Chinese gamers will most probably have to go to Hong Kong or Singapore for a while while their new operator, NetEase, fixes the problem and actually puts World of Warcraft back online. That's right, the country, home to literally millions of WoW enthusiasts - almost half of the world's, in fact - has been hit by a massive roadblock following the turnover of operators. And there doesn't seem to be a clear answer as to when they will go back up.

The MMORPG community has been a buzz about the rumored Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning launch date. Why wouldn't they be considering this is one of the biggest MMORPGs to launch this year? The European publisher of the game, GOA, commented on this upcoming game's launch date. To find out what they said, head on over to the full article.

Rumors have been going around that the launch date of EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has been pegged down to September 23. To find out more about this, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

If playing MapleStory Europe is your thing, then you will be happy to know that Nexon will be updating the game beginning this January 17 and in February by adding a new map and job upgrades respectively.

The said map was based from the real-life city of Singapore while the job upgrades count as the third-tier for the game. Several other skills were added as well. To know the full details, click the "read more" link below.

During the first ever Games Convention Asia Conference (GC Asia Conference) held in Singapore, many countries proved how the industry is also strong in Asia outside Japan. Singapore, known as a big market for MMORPGs, even took a step forward to announce that they're ready to become a games industry center of excellence.

Minister for community development, Vivian Balakrishnan, revealed that around US$ 330 million (SG$ 500 million) of government funds went to research and development in the digital interactive sector.

A student exchange program called "GAMBIT" is also under way for Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to share their expertise.

Other parts of South East Asia expressed interest in the industry. A memorandum that "signifies the recognition of each other as ideal counterparts for future collaboration and co-operation in this region for the benefit of the games industry" was signed by ten Asian game developers associations from various countries like Japan, Korea, Australia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Asia-Pacific is expected to contribute 40% of gaming industry's US$ 39.8 billion annual revenue by the end of 2008, and Singapore wants a piece of the cake. "Singapore intends to be part of the action," said Balakrishnan.

Gaming in Asia is often associated with Japan, South Korea and China, but the region as a whole is catching up to the growing industry as evidenced by more events being organized to forge cooperation and spread new knowledge on the field.

Games Convention Asia Conference (GCAC) is among the first of such large scale events outside the three aforementioned nations. It's the equivalent of Europe's GCDC and this year, Singapore is hosting it.

The event is none-business in nature and more oriented on talks which seek to impart insights on the state of the industry. However, such conferences have been known to be venues where parties interested in starting commercial ties get acquainted and start partnerships in the long run.

Speakers from Europe, North America and Asia are in the roster of those who will be taking the stage as facilitators of discussions. Bob Bates, story writer behind Unreal Tournament II, will be there, as well as Steve Schnur, EA's Worldwide Executive for Music and Audio.

Local stalwart Chris Natsuume will also be among the first to speak in the events. He was largely responsible for the creation of the game Far Cry. Frank Sliwka, GCDC Project Manager, commented on the new event, stating:

We are confident that the GC Asia Conference will establish itself as the leading platform for the game development community in Asia. The program we put forward will provide attendees with the kind of practical knowledge and numerous networking opportunities for which GC development conferences are well known.

The Games Convention Asia Conference will commence September 6 and last for two days, although no particular venue in Singapore has been named as of press time.

 

Another end-game Raid group is calling for new members, because, to put it simply, they want more. Elementium has about four slots max open for skilled Raid Warlocks. You'd better be decked out and spec'ed right, because like the past guilds, Elementium is not entertaining slackers.

Expect the usual requirements: voice communication, good Net connection, and powerful computer, among others, to be part of their application mandate. You'll have to hop over to their main site, however, because they only accept applications in the Applications section of their main site Forums.

This guild also caters mostly to those players located at the other side of the globe, as they do their Raids at approximately 8 p.m., Singapore, Perth timezone (GMT +8). That's around 3 a.m. server time, folks. Pre-requirements include:

• MC Attunement is now a pre-requirement to join.
• Onyxia Key quest is now a pre-requirement to join.
• Blackwing Lair Attunement is now a pre-requirement to join.
• Naxxramas Attunement is now a pre-requirement to join.

But beware, Elementium is situated on the BlackRock realm, a PvP realm. We repeat that: Elementium is on a PvP realm, so if you know you can't jump ship to gank central, you wouldn't have to hop on over to their Forums at all. If you're brave enough, you can click the "Read" link below and check out the requirements. We'll take you straight to the Application Form thread just in case you could get lost.

Blizzard's back in the news front with some more Burning Crusade numbers. The company announced today that World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion has sold through approximately 3.5 million copies within one month following its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

This figure, which enshrines Burning Crusade as the new record-holder for PC-game sales within one month, includes nearly 1.6 million sold in Europe, and more than 1.9 million sold in regions that play on North American realms, including more than 100,000 copies in Australasia.

World of Warcraft's worldwide subscriber base is now more than 8.5 million strong, and it's still continuing to grow as new and returning players join existing players in the game.

"We're thrilled about the overwhelming response that we've received for The Burning Crusade," said Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We have worked hard to build upon nearly every aspect of World of Warcraft with this expansion, and it’s gratifying to see that players and reviewers are enjoying the new content."

Most people don't use the words "education" and "video games" in the same sentence, but an education science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, David Williamson Shaffer, is trying to change that.

Let's face it. Gamers and video games in general are mostly stereotyped negatively. Studies about the negative effects of game addiction, politicians trying to push legislation against violent games, and news about gaming related violence abound.

So, to help ease this image and shed positive light on the matter, Shaffer has written a book entitled "How Computer Games Help Children Learn." On top of this, he has also been actively campaigning to get schools to try and use video games as tools for education, since according to him, video games can help children prepare for future careers.

Further more, he notes that video games can orient children in technology and help them gain the technological experience they need in this fast-paced world. People should also allow their children to play video games, listen to music, surf the internet, as well as use cellphones and computers, as it would result in a tech-savvy workforce in the future.

Now, the UK and Singapore are both pushing to use video games in innovating their teaching methods. The U.S. military, surgeons, and some corporations have also found uses for video games for training purposes.

Meanwhile, Shaffer and his team will be working with a school in Madison, Wisconsin and move on to another one in Chicago by the third quarter of this year, and they will be bringing along their own brand of educational games which can be found at Epistemicgames.com

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce that they have exceeded the 8-million user mark with their hit game World of Warcraft. And who wouldn't be, right? Eight frikkin' million!

And not just that, the game has also achieved regional milestones with more than 3.5 million users in China, more than 1.5 million in Europe, and more than 2 million WoW players in North America.

Just so you can get a gauge of just how BIG the World of Warcraft is, the game is currently available in seven different languages and remains as one of the most-played MMORPGs in North America, Europe, Korea, Australia, China, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Timbucktoo.

Okay I'm kidding about the last one, but we won't be surprised if we someday find out that the Warcraft phenomenon has reached even the farthest corners of the earth. And with the Burning Crusade's upcoming midnight launch (to be kicked off by a fancy global party), Blizzard would only be seeing more $$$ in the weeks and months to come. So what can we say about this? Nothing but a big warm congratulations to Blizzard for keeping WoW's fire burning. Stay tuned for more WoW updates.