Mommy, Where Does WoW Gold Come From?

Chinese labour camps are said to be forcing prisoners to farm gold for westerners too lazy to do it themselves, torturing prisoners who do not earn enough, the time spent playing apparently not punishment enough.

The allegations were made by a former prison guard who was jailed and sent to a re-education camp for 3 years as punishment for complaining to the central government about local corruption.

In addition to the usual regime of punishing physical slave labour and communist brainwashing, he reports being forced to farm gold for sale to lazy westerners who cannot stomach the soul-destroying tedium of MMORPG gaming themselves:

“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour.

There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb ($800-$900) a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”

He was tortured for not farming enough gold, he says:

“If I couldn’t complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things.”

China, the world’s gold farm, has enacted legislation intended to regulate the trade in virtual currencies, but inexplicably nobody seems to take any notice of them.

As the pay and conditions (for the voluntarily employed at least) are said to be significantly better than slaving away in a mine, farm or factory, and western demand for help in bypassing meaningless timesinks is as strong as ever, it is hard to see the practice ending any time soon – save perhaps by the simple expedient of Blizzard selling gold and items straight to users.

[via]

Gig: Real 6-String Guitar Analogues

An actual 6-string controller rock-band type game controller... Will be interesting to see the degree of difficulty. I foresee the the cost of real guitars going up and a flood of crap guitars from China. May force me to buy an xbox...

Bioware & Funimation Announce Dragon Age Anime

Bioware and Funimation have announced they will be adapting the hit Dragon Age RPG franchise into an anime movie, due for DVD release in 2011.

EA furnishes the usual glib press release peppered with vapid quotes – Bioware begins:

“Anime is a great medium for us to continue the robust Dragon Age story. Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we are delivering the exceptional quality and entertainment value that our Dragon Age fans expect.”

Funimation continues:

“We are thrilled to be working with EA and BioWare on the production of the Dragon Age anime feature. We are going to be bringing the classic visual and storytelling techniques found in anime to create a film that will extend the narrative of the world BioWare has created.”

Bioware’s decision to abandon the (presumably expensive) use of Dungeons & Dragons in favour of its own painfully generic “dark fantasy” setting was generally expected to result in a minor mixed media franchise with novels and similar, but an anime adaptation is quite unexpected – although perhaps logical, given the overlap in fanbases.

Funimation for its part is said to be set on creating a variety of original anime-style productions of its own in future – given the rather dismal history of western produced movie adaptations of games, they may have picked a challenging area in which to start.

via sankakucomplex

SC2 BattleReport 4

Get hyped with me for Starcraft II with SC2 BattleReport:

Make Your Neighbors Think It's Drunken Family Night with Natal

     Microsoft's Project Natal turned a lot of heads when they're promotional video came out. "Oh my, what's that? It looks like wholesome family fun for everyone!" ... or so the actors portraying the perfect family and Microsoft would have you believe. Watch the official video below and be amazed... temporarily.

     The whole premise of the project is "controllerless" gaming. Users interact by moving their body, for example, if you were in an in-game fight you'd actually have to punch and kick so your avatar could take out the enemy in front of you. In the video below, a Parade Magazine employee gets probably way too into the whole thing, swatting, swimming, convulsing.

     What the heck would you think if you were outside watching your neighbors through the living room window? You know what I'd think? I'd think those guys must be pretty rich to have a living room that big... oh and to have a random crack party.

Xenoblade AKA Monado

Here's a preview of the upcoming Xenoblade, the next in the Xenogears/Xexosaga series:

     A lot of people are saying that this in going to suck and that the graphics are terrible. Well, here's what I say. How do you know so little about it and know that it's going to suck? And sure the graphics are not state of the art but this thing is coming to the Wii. Besides, if you're a true Xeno fan, you'd know that the story  is the heart of anything Xeno-tagged.

     On another note, some of the music has leaked and so far it is very good as well. Different from FF or Uematsu(which is damn good), but distinctly Xeno sounding in my opinion. Some of the previews strongly remind me of RahXephon and you'll see why.

SQARE + LARA CROFT = WTF?!!

Crystal Dynamics, a part of Square Enix Europe, today announced Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a new game developed by Crystal Dynamics, which will be released via digital download in 2010.

“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting,” said Darrell Gallagher, General Manager of Crystal Dynamics. “Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”

Crystal Dynamics is an award-winning studio located in San Francisco. Founded in 1992, the studio has created and developed key game franchises such as: Legacy of Kain, Pandemonium, Gex and most recently the Tomb Raider series.

VIA Megagames

Sorry Japan, Microsoft Project Natal is for America

Microsoft’s belated disclosure of the space requirements for its innovative new Project Natal interface have struck many as being physically impractical for all but the large living room, with the controller demanding a “clear” space 4m (13 feet) deep.

The device (an Xbox 360 peripheral which uses sensors to interpret bodily movement) is said to require an area significantly larger than most other gaming devices, and more pressingly, larger than many homes or gaming areas can feasibly provide:

To be precise, you’ll want to clear an area extending at least 4 meters (a little more than 13 feet) away from the television.

That’s the back edge of the space to be taken into account by the Natal sensors.

In terms of width and height, the field of vision naturally expands as it moves from the Natal device to that back edge, ending up a little more than 4 meters wide and 2.7 meters high (about 8 feet, 10 inches).

Japanese gamers immediately noticed that this is larger than the size of all but the biggest Japanese rooms – as pictured in the below diagram, previously published by Microsoft during one of its more brutally frank moments:

Possibly this is a significant miscalculation on Microsoft’s part – a “clear area” 4m deep might be a reasonable enough expectation for an American living room centred on a large TV, but in urban dwellings throughout much of Asia and Europe such spaciousness cannot be taken for granted, and even if it could the hassle of clearing away intervening furniture each gaming session might be unappealing.

The 4m space requirement also rules out a significant number of more cramped bedroom and single room dwelling settings. Needless to say, a close-in “PC gamer” style setup with chair, desk and monitor/TV is completely out of the question.

It is not clear how well the unit will function in more confined areas, but it seems likely degraded operation will be possible to an extent. On the other hand, there are clear minimum and maximum range limits with Natal’s sensors which are unlikely to offer much leeway.

More pointedly for gamers (especially slothful ones), Microsoft’s gaming future apparently also involves a great deal of standing up.

Xenogears Flashback

Who like the game Xenogears on the PS1? I did. Enough to do a really bad recording apparently...