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US and Poland agree to rigorously evaluate foreign 5G equipment
The US and Poland declared today that suppliers of 5G network equipment should be rigorously evaluated for foreign government control. Vice President Mike Pence and Polish President Andrzej Duda signed an agreement to tighten guidelines of 5G network security, The Wall Street Journal reports. The deal didn't name Huawei specifically, but it's the latest move in Washington's attempt to exclude China from 5G networks.
Google+ gets Translate for foreign language posts, comments
While other Google products have lain fallow, the company has been tinkering with Translate quite a bit lately. Now, the search giant is "gradually" rolling out functionality to translate desktop Google+ posts and comments into users' native tongues. Below each foreign language post there should be a clickable "Translate" link that will convert the text inline; another click will undo the translation. The latter should be handy if that comment in French turns out to be an insult about your mother -- not like that's ever happened on the internet before.
Apple's opportunity to expand retail into India
The Wall Street Journal's Livemint blog reports that Apple may be considering opening up retail operations in India as soon as it possibly can, following a new governmental ruling in that country that foreign companies can indeed open and own retail stores. Apple's been poking around India for a while -- the company reportedly thought about opening a call support center there a few years ago, but eventually decided not to. And while Apple's retail sales in China and elsewhere have definitely been on the rise, India hasn't opened its doors to foreign retailers yet -- until now. Apple of course says it doesn't comment on future plans, but presumably the company is still interested in selling its devices in India, and before long we'll see some retail presence planned for an opening there. There is still a rule that says 30% of the produced items sold must come from local Indian resources, but even the government says that if that limit remains a major obstacle for Apple, it may be reversed as well. Interesting. Apple's seen a lot of success in emerging markets like China already, and obviously India also represents a lot of potential as well. We'll have to see what route Apple takes to set up shop in the country, and how those decisions work out for them going forward.
15 Minutes of Fame: From Romania to Korea via World of Warcraft
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. This is the story of Apathius, a Romanian student of languages who's made World of Warcraft her entree to the Korean language and culture. "A year ago, I used to be a slightly hardcore raider on the EU realms," she writes. "Being a big fan of anime and all that stuff, I opted for a chance to study abroad in Korea. (Japan was out of the question, sadly, but Korea was pretty close, culture-wise.) So at the start of 2010, I hopped on a plane and came here to start a 'new life,' so to speak. But still, there are huge cultural differences between the Asian world and the west, and for fear that I might not adapt to this new environment, I decided to make WoW one of my mediums for permeating Korean society." "I thought I knew WoW well enough to get the hang of things quickly, but I ended up having to re-learn a lot of things, especially PVE-wise," she continues. "'Korean Style!' my guildies told me when I first asked them why almost no one raids as a guild here. I was surprised when I heard they PUG heroic raids like Alone in the Dark and Lich King 25-man. But that doesn't mean they're hardcore, as even the casuals do very well. For example, people who had never seen Putricide before went from a 80% wipe to a 5% wipe after three tries. Also, if you're a top-end raider, you can earn about 5,000ish gold per week from raids, because the DKP here is gold, and only gold. The weirdest part about it though, I really get the feeling they take the PVE side of WoW as fun, not as competition, not as something to be taken seriously, just as a means of getting imba gear and seeing new fights." Join us for one player's quixotic journey through an American game on a European realm from her Romanian homeland to a new home and new realm in Korea.
Chronicles of Spellborn servers have one last hurrah
The Chronicles of Spellborn fans have had a confusing week. On August 10th, an announcement was posted on Acclaim's TCoS forums, letting players know that the game would come to an end on August 25th. The announcement warned players to spend all unused Acclaim coins by that time and offered a customer support email address for players with questions. However, the servers were taken offline almost immediately with no word from Acclaim, and after a week of silence from the developers, fans concluded that the game was gone for good. Not so, it seems. A post entitled "The game is up!" appeared on the forums, sending a handful of players rushing to reinstall and enjoy a little more playtime. Unfortunately, there is still no announcement or explanation from the TCoS team, so there is no official word on what happened or how long it will last. For the time being, fans of The Chronicles of Spellborn can enjoy one last chance to play. [Thanks to CowMooFlage for the tip!]
WoW Rookie: Essential WoW terminology in other languages
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el. In the sprawling, global environment that is the World of Warcraft today, there's really no telling who you'll end up grouped with. Even on a white-bread American realm, I've met players whose primary language was not English. Gamers are everywhere now! In the spirit of international cooperation, WoW Rookie has crowdsourced a list of basic WoW terminology for PUGging. The next time you run into a situation where you need to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language, reach for our translations in the Newbie Guide, linked under Guides in the drop-down menu at the top of the site. Kudos to the hundreds of readers who responded to our call for translations. Merci, gracias, tack, hvala! Let's crowdsource corrections, too -- if you spot anything incorrect, drop me a line at lisa (at) wow (dot) com. Oh, and "Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el?" That's "Let's run back from the graveyard together so we don't get lost" ... in Hungarian.
WoW Rookie: What's "move out of the fire" in your language?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. If you use the Dungeon Finder with any regularity, you're likely to eventually find yourself grouped with a player who speaks a different language. World of Warcraft is localized (translated) to nearly a dozen different languages, including two versions of English (USA and EU), French, German, Spanish, Russian, Korean and two versions of Chinese. While U.S. and Oceanic players can generally count on groupmates to speak English, things can be quite different elsewhere in the world. Individual Latin American and EU realms tend to attract groups of players from particular areas -- Brazilians on one server, Hungarians gathered on another, Italians dominating still another. Many players welcome the language barrier as an opportunity to polish their language skills. Still, how do you coordinate your way through a tricky pull with someone who doesn't speak a word of your language? Let's crowdsource this issue. We've compiled a list of common terms you might use in a PUG. We'd like you to list your translations in the comments, if you are fluent in another language. We're not going to cover Russian, Korean or Chinese, since those players generally do not cross paths with Western players. Please keep your suggestions brief; simplicity trumps elegance. If you'd like to see phrases we didn't include, feel free to suggest them, but keep in mind we're sticking with the basics. We'll compile the list and create a starter guide in next week's Rookie column.
Is China's WoW delay politically motivated?
I don't presume to know much about trade policy or international relations, so I'll just pass you this link to a story over on VentureBeat and let you decide for yourself. You probably have already heard that Blizzard has had plenty of trouble trying to bring World of Warcraft back online in China -- they've been waiting on approval from the Chinese government's General Administration of Press and Publication, which has already mandated a few changes to the game. Dean Takahashi at VB suggests that rather than being a technical issue, the delay may actually be political and/or economically motivated: the US and China have been bumping gently lately over exports and imports, and Takahashi suggests that Blizzard's game may have gotten caught in the middle. The GAPP, he says, may be holding the game back, concerned that such a popular foreign game might be released again on their soil.Fortunately, even Takahashi says it's unsubstantiated -- WoW is likely to go back online in China in a matter of days, and the delays could just as easily have been administrative errors. But I do agree with Takahashi that it's worth watching -- China is cautious about allowing foreign manufacturers to sell to their citizens, and video games are no exception.
Nokia Booklet 3G hits the unboxing phase of its product cycle
Might as well add your own soundtrack, because chances are, you won't be able to understand what the narrator with a tattoo on his left hand is saying. Not that you really need, as you can probably get the gist of this Nokia Booklet 3G unboxing. We've got blue packaging, a power brick, a "Hello, Hei" greeting just under the portable itself, and a fairly sleek portable to boot. Of course, with a $800 price tag on the outside and an Atom processor on the inside, it's not the most attractive of combinations. See the whole kit and caboodle after the break. [Thanks, mimo]
Joystiq looks at South Korea's PC Baang culture
No PlayStation, No Nintendo, No Sega. In a sprawling metropolis on the brink of a technological revolution what place would eschew console gaming? It was South Korea, and for the longest time there was an embargo against Japanese made imports. In the embargo's wake an unstoppable PC gaming utopia and a molding of an anomalous social culture evolved. With the government push for broadband access and the proliferation of PC Baangs, online PC-game rooms, a remarkable 70% of South Korean internet users have played some kind of MMOG. The Korean MMOG invasion on the western market has spurned resentment but some MMOs like Nexon's Maple Story found a successful niche. What is fascinating, are not the endless failed imports or the lucky few that do succeed in the US but the radical differences in our gaming cultures. Joystiq's Geoffrey Brooks is residing in Seoul, South Korea for the summer. Indulging his senses in this part of the world Brook posits about South Korea's PC Baangs and the masterful technological wired revolution and contrasts it to the lagging-behind United States. It's a must read, especially if you know nothing of the PC gaming culture in South Korea other than asking "isn't Starcraft big there?"
In Russia, World of Warcraft page visits you!
Blizzard has released the Russian World of Warcraft webpage over at their European site. I can't read a darn thing on it, so I'm forced to rely on other's translations of it, and some good old Google Translator action on the press release. A couple interesting things. First, they'll be releasing the fully localized version of Russian WoW in a few months. The second interesting thing is that they're actually looking for some people fluent in Russian to work for them, and this is a good thing since the Russian version of the site isn't nearly as complete as other language's versions of the site. Finally, ignore the translator error given by Google: "Our list of frequently asked questions concerning the withdrawal of Russian version of World of Warcraft." There is no withdrawal, there will be a Russian WoW.The Russian version of WoW was announced back on December 10th, 2007. It's good to see that Blizzard is continuing the localization of the game. Many international users are forced to either play on the plethora of European servers or come play on the United States servers. This can be a difficult thing, in that the distance between the realm server and the player's computer is so great that very large and unruly ping times often result. This is not a good thing if you're trying to have any sort of skillful game playing.All and all a nice little present for our Russian friends.
Report: Wii coming to South Korea by May 5
We've known for a while now that Nintendo was planning to bring the Wii to PC-gaming mecca South Korea some time this year, but recent word has it that the system may be hitting the country's shores sooner than later. The Korea Times is reporting that Nintendo and Activision recently registered two Wii games each with Korea's Game Rating Board. The paper speculates this move means Nintendo Korea is looking to launch by Children's Day on May 5, a popular gift-giving holiday in the country. Though there's no official announcement from Nintendo, we can't think of a better holiday to launch for a system known for kid-friendly games like Super Mario Galaxy and Resident Evil 4.
Sony sees Blu-ray growth in emerging markets
Although exact sales figures overseas have been hotly contested, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just announced "an increase in total Blu-ray disc sales across six emerging markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East." Notably, Sony's T. Paul Miller mentioned that it was "extremely positive to see an increase in volume of BD software sales in these markets where piracy had previously ravaged the DVD business." Some of the top sellers in these locales included 007: Casino Royale, Ghost Rider, Open Season, Kung Fu Hustle, Black Hawk Down, XXX, and Stealth, and it was also stated that South Africa accounted for the largest share of BD sales (for the aforementioned regions) with "more than 15,000 units shipped to date."[Via MovieWeb]
World Wide WoW Moviewatch: Thrall's Christmas Tree
I haven't seen all that many foreign machinimas but in my opinion this still deserves a Machinimoscar Award (if there were such a thing) for Best Foreign Machinima. It's another good one by the Taiwanese "AFK Pl@yers," who did "Azeroth Top 3," which we featured for you last week. It's in Chinese, naturally, but it also has English subtitles for the enjoyment of westerners everywhere! This is what you would read on the back cover of the DVD: "A young tauren has accepted a difficult quest from Warchief Thrall. Will he be able to complete the mission?" Also featuring special appearances from the famous Murkilla and her baby boy, as well as other cameos from Azeroth Top 3!
New partnership brings European adventure games to North America
A new partnership between Lighthouse Interactive and German publisher dtp entertainment could help boost the adventure game market in North America. The companies have agreed to localize European-made adventure games for the North American market, translating text and removing all references to "spanners" in the process.Three games have already been announced to receive the North American Englishization treatment: Sproing Interactive's WWII-themed spy thriller Undercover: Operation Wintersun, Artematica's conspiracy game Belief & Betrayal, and the upcoming psychological adventure from House of Tales, Overclocked. No word on how far in the future this partnership will extend, but it bodes well for North American adventure aficionados craving more games.[Via Adventure Gamers]
Escape the ghetto ... Czech style
Building on the success of a board game called Cesta z Ghetta (Out of the Ghetto), an organization called Tady a Ted (Here & Now) recently announced its plans to release a video game designed to educate students about the challenges of poverty in the Czech Republic. Themes in GhettOut! will include dealing with authorities, discrimination, housing, crime, and drugs. Players learn what it's like to live in constant uncertainty trying to sort everything out and live a successful life.The game will be available as a download, and Here & Now is aiming for a December release. According to the organization, interest in GhettOut! is high in a number of countries, so an English-language release is inevitable. Also distinctly possible: a hip hop music video unveiled in tandem with the game. Seriously.[Via GamePolitics]
Apple drops plans for India support center
Apple has dropped its plans for bolstering off-shore support in India and other countries. MacNN is reporting that the company hasn't been very forthcoming with a reason, but they have laid off all 30 of the employees hired under the subsidiary which would run these Indian support operations, Apple Services India Pvt Ltd (fortunately, the employees received two month's severance pay).This is good news, as I've never heard wonderful things about a company's customer support ratings when they make a move like this. Dell's tanked when they tried it, and last I heard they shut the facility down and moved most of their support operations back to the US. Kudos to Apple for taking a hint from others' mistakes.
