wow is back in china

http://www.wow.com/2009/07/22/chinas-ministry-of-culture-approves-wow-content/

 EDIT: fixed link

 EDIT: fixed link ... again

I hate the L2 phrase but you really should L2Read and L2Date

Originally posted by warty

I hate the L2 phrase but you really should L2Read and L2Date

oops sorry posted wrong link. fixed now.

www.wow.com/2009/07/22/chinas-ministry-of-culture-approves-wow-content/

About time they brang down the walls against WoW's content..however I do not approve of the way blizzard just bankrupted a company at thier own whim. I'm no fan of the chinese, but from a business standpoint The9 is finished if this news is true. I believe when 2010 rolls around Blizz will be quite happy to be getting a larger percentage of hourly fees from the chinese community though..seeing as Square Enix has a history of disallowing chinese to play their MMOs. Will be fun to see just how low WoW's non-chinese population drops once all the MMOs next year are released..i'm estimating 4m drop, possibly 5 if they don't do something about dk balance, as they have said they are looking into the class in their Q and As. Not to say I hate the game (i have multiple 80s), but the game has been stale for quite some time.

On a side note I would think this approval is only for current content..it is very likely that future patches and/or expansions will wait another year or more for complete approval.

From those 6 milion I dont see more then 1-2 mil coming back...

Originally posted by daemon

From those 6 milion I dont see more then 1-2 mil coming back...

In fact those you mention are already back in the game through Taiwan servers.

The first guild wordwide that downed the last boss achievement in Ulduar was a Chinese guild on Taiwan servers....

STARS Chinese guild did it on July 7th.

http://www.wow.com/2009/07/07/stars-snag-world-first-legitimate-alone-in-the-darkness/

BTW: The chairman of Activision/Blizzard recently stated in a television interview the "pure" Chinese players were 4.5 million, playing on internet cafés.

They 'll have finally the opportunity to play Wotlk now. But the rest will go on playing on Taiwan servers just to be sure....

So that's 7 million playing on NA/EU/Pacific/Kor/Taiw/Rus etc... servers.

I really had to LOL when I read this > They apparently were concerned about some violent content

But then again it's a pretty hipocriticle country I mean the reasons why the ban games is just to funny.

Command & Conquer Generals Banned for "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army" despite the fact that the game presents China as a quasi-protagonist. Additionally, the Chinese campaign has the player destroy questionable targets such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Football Manager Banned for recognizing Tibet as an independent country.

Hearts of Iron Banned for portraying Tibet, Sinkiang, and Manchuria as independent countries and Taiwan as under Japanese control.

I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike Banned because of "intentionally blackening China and the Chinese army's image."

Just a few.......

Originally posted by Zorndorf 

BTW: The chairman of Activision/Blizzard recently stated in a television interview the "pure" Chinese players were 4.5 million, playing on internet cafés.

Do you have any pointers to that interview? Would be very interesting to check out.

Originally posted by Dreamagram

Originally posted by Zorndorf 

BTW: The chairman of Activision/Blizzard recently stated in a television interview the "pure" Chinese players were 4.5 million, playing on internet cafés.

Do you have any pointers to that interview? Would be very interesting to check out.

Of course.

Here is the TV interview of CNBC with Bobby Kotick CEO of Actvision/Blizzard.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1154304274&__source=aol|headline|other|video|&par=aol

When they talked about different forms of subscriptions he cites clearly they have 4.5 million subscribers in China that actually don't buy the game, but only use subscription based services.

(the passage is around the 40% point of the video).

At around the same time, Blizzard announced 11.6 million Wow subscribers worldwide.

So the pure China subs (internet cafés) were 4.5 million out of the 11.6 million known. Chinese on Taiwan servers are not included with these internet room gamers (according to what the CEO clearly stated).

In fact he mentioned the 4.5 M Chinese players in another interview at E3, but I don't find the second reference anymore.

---> As always Zorndorf never discusses things without FACTS :))))

Edit: the reopening of the "pure" Chinese servers will start on July 31 btw and open to existent accounts first.

As Wotlk content is "approved" for now, it could roll out fairly fast.

Perhaps that's the reason why Activision/Blizzard will publish its financial report on the 5th ? (just kidding of course).

Originally posted by daemon

From those 6 milion I dont see more then 1-2 mil coming back...

And you base that statement on what fact?

I dont believe Zorndorf gets paid, i believe however that he is so attached emocionally to the game that he cannot see it's flaws, and sees every other game as a possible threat to his game, his precious WoW, wich allows him to live delusions of grandeur of being a great warrior or mage =)

But Zorndorf mate, there are other gamesin wich i believe you could also be a great warrior or mage , possibly with even nicer armor and  alot better visual quality =P

Originally posted by tryklon

I dont believe Zorndorf gets paid, i believe however that he is so attached emocionally to the game that he cannot see it's flaws, and sees every other game as a possible threat to his game wich allows him to live delusions of grandeur of being a great warrior or mage. But Zorndorf mate, there are other games and i believe you could also be a great warrior or mage on other games possible with even nice armor with allot more visual quality =P

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by tryklon

I dont believe Zorndorf gets paid, i believe however that he is so attached emocionally to the game that he cannot see it's flaws, and sees every other game as a possible threat to his game wich allows him to live delusions of grandeur of being a great warrior or mage. But Zorndorf mate, there are other games and i believe you could also be a great warrior or mage on other games possible with even nice armor with allot more visual quality =P

 

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

 

Maybe you should try Aion, or does it scare you too much? open world pvp and all no instance stuff, could you handle that?

Originally posted by supbro

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by tryklon

I dont believe Zorndorf gets paid, i believe however that he is so attached emocionally to the game that he cannot see it's flaws, and sees every other game as a possible threat to his game wich allows him to live delusions of grandeur of being a great warrior or mage. But Zorndorf mate, there are other games and i believe you could also be a great warrior or mage on other games possible with even nice armor with allot more visual quality =P

 

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

 

Maybe you should try Aion, or does it scare you too much? open world pvp and all no instance stuff, could you handle that?

I'm waiting to see if Aion pans out.

It is constantly compared to WoW, but I'd need a game *better* than WoW to switch. And I'm not a fan of Asian graphics, so Aion is at a disadvantage for me already.

Originally posted by supbro

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by tryklon

I dont believe Zorndorf gets paid, i believe however that he is so attached emocionally to the game that he cannot see it's flaws, and sees every other game as a possible threat to his game wich allows him to live delusions of grandeur of being a great warrior or mage. But Zorndorf mate, there are other games and i believe you could also be a great warrior or mage on other games possible with even nice armor with allot more visual quality =P

 

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

 

Maybe you should try Aion, or does it scare you too much? open world pvp and all no instance stuff, could you handle that?

This is one of the  reasons I will avoid Aion like the plague. Responses like this where the person thinks they are a better or more powerful, uber gamer because they play a game. They think they are better than someone because of their choice of game. News flash - most people play games to have fun and enjoy themselves...not everyone has carried the playground bully syndrome into MMO's.

Originally posted by supbro

Originally posted by Zorndorf

 

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

 

Maybe you should try Aion, or does it scare you too much? open world pvp and all no instance stuff, could you handle that?

Seriously, Aion is the worst that could happen to WOW haters (as in the hating of a game because it is too dominant in the market position).

The only thing I disliked with Aion was the false and non confirmed subs sumbers that were rolling out of websites 2 months ago.

The only official reports of NCSoft were 1.5 million subs with 41 Korean servers and 113 Chinese servers in May 2009.

All the rest (3.5 M to even 7 M) were non confirmed rumours coming out of the same suspect AU source that never were confirmed.

It is perhaps a tric to launch Korean games by NC Soft (having rumours of millions of players), I don't know,. But the same "tric" was used on GW and L2.

L2 has around 60K western subs at the moment (so far away from those 4 M announced 2 years ago) and for GW .... sold copies of discs simply don't mean ... players (even for a free to play game).

So Aion is pushed already in the same wrong way.

You are not playing that Korean game for its merits, you are playing it to get away from WOW dominance of the market

A perfect illustraton of why all those other dozen MMO's flopped these last 4 years.

What I read about Kotor and to a lesser extent about Star Trek, I think there could be a possibility they don't fall into the WOW copy trap.

We'll see, but there is NO better publicity for WOW than Aion.

You'll see that in 6 months time.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by supbro

Originally posted by Zorndorf

 

TY but Ive tried them all and stopped the ridiculous tries after WAR, as a WH miniatures player I simply knew it HAD to stop.

It costed me handful of money to try to play the bad copies. While I have much much more fun playing Wow.

And of all my wargame friends ... I am the one with the 500+ games in my attic. :))))

So no thank you, I understood it quite well these last 4 years.

There is no one even in the neighbourhood of Blizzard at the moment.

Next game I'll try is KOTOR, but the rest of the copies I skip ty.

 

Maybe you should try Aion, or does it scare you too much? open world pvp and all no instance stuff, could you handle that?

 

Seriously, Aion is the worst that could happen to WOW haters (as in the hating of a game because it is too dominant in the market position).

The only thing I disliked with Aion was the false and non confirmed subs sumbers that were rolling out of websites 2 months ago.

The only official reports of NCSoft were 1.5 million subs with 41 Korean servers and 113 Chinese servers in May 2009.

All the rest (3.5 M to even 7 M) were non confirmed rumours coming out of the same suspect AU source that never were confirmed.

It is perhaps a tric to launch Korean games by NC Soft (having rumours of millions of players), I don't know,. But the same "tric" was used on GW and L2.

L2 has around 60K western subs at the moment (so far away from those 4 M announced 2 years ago) and for GW .... sold copies of discs simply don't mean ... players (even for a free to play game).

So Aion is pushed already in the same wrong way.

You are not playing that Korean game for its merits, you are playing it to get away from WOW dominance of the market

A perfect illustraton of why all those other dozen MMO's flopped these last 4 years.

What I read about Kotor and to a lesser extent about Star Trek, I think there could be a possibility they don't fall into the WOW copy trap.

We'll see, but there is NO better publicity for WOW than Aion.

You'll see that in 6 months time.

 

You just went on a pointless ramble about imaginary sub numbers that didn't even make sense. You didn't even answer my question, will you play Aion? and if not, why?

Originally posted by warty

Good news tho, I bet that is a LOT of happy chinks right there

I LOLed at this...

I'm an American that doesn't really care about universal subscriber numbers to World of Warcraft or any game for that matter.. Of those touted huge numbers the majority are players outside of the United States. 50 million world subscribers doesn't make it a popular game here in America anymore.  Granted there are a couple million U.S. players of the game. WoW is an OLD/DATED very successful game that in a sense ruined MMORPG game evolution for the majority. It's like the Sesame Street of MMO's. It's popular, everybody  has seen it and most everybody has played it or tried it. Give us veterans a new refreshing innovative gaming addiction please.!

Originally posted by supbro

 

You just went on a pointless ramble about imaginary sub numbers that didn't even make sense. You didn't even answer my question, will you play Aion? and if not, why?

I already answered it: it is a pure WOW copy.

You can't copy the King in a genre without being considered a copy.

And yes there were dozens of others who played rock and roll before Elvis.
But Elvis took the genre to its billion of dollars and so everyone imitating Elvis was a copy.

I don't play a copy when I already have the (western) original made with MORE means, MORE polish, MORE options (Arena, 6 BG's, LW, level through PvP, mounted tank combat, phasing etc) and of course an excellent gradual Raid difficulty up to Blizzard standards.

Why play a Korean copy with zoned gameplay and limited flying, when I already have 50+ personal flying mounts in the original with at least some Lore we do know (without resorting to translated text boxes).

The next time I want to play a game besides WOW or after WOW is NOT a copy of it. Let alone a Korean copy.

Waste of time.

Originally posted by vistakah

I'm an American that doesn't really care about universal subscriber numbers to World of Warcraft or any game for that matter.. Of those touted huge numbers the majority are players outside of the United States. 50 million world subscribers doesn't make it a popular game here in America anymore.  Granted there are a couple million U.S. players of the game. WoW is an OLD/DATED very successful game that in a sense ruined MMORPG game evolution for the majority. It's like the Sesame Street of MMO's. It's popular, everybody  has seen it and most everybody has played it or tried it. Give us veterans a new refreshing innovative gaming addiction please.!

The MMO industry doesn't seem to think that new and refreshing fits the bill for innovation. They'd rather just use old methods and try to "improve" on them. Some improvement...

WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE WOW?

I've played it, stopped, and now I'm reconsidering it again after trying WAR and losing interest in it even quicker. I've come to realize WoW is an awesome game, the only reason I didn't like it is my ADD... I spent my time advancing multiple characters rather than playing one out to the fullest. Is it perfect? No. No game will ever be perfect. However WoW is well rounded, has plenty of players (so I don't have to worry about it drying up or having trouble with things), and holds my attention better than most other games I've played. I'd rather waste a few hours a day grinding listening to music and desktopping to check my face book each night then play a non online game. That's another thing. I only play at night. Why? Because I have a real life to attend to. You can't get drunk and sexed if you're playing games (that don't involve beer.) Remember, its just a game. Talk about how good something is, not how much it sucks. I mean I realize people are generally negative online but stop.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by supbro

 

You just went on a pointless ramble about imaginary sub numbers that didn't even make sense. You didn't even answer my question, will you play Aion? and if not, why?

And yes there were dozens of others who played rock and roll before Elvis.
But Elvis took the genre to its billion of dollars and so everyone imitating Elvis was a copy.

Elvis is dead, the King is dead. FACT

Originally posted by supbro

Elvis is dead, the King is dead. FACT

 

 

His music is the best sold in the world - even today. Fact.

Think Michael Jackson is only on 5th place (and he's very much alive as well in the music industry).

So WOW is and always will be the King of the "first" generation of MMORPG'S. Like it or not.

And Aion is by far not "second" generation. It's the copy of the presumed King who sold the billions of dollars.

I await the next generation ty and in the meantime I have fun in the original rock and roll (as known by the masses).

I don't like the Korean copycat. Like I said: waste of time.