What does it take to run an MMO on three platforms and in three regions, with one player base? Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI requires answers to a number of questions about coordinating internationally and communicating with a diverse group of players.

Robert Allen Peeler, assistant community manager, delivered a speech on Game Developers Conference Austin's last day regarding the problems that Square Enix faces globally with a player base who enjoys the game on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PC. The game operates in Japan, North America, and Europe, in Japanese, English, French, and German -- all on one set of servers.

And, of course, says Peeler, "we have customer service set up in every region we sell to." When it comes to patches, "for every region and every platform we use simultaneous global updates."

Though the game is run in multiple regions, "one of our problems is conveying the users' opinions in any language to our developers, who live in japan and speak only Japanese," says Peeler. "One of our biggest concerns is being able to address the thoughts and concerns of all of the players in our game."

After over two months' downtime and a long closed beta, World of Warcraft has finally resumed full operations in China over the weekend, opening the doors of Azeroth once again to millions of users who've been waiting since the beginning of Summer.

Blizzard Entertainment switched Chinese operators on June 7th from The9 to rival NetEase, hoping to earn a higher royalty rate on the game. But the change-over has meant a lasting round of scrutiny from government regulators -- and mandated content edits, due primarily to sensitivity about depicting the undead before younger audiences.

A translated version of the official announcement said users will still be able to use any game time they purchased prior to the downtime, and veteran players meeting certain criteria will get a special pet.

As it welcomes back returning users, the game's official Chinese website is also now officially open for the creation of new World of Warcraft and Battle.net service accounts.

At GDC Austin, Nexon America vice president Min Kim considered what developers need to do to get ready for the "penguin army" -- kids who were born during the dot-com boom years, and the first fully-connected generation -- as they graduate from Club Penguin.

These kids, which Nexon internally refers to as the "bubble babies", and describes as "the first truly connected generation, born during the dot.com bubble" are already playing online social games, says Kim. "We hypothesize the big boom is going to happen when you get these kids, and it will be very natural for them."

What they're doing now isn't his biggest worry; he's more concerned about their future interests , as his company's games, such as Maple Story, appeal more to teens, says Kim.

"By 2012 they're going to be 11, 12, 13 and the sweet spot for our demo is around 14, 15, 16, and that's not going to happen till 2015. We think that there's going to be an explosion of this kind of [social gaming] behavior by 2015."

Turbine's Vice President of product development, Craig Alexander, helmed a potentially contentious discussion on the last day of the Game Developer's Conference Austin 2009.

Beginning with an analysis of the MMO genre's past, Alexander was quick to make the point that the lackluster start for massive games on the consoles is actually to be expected. It took almost a decade for PC-based MMOs to reach mass-market appeal.

The rise of PC MMOs represents almost the same timeframe as the entire growth of the PC as a gaming platform, he contends. The low price-point of consoles, crucial for hardware manufacturers, has generally kept them weak as platforms for rigorous MMOs.

Perspective

Migration of PC-native game genres, additionally, tend to lag in popularity by 3-4 years. The VP trotted out a few slides with quotes from older GDC presentations, offering chestnuts like "A console controller will never be successful, as it doesn't offer the pixel-perfect accuracy of a PC."

Game Developers Conference China has announced its lineup of speakers from noted industry players including Blizzard Entertainment, Maxis, EA DICE and many more.

Think Services, a division of United Business Media (also parent of Gamasutra), will present GDC China at the Shanghai Convention Center, October 11-13 of this year.

Chris Hecker will be presenting a session on the challenges and meaning of user-generated content in Spore, Colt McAnlis of Blizzard will be addressing the technical challenges of generating and affixing art to the massive terrains of World of Warcraft, and Tobias Dahl and Mikael Lagre of Dice EA will discuss the unique task of creating a robust perspective for Mirror's Edge, a game emphasizing fluid first-person movement and perspective.

Professionals from Activision, Take Two Asia, Volition and Ubisoft Chengdu will be among the full roster of speakers presenting varied and informative talks.

Headlining the solid roster of speakers is Jordan Mechner, the accomplished game designer, programmer, screenwriter, and creator of Prince of Persia who will be providing a keynote lecture titled "Prince of Persia: 20 Years From Game to Film."

Fredrik Liljegren, who founded the Swedish DICE studio later acquired by Electronic Arts, now has a new studio in Antic Entertainment, and is focused on the free-to-play game space.

Antic's first title will be Junk: Battles, a free-to-play realtime action-strategy title for major web browsers. Users build their own craft to battle other users online, raising stats and earning more parts to upgrade their ships.

Liljegren is joined by Digital Extremes vets Mark Mikulec and Jeff Evans in founding London, Ontario-based Antic. Its team has experience on franchises including DICE's Battlefield Digital Extremes' Dark Sector and 2K's BioShock. Though the studio will focus at first on free-to-play games for web browsers and iPhone, it hopes to expand its endeavors to "all viable platforms."

"Antic Entertainment's focus is to bring that AAA quality to our free-to-play titles, giving us tremendous opportunity for growth," says Liljegren. "This sector of the industry is just now coming into the limelight, as the consumer is adapting and seeking more flexible and efficient ways to play games."

"We're confident that our creative approach and well established development processes will address this market in new and exciting ways."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Shanda Games, a spinoff of Shanghai-based online games publisher Shanda Interactive Entertainment, raised the largest IPO in the U.S. since April 2008, $1.04 billion, selling 83.5 million shares at $12.50 each with today's debut.

But that price fell $1.75, or 14 percent, to $10.75 after Shanda's first day of Nasdaq trading. The company originally intended to sell 63 million shares for around $10.50 to $12.50 before changing its mind and increasing the IPO's size by 32.5 percent earlier this week.

Shanda Interactive's published titles in China include MMORPGs such as MapleStory, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Ragnarok Online, Aion, and many others. Generating $321.9 million in revenue for the first half of 2009 (a 43 percent year-over-year increase), the company is currently the country's largest online games operator, ahead of other local publishers like NetEase and Tencent.

The IPO's halfhearted reception contrasts Changyou.com's, another Chinese gaming spinoff (from Sohu) that launched its own IPO earlier this year. Changyou.com raised $120 million last April and saw its share price jump 25 percent on the first day of trading. The company is now trading at 126 percent over its initial IPO price.

Though CEO Diana Li says Shanda Games is pleased with the IPO and has a "very long vision" for the company, some analysts argue that the publisher's valuations are inflated, and recommend that investors sell their shares.

"People believe Shanda Games has been priced at market," Pali Capital analyst Tian Hou told financial news site Bloomberg. "What’s the room to go up if it’s already priced at market?"

Team-based shooter Battlefield Heroes' battlefield runneth over with heroes, according to publisher Electronic Arts, which claims the game has reached 2 million registered users.

The free-to-play PC game launched three months ago, and is one of EA's two diverging download-only titles continuing the successful Battlefield series, the other being the more traditional Battlefield 1943. Both are set during World War II, the setting that kicked the series off, and both are developed by Sweden-based franchise creator DICE.

In addition to the free gameplay, Heroes offers user customization items that can be purchased with in-game points or real-world money. Heroes also generates revenue through in-game advertising.

The game reached 1 million players in July, only a few weeks after release, suggesting new user growth has slowed. But the game had been in various forms of closed and open multiplayer beta for over a year, giving a lengthy head start to capture a substantial base before the official "ship date."

Next week, DICE will add to the game with the "Heroes of the Fall" update, which includes a new map as well as numerous class and ranking system updates.

[The preceding article by Chris Remo originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

In our latest employment-tastic round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from THQ, Neversoft and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Playdom: QA Automation Lead
"Do you possess exceptional knowledge and passion for games in all genres. Are you frequently recognized for exceptional delivery on short production schedules, creativity, innovation, project management, and brilliant documentation? Are you anything BUT ordinary? If this sounds like we are describing you, we just may be able to make some of your dreams come true. Keep reading and let us know…"

Neversoft: Audio Programmer
"Neversoft Entertainment is looking for an Audio Programmer whose focus will be the research, development and maintenance of cross-platform audio systems and tools for the next generation of games consoles. This is an ideal opportunity for someone with a solid audio software background and a strong desire to apply this knowledge to the games industry."