, indicating that average popularity per server remained high despite the aggressive expansion of total capacity from 35 to 51 servers (up 46%) since last Friday.
With thanks to Seeking Alpha.
from the Over in the East dept
On August 26, NetEase (NTES) will release the open beta version of Tian Xia II (TX2), one of its in-house developed 3D games. The open beta will be officially launched on September 20, accompanied by a large-scale advertising campaign. This article discusses TX2’s 4Q09 outlook and potential risks, and shows the game’s recent trends of Peak and Average Concurrent Users (PCU and ACU).
TX2’s PCU will be substantially boosted by aggressive advertising. TX2 is the focus of NetEase’s advertising campaign in the second half of 2009, and more than RMB 100 million ($14.6 million) will be allocated to TX2’s promotion, according to reports by Sina and Nanfang Daily. My tracking shows TX2 has already reached 160K PCU without much advertising (see chart below). I estimate the heavy advertising surrounding the open beta will propel TX2’s PCU to at least 250K in 4Q09.
TX2 players’ spending and stickiness will increase significantly. The huge size of TX2’s open beta patch (1G – larger than many single games) indicates rich new contents will be added. Currently, TX2’s revenues rely heavily on four systems/features: Treasure Box, Soul Pearl (Yuan Hun Zhu), Dresses, and Riding Animals. I believe the open beta version’s abundant new contents will diversify TX2’s revenue sources, and boost players’ spending to a higher level in 4Q09. In addition, the large amount of new contents will increase players’ stickiness in 4Q09 because they are likely to spend much time on exploring new maps, tasks, instances (Fu Ben), etc.
TX2 still faces potential risks. Although TX2’s game design significantly imitates World of Warcraft (WoW), its skill system, task system, and profession balance still have a long way to go compared with WoW. I believe the open beta version will only partially solve this problem, and a lot of additional R&D efforts are required to improve TX2 after it enters open beta. Although aggressive advertising will boost TX2’s PCU in the near term, such PCU levels will not be sustainable if NetEase’s R&D efforts on TX2 fail to keep up with the growth in concurrent users.
Thanks to Seeking Alpha.
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