Beijing Perfect World, the developer and publisher of several big-name Chinese games, and China Film Group Corporation have reached an agreement that Perfect World will develop a MMORPG based on John Woo's latest film (due out next year) titled 赤壁 (
The Battle of Red Cliff). Based on historical events (and included in the classic Chinese novel,
Romance of the Three Kingdoms), the movie focuses on a decisive battle in 3rd century BCE China, and the MMORPG will follow the same path - while differentiating itself from all the other
Romance of the Three Kingdoms-based games that came before it.
In the fourth quarter of 2007, Beijing Perfect World plans to launch the second big-scale MMORPG called "The War of the Red Cliff" which uses the self- developed new-version of the Angelica 3D game engine. Differentiated from the traditional Japanese game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", this newly-produced game highlights the most grandiose scenery. "The War of the Red Cliff" aims to provide gamers with the reality and trueness of real battle scenes from the three kingdoms era, so players have the chance to experience a Chinese version of the pure, traditional "Romance of Three Kingdoms."
I'm really excited because my favorite Chinese actor, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, will be making an appearance (no Maggie Cheung, sadly). The movie is scheduled for release in two parts next year, the first scheduled for release before the Olympics. If you can read Chinese, you can find out more about the game at the official
Chibi Online website.
