As a special treat for all our readers, we bring you this brand new 3D trailer for Hello Kitty Online! Whether you’re a beta tester or new to the game, we’re sure you’ll enjoy watching this exciting video showcasing the magic of Sanrio Land. Click here to see the trailer, and don’t forget to rate it and leave a comment!

Feel free to share this video to your friends and spread the love for the game, and stay tuned for the latest news about Hello Kitty Online!

Some more great news, this time it’s for Hello Kitty fans in Indonesia! Sanrio Digital and GOGAME are performing a soft launch of SanrioTown Indonesia, opening its servers to the public starting today, April 2, 2009. This “soft-launch” will be used to test the site’s features and systems to iron out any problems before the official launch of the site.

SanrioTown Indonesia will boast the same award winning technologies found in its international counterpart. Members will enjoy their very own Sanrio-themed email, blogs, video sharing services, flash games as well as exclusive content specifically made for Indonesian Sanrio fans!

SanrioTown Indonesia will be the launchpad for Hello Kitty Online Indonesia. GOGAME will be holding its own closed beta tests for HKO Indonesia soon so please stay tuned for more details..

Great news for all the fans of Hello Kitty Online from North America! Sanrio Digital and Aeria Games & Entertainment Inc., a US based online games publisher, announced the launch of HKO in North America. The announcement was made at the 2009 Game Developer Conference®, held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from March 23-27. If you want to learn more about this great news, you may click here to see the full details on the Sanrio Digital blog.

We will keep you posted for more developments in th future, and we look forward to your continued support for Hello Kitty Online!

The children at the Po Leung Kuk residential child care unit would like to express their gratitude for the gifts you’ve worked hard for during our Helping Hearts charity event, and they’ve done it in a truly creative way! We’ve posted just a few of their thank you cards on the official HKO Event blog, so hop on over there to see them!

You may click on the image above to see the rest. There are a lot more that we have yet to show, so stay tuned for the special Helping Hearts event page on the official game site. See you in our next event, and thank you again for making Helping Hearts a success!

As a direct result of your efforts in the Helping Hearts charity event, Sanrio Digital donated 183 shirts, 84 bags to the Po Leung Kuk residential child care unit.

The Po Leung Kuk institution was established in Hong Kong on November 8, 1878 to rescue women and children who were victims of human trafficking and abduction. The organization provided shelter and education for these victims. Since then, the Kuk gradually evolved into a diversified organization in line with the ever-changing social and economic needs of the present.

We are honored to have contributed to such a noble cause and we are especially grateful for the efforts of all Hello Kitty Online members in this endeavor! Check back on the HKO Event Blog in the next week and we will post a little something from the children to you!

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!