China is receiving closer attention from Wall Street as two Chinese MMORPG developers prepare to go public next week. Shanghai based Giant Interactive will list on the New York Stock Exchange on October 31 under the ticker "GA".

The company will raise over US $ 800 million for a market capitalization of over US $ 3 billion, making it the largest online game company in China. Fujian based NetDragon has filed to raise up to HK $ 1.42 billion (US $ 1=HK $ 7.8) on the Hong Kong stock exchange. NetDragon is expected to begin trading on November 2 under the stock ticker "8288".

Giant Interactive's Prospects

Giant Interactive operates the second most populous game in China, Zhengtu Online. Zhengtu was quietly launched in early 2006 but quickly gained traction, recording over 1 million peak concurrent users by May 2007. Part of the reason behind the game's success is Giant Interactive's owner Shi Yuzhu, who also runs one of the most successful health supplement business in China. Shi took the same marketing and distribution juggernaut that turned a melatonin product into one of the most recognized brands in China and applied it to online games.

While marketing health sup

Today Blizzard announced a new premium service to allow users to change their characters' names:

"We’re happy to announce that through the wonders of modern gnomish engineering, you are now able to change your characters’ names. Finally, you can turn the moniker that seemed like a good idea at the time into something more befitting your true standing in World of Warcraft.

Visit Account Management ( https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/ ) to begin the paid character-name-change process. The fee is $ 10 per name change. As with our recent addition of voice chat to the game, this feature is being rolled out across all realms in several phases."

Beta NDA Lifted

The NDA period for the general Beta test is officially over! THANK YOU all for being as good as you have been on this. Feel free to post, email, phone call, and alert your local news station about your play experiences!

How Our Beta Process Works

We wanted to take a few minutes to talk about how we run our Beta tests, the differences of and timing for getting builds out to the testers, and basically let you in on what makes our test tick.

Our development path is quite different from that of the vast majority of game developers. We utilize what we call an organic process, which is basically shorthand for our way of constantly iterating, tweaking, tuning, and making changes that are difficult to set months or years ahead of time in a traditional design document. When we get into the last 6 - 9 months of development time, this process really kicks into high-gear. We are making an immense amount of changes, both larg

NCsoft's Lineage II will be getting a new free Chaotic Chronicles chapter called The Chaotic Throne: The Kamael. Announced at the MMORPG's official website, this update will introduce a new race, lands, and three new services.

The new race, called The Kamael, are well known for their battle prowess and their affinity for dark magic. These one-winged warriors can choose to go the path of a Berserker (males only), Abalester (females only), or a Soul Breaker (available to both genders).

Chaotic Throne: The Kamael also introduces three new lands called Isle of Souls, Hellbound, and Isle of Prayer. Isle of Souls is the homeland of The Kamael which players can visit by talking to the Gate Keeper NPCs. Hellbound and Isle of Prayer are new areas for higher-leveled players; they will provide good rewards for those who journey there and survive.

This expansion implements three new services, namely Character Server Transfers, Name Changes, and Gender Changes. Players have been asking for these features ever since Lineage II came out so it's nice to see that they're finally adding it. More updates on this MMORPG as we get them.