Chick Geek Games - Online Games in Girl's Eyes

Cinderella VS Zombies: How South Korean Government Fights MMO Addiction

noreply@blogger.com (Chick Geek) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:57:00 PST

While Blizzard fights waves of rage against its BattleTag, people in South Korea are being subjected to much more harsh measures. I’m speaking of so-called “Cinderella Law” – the one that was accepted in last October. If you read this blog for it’s Alicia Online news, then you may have already experienced this law on yourself, for all minors (below 16 years) in South Korea are now banned from all of the country’s MMOs from 0:00 til 6:00AM by force of the law – and that’s why it was called the Cinderella Law. Koreans probably got tired of their kids being sleep-deprived zombies playing online games whole nights long. But how the hell did they managed to implement and uphold such a law?

The answer is easy: all gamers in South Korea are required to attach their Korean Social Security Numbers to their in-game accounts. There’s no way to register and play in ANY online game in South Korea without using a KSSN. So, it’s pretty easy to see which players are falling under the Cinderella Law, and to order all of the gaming companies to bar access to these p layers for particular time is even more easier after the law has been positively voted for.

Though, both teenagers and the gaming companies are not particularly happy with the law, because not only those minors are kicked out from games, they also need their parents to sign a paper allowing them to play at all. So, if you’re a Korean kid who’s not fond of doing homework, your parents can ban you from World of WarCraft by the force of Gray Skull… erm, the Cinderella Law! Children between 16 and 18 years old could play after the world hits midnight, but also only if their parents would sign a paper. A lot of paperwork for everyone.

By the way… Remember when Blizzard wanted its customers to attach real names to their accounts – not Social Security numbers, mind you! - and what a shit storm this intention did started? Well, Koreans are living pretty fine with their KSSNs being attached to game accounts, and they actually see it as a good thing that helps to fight trolls.

SOPA STRIKE – FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE!

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:33:00 PST

ChickGeekGames will be blacked out in observance of the SOPA Strike.

The regular work will resume after 24 hours.

UPDATE: Service resumed as normal.

Alicia Online: Alica Online Wiki Site Going Live!

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:07:00 PST

Guess, what? I’ve decided to create Alicia Online Wiki site for all of us to share information about Alicia. Just finished setting it up yesterday, and it’s pretty much empty right now (except for the guides i have in this blog, they were copied over to Wiki), so I’m asking everyone to please come and join me at Alicia Online Wiki site and help fill it up! If you have anything to share, post it!

If you haven’t worked with any Wikis before, it’s nothing hard to do, really - I learned how to install it in just one evening! If you are non-English speaker (as i am), then you can create pages in your native language for other players like you – the engine I’m using has support for UTF8, meaning you can write in pretty much any language in it.

Please, share the news about Alicia Online Wiki page with all of your friends who are playing Alicia too, and ask them to join – the more people we get, the more info we can have in one place. And if you have friends who speak Korean, please pester them until they help us translate stuff for Alicia ;)

Tips&Tricks: Alicia Online - Quest Walkthrough – Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:55:00 PST

The second post with Alicia Online (a horse racing online game) quest walkthroughs, with more quests covered. I write about Alicia Online quests that aren’t 100% obvious on what you need to do to complete them. Feel free to share your own information regarding quests, if you have any, in the comment section! For the previous post on this theme please head here: Tips&Tricks: Alicia Online - Quest Walkthrough – Part 1, also, don’t forget to visit ChickGeekGames.com YouTube channel for Alicia Online videos!

Be among first 3 players to finish a race, 3 times on a specific track. I think it’s not necessary to exactly win a race, but I’m not 100% sure.

Gather Christmas toys on a snow-covered race track. I am not sure if this quest is permanent or only appears during winter-time celebrations.

Finish 10 races being one of the first 3 players.

Gather 2 purple crystals

Use speed bonus during a race 30 times.

A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here:
Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Tips' & Tricks: How To Run Alicia Online - The Shortest Possible Video Guide =)

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:32:00 PST

How do you run Alicia Online? Very simple:

1) Make sure you have Korean language pack installed.
2) Check if your System Locale is set to Korea
3) Look if all the checkboxes in your Fonts Settings are unchecked
4) Run Alicia Online...
5) ...
6) Profit!
(You can buy it here)

A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here:
Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Awesome Male Cosplay by Ludo Erendrym

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:46:00 PST

For all my female readers ;) I guess, i should have posted some hot topless guys after that sexy Tasha’s Sheryl Nome cosplay – for the sake of being fair to everyone - but my husband is occasionally stalking this blog, sooo…. not just yet, lol :) Okay, this post shows off some cool stuff made by Ludo Erendrym, a French cosplayer who does both anime and game cosplays. I totally dig the guy! Male cosplayers often make much simpler costumes than females and don’t bother with make-up to fit into a chosen character, but Erendrym’s characters look cool even without make-up. And when he’s out making costumes, well… did i said he’s awesome? Well, now i certainly did :)

Happy New 2012 Year from Chick Geek Games!

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:57:00 PST

The coming year will bring new surprises to ChickGeekGames.com readers and subscribers ;)

Aww, so you bothered to click the “read more” link or you’re reading my RSS feed, sweet! :))) Guess what, i will be holding a couple of contests for all regular readers and subscribers – with real prizes and stuff! Oh, what kind of prizes? Games, of course! Stay tuned ;)

Consumers vs. Assholes – Part 1: Penny Arcade, Ocean Marketing and Russian Mafia

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:35:00 PST

Couldn’t keep from throwing my 5 cents in. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Ocean Marketing is a PR “agency” led by Paul Christoforo, the asshole of such an epic proportions that you could fit in Enterprise and Babylon5 both at the same time, and who hanged himself to dry over at Penny Arcade after attacking his own customer AND then Mike Krahulik. The shit storm that rose after is wonderful not only because it’s got a mention at all the main gaming portals, but also because it took the whole business of people in the game industry being assholes towards their customers for many years on a whole new level. Wait, but what the Russian mafia has to do with anything?..

Except from the mails posted at Penny Arcade and everywhere else in the world:

“From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:33 PM

OK Mike whatever you say lol , are you sure hour not in Boston I spoke to the person who ran the show in Boston last year. If you let some little kid influence you over a pre order then we don’t want to be a your show ,Ill be on the floor anyway so come find me , I’m born and raised in Boston I know the people who run the city inside and out watch the way you talk to people you never know who they know it’s a small industry and everyone knows everyone. Your acting like a douchbag not that it matters pax east pax west , e3 , CES , Gamer Con , SSXW ,Comic Con, Germany I’m all over the place. If we want to be there we will be there with industry badges or with a booth you think I can’t team up with turtle beach , Callibur or Koy Christmas , I can’t get Kevin Kelly to pull some strings or G4 , Paul Eibler Ex CEO of take 2 , Rich Larocco Konami , Cliff Blizinski Epic who were working with on a gears version , Activision who were working with on a MW3 and Spider man Bundle , The Convention Center Owners themselves , Mayor of Boston come on Bud you run a show that’s all you do and lease a center in Cities you have no pull in its all about who you know not what you do. I’ll see space where ever I want , with who I want when I want and where I want so many ways around you and so many connections in this industry its silly. Anyway , I have no issue with you Sean Buckley Engadget, Scott Lowe IGN and the list goes on and on. Little kids unhappy with a PRE ORDER starting trouble and you email that to us , he’s a customer unless you’re his boyfriend then you should side with the company not the customer. Be Careful”

This guys is obviously in a Top 10 Douchebags of 2011 list. He’s an absolutely illiterate asshole, with a brain of 6 year old and an attitude of a thug, the same kind that waits with a pocket knife in a dark alley to jump on your wallet. So, the first question is, how the fuck this guy managed to crawl into a gaming business? Actually, how did he managed to crawl into ANY business at all besides selling drugs at a local school, is way beyond me. But he’s all over YouTube, showing that poor avenger controller at Pax 2011 East and other videos:

The second question is, and i specifically paint it with this bright color as a token of its vast importance – do you think he’s the only one of a kind?

Okay, now, you may be wondering what the Russian mafia from this post’s header has to do with anything? I’m now almost getting to the point. You see, when USSR went under in the beginning of 1990’s, Russian society crashed like a plane with no pilot and all kinds of thugs and criminals began to emerge as fast as cockroaches in a dirty kitchen. It was called a “wild market” and people happily sold alcohol with poisonous fractions and sausages with cellulose pulp instead of meat. Many of these sellers/thugs were just like Paul Christoforo of Ocean Marketing – they’d take your money, kick your guts out and call it a day. Law enforcement wasn’t working at all, because the old laws were already not functioning and the new ones were not made yet, and the law structures' employees like police were engaged in the same activity as these thugs.

Gaming industry is just as wild as Russia in 1992. Games and devices were made and sold for decades now, but there are no laws to defend buyers from new-age thugs, and the premises are still reminds of the Wild Wild West. What, no one never EVER saw this Ocean Marketing guy before? With an attitude like that he should have been out of the business long time ago, with the only connection to the gaming industry left is a boot print on his ass. But he is not. Even if you live in a country with an extensive law-enforcement system like USA or EU countries, you probably can sue Paul Christoforo because he deals with real-life, physical goods, but... The outcome of that case would be unknown. He could go out and bribe a judge, for all we know, and even if he didn’t – he’d just get back to business right away.

The worst part is that, let’s face it – he’s not even the only one of a kind out there, and they all can do whatever they want. There are many people acting the same towards their customer base, including not only customer service, but software developers and high-positioned “thugs” in big MMO companies. And these people were treating their buyers with the same amount of “love” and “caring” for years and years. This particular asshole just got exposed in the most loud manner, while others are still lingering in shadows.

There was a scandal on Aeria Games forums several years ago after they kicked out one of the Game Sages and she hanged her former employers to dry, telling of their immense douchebagery in great details. Did anyone lose their jobs? Nope. Did anything changed at Aeria’s customer service? Nope. They continue to offer horrible customer service and even more, Aeria Games bans players because they are successful in their games. Several years ago Eve Online’s employees were exposed in helping certain players to gain wealth and control in-game. Did they got fired? Nope. Did anything changed? CCP are the same old assholes they always were. Usually people just quit playing assholes’ games or stop buying assholes’ goods, but new people – unaware of they’re getting themselves into – are coming in to replace them.

The only positive change I've seen so far is Final Fantasy XIV old development team being kicked in the nuts for delivering utter crap and Square Enix covering under their very own shit storm and trying to salvage the game for over a year now. The moral here? Expose the assholes everywhere you can, call out for “big guys” like Penny Arcade who can expose them better, and let’s hope something changes.

The Gamer Cat - Playing “Call Of Duty: Black Ops”

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:47:00 PST

The Gamer Cat is usually very busy with sleeping, eating and clawing at stuff, but still finds some time for his gamer activities. Some time ago he was into FPS games, this particular picture shows him playing Call of Duty: Black Ops with my husband. The kitty seems to be really engrossed in the game. This picture isn’t very recent, he’s a lot bigger than that now but still likes watching games :)

Actually, he gets very interested each time there is a game running and won’t act the same when I’m watching movies (except for Simon’s Cat, which is our favorite), so he must be seeing some difference between them.

Tips & Tricks: Alicia Online - How to Play With Your Horse (Using Horse Toys - Carrot)

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:44:00 PST

More Alicia Online videos ;) This video shows how to use horse toys in Alicia Online to play with your horse. I'm sure many of you are able to do it better than me, but still ;) I couldn't find a video about this, only a piece of other video where the author showed horse feeding, tending and playing with a bow, but not with a carrot. If you just started playing and the toys are blocked (grayed out) for you, don't worry, they will unlock after some time. I think it happens when your horse is happy enough (the top meter should be of some size and also pink, which means the horse is happy).

Alicia Online is a Korean horse racing MMORPG that currently is released only in Korea and Japan. Liked the video? Subscribe to Chick Geek Games YouTube channel ;)
A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here
Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Tips & Tricks: Alicia Online - Game Controls & Movement Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:25:00 PST

This video shows in-game tutorials for game controls in Alicia Online, the horse racing MMORPG we all love so much ;) They weren’t full-screen so i enlarged that part of the video so the keys pressed during the tutorials would be more clear to see.

Liked the video? Subscribe to Chick Geek Games YouTube channel ;)

A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here

Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Tips & Tricks: ARGO Online – “Shinbad’s Journal” Quest Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:49:00 PST

I’m playing ARGO Online today so i made a couple of videos in the newbie zone. You can find them at freshly-made Chick Geek Games YouTube channel here ;) This one shows a tip on Shinbad’s Journal quest, which almost drove me nuts before i figured that the quest objective was up on that platform:

Older posts about ARGO Online

Cosplay: Tasha’s Sexy Sheryl Nome

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:37:00 PST

For all my male readers ;) Beautiful South Korean cosplayer Tasha and her amazing sexy outfit of Sheryl Nome (a singer from “Macross Frontier” anime and PS3 game) in her scenic image of “Universal Bunny”. You can compare the likeness of characters with an image of Sheryl Nome’s statuette that is sold in Japan, i included it under the cut with other photos. Click to see larger pictures. Tasha is a member of Spiral Cats – a group of Korean cosplayers – and she is really wonderful. Have a Merry Christmas, guys ;)

Tips&Tricks: Alicia Online - Quest Walkthrough – Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:02:00 PST

Hello to all Alicia Online fans! I have started playing a new character and intent to post helpful stuff from now on for those who have just started playing. This post will help you finish Alicia Online quests (those that aren’t 100% obvious on what you need to do to complete them) and will be upgraded with more quests until i make a second post. Feel free to share your own information regarding quests in the comment section, I’m sure everyone will appreciate it!

As i can’t read Korean and can’t just copy-paste text from inside the game, i will post screenshots of the quest objectives, so you can compare them to what you see. The quests are shown as the game progresses from the very beginning.

You need to gather 20 pieces of sheep wool, they can be found during the races. Pick them up as usual items and bonuses used in the races.

Finish 5 races.

Comb and clean your horse:

Clean your horse again, using the soft cloth.

Take part in 3 races.

Take part in 8 races.

Take part in 10 races.

Complete a jump tutorial.

To To do so, open the menu from where you usually start a race and open the 2nd item, where tutorials are, then the second tab. Select and complete the following tutorial:

More training – complete jump and spur tutorials.

Open the same tutorial window, but the first tab and complete tutorials on jumping and spurring (when you gather 3 bonus items and then run really fast).

A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here:
Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Blizzard Feeling Disturbance in the Force?

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:52:00 PST

Yesterday, as you probably know, Star Wars: The Old Republic was finally and officially launched. The early access allowed many players to start as long as a week before the official launch (and many are said to reach the level cap in such a short time), still the swarm of players attacking Bioware servers is almost unprecedented. With as many 200 servers, players are to spend up to 2 hours (!!) waiting in a line to login! Bioware is saying they’re treating the problem very seriously, but can’t guarantee the lack of lines just yet. To try and control the flow of new players the sales of SW:TOR at Origin were ceased for some time. With such an influx of players, would Star Wars: The Old Republic be a real competitor for World of Warcraft?

When the amount of SW:TOR servers were 140, some analyst guy from Cowen & Company assessed the measure of server load and claimed that the number of players is already past one million, and probably is reaching 1,5 million players. He also predicts that in the coming year Star Wars: The Old Republic will reach as many as 2 million subscribers. For a “free to play” game it might be a normal situation when such a big number of players is coming to see what’s up, for a “pay to play” each person means a copy sold. At this point it’s unknown if all these hordes of players will stay and subscribe, or will get disappointed and leave after a couple of months like it happened to RIFT. Whatever happens, Bioware is getting its hands on a lot of income about right now.

Also, is 2 million subscriptions a big number or not? Comparing to 10 million World of Warcraft fans – maybe not, but let’s not forget that SW:TOR is reaching only to Western auditory right now. Most of its servers are based in USA, with the rest being distributed around Europe. If to count only the WoW players from these regions only, the number of subscriptions is around 4-4,5 millions. And now things are looking a lot different, aren’t they? 4 millions of elves and taurens comparing to 2 millions of jedi and sith is a whole new story. I think Blizzard might be feeling disturbance in the Force right now.

Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:28:00 PST

This is a header post – one of those that i use to keep stuff in one place. Since ChickGeekGames.com (yeah, i just like mentioning my new domain ;) is used as a source of info about Alicia Online, and the number of posts on it is only going to grow, i decided to get them all in one place. Oh, and if you stumbled upon this post not knowing what Alicia Online is – it’s a fantasy horse racing MMORPG released in Korea and Japan.

ALICIA ONLINE: ALICA ONLINE WIKI SITE GOING LIVE!

Tips&Tricks: Alicia Online - Quest Walkthrough – Part 1
Tips&Tricks: Alicia Online - Quest Walkthrough – Part 2
Tips & Tricks: Alicia Online - Game Controls & Movement Tutorial
Tips & Tricks: Alicia Online - How to Play With Your Horse (Using Horse Toys - Carrot)

Tips&Tricks: How To Run Alicia Online – Step-By-Step Walkthrough
Tips&Tricks: How To Run Alicia Online - The Shortest Possible Video Guide =)
Tips&Tricks: How To Prepare Your System To Run Alicia Online – Or What To Do If Alicia Won’t Work - Step-By-Step Walkthrough
Tips&Tricks: How To Download Alicia Online – Step-By-Step Walkthrough
Tip’n’tricks: How To Register An Account For Alicia Online – Step-By-Step Walkthrough
Tips & Tricks: How To Register An Account In A Korean Game – Finding Kssn (Korean Social Security Number)

Alicia Online: Presenting Branded Korean Fast Food!
Alicia Online: News About English Release As Of July 2011 – Also, More New Screenshots!
Alicia Online \ Project Alice: Current State Of An English Release (2010)

Alicia Online: New Gameplay Details Translated From A Korean Review (And More New Screenshots!)
Alicia Online: Korean Release, Music Video And Promotional Iu Footage
Alicia Online / Project Alice: New Screensaver Available!
Alicia Online / Project Alice: Latest Screenshots Featuring Both Gameplay And Interface
Alicia Online \ Project Alice: Fantasy Horse Racing

Cosplay: TOP 10 costumes of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:53:00 PST

Chosen by MMOsite – top 10 cosplayers of 2011. Sure as hell they’re cool!
Click for larger images.

ARGO Online – Floresslah and Noblian Intro Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:14:00 PST

ARGO Online is a hybrid MMORPG where steampunk meets fantasy settings. Each account can play either for Noblian faction (the steampunk guys) or for Floresslah (the tree huggers). Since my beta account falls under IP restriction (“let’s ban all Russians, they have their own version!”) i made a new one, and since I’m playing with Bandicam, i made a couple of videos. This is how Floresslah and Noblian are introduced in the game. Feel free to subscribe to the new ChickGeekGames YouTube channel, i will be posting stuff there ;)

Older posts about ARGO Online.

The Gamer Cat: Playing with Perpetuum Online

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:45:00 PST

This post is brought to you by the Gamer Cat (as promised :)!
It’s hard to be playing Perpetuum Online when these dumb humans can’t even supply you with a touch-screen monitor, you know (more Gamer Cat behind the cut!).

You have to do with whatever is at hand…

Sure as hell makes you tired afterwards!

ChickGeekGames.COM – Now With Own Domain!

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:41:00 PST

That’s right – the blog has own domain from now on! You’ve been clicking the ads so the blog can “support itself” to afford a very own domain name – ChickGeekGames.com! I needed a couple of days to set things straight and working, but now everything is fine and here it is ;) Don’t worry, all the content linked to old address will be automatically redirected to the new one, so if you gave someone a link to one of my pages – it will work just fine. On the other news: Google+, Twitter and other stats behind the cut…

First, i am considering posting stuff to Google+, just not fully figured out how to post it to the blog’s page instead of my own. Would appreciate a little help here ;)

Second, ChickGeekGames Twitter account is blooming - Followers 4,759 and counting! Feel free to join ;) Of course, there are a lot of bots and spam accounts following me, but i try to keep them at bay.

And some stats from the Blogger:

Top 10 posts of the last 30 days (Alicia Online still beats everything):

And some audience stats:

Wishing on a Star: ArcheAge – G*Star Demo Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:02:00 PST

I’m sure you know about this game already – it’s making quite a buzz around the Western Internets even without an official Western publisher. But, just in case: ArchAge is an upcoming Korean sandbox fantasy MMORPG by XLGAMES, a studio founded by Jake Song, who left NCsoft in 2003. Here i dug up some video from G*Star 2011 showing a lot about what ArchAge is promising to deliver once it’s released. Currently ArchAge is undergoing its 4th Closed Beta stage. Also, i haven’t been adding posts with “wishing on a star” tag for quite some time now – so, just to remind you, it’s for the games that i wish to be released in English.

More actual gameplay videos are behind the cut!

Lionhead Studios Working on a multi-platform MMO project – Fable Online to be expected?..

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:59:00 PST

A news came through TenTonsHammer that Lionhead Studios has opened a vacancy at Microsoft Careers.com (proof) for a programmer who is supposed to work on an MMO project! Exception from the job description: “Lionhead Studios is seeking a highly skilled Experienced Principal Programmer to be a key contributor on an unannounced title. The ideal candidate is someone who enjoys playing MMO games and has significant experience with the workings of a massive online multiplayer environment”. Well, you can bite my ass if they’re not working on a Fable MMO! And here’s why i think so.

First, let’s see the full job description from MS site. Interesting stuff is in bold.

Date: Dec 2, 2011
Role Purpose
Lionhead Studios is seeking a highly skilled Experienced Principal Programmer to be a key contributor on an unannounced title. The ideal candidate is someone who enjoys playing MMO games and has significant experience with the workings of a massive online multiplayer environment. The role will focus on defining the high level network architecture for the project, security concerns, support for seamless post-launch updates, and implementation of server features.
Team/Department Mission
Are you a highly talented individual who enjoys a challenge and is brimming with drive and enthusiasm? Do you feel your skills and talents are waiting to find the right creative environment in which to thrive?
At Lionhead we strive to create successful, landmark games and to be one of the world’s most respected developers. To that end we are continually looking for bright, talented individuals to join our team. We are well aware that new employees and fresh ideas keep us the dynamic and creative Studio that we are!
Key Accountabilities:
Technical design and implementation for the high level network architecture
Work with the Technical Director to establish the post-launch update technical architecture
Work with the Design and Programming teams to ensure the feasibility of multiplayer features
Identify security concerns and offer solutions
Key Success Criteria:
All high-level server related aspects of the project are understood before entering Production, with at least a technical design produced.
Game design components are well-supported by the server architecture during Production, and implemented without being held up by server architecture shortcomings
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
1) Essential Experience
Passion for playing MMO games
A minimum of 1 shipped MMO title as a Network Programmer
Substantial game programming experience
Architecture experience (client / server, cloud)
Experience dealing with network and server security issues
Experience with lag compensation
Fluent in C++
Leadership potential or previous leadership experience
2) Desirable Experience
Database development experience
Low-level network experience (protocols, packet optimization)
Experience with load balancing
Multi-tier architecture experience
Xbox 360 / Xbox Live experience
Multiplatform development experience
Unreal Engine experience

So, what do we have here?

They’re obviously planning to release the game for both PC AND X-Box, it will be running on the Unreal Engine and possible could employ cloud computing. I don’t know why they’re going for clouds, maybe the game will be shardless, one-server project like Eve and Perpetuum? But an XBox is certainly a ding. Keep in mind that Lionhead holds two major franchises now – Black & White and Fable.

If they didn’t came up with a whole new world -- which one of these has an established fan base on XBox, how do you think? That’s why i think that Lionhead is planning Fable Online. Mind my words, they’re doing it!

Alicia Online: Presenting Branded Korean Fast food!

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:28:00 PST

Not a news about Alicia Online English release date, I'm afraid, but still a very interesting and unusual (to say the least) information i found while digging around Korean blogs. Hold your breath - Alicia Online must be getting quite popular in Korea, because they now got their own branded fast food. I don’t know if this is some kind of Korean McDonalds NTreev made a deal with or it’s a small network or even a single cafe, but i like the idea! And the design is as adorable as all the Alicia stuff usually is.

In this particular package there are some French fries, burger and drink.

A close up of the cup’s design:

The burger looks tasty too!

A list of other posts about Alicia Online can be found here:
Alicia Online: Fresh News, Tips and All You Wanted to Know

Wonderful Cosplay of Cabal Online Character Yuan by Giorgia

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:43:00 PST

This is a wonderfully made cosplay of Yuan, a character from MMORPG Cabal Online by an Italian cosplay girl from GiorgiaCosplay (where you can find more of her pictures). She’s awesome! Plus, people cosplay Lineage 2 and World of Warcraft mostly, good to see other MMOs involved too. The photos below belong to Giorgia, and the photo session itself is by Demis Albertacci and Bruno Sturman. And yeah, i guess, you can expect more cosplay pictures in the nearest feature, because i kind of admire some of the cosplayers for their creativity.

Nexon booth at G*Star 2011 – MMO for iPads and more stuff revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Nezhenets) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:21:00 PST

G*Star is an annual Korean trade show featuring computer and video games, E3 of the Eastern world, so to say. Thanks to a wonderful Korean VadersBlog we can check out what Nexon (the leading Korean online gaming company) had to show at G*Star 2011 - and what, potentially, could reach the Western gaming market sometime later in the coming years. I have missed the moment when G*Star was taking place, but still, being kinda late at that… let’s see if anything interesting turned up.

Nexon is the leading MMO company in Korea thanks to school and college students who are the main audience, and if you look closely at the photos there are people raging in their age from teens to early 20es. They're quite loyal to the company and usually are playing with anything thrown at them (take MapleStory as example), so usually Nexon’s games comparable of the lower quality than those of other companies, though, not always - Vindictus had kinda nice visuals and some of the new games seems to look nice too.

Cyphers (aka 사이퍼즈) developed by 어즈 (Myers?) is a shooter MMO with 5 vs 5 fights (if i understand its Korean description properly) and its section at Nexon’s booth was the most popular. The game is being very anticipated in Korea.

삼국지를 품다 (the Three Kingdoms and something-something) is a tactical half-pseudo-historical half-fantasy MMORPG and is said to be a cross-platform project – meaning, it will run on notebooks, portable devices and tables all together. The game is developed by the same team as Atlantica Online and some other projects. The visuals aren’t as stunning as Infinity Blade, but looks much better than Western iPad MMOs, nonetheless.

There was also 아틀란티카 S (Atlantica S), a social installment of the known MMO universe.

영웅시대 (The Age of Heroes) is another project by the developers of Cyphers, it’s a martial arts MMORPG and if i get it right it’s not purely a domestic project, they also run the game in China.

Project: Reload (프로젝트: 리로드) is a side-scroller shooter MMO and was shown to the audience for the first time. Looks like a Bionic Commando made online, if you pardon me.

And the last but not least, a quite unusual project which release date was somewhere around G*Star – an online cart race game that has a gadget working like an exercise bike and is plugged right into your PC via USB. So you, like, exercise and beat the crap out of some MarioCart-like guys via the Internets.

So, to sum it up, Nexon showed quite a menagerie of MMOs and some of them I’d even like to try if they ever come to the Western market.