Just found out over here, this must mean that HKO (Hello Kitty Online) is coming to US really soon, who wants to work in Santa Clara?

http://jobs.gamasutra.com/jobseekerx/viewjobrss.asp?cjid=18644&accountno=66529

Hello Kitty Online made the top twisted highlights in inventorspot. The original post can be seen here.

Role-playing games like World of Warcraft worry many with their ability to addict players who need to spend at least some time on things like work, school and a social life. Hello Kitty Online isn’t going to help the situation much. Master marketer Sanrio just keeps finding new ways to promote their signature character, Hello Kitty, as if being the adoration of pre-teens everywhere isn’t enough. Welcome to Kitty’s world… all your babes belong to us!

Some other random 2009 HKO commentary! Happy New Year to you all as well and hopefully the Hello Kitty MMORPG will be out soon!

Reposted from the Hello Kitty Online Game blog of HKO…

The Hello Kitty Online Founders’ Christmas Reunion begins December 17, 2008 at 22:00 EST, and will finish December 22, 2008 at 23:59 EST. Please note that Hello Kitty Online will not be accessible outside of this period.

Only existing Founders will be able to play. No new players will be accepted during the Founders’ Christmas Reunion.

Updates for your game client will be available starting on December 15th 22:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST US Time Zone), 2008. All you need to do is start your game client and wait for the auto-update to complete, it will take a bit of time as it’s a big one. If you already uninstalled the game, the full game client is available for download at the Hello Kitty Online Download Center. Please re-download and install it again, and let the auto-update do its magic! We recommend that you have the HKO game installed and ready prior to the December 15th update.

If you have any questions, please email us at onlinegame@hellokitty.com.

Some more news about what’s in the update below:

For HKO Founders, this holiday season will be extra special! Come celebrate Christmas with all your friends from Hello Kitty Online! From December 17 until December 22, 2008, Hello Kitty Online will once again open its doors to all Founders to celebrate the last party of the year in Sanrio Land: the Founders’ Christmas Reunion!

The Founders’ Christmas Reunion will have new and updated game features and content made exclusively for all our Founders. Of special note:

New Christmas-themed maps!

A brand new winter wonderland complete with snowflakes gently floating down from the sky

The Item Mall is here! You will automatically receive 300 points to spend on exclusive items only available in the Item Mall.

Pets can now speak and will let you know how they feel!

Sanrio Land’s newest city: New York!

Christmas quests! Embark on a fun-filled adventure all over Sanrio Land to put Christmas back on track!

New Sanrio characters! You will meet many new faces in your quest to save Christmas!

Player profile page on SanrioTown that shows your character, farm, pet, buddies and more! Check it out!

In-game new email notification informs you when you have new mail.

I got this funny article over here. It is apparently true.

John Fitch, the first guy in line we interviewed yesterday, seemed a bit weary after waiting some 39 hours for the expansion pack.  However, he willed himself on by giving interviews with the Los Angeles Times and local television stations.  He even led a group of people down to line chanting “Hello Kitty Island Adventure MMO!”

If you’re on XFIRE, join our clan, I just started it, but if you’re already using it, feel free to join our dedicated HKO clan of gamers!

http://www.xfire.com/clans/hellokittyonline/

The Hello Kitty Online game client is now up for download on the official HKO Download Center! Just follow the instructions there, and you will be one step closer to joining the fun in the HKO Founders’ Beta! The doors of Sanrio Land will open on October 8, 2008 at exactly 22:00 US Eastern Standard Time (Oct 9 - 10:00 in Hong Kong Time), so start downloading now!

For those who should have any trouble downloading through torrent, don’t fret. There will be a comprehensive HKO client installer up for direct download on October 8!

As the countdown continues, we are lining up more treats for all of you! First, there will be an exciting interactive tutorial up on that page very soon, so check back so you don’t miss out — you won’t regret it! See you in Founders’ Beta!

Reposted from the original blog post.

After months of going over player comments and suggestions, and working hard to deliver an even better game to all our supporters, it’s time for the big news. The wait has been long, but we’ve toiled to make sure it’s all worth it! So without further ado, we are pleased to announce the next phase — The Hello Kitty Online Founders’ Beta!

October 8, 2008 is the big day, and the this next stage will allow a limited number of users to play Hello Kitty Online MMORPG ahead as Founders ahead of launch, while earning benefits and participating in special in-game events.

And now, here’s how you can be one of the Founders of the official Hello Kitty Online launch!

1. Sign up for an account at SanrioTown.com,
2. Using the SanrioTown account, send a BLANK email tohkofounder@hellokitty.com.

Remember, you need a SanrioTown account in order to qualify to be a Founder, and the email account you use will be the one we grant access to for the Founders’ Beta. Also, questions, comments and suggestions should be sent to onlinegame@hellokitty.com.

What’s to look forward to? The new version of HKO will feature animproved interface, new monsters, new maps, new items, and the opening of London and Paris. The Founders’ Beta will also introduce gameplay changes such as an improved skill system, pet systems and team-play oriented enhancements.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t miss out, because we’ll only be allowing a limited number into this stage! More details to come in the following days, so stay tuned!

I for one will be applying right away!

Apparently this is a recent occurrence.

Anyone who subscribed to the closed beta announcement via GMAIL, better check out their Spam folder so they can get in on time.

The announcement went into some people’s spam folder in GMAIL instead! The announcement on this is below…

Hello Kitty Online (www.hellokittyonline.com) is a free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) based on Sanrio’s famous characters. The game transports players into the cute and cuddly world of Sanrio Land, where players will meet and interact with over a hundred Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, Dear Daniel, My Melody, Pochacco, Cinnamoroll, and many others.
Hello Kitty Online boasts several new additions and improvements since the Closed Beta version, and the Founder’s Beta will feature a new game client with an improved interface, improved graphics and special effects, new monsters, new maps, new items, and the opening of London and Paris. The Founders’ Beta will also introduce gameplay changes such as new skills, new pet systems and team-play oriented enhancements.

So most of us know what HelloKitty is - the backpacks, shoes, funny little kitty images etc. But the makers of Hello Kitty Online, a.k.a. SanrioTown, have taken these things one step further. They have created a virtual world where players, young and old, can interact with their favorite characters from this franchise in a whole new way. And to some, this is a refreshing take on an old genre. A far cry from the standard hack and slash MMOs, with their world of raiding, loot and punishment of the "enemy", HKO focuses more on friendship, doing things for the greater good and simply having non violent fun in a virtual game world.

I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about so I checked out the beta for this. The first thing I noticed was the color scheme. It’s very open and approachable, with lots of bright pink, yellow and white, colors that look like they are designed to appeal to a younger crowd. When I first logged in, the character creation screen was pretty generic as well, no "overly defined" male or female types, so I think they did a great job of keeping the game as non defining in terms of sexuality as possible. The last thing kids or younger people really need exposure to in a game like this, is a predefined self image.

I created a male character and started off exploring this game. The first thing I noticed was the completely different approach to a city and its inhabitants. There were no "guards" checking to make sure I belonged there, no random "wts xxxx" yells, no fighting in the city, no "so and so lfg". In fact, what I DID find was a variety of HelloKitty characters genuinely happy to see me and help me with quests to gain friendship points, a unique approach, to my way of thinking. So the first series of quests I did led me around the starting city to meet the other "vendors" and quest givers. They were all extremely helpful and willing to tell me the exact same thing if I forgot something. After I spent a few minutes acquainting myself with the town and various quest NPCs, I got my first quests outside. "Oooh, now the fun stuff I am used to starts," I think to myself as visions of EQ, DAoC and WoW dance in my head. So I checked my quest and…I had to collect some items from the starfish wandering around just outside the city along a seashore.

Well, to do this, I didn’t have to kill anything, blow anything up or otherwise permanently injure myself or anyone else. I "bonked" them on the head (with a broom, no less!) until they were "stunned" and collected the item, then moved on. They didn’t have an "aggro" radius, they didn’t gang up on you and they didn’t "kill" your character if the attempt at braining them went badly. In fact, I had to really work at getting my "health" low to begin with. And, even after smacking them on the "head", they just wandered off afterwards. No worry about 5 or 6 of them coming after me and chasing me halfway across a zone. This was extremely refreshing, and actually elicited a chuckle or two from me.

There is happy music, bright colors, smiling faces, and a generally upbeat feel to the whole title, and SanrioTown did a wonderful job in keeping with the Hello Kitty story and theme. With a lack of hardcore violence, players will still find ways to challenge themselves to achieve goals that are more fulfilling in the typical child’s eye: from building a house to successfully taming the wild creatures surrounding the villages.

While I didn’t delve too deeply into the title, I will say this based on my initial experience - Parents looking to share their love of MMOs with their children or players simply looking for a change in the standard MMO formula may enjoy this. It’s quirky, fun and non-threatening with a decent learning curve sure to appeal to players young and old alike. It focuses more on building relationships with others and social interaction and less on "phat lewts" and "raiding". It was a sheer pleasure to test this game out and see what all the fuss was about.

Originally reposted from here.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/334/feature/1992

MMORPG.com previewed Hello Kitty Online with a generally good review, check it out some interesting comments:

Hello Kitty Online attempts to “Bring Happiness to the World” in the entire experience. The game arrives in a pretty gift box tied up with a pink ribbon. The manual is in full color and video tutorials with voice-overs accessible on the game site eases the entry into the game.

Do I like it? Well, I had my little pink house, my melon patch, my upgraded farm, my red jacket, my brown loafers, my sheep pet, my scorpion pet, my boar pet… Closed Beta is over when Open Beta rolls around, little Sylvene will be wielding her super microphone-of-doom magic wand again.

See you at the Open Beta too Sylvene!