The guys over at Mgame International contacted us with a new event they were running for their free-to-play MMORPG: Hero Online. They also provided us with a number of keys, which give free items to those participating in the event itself, to give out to our readers. To find out more about this promo and the game head on over to the full article.

Download: Hero Online Client

If you played any of the Dynasty Warriors or Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, you'd know how rich in both story and culture that period in China was. Sega took that idea to the next level and made an MMORPG set in that period. More in the full article.

Take-Two Interactive Software, the distributor of Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) and other games, has given word that it is planning to expand into Asia Pacific markets. The company has tapped an experienced senior executive to help them establish a foothold in Asia. For more information, don't hesitate to click on the "read more" link below.

A powerful new Trojan virus has been discovered. While it's been reported that it can steal almost any kind of information from PCs, it seems to be limiting itself to stealing MMO user account passwords for now. The virus was hidden in digital photo frames that were being sold in Best Buy, Target, Sam's Club, and other retailers. Check out the full article for details.

There's information circulating that China">NetEase, an online game operator in China, will be making its first step on being the first company to operate foreign online games. In fact, the game being talked about is Blizzard's StarCraft Online.

Although there hasn't been any official information on this issue, the company's CEO has disclosed that they plan to provide foreign online games to their customers. More info on this rumor in the full article.

With more and more online games creeping into China, it seems that the country is welcoming it with the way the number of online game players are increasing.

In a "Netguide 2008" survey, results showed that China will have more than 59 million online gamers in 2008. The survey was conducted with websites, enterprises and personal interviews. More information on the survey in the full article.

Not long after Brazil waged war against Counter-Strike and EverQuest with a massive banhammer, China has announced that they are now starting to step up their war against the "spiritual opium," which is online gaming.

While the leading companies in China's online game industry remain strong, analysts believe the market's concentration rate will drop as new developers push for their own products. For more details, check out the full article.

 

From the looks of it, there's a whole new burning legion forming up over in China's World of Warcraft scene, though it's not of the malevolent demonic sort. We've just picked up word that a week after WoW's The Burning Crusade expansion was released into circulation, Chinese distributor The9 is already recording peak concurrent users (players online) of up to more than a staggering 800,000.

Given that WoW's current world population recently exceeded nine million, we're looking at a little less than a tenth of the game's population in one country alone. The massive influx doesn't appear to be all newcomers to the game, however. WoW gamer Zou Jun from China's Nanjing province states that inactive guild members were coming back come the new expansion.

In relation to this news, The9's buffering its local network with nine server groups. WoW's player population in China is expected to reflect in The9’s Q4 financial results.

We've all heard that news about the South Korean dude dying in his seat after playing StarCraft for 50 hours straight. While it's a tragedy that he died doing something he obviously liked, it's an all-too-real fact that anything, if consumed in excess, can and will kill you.

Now it seems that the Internet has made it into that list of things you should probably avoid in taking in too much, as a 30-year-old man in China recently died after being on the interwebs for three days straight.

This little bit of news comes from a local broadsheet, the Beijing News. Apparently, the web-user, having already clocked a staggering 72 hours on the internet straight in a cybercafe, suddenly collapsed in front of his computer terminal. Emergency personnel were quickly summoned but were unable to revive the user.

One of the medics that reported to the scene was quoted in saying that the amount of time the user had spent online might have triggered heart problems. Unfortunately, the broadsheet did not specify just what kind of online activity the user was engaged in before his death.

Of course, one doesn't really need to pin down just what activity it is, if you consider the absurd amount of time spent online. 72 straight of any activity, be it something as sedentary as videogaming or online surfing can and will take a toll on your body. Your body needs sleep, and any considerable deprivation of it can be quite devastating, if not downright fatal.

So remember, while being focused on a certain hobby or pastime is nice, it's always important to take a break.