It’s cute, it’s pink and if you watch this trailer too many times, Hello Kitty might suck out your soul through your eyes. Not that I’m worried; she’s had my soul since 1986.

Speaking of eyes, way to go Kotaku readers. By picking out that piece of profanity from the last batch of screenshots (which has since been updated), I was able to get Aeria Games to confirm that there will be a profanity filter in the North American version of Hello Kitty Online. Guess we’ll have to make up new curses for when we get excited about gardening.

In the meantime, we’re still waiting on a definite launch date for the Sanrio massively multiplayer online game. The closed beta is scheduled to start soon and supposedly the game will go live this fall.

I seriously wonder what the great architects and builders of world renowned landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Arc de Triumph would think of the Sanrio-ized versions of their masterpieces. Personally, I prefer this version of Big Ben to the real life one — but I’m a Hello Kitty girl and therefore biased.

Enjoy the cute!

The first is the whole massively multiplayer online game aspect. That’s the last video game genre next to first-person shooter I would have thought of for a Hello Kitty game. Developers Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games along with US publisher Aeria Games think it’s a good fit, though, because the game is aimed at women aged 17-30 who crave a social experience instead of, say, a kids adventure game. To that end, they’ve gotten rid of some of the primary aspects of most MMOs and punched up or added other aspects to create an MMO where there’s less direct competition and more things to do besides collect rat butts. This makes for an MMO where you do level up and you can go questing for experience points – but there’s no pressure to level grind and you can get just as much XP mileage out of tending your garden or designing a house as you would “fighting” enemies on a quest.

That’s the second thing that’s got my attention: the persistent quest story. I know most MMOs have plots and sometimes those plots actually have an effect on the persistent world of the game. However, it’s not always executed well and the motivation to move through the story is kind dampened for some by the fact that they can’t be the sole hero of the land because everyone else in the land is a hero, too. The story that provides a persistent world backdrop for Hello Kitty Online involves a mystery where Sanrio characters fall into enchanted sleep. All players have the chance to solve the mystery and awaken some of the Sanrio characters – but even though it’s a mystery instead of a “go here, kill this” story, I wonder whether Hello Kitty Online’s story will somehow feel different from other plotted MMOs.

The third thing that paralyzes me whenever I look at Hello Kitty Online is the sheer cute factor. Every aspect of the world from the licensed characters to the Sanrio-ized version of London and Paris look exactly like something you’d see in one of their stores. Even beyond appearance, though, there’s a charm to the world of Hello Kitty Online that practically yanks the 6-year-old girl in me out to play, even though I’m actually not that fond of MMOs. Part of the charm comes from the “friendly” design of the game that lulls me into participating in basic MMO practices I’ve come to loath on principle like resource-whoring and level grinding. Technically, you do both in the game, but it’s just so cute and charming it doesn’t really feel like you’re slaughtering the same half-dozen wild boars or so for that next level. For example, to get between towns, you have to cross adventure areas, which are loaded with resource points and cute little animals. The animals will eventually agro on you if you get to close to them, but when it’s time to “fight,” you just whip out a magic wand and charm them to sleep – and then go on harvesting their natural habitat. Isn’t that adorable in a way that makes you almost sick?

There are two more things about Hello Kitty Online that aren’t quite as interesting (at least not to me), but still good to know. The first is that while Hello Kitty Online is technically a Free to Play MMO that functions on micro-transactions, Aeria Games says you can earn items and equipment equivalent (but slightly different in appearance) to what you could buy in real life just through questing. Apparently their goal is to change the stigma of “Free to Play” to “Play for Free” by letting everyone get as much mileage out of Hello Kitty Online as they want without getting out their wallets. Without spending a dime, they say, that’s over 100 hours of gameplay just grinding through the main quest.

The second interesting thing is that you can charm animals in the world to be your pets. Pets in Hello Kitty function like two parts Tamagotchi, one part Pokémon and one part stat buff. You have to feed them and pet them and clean up their poo to make sure they don’t run away; you can cross breed them with other pets to make totally unique pets with special talents; and depending on the level of the animal, your character can score a stat buff. The reason this isn’t that interesting to me is because I’ve got a track record of killing Tamagotchi.

Hello Kitty Online is due to go live this fall. I’m all set to get a better look at the beta later this month with a serious binge. I return frothing pink foam at the mouth, consider that my preview of what you can expect from the game.

In the most exciting news out of the Game Developers Conference so far this morning, Sanrio Digital and Aeria Games are partnering to officially bring Hello Kitty Online to North America.

Aeria Games will manage the online publishing and day-to-day operation of Sanrio Digital’s Hello Kitty Online, a massively multiplayer online game with a built-in audience consisting of anyone who has ever professed a preference for the colour pink. Currently in beta, Hello Kitty Online will launch later this year in North America with a free-to-play business model supported by microtransactions.

“Sanrio Digital is very excited to partner with Aeria Games, who will be our online publisher and operator for Hello Kitty Online in North America. With Aeria Games’ leadership position in the free-to-play casual MMO sector and Hello Kitty brand awareness among the underserved female gaming audience, Hello Kitty Online will grow into a leading social gaming destination for teens and female adults,” said Robert Ferrari, Vice President of Publishing & Business Development of Sanrio Digital.

And there you have it! What could possibly top this news? Nothing. Nothing at all. GDC is now closed. You can all go home now.

Sanrio Digital celebrates the season of love this Valentine’s Day weekend by opening up the servers of Hello Kitty Online for a public stress test with their four-day Happy Hearts event.

Players who have been desperately trying to login to Hello Kitty Online over the course of the past few months only to be frustrated by the Founder’s Club only access restrictions will get some relief this weekend, as Sanrio throws open the servers for a four-day Valentine’s Day celebration and stress test, starting on February 14th. Players will be able to participate in special Valentine’s Day quests while testing out the revamped user interface and new (and sorely needed) chat filter, which keeps Hello Kitty and her friends from being solicited by Hello Sexual Predators.

To sign up for the test, head over to Sanrio Town and snag a free account.

The celebration continues into the week, with a contest to see which guild can build New York City landmarks the fastest and a charity event called “Food for Friends”, in which guilds will produce food items in-game, with the total amount created translated into cash donations made by Sanrio Digital to UNICEF and the Asian Youth Orchestra.

Man, I didn’t realise she was 34. I feel much better about sleeping with my Hello Kitty pillow now that I know she’s completely legal.

Hello Kitty’s birthday to be held in MMORPG Celebrations, events, charity in Hello Kitty Online begin November 1st, 2008

Hong Kong – October 31, 2008: Hello Kitty turns 34 on November 1, 2008. To celebrate the occasion, Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) today announced a birthday party for Hello Kitty that will be held inside Hello Kitty Online (www.hellokittyonline.com), the eagerly anticipated MMORPG. The celebration begins on Saturday November 1st, and will include a birthday party lasting through the week-end, a week-long series of in-game quests and events, and a charity event that lets players convert effort they spend inside the game into real cash donations to charity.

Hello Kitty Online is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game) based on the popular Sanrio characters. The game transports players into the cute and cuddly world of Sanrio Land and is fully integrated with official Sanrio portal SanrioTown.com, which utilizes blogs, email, video sharing, games and more to create a digital and social experience accessible at any time, even in-game. The game is currently in Founders’ Beta phase. The present version of Hello Kitty Online will shut down on November 8, 2008, to allow the development team to continue work on the game and prepare for Open Beta. Current players, however, will retain their characters and certain benefits in future versions of the game.

There are a range of exciting events and activities planned for Hello Kitty’s birthday and the final week of the Founders’ Beta.

1) Hello Kitty’s Birthday Party – November 1-2 Hello Kitty, real name Kitty White, was introduced to the world on November 1, 1974, and was the creation of a young artist named Yuko Shimizu. Today Hello Kitty is one of the most-loved and recognised images in the world, and was awarded the exclusive title of Special Friend of Children by UNICEF. To celebrate her birthday, Hello Kitty will make special appearances in Hello Kitty Online on November 1st and 2nd. In addition, players can expect special mini-events and even gifts to celebrate this special day.

2) Guild Competition: Build New York – November 1-6 It’s time to build New York! The guilds of Hello Kitty Online will be competing in a race to build two of New York City’s most famous landmarks: The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building. Representatives of the participating guilds will be called to trade in their Empire Keys and Liberty Keys for special Empire State and Liberty land certificates. The first guilds to complete building these landmarks will receive formal recognition in the new zone and will be awarded special items in the next version of the game.

3) “Food for Friends” Charity Event – November 1-6 Remembering children who are less fortunate, Hello Kitty Online will host an in-game guild contest called “Food for Friends”, in which the efforts of guilds will be translated into donations to charity. Guilds interested in participating will produce raw materials on their farms and craft them into specific food items. Guilds will submit prepared food items to a Game Master. The guilds with the highest contributions will be declared winners. The winning guilds will receive a permanent page on www.hellokittyonline.com, special guild privileges for open beta, and a small feature on their guild including an interview with the guild representative(s) to be posted on official blog and press releases. Based on the total prepared food donated by all guilds, Sanrio Digital will then make cash donations to UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and the Asian Youth Orchestra (www.asianyouthorchestra.com).

Please refer to http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/index.php?c=misc&s=foodForFriends for information on the “Food For Friends” event.

“Only one MMO could possibly release World of Warcraft’s death grip on the massively multiplayer gaming market – Hello Kitty Online”

*rubs his temples and sighs* I wish I could say it was taken out of context, but to someone who isn’t a regular reader of the site my quote does indeed sound like I am Captain Hello Kitty, Champion of the Kittyverse. And while I might secretly relish having such a title on my business cards, I feel I have to offer an explanation lest I start receiving Hello Kitty merchandise from all of my relatives on my birthday and Christmas – other than the toaster I already own, of course. Hello Kitty Online will probably not topple WoW, though 30,000 subscribed beta testers isn’t too shabby. If it does end up beating out Blizzard, ignore this post so I can say I called it.
Thank you for the overwhelming response! [Hello Kitty Online - Thanks Brian]