Wanted: Founders for Hello Kitty Online!

Hello Kitty Online is back with the announcement of the Founder's Beta. Scheduled for October 8, 2008, the Founder's Beta will allow a limited number of players to try out the game ahead of the Open Beta. Hurry up and check the Hello Kitty Online Official Blog (http://blog.sanriotown.com/onlinegame:hellokitty.com) and see how you can join this fun filled event!

Travel the World Event on Sanriotown!

What would be your ultimate vacation place? Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo? The Louvre Museum in Paris? Or is it Surfer’s Paradise in Gold Coast? No matter where it is, if you've been there, let us know your story and get the chance not only to be featured on Sanriotown’s first ever Travel the World Event and win incredible prizes!

Share your bits and pieces from your wonderful trip, from the yummy food you tasted, to the gadgets you bought, or nice scenery you saw. Submit pictures along with a description about the trip and share with everyone at Sanriotown!

One blogger will be chosen from the pool of articles every month and be featured on the official Travel the World blog as an official winner along with other prizes!

To know more about this awesome event, you can check out the blog by clicking here.

You will need a Sanriotown account with the blog service subscribed to in order to participate in this event, so if you haven’t done so - sign up and activate your blog service now!

Bon voyage!

Introduction to Hello Kitty Online

	At last the amazing world of Hello Kitty and Friends is coming to interactive life as a massively multiplayer online game! SanrioDigital and Typhoon Games have combined Sanrio's much-loved characters with new eye-catching graphics and the engaging gameplay of MMORPGs. Gamers and fans finally have the opportunity to become a part of the Sanrio universe! Here is a quick preview of the game.

	Set Up First you must create a SanrioTown account. Once you have an account, download the game client and install it on your PC. Log in to Hello Kitty Online using your SanrioTown username and password. Choose which server to play on, and the character creation process will begin. You can customize your character's hair, hair accessories, facial features, clothes, shoes, and handheld items to set up your own original Sanrio toon. The customization options are diverse in order to ensure a well-varied game community. Once you've finished customizing your character, you're all set to take your first steps in Hello Kitty's world.

	Getting Started You begin the game in the lavishly verdant Flower Kingdom. Hello Kitty Online's world is a 3D-rendered environment based on beautiful illustrations. The game interface is functional and stylish, and learning it requires only a few minutes.

	Many Activities Hello Kitty Online is not just about fighting monsters - there are many activities to choose from. Aside from the monster-filled adventure areas, players can dig for ore in a mine, or range the forests to pick fruit from trees. Farming allows you to plant, grow and harvest your own crops; be sure to take good care of your crops so you will have a good harvest, and if you have a healthy farm you can even show it off to your online friends! You can use many other skills like cooking, tailoring, making furniture, and building houses. Commerce with other players will allow you to earn Kitty Dollars to spend on your character!

	Quest, improve your skills, and meet Sanrio characters Accept and complete missions to improve your skills and gain experience points and other rewards. Hello Kitty Online includes your favorite Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty, My Melody, Pochacco, Badtz-Maru, and many others. They will serve as non-player characters (NPCs) and country leaders, providing guidance and new missions.

	Player Housing and Pets You can own your own house and customize it in whatever manner you wish using furniture and decorations. Do you like animals? In Hello Kitty Online you can own a variety of pets. When certain monsters are defeated, they may drop "pet cards", that once used will give the player that particular monster as a pet. As a special treat for players, some Sanrio characters may also eventually become your pets. Not only is it fun to watch pets follow you around, but they also come in handy in various ways (such as for item storage).

	Game / Community Integration What really sets Hello Kitty Online apart from other MMORPGs is the community and social functions. The game is entirely integrated with SanrioTown, the official online community for Sanrio fans. By right clicking on other characters in-game, you will be able to access their SanrioTown blogs and videos and send emails to them. You can play mini-games with other players for some casual fun, or even cooperate with friends from the same guild for heavier tasks such as building houses.

	Endless Fun Hello Kitty Online is still being worked on, but it already looks great. The visuals perfectly convey that familiar cartoon ambiance that Sanrio is known for, and the excellent audio is full of Hello Kitty songs and sound effects. This is a fun, light-hearted MMORPG that is guaranteed to provide cheerful entertainment. Know more about it at http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/.

Official SanrioTown Blog

Thank you for viewing this blog.:) We've now set our official blog as the source of information about Sanrio Town and related news, so do visit http://blog.sanriotown.com.

Thanks!

Hello Kitty and Friends 3-D Animation Premiere

People of Hong Kong, rejoice! The Adventures of Hello Kitty and Friends are making their debut on the TVB network tomorrow, 16 February, at 4 in the afternoon. Join Hello Kitty, Pochacco, Keroppi, Cinnamoroll, Dear Daniel, My Melody and the rest of the gang as they have fun in Sanrio Town. Hurray!

By the way, more good news for Hello Kitty fans: last February 9, 2008, The Adventures of Hello Kitty and Friends was aired in Italy and was very well-received. Here is the show's introduction (in Italian, of course).

All About: Marron Cream

Year Created: 1985

Marron Cream is a cheerful little rabbit who is good with arts and crafts, as well as baking sweets. She is always optimistic.

She resides in Paris, France.

“Love Is…” Valentine’s Video-Making Contest

February is the month of hearts! We at Dream Studio’s Director’s Club want to highlight this special occasion, and we want you to be a part of it!

“What Is Love?” Unleash your creativity and use pictures to tell us what love means to you. It does not need to be romantic love: you can also show your appreciation for your parents, your brothers and sisters, your pets, and just about anything and everything that has a special place in your heart.

1. Pictures should be personal and should clearly show what love means to you. Copyrighted images are not allowed.

2. At least two Dream Studio effects should be incorporated in the video.

3. Video entries should have a minimum of five slides. The video does not have to be Sanrio-themed.

4. The use of background music is highly encouraged.

5. E-mail the URL to the Director’s Club (directors_club@hellokitty.com) with the subject “DS Contest Entry: Love Is“. Only the videos that have been sent to this addressed will be recognized as official entries.

6. Multiple entries are allowed.

7. No offensive materials, violent and explicit/sexual content should be used.

8. The competition timeline is between Feb 14 and Feb 29.

9. SanrioTown reserves any rights to use the videos, in whole or in part.

1. The SanrioTown moderators will choose the top entries. Members could then vote for the videos they liked the best.

2. Winners will be announced on SanrioTown.com on the Director’s Club official blog by the first week of March 2008.

3. Winners will be notified by e-mail and the prize sent by courier.

Grand Prize

1. The grand prize winner will win this 1GB LIMITED EDITION Hello Kitty USB Memory Stick, a unique little gadget that’s just about the size of a paperclip! This is not available in stores, so this is truly a special prize for our winner exclusively from SanrioTown!

2. The winner will also receive a Premium E-mail Account here in SanrioTown, where they will get twice the mail storage space, POP3 access and E-mail forwarding.

3. The winning video will appear as the top Editor’s Pick for a week upon winning.

4. A custom badge will be placed at the lower right corner of their winning video, indicating that it has won the grand prize for our contest.

First and Second Runners Up

1. The first and second runners up will also receive one (1) Limited Edition Hello Kitty USB Memory Stick each.

2. A custom badge will be placed at the lower right corner of their winning videos, indicating that they have also won the contest.

So what are you waiting for? Send us those videos and share with us your definition of love! If you have any questions, please email directors_club@hellokitty.com or check out the official forum thread!

Technorati tags: valentines day, february, love, hearts, contest, competition, sanriotown, dream studio, directors club

Happy Valentine's Day!

We at SanrioTown would like to wish all of you a very Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a video we made for you to enjoy on this occasion.

If you can't see it, please visit http://video.sanriotown.com/video/bfd6f30ff02558cc. We hope that you and your loved ones will be able to bond on this special day.

Hello Kitty MMORPG Goes Beta

Sanrio Digital’s “Hello Kitty Online” accepting players for closed beta

Hong Kong – February 12, 2008: Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) today announced the closed beta launch of “Hello Kitty Online”, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) based on the famous Sanrio characters. Hello Kitty Online allows players to explore and adventure in Sanrio’s fantasy world, a magical land that has recently fallen under the influence of a mysterious and malevolent power.

Players for the closed beta version are invited to apply at the official game site (www.hellokittyonline.com) or community site (www.sanriotown.com) and experience Hello Kitty Online in advance of the game release expected in the second half of 2008. Targeting female players from their pre-teens to twenties, Hello Kitty Online is the first installable MMORPG to set its sights on this demographic profile.

Hello Kitty Online is fully integrated with official Sanrio portal SanrioTown.com, which utilizes blogs, email, video sharing, Sanrio merchandise sales and more to create a digital and social experience accessible at any time. Players of Hello Kitty Online can extend their game experience on SanrioTown.com by interacting with other players, purchasing upgrades for their in-game characters, etc.

In addition to the standard MMORPG features such as customizable avatars, guilds, skill systems, and player economy, some of the outstanding Hello Kitty Online features include:

• Unique game world: a persistent, beautifully designed environment where thousands of players and NPCs live, explore and quest in a magical world with real and imaginary zones such as the Flower Kingdom, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow, and more. Real world locations offer players the ability to learn about those places.

• Unique NPCs: players will encounter and interact with popular Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, My Melody, Keroppi, and many others, all animated with a variety of contextual facial expressions.

• Free to play: Hello Kitty Online is downloaded and played free of charge. There are no subscription fees.

• Character upgrades: the Item Mall allows players to use real money to purchase special items and upgrades for characters.

• Player housing: players can build and customize their own houses after acquiring the necessary licenses and materials. Houses depreciate over time and need to be maintained properly or will fall in disuse. A homeowner can invite someone to visit by making an in-game telephone call, and the player called will automatically be transported to the house if she agrees.

• Crafting system: Hello Kitty Online has an extensive crafting system with output such as tools & weapons, farming implements & furniture, a wide variety of cooked dishes, and clothing for decorative and stat-modifying items. Raw materials include wood, minerals and metals, and crops.

• Farming: players can run their own farms, which offer extra storage room and have the potential to produce important raw materials. The farming system incorporates a number of variables such as fertility, pest infestations, and crop characteristics.

• A different focus: although it has a sophisticated combat system, unlike other MMORPGs combat need not be a primary objective for players of Hello Kitty Online. There are many puzzles to be solved, mini-games to compete in, story lines to follow, and adventures to experience.

SanrioTown Blog of the Week

SanrioTown's getting a lot of mommy bloggers! This just shows that Hello Kitty and friends will always be appealing no matter what age!

Ninaclaren's "Growng Up with Kitty" blog has something for moms and Hello Kitty fans all over. Being a fan of the cute white feline since she was a little girl because of her mother, she has shared her love for Hello Kitty for her own daughter. Cute, eh?

She doesn't just talk about Hello Kitty, though. She also features restaurants (complete with pictures of yummy food!), events, and significant events of her life, especially tales about being a mother to her two children, a boy and a girl, and stories about being a wife.

To know about her and her stories, please visit http://blog.sanriotown.com/ninaclaren:hellokitty.com.

Hello Kitty Watch

Stay on time with the help of Hello Kitty!

This Hello Kitty watch is a must-have for the white feline's fans, because it has been kittified in just about every aspect. From its face, to its straps, to its backlight, and even to its back, all of its parts proudly display Hello Kitty's cuteness.

The watch is waterproof, and it can also serve both as a timer and an alarm clock. It also has the world time of 29 time zones, and has daylight saving settings.

The watch costs 8,925 yen.