looks like China is slated for June 2008

[NightwolfAA2k5]

Hmm, Somehow I can't wait...

I see my Axxx amps will increase in price with the potential flood of new players... I think I'll hold onto them

- Nightwolf

[Kazanori]

I'm a little unsure on one thing, have MA stated that the Chinese will be joining the same servers as our or will they be getting a complete server for themselves, and also i thought Brazil where joining EU too soon if not already?


Thx in advance


Kaza

[Wistrel]

Is it me or does that article say nothing but "I read this on the internet and thought I'd recycle the info here". Bah... if there's one thing worse than a blog its a blog that takes itself seriously.

[AkiranBlade]

Originally Posted by Midori Fairlona

...it is claimed that Entropia was seen in a favourable light because of the lack of pornography. If that really is an issue for the people behind CRD then I can't see Second Life getting much of the action.

They didn't see the wallpapers at Bilton then? lol

[waperboy]

Originally Posted by Kazanori

I'm a little unsure on one thing, have MA stated that the Chinese will be joining the same servers as our or will they be getting a complete server for themselves, and also i thought Brazil where joining EU too soon if not already?


Thx in advance


Kaza

As I recall, there will be one or more new planets, where the chinese will dwell. So most likely new servers.

[Jake Rogue]

Originally Posted by Lexxy

Just finished reading this article... er blog... I ran accross on the BBC.

Looks like we will be enjoying some new participants come June of 2008.

This is the closest to a deadline for China that I have found so far... but I could be wrong.

Also looks like second.... err yeah... will also be participating in the china deal.

enjoy

Chinese Government Gets Into Virtual World Business - GigaOM

Lexxy

Unfortunately, you were about 8 hours too late in posting this article here, and now the third person to do so:

http://www.entropiaforum.com/forums/...trict-crd.html

Although, the "blog" appears to be nothing more than second-hand recycled information rehashed from Chris Sherman's original article on his recent 6-day visit to Beijing, and his first-hand conversations with CRD executives:

Virtual Worlds News: Exclusive: China's Grand Virtual Worlds Plan - A First Hand Look

Originally Posted by Wistrel

Is it me or does that article say nothing but "I read this on the internet and thought I'd recycle the info here". Bah... if there's one thing worse than a blog its a blog that takes itself seriously.

Yup, I agree 100%.

[Jake Rogue]

Originally Posted by Kazanori

I'm a little unsure on one thing, have MA stated that the Chinese will be joining the same servers as our or will they be getting a complete server for themselves, and also i thought Brazil where joining EU too soon if not already?


Thx in advance


Kaza

Check out the following recent interview with David Simmonds, MindArk's Business Development Director:

The MMO Gamer » » Interview: David Simmonds on the Business of Entropia Universe

Originally Posted by David Simmonds

With the expansion going into China we’re incorporating the CryTek 2 engine. You can go on the website, entropiauniverse.com, and see the Flash. It’s amazing. The new graphic engine is so realistic.

When we introduce the Chinese planets, and when we open up space, the CryTek engine will be include in that expansion, as well. This is expected to be middle to late of next year.

Another exciting thing which is happening, we’ve got game developers—which you would think would be competition to us, another game developer—but instead of them making their own platform, and making their own game or virtual world, they’ve chosen to come to our virtual world and use the Entropia Universe platform to build their own planet, which will have their own rich content.

We are a universe, we’re an open universe, so all of our users will be able to go and visit these planets. It’s going to be really exciting. This is just one of the partners we’re talking to, there are a lot of different companies that are interested in opening up their own presence inside Entropia Universe. But, as I said before, we’re very careful with who we take in. We’re not a three-dimensional website, but we want our users to be interested and want to come in.

Originally Posted by David Simmonds

With the Chinese planets, because, maybe you’ve read, they’ve estimated that within two years they’re going to be having 150,000,000 accounts and 7,000,000 concurrent users. That’s very ambitious.

They will be hosting their own servers. But, as I said, Entropia Universe is an open platform, so you will be able to travel to these different planets. The Chinese system is really exciting, it’s not going to be one planet, they’re going to have education, ecommerce, gaming, of course, and there’s going to be a lot of different planets you can go and visit.

Some of them will be harder than others for a normal person to visit. That means it’ll probably cost more money to visit some planets than others. You’ll have to travel in space, exactly the same as you would in the real world—hopefully—in the future, we’ve got a lot of planets to go to, some are harder to get to and some are easier.

As I’ve said before, Entropia Universe is an economic platform. Any partner which comes in and uses our platform will have to be under the umbrella of Entropia Universe.

From what we can see, from some of the press releases coming out of China, they’re going to be using Entropia Universe as their platform to come out into the Western world.

[aridash]

i think a sence of scale is being missed here. the China Recreation District is a 40 square mile business/leisure park. that is massive, the size of a town and it will take until then to be built. where upon people will start using the facilities, ie prgrammers, salespeople etc will move into offices to program the new EU worlds and develop the new online businesses.

[NightwolfAA2k5]

Originally Posted by aridash

the China Recreation District is a 40 square mile business/leisure park. that is massive, the size of a town...

40 square miles... That's... Enormous... That's... Gargantuan... That's... going to be a lot of people crammed into one area...

It would sure as hell would take ages to build

- Nightwolf

[Wistrel]

Originally Posted by aridash

i think a sence of scale is being missed here. the China Recreation District is a 40 square mile business/leisure park. that is massive, the size of a town and it will take until then to be built. where upon people will start using the facilities, ie prgrammers, salespeople etc will move into offices to program the new EU worlds and develop the new online businesses.

yes but I think the physical side of CRD is just one aspect (albeit a big one) The work to create the worlds is ongoing and while I imagine people will relocate there eventually there is no rush. Also its been cited that the CRD stuff will create jobs. Its not even slightly clear what kind of jobs those are at the moment though...

I personally suspect many will be in the packing, shipping and delivering industry from whats been said so far but with this being such a grand effort I can imagine more or less any job can exist from high level games programmer to the guy who keeps the floors clean. By all accounts CRD will be an epic place.