Creative Kingdom & Thai Government Collaborate on Landmark Cyber City in Entropia Universe

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Creative Kingdom, Thai Government Collaborate on Landmark Cyber City Development in Chiang Mai; CKI to Craft Planet Within Mindark's Entropia Universe

Cutting-Edge, $250 Million Facility to Serve as New-Media Crown Jewel for Asian Market; CKI Designing Lavish IT-Production Resort as Well as Virtual World for Trend-Setting MMORG

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND--(Marketwire - February 19, 2008) -

Creative Kingdom, Inc. (CKI), the world's most celebrated thematic architectural design firm, has begun developing a state-of-the-art film/television studio and IT production complex in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This massive project, dubbed Cyber City -- underwritten by the Thai government and a consortium of entrepreneurs including CKI CEO Eduardo Robles and President Thanu Boonyawatana, as well as Robles LLC -- is being constructed and outfitted on a nine-kilometer stretch of the northern Thai city at a cost of 7 billion Thai baht ($250 million).

The development, which will also house deluxe accommodations and resort facilities for visiting executives, creatives, financiers and other dignitaries, represents a landmark opportunity for international production entities and online companies to establish a cutting-edge base of operations in the burgeoning Asia market. Later phases of the project are slated to include soundstages, top-tier editing facilities, a theme park, a 3D animation education center and much more.

With Cyber City as the jewel in its crown, Thailand will undoubtedly continue its surge in the technology sector. Thanks to CKA, its robust animation division (which has notched such successful series as "Bubble Warriors," "Magic Panda and the Kool Kidz," "Muey Tiger" and "La-La World," among others), and 3D CGI design prowess, Creative Kingdom will prove instrumental in the global expansion of Thai animation, gaming and new-media development.

With offices in Los Angeles, Dubai, Beijing, Chiang Mai and Pasig City, Philippines, CKI has achieved international renown (and coverage by such bellwether media outlets as "60 Minutes" and The Discovery Channel) as the designer of such lavish destinations as The Palm Island, World Island, and the Madinat Jumeirah Resort in Dubai, UAE. Having brought an element of the fantastic to such real-world locales, CKI will for the first time endeavor to bring the specificity and rigor of its architectural practice to a purely fantastic destination.

The maiden project for the new complex will be CKI's collaboration with the Swedish company Mindark, makers of Entropia Universe, an enormously successful Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORG) with a real cash economy that is already positioned to challenge the dominance of market leader World of Warcraft. CKI, the first high-profile architectural firm to be enlisted for such an undertaking, will design an entire planet within Entropia Universe.

Robles LLC, meanwhile, will bring its considerable consulting expertise in the animation and gaming worlds to the table, and its partnership with CKA will undoubtedly yield unprecedented new developments in the online world. Having developed several CKA cartoon properties, the firm -- which is based at the Los Angeles Center Studio Complex -- is preparing to develop a motion picture project based on the new Entropia Universe planet. This ambitious co-production with CKA Starlight Studios Beijing, and Dabok Entertainment Co., Ltd. Korea, is slated for release in 2010.

"The technology introduced by this project will enable other companies within the media, film, music and gaming industries, among other content providers, to efficiently acquire their own planet within Entropia Universe," declared CKI CEO Robles. "In turn, this will provide a diverse, entertaining and interesting virtual universe of vast proportions for participants to explore."

"This is a historic development in the world of online gaming," added company President Boonyawatana. "Our 30 years of experience in creating top iconic resorts around the world was a key factor in our being selected by Mindark to create its next planet, and we relish the opportunity to achieve this unique fusion of physical and virtual worlds."

"This long-term partnership with CKI is the perfect match for Mindark. It further proves the viability of the Entropia Universe platform as the foundation of creating entertaining and exciting online virtual experiences, as well as giving our partners access to a very secure, proven and stable system for handling real cash transactions within a MMORG," Mindark CIO Marco Behrmann informs.

Users of Entropia Universe and other MMORGs spend considerable sums of real money on virtual goods and services. This confluence of hard currency and frictionless production and distribution has created a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs worldwide. Thanks to its sophisticated technology infrastructure, Cyber City will enable Thai workers to generate income from remote locations -- thus revitalizing the economies of rural communities and stemming the crush of migration to urban centers.

The developers of Cyber City Chiang Mai believe it will prove a benchmark in the ongoing evolution of the new global economy.

About Entropia Universe

Entropia Universe was launched in January 2003 and has grown to 700,000 registered accounts from over 200 countries. Its business model is entirely unique as the client software is free to download from the internet and there are no monthly subscription fees. As the only virtual universe with a real cash economy whose currency, the PED, has a fixed exchange rate of 10:1 with the US Dollar, Entropia Universe provides a means for new players to immediately start exploring and earning real cash without having to deposit money. A key feature is that the funds acquired in Entropia Universe can easily be withdrawn into real-life cash.

Entropia Universe is a registered trademark of Mindark PE AB. Mindark supports and monitors the services and maintenance of the Entropia Universe platform. The real cash economy business model has been very successful and Mindark PE AB has been profitable since 2004. The 2006 turnover of Entropia Universe was 365,000,000 US Dollars.

For more information, please visit Entropia Universe. For more information about Entropia Universe's developer, Mindark PE AB, please visit MindArk.com.


Originally Posted Here
 
From the existing customer standpoint, I guess the most salient point of that entire release is:

"The maiden project for the new complex will be CKI's collaboration with the Swedish company Mindark, makers of Entropia Universe, an enormously successful Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORG) with a real cash economy that is already positioned to challenge the dominance of market leader World of Warcraft. CKI, the first high-profile architectural firm to be enlisted for such an undertaking, will design an entire planet within Entropia Universe."
 
*still waiting for any screenshots or video* ;)
 
Woot, the news is finally official... :yay:
 
Did I read that right, theres going to be an EU movie :O
 
Coool! :yay:

I wanna be Bubble Warrior, I will fly on my pet Magic Panda and shoot uberz with magic bubblez :ninja:
 
Did I read that right, theres going to be an EU movie :O

It did say that a movei would be developed on the other planet, or something like that. Whith the EU development tools in the hands of another company, how much that other planet resembles Calypso or has any content related to Project Entropia and the Robot War is unknown.
 
Coool! :yay:

I wanna be Bubble Warrior, I will fly on my pet Magic Panda and shoot uberz with magic bubblez :ninja:

Only a 9th level Mohawk can become a bubble warrior. I pity the fool that tries to become a bubble warrior without achieving Mohawkiness first!
 
Sooo - as I read it these will develop content for people who want to develop planets - so no new planets in this deal - and they were approached by Mindark rather than vice versa. Well I suppose its nice to see MA being proactive.

And MA is set to rival WoW - well WoW is not my game but I think I that its a bit soon to be making that claim (see their user figures and profits).

Sad to say there have been so many great leaps forward announced by MA and so little actual concrete progress that I shall - as they say - watch this with interest but little expectation.

Who knows MA may surprise me .....
 
Wow - so how many planets are we at now? 2 - 3 - 4 are they all going to be impleneted at once?
 
2 chinese (shopping) planets in 2008.
Acid type elemental enemys.
A movie about the new planet.

In the end we know nothing yet. Nothing.

So, can we have some more text, photos, plans or art now ? O_O
 
... with a real cash economy that is already positioned to challenge the dominance of market leader World of Warcraft...


Tee hee, this really mace me chuckle. Wow announces their 10millionth customer ... EU has what? 700K downloads?

But other than that the news looks like all the regular MA hype just to get on the front page. It'll be 5-6 years before anything solid gets implemented.
 
Tee hee, this really mace me chuckle. Wow announces their 10millionth customer ... EU has what? 700K downloads?

But other than that the news looks like all the regular MA hype just to get on the front page. It'll be 5-6 years before anything solid gets implemented.

Ya no kidding, like wtf? EU has a decade or three to go at the current signup rate before they even get to where WoW is *now*.

BTW on a slightly related note, a friend of mine just received his gold card - it's numbered in the 50k amount. If we have at least that many active accounts out of 700k, that sounds decent...
 
is anyone else underwhelmed by the lack of any actual news or information in this?
 
Tee hee, this really mace me chuckle. Wow announces their 10millionth customer ... EU has what? 700K downloads?

If you compare turnover, rather than customer numbers, EU will compare much more favourably to WoW. It still seems rather optimistic to say that they are challenging the market leader though.
 
is anyone else underwhelmed by the lack of any actual news or information in this?

Yes, and expected to be.

(Can you be underwhelmed and expect to be? Or does the fact that my expectations were met preclude the possibility of underwhelming? Hmm...)
 
If you compare turnover, rather than customer numbers, EU will compare much more favourably to WoW. It still seems rather optimistic to say that they are challenging the market leader though.

Compare favorably? LoL.

EU's YEARLY turnover is WoW's MONTHLY turnover.

EU's only bonus is that they employ <50 people. WoW (Blizzard) has several hundred people just on the WoW section, including support personnel, etc.
 
Tee hee, this really mace me chuckle. Wow announces their 10millionth customer ...

9.5mio Gold Farming Bots, and at least 6mio of this are already banned!


If you compare turnover, rather than customer numbers, EU will compare much more favourably to WoW. It still seems rather optimistic to say that they are challenging the market leader though.

Yeah turnover is another thing than active accounts.

As already said, count in how much of this many many accounts at WoW are locked due to botusing, and how much Accounts a day get created to contine with Goldfarming (botusing) after an account gets locked.

WoW really sucks!!!

Anyway Mindark and EU is still market leader in the RCE MMO business!!!
Is there any other successfull RCE MMO out of Beta?

Don´t say SL, thats not an MMO, thats a bullshit chat with nice additional features.


who fucking cares.

I still can't get any decent loot.

good point :)


Creative Kingdom, Inc. (CKI), the world's most celebrated thematic architectural design firm, has begun developing a state-of-the-art film/television studio and IT production complex in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This massive project, dubbed Cyber City -- underwritten by the Thai government and a consortium of entrepreneurs including CKI CEO Eduardo Robles and President Thanu Boonyawatana, as well as Robles LLC -- is being constructed and outfitted on a nine-kilometer stretch of the northern Thai city at a cost of 7 billion Thai baht ($250 million).

As I understand this, they just started to build the studio.
Damn big project, 9km area, and non buildings so far as I understand this.
It can take a while untill they start to develop anything there :)

The maiden project for the new complex will be CKI's collaboration with the Swedish company Mindark

Sounds like they start developing first planet in 2010 or maybe later :)
 
So, can we have some more text, photos, plans or art now ? O_O

This was delayed news due to contracts being drawn, which therefore means the contracts have only just been done, I doubt there is a huge amount of releasable media to be honest

Tee hee, this really mace me chuckle. Wow announces their 10millionth customer ... EU has what? 700K downloads?

Problem with WoW is, doesn't take long to get to top level and then what? Boredom snoredom. I heard a significan amount of those accounts are dead.
 
So the movie is set for release in 2010? Right before the Halo movie right! ;)
 
This was delayed news due to contracts being drawn, which therefore means the contracts have only just been done, I doubt there is a huge amount of releasable media to be honest



Problem with WoW is, doesn't take long to get to top level and then what? Boredom snoredom. I heard a significan amount of those accounts are dead.

And how many of tose 700K EU accounts are dead and forgotten? Well, if they really think they may be a true competitor to WoW, more power to them, but we all know that these press realeses are made just for shock value :)
 
Typical Entropia players turning a positive thread into MA/EU bashing :yay:.

Edit: Just some of you are :p.
 
I've played a few Asian MMO's and have not been very impressed with them :(
 
Ok, here is my main question. When are the planets coming, I mean is it with the Crysis engine or will it take years for us to see these planets?
 
My guess would be after the cryengine, at least a couple of .x VU's past to allow MA to wring out major bugs in crysis. That'd keep the noob developers from having to develop everything twice in rapid succession.
 
2 chinese (shopping) planets in 2008.
Acid type elemental enemys.
A movie about the new planet.

In the end we know nothing yet. Nothing.

So, can we have some more text, photos, plans or art now ? O_O

Its WITCHCRAFT!!!! or is it Magiquest???? :laugh:

I just know I am setting my Compass for Adventure weeeeee :yay:

Seriously though who knows what planet they will make but the whole Entertainment palm island thing in Dubai looks pretty cool. Seems like they have plenty of capital to throw around so lets hope they drop a huge Chunk O change in EU. Before you know it there will be Entropia Universe conventions held at that Palm Island or World Island areas. I saw a thing last night on Discovery where they are moving an entire Irish pub to the World Island interesting stuff.

Reminds me of the movie Westworld a little.

Dah plane! dah plane!......................Welcome to Fantasy Island. :silly2:
 
Dah plane! dah plane!......................Welcome to Fantasy Island. :silly2:

hhahahahahahahahhah omg, hahahaha :laugh: *sigh* :)

So the future of PE is walking around with your avatar ?

"Oh look, McCormick is on our Beijing Servers" :O

"Oh look, Neverdie is in our Dubai Tower"

Just a liiiitttleeeee more info would be nice already. But I think Iam expecting way too much here.
 
"This is a historic development in the world of online gaming," added company President Boonyawatana.

:lolup:

I saw a thing last night on Discovery where they are moving an entire Irish pub to the World Island

They just brought one to my town too lol.. wtf are they doing over there :scratch2:
 
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