In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned that Rockstar Toronto would most likely be the team doing the Red Dead Redemption PC Port.

Well, there's been some minor activity there.. finally. They've closed off their IT Manager position offer, and have opened up a new position: User Interface Designer.

Here are the current positions that they're hiring for:

1. Character Artist
2. Game Programmer
3. Gameplay Scripter
4. Graphics Programmer
5. User Interface Designer

The artist/game designer positions haven't changed in years mind you.

On the Rockstar Toronto homepage, the IT Manager text was quietly swapped out with UI Designer. And the new position was posted on Monster a couple days ago, and on Craigslist just yesterday.

There has been some concern from the employees at Rockstar Toronto because of Take-Two/Rockstar's many lay-offs and uncertain future. Whether the UI Designer position is because of attrition or because of a new project - it's still a good sign.

The reason that this is a good sign is because RDR requires a new user interface for Windows (the current UI isn't designed for keyboard/mouse interaction). All of the voice, music, and graphics content and assets have been created already. In order for a PC Port to be created, the development team will need a couple designers, a few scripters, a project lead, and a lot of programmers. Maybe a level designer and a few artists too if they intend to add extra content to the RDR PC version. Rockstar Toronto already has the required team members, except that they were missing a UI Developer. =]

Also, Jerome Lacote was the User Interface Artist at Rockstar Games (San Diego) who did all of the UI design and artwork for Red Dead Redemption. He left the company just last month (July 2010), and they're looking to hire someone with the same qualifications in Toronto. Here's a link to his resume if you're interested.

We should know more by the first week of December 2010 (when Take-Two makes their official announcements), unless there's an early leak from the next Quarterly shareholders meeting.

* UPDATE (08/27/2010)

They've just updated their website again (www.rockstartoronto.com), and have removed the "Gameplay Scripter" position. This is probably the most activity the webpage has seen in several years.. =]

So, apparently the PS3 has finally been hacked.

The manufacturer's webpage (http://psjailbreak.com) is currently down, but the USB Dongle is available from OZModchips (Link) at a debut price of $170.

Prices will eventually drop (you know, that whole supply and demand thing) if that's a little out of your price range. =]

The dongle, called "PS Jailbreak" allows you to copy your original PS3 games onto a FAT32 hard drive, and play from there. It was designed for the latest 3.41 firmware, however it works on some of the older versions as well.

Other than that, it's for PS3 games specifically, so you cannot dump PS1/PS2 or Bluray movies. It's very user friendly, does not void your warranty (you do not need to open up the case), and online play currently works with it.

I'll be following PS3 hardware and software sales numbers to see if this will actually have any impact on piracy rates.


* Update (08/20/10):

Apparently the dongle might not be anything special and can be cloned onto most USB devices. There's one version floating around right now that only functions on dev kit PS3's. It might not be too long before we see a USB image for retail PS3's on torrent websites. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough once people's orders start arriving (could be a JIG dongle with some minor protection to protect sales.)

Don't get impatient with this one, there will be plenty of people releasing trojan horses that will either infect your PC or brick your PS3. Wait until it's fully tested by other foolish users. =]

$170 is a little pricey, but it will probably drop when you start seeing the image available. And of course, the vendors will issue many warnings about where to obtain the USB device from. You'll see some standard scare tactics like: "Torrent sites can't be trusted", "Risk of trojan", "Risk of ruining for PS3", "Buy from us, you can trust us." etc. etc.

Here are some other interesting tid-bits of information about WoW China thanks to the guys from wow-in-chinese.forum2jeux.com and other sources.

Gameplay, Culturally, and Socially

• The first thing you'll notice is that CWOW players are much more closed towards foreigners, or perhaps shy.
• There are no Chuck Norris, Murloc, or Justin Bieber jokes. Most of general chat is full of gold sellers (raids, power leveling, trades, etc.) or gold buyers.
• Trolling and name calling is minimal compared to most US realms.
• Raid leaders have a tendency to bring in too many healers.
• Most players use cookie cutter builds and are not open to alternate builds.
• Raid mates will sing karoke on raid voice chat.
• Many people in game area available for hire for in-game gold to do practically anything you want (raids, power leveling, protection, scouting, delivery). It's possible to go from level 10-70 without ever spilling any blood and level very quickly.
• You can purchase raid gear for gold or gamecards.
• CWOW users are currently limited to Burning Crusade content, but playing with latest patches - including WOTLK talents, character balancing, level 70 glyphs, achievements, etc. There's a misconception that BC is new in China, however it's been out since 2007 (released 8 months after NA/EU). WOTLK was "expected" to be released this month (middle of Aug 2010), but it's still in limbo.
• CWOW has a huge gold market. "It seems like nearly everyone is either a buyer or a seller." Because of the unique economy, many of the realms have Auction Houses that only have "enchanting materials, glyphs, and games. That's it. Click "Sword" and it's empty." Also, "I would say the Chinese are slightly more motivated (gold has real world value) and slightly more organized by working in teams to make gold). I never saw this on US realms."
• Guilds are massive 300+ players than run 2-3 daily raids.
• Due to many bugs in Vanilla and TBC bosses, most raids use these bugs for fast progress (~50% of bosses are bugged.)
• Gold raids are the most common form of pugging, in some cases it's the ONLY form of pugging.
• Player reputation is very important and well-known players will get favored spots in high level raids even on under-geared alts. However, most players will lend their characters to their friends so it's hard to know who you're really playing with.
• Many of the Chinese players can speak english, and will often answer you with a "?" first to see if you type English.
• Most Chinese type in English or Pinyin, or use a Chinese-to-English translation mod.
• Fake Chinese ID cards are sometimes used to create accounts (can't use your own, too young, etc), so if you lose theaccount you're pretty much screwed and will not be able to recover it.

For more information, there's an English-speaking WoW Chinese community here. They can also get you started on CWOW or TWOW if you're interested. =]

Game Time Regulations

• Players are required to associate their Chinese ID card to their account to prove that they are 18 years of age or older.
• If you are younger than 18 years old (reflected on ID Card), you are limited to 3 hours of playing on the account. After 3 hours of playing on the account, all XP gains and loot would stop (called "Health Lock") to prevent "children" from over-playing.
• If you are an adult, you can play for 18 hours per day. It's 3 six-hour sessions with a 2 hour session in between called "tired time". Children can play a total of 6 hours per day over a total of 2 sessions, with 1 session of 2 hours of "tired time" as well.

Censorship

Pretty much anything with bones or a skeletal body has been modified. The skeleton of your corpse is replaced by a little mound of dirt with a gravestone, certain icons with skulls have been replaced by box icons, skeleton NPCs have been fleshed out so they look more like zombies, decapitated head icons have been changed, blood has either been removed or recolored, and piles of bones have been replaced with sandbags.

However, all of the cosmetic changes are based on the NetEase CWOW (free) client and it's possible it use a NA clientpatch to have the same graphics as NA/EU. Almost all censorship is client side.

The9 originally implemented these changes "to promote a healthy and harmonious on-line environment." (Source) However, the changes have also been carried over to NetEase as well to satisfy the Chinese censorship review.

There's really no clear answer as to why this censorship is required. Some say that it's cultural, about respecting the dead, and that animated bones are taboo. Others say that because China is an atheist country, the mere existence of undead content indicates that there is an afterlife and contradicts the government's official position on the matter.














If you're still interested, there's more information here and here.

Because virtual currency is so easy to procure, easy to sell (it's a $2 billion legitimate industry in China), encouraged by World of Warcraft operations, and has such real value you can imagine that a lot of players are involved in the amassing (and selling) of gold.

Many users still play the game for fun (they have jobs or alternative sources of income). But there are also professional farmers (what they do all day) and players who play for fun but also farm "on the side" to pay for gadgets, gifts, subscriptions, etc.

Although no official statistics on that exact breakdown exists, there are enough to the point where it has completely reshaped the economy and industry of WoW China.  So it's definitely a lot.

Many of the activities that take place on WoW China realms would be completely unrecognizable on NA/EU realms. Here are some examples of the types of services offered by many players in CWOW:

• Users can be paid based on each task completed, flat rate, pay by the hour, or pay by the day. Real currency or in-game gold plus others are acceptable.
• You can pay users to go out and collect items (mining, herbalism, skinning), mats (disenchants) and/or quest items (if shareable) for you.
• Pay a user to grind Rugged Leather for you, you pay them based on what they bring back.
• You can pay a user to play your account for non-leveling related services. Crafting, questing, etc.
• Pay a person to sit on the Auction House all day and sell/buy certain goods for you.
• You can pay players to scout for you (whether it's a location, the AH, or a vendor for limited supplies)
• Pay a user to run errands for you, deliver goods to users who are not near mailboxes, etc.
• Any task you can think of is open up to negoiation. (The Chinese government is trying to crack down on virtual sex trade and gambling too, so that can happen as well although it's more black market.)
• You can buy high level guards (Level 70s on CWOW) to escort you while you quest ("Hire-a-Carebear").

Other than those services, two of the big ones are:

Power-leveling Services

• You can pay using QQ Coins, virtual gold, or real currency for a set number of levels (or all the way to 70).
• It's extremely cheap to get power leveled and it's very common for users to be sharing accounts. You never know who you're playing with. =] It's also the reason why account hacking is so common.
• High level players will also hang around Stratholme, Scarlet Monastery, Shattered Halls and ZulFurrak selling power levelling services or dungeon runs (for items). Sometimes they sit in the zones or in large gathering spots advertising publicly or whispering travelers. It's also not unusual for a high level character to hang around starting zones selling leveling or dungeon running services - pay by gold if it's an alt, or pay in real currency/QQ coins if they are new.
• It's interesting to note that on NA realms there are gold beggars in major cities. But in China, there are no low level gold beggars. Instead it's the reverse: all of the high level characters are begging for gold in the starting zones. That's how valuable WoW gold really is!  =]

Raid Auctions

• There are several "Gold PUG" groups that raid on a daily basis. Many options are available to you.
• The teams are made up of about 20-25 experienced raiders who bring along a group of "customers" with them. No vent or speech software is used.
• They will clear out Black Temple, Sunwell, etc. and kill everything (even level 60 dungeons). After each boss, the customers will bid for the items that drop (100g for example) and the highest bidder pays gold before receiving the item. At the end of the raid, all of the gold collected from the customers gets split amongst certain members of the raid party (depends on their reputation, work status, if their gear contributed to the success of the raid, etc.) Some of the raiders need to work their way up before they can start earning more. A normal raider can earn anywhere between 300g to 1000G per run. If the raiders are skilled, they can reduce the total number of gold earners and profit even more per player.
• Originally from Korea, these are gaining in popularity on NA/EU realms except that they're called "Gold Bids" or GDKP's.  (More Information)

More interesting stuff about WoW China in Part 6..