Thanks to everyone’s support, Hello Kitty Online got 4th place in the “Most Anticipated Game” category of the 2008 MMOsite’s Reader’s Choice Award.  This is truly an amazing feat considering the competition, and we know we wouldn’t make it there without everyone here who supported us.  Thank you for voting for us!

Hello Kitty Online also won the Best Graphics award in this year’s Hong Kong ICT Awards. The Hong Kong ICT Awards is a yearly collaborative effort among digital entertainment organizations, ICT professional bodies, academia and the government to select and honor Hong Kong’s finest accomplishments in IT and digital entertainment.  The Best Digital Entertainment Award recognizes the best works produced in the Hong Kong digital entertainment industry. The presentation ceremony was held on February 9, 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

We are truly honored to garner such a prestigious awards! We’d like to thank the community not only for their support but for their feedback as well! Your continuous feedback has really helped us improve the game and bring it to where it is now.  We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

As of February 22, 2009 at 23:00 Eastern Standard Time, the doors of Hello Kitty Online are now closed to make way for further improvements. Founders and other Sanriotown members will no longer be able to log-in until our next launch. Thank you for participating and celebrating your Valentine’s with us!

We appreciate your comments and suggestions, and rest assured that we will take them all into consideration as we strive to make Hello Kitty Online even better! Please stay tuned for announcements regarding our events on the official events blog. Once again, thank you and see you next time!

In line with our beta testing, we would like to share with you some new minigames that we are preparing for Hello Kitty Online. Based on comments from previous betas, we’ve come up with new minigames that are more addictive, challenging, and most of all, fun! To start off, here is our very own Tuxedosam, who needs your help catching some fish! Click here or on the image below to play the game.

So how was it? Whether you liked just the way it is or have ideas on how to improve it, we’d like to hear what you think! Please let us know by dropping a comment or emailing us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com. You may also discuss it on the HKO forums, share your comments and high scores with the world!

We look forward to your feedback, and hope you enjoyed the game!

Following the success of the Founders’ Beta event “Food for Friends“, Hello Kitty Online proudly announces “Helping Hearts“, in which players have another chance to turn in-game effort into real assistance for those in need.

Start: 21:00 (9PM) EST on February 19, 2009

End: 22:00 (10PM) EST on Sunday, February 22, 2009

Event Type: Guild contest; charity

Objective: An orphanage needs your help! The objective of your guild is to craft as many special event shirts and bags as possible before the end of the event. Hand them over to a GM. We will then count your submissions and donate that same number of shirts and items to an orphanage.

These are the shirts and bags (limited edition Hello Kitty Football Cup):

For more detailed instructions on how to participate in the event, please visit the HKO Event Blog.

Good news for fans of Hello Kitty Online: the current beta preview of HKO has been extended for 5 days! Hello Kitty Online will be open until 23:00 (EST) on Sunday February 22, 2009. If you haven’t played yet, there’s still time!

That means 5 more days in which to finish quests and explore the cute virtual world of Hello Kitty! What’s more, we have partnered with a charity to launch a special mystery event that will surely make Happy Hearts a memorable experience.

Happy Hearts, Helping Hearts
We’ve put together a special mystery event that will require teamwork, perseverance and, most of all, kind and generous hearts. After all, February is the month of love, and what is love without giving? If you enjoyed our Founders’ Beta charity event “Food for Friends“, then you are sure to like this one! Check our official events blog in the next day or two and all will be revealed!

If you and your friends have not yet tried Hello Kitty Online, then this is your chance! All you need to do is:

1) Download the game and install it
2) Register for an account on SanrioTown — it’s absolutely free!
3) Start HKO and log in using your SanrioTown username and password
4) Have fun!

This extension of Hello Kitty Online is our way of saying thank you for all the enthusiasm expressed by our players. We’re grateful for your feedback and will keep collecting important information that will allow us to keep improving the game. We will close the game at 23:00 (EST) on Sunday February 22, 2009 in order to work on various improvements ahead of Open Beta.

Be sure to check our official news blog and events blog for further announcements, and feel free to contact us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com for any questions. See you all in Sanrio Land!

As of February 14, 2009 at 20:00 (8pm) EST, the doors of Hello Kitty Online have been opened to the public for a 3-day stress test! Non-Founders from SanrioTown can now join in the fun and see just what the excitement is all about, in the new and improved version of HKO!

To start playing, you will need the HKO game client (available at our Download Center) and you will also need an account at SanrioTown. If you don’t already have an account, you may sign up for one now, it’s free! The email address and password you choose will be used to log-in to Hello Kitty Online. What’s more, you will gain access to the various services we have in SanrioTown, many of which are integrated into the game!

Please note that Sanriotown users in Europe will not be eligible to participate in Hello Kitty Online at this time. However, HKO will soon be available to fans in Europe as well, free of charge. We are sorry for this inconvenience and we thank you for your patience. All HKO Founders from all countries are automatically eligible to play HKO and join the Happy Hearts event.

If you should have any problems logging in or running the game, please feel free to email us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, and see you in-game!

A problem with the HKO installer can result in a desktop shortcut for HKO that does not launch the game.  If your game won’t start, please download and run the Client Shortcut Hotfix and follow the instructions. Click on the button below to begin downloading (629 KB).

If you are unable to download the file using the above link, please try the following alternate download location:

Client Shortcut Hotfix (Mirror)

Instructions

1.  Download and run the Client Shortcut Hotfix above or from the Hello Kitty Online Download Center.

2.  When the program runs, you will need to enter your HKO installation directory. The default is:  C:\Program Files\SanrioTown\Hello Kitty Online

Unless you installed your game to a non-default directory, the above will be correct. Click “Next” when done. 3.  Enter the Windows Start Menu folder where you want HKO to appear. The default is:

SanrioTown\Hello Kitty Online

If there is no need to change this entry. Click “Next” when done. 4. Review the settings and click “Install”.  The hotfix program will now update your game.

5. Click on “Finish” and your HKO installation should be updated and in working order.

Thank you for your support in helping us prepare the game for Open Beta and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.  If you encounter problems with the game, please send us an email at onlinegame@hellokitty.com with a description of what happened and we’ll be glad to help you. See you in Hello Kitty Online!

As mentioned before, we’ve made a lot of improvements to the gameplay, and among these changes is the new farming system. Some of you probably remember the old farming system from Founders’ Beta, so if you find yourself a little lost, we’ve made a basic farming guide to help you get started!

For those who will just be starting to play on February 14, we hope you also find this useful. If you should still experience any problems with the farming system after reading the guide, please feel free to contact us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com. Have fun!

The world’s cutest MMORPG is back! As of February 12, 2009 at 22:00 EST, the Hello Kitty Online “Happy Hearts” Valentine’s event is now officially underway! Founders of HKO can now log into the game and embark on a race to save Cupid.

“Happy Hearts” features new content and some really cool gameplay enhancements:

Special Valentine’s Day-themed quests
Valentine’s Day under threat! Cupid is missing and so are the romance and friendship of the season. It is up to players of HKO to save Valentine’s Day and prevent the collapse of the greeting card industry. Exclusive items will be awarded to the first players to complete the quest chain. Click this link to read more.

Improved user interface
User interface enhancements include a higher supported resolution, movable windows, re-sizable chat box, and an improvement to the local area map.

Revamped farming system
The new HKO farming system introduces 8 new and unique farm types while allowing players to participate in cooperative farming. Day cycles and related effects on your plants have been implemented. Plant growth times have been adjusted.

Keyword chat filter
The new chat filter blocks offensive language from private and public chat to ensure a safer and more enjoyable gaming experience for players.

Starting February 14, SanrioTown members from select territories can also log in and participate in the Happy Hearts event.  Happy Hearts will end on February 17, 2009 at exactly 22:00 (10pm) EST.  Hello Kitty Online will then be taken offline for further work.

Enjoy the game everyone!

The official Hello Kitty Online Download Center is now up and running, so Founders and other Sanriotown members can now start downloading! Simply follow the instructions on the page, and you will be one step closer to our Valentine’s event “Happy Hearts“!

Remember, if you are a Founder and have the Christmas Reunion version of HKO (version 0.7.16.0 or higher), then you may simply run your auto-updater and let it do the downloading for you. However, using the auto-updater may take longer, so we recommend that you download the manual patch instead.

If you are a new to Hello Kitty Online or have deleted your Christmas Reunion version, you may download the latest full installer, which will have all the new enhancements for you to enjoy. On the other hand, if you have an older version of HKO (older than version 0.7.16.0) then please uninstall your current version first and download the game again from our Download Center.

HKO will open its doors to Founders on February 12, 2009 at 22:00 EST, and the rest of Sanriotown can join the fun on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2009 at 20:00 EST.

Note:
Sanriotown users in Europe will not be eligible to participate in Hello Kitty Online at this time. However, HKO will soon be available to fans in Europe as well, free of charge. We are sorry for this inconvenience and we thank you for your patience. All HKO Founders from all countries are automatically eligible to play HKO and join the Happy Hearts event.

Happy Hearts is just around the corner, so hurry and don’t miss out! If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to email us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com. See you soon!