Increasing acceptance of microtransactions-based MMOs means many Asian companies -- already well-versed in the business model are migrating East, often bringing impressive records along with them.

As a global company, Beijing-based Perfect World International says it plays host to some 50 million registered users across its portfolio of free-to-play, microtransactions-based MMOs -- one million concurrently at peak. Since it founded a U.S. arm in June 2008, it's seen 2 million North American and European registrants for its eponymous MMO, Perfect World. It's also known to Western gamers as the publisher of Runic Games' long-awaited Torchlight, the game to rise from the ashes of Flagship Studios' Diablo-like Mythos.

"We see ourselves as kind of the Blizzard of China," company product manager Jonathan Belliss tells WiM sister site Gamasutra. Perfect World was chosen from about 12 titles in the company's purview to lead the company's major push into the Western market.

"We actually have the luxury of picking and choosing what titles to bring from China to the U.S.," Belliss says. "We really took a lot of care and time to decide which titles are most eligible, or most compatible with the North American or Western market."

"I've seen a lot of growth in this somewhat niche industry that's blowing up year by year -- Perfect World has definitely outperformed everything we thought it was going to do."

Virtual world and avatar creation company Meez announced that it will introduce its teen-targeted Meez Nation service to the MySpace platform next week, enabling new and current Meez users to access the virtual world through the social networking site.

Meez Nation features virtual neighborhoods, public hangouts, and personal "Roomz" that owners can decorate with items (purchased with the "Coinz" virtual currency, which users buy with money). Through their custom avatars, users can chat, share music and videos, and more.

The company says it has more than 13 million active users, and claims those users typically spend an hour per visit to Meez Nation. Those active users also watch around one million videos and play more than 100 thousand games per day, which Meez points out is an opportunity for brands, advertisers, and media publishers to reach its teen demographic.

"MySpace offers the perfect audience for Meez Nation – Internet-savvy teens who love to share videos and music and hang out," said John Cahill, CEO of Meez. "Offering the Meez experience to the MySpace audience not only gives users a unique way to connect with friends, but offers brands who use the Meez platform to reach teens an even greater community for spreading brand awareness through interactive advertising."

Sid Meier of Civilization fame said this week that he and his studio, Firaxis, are working on a project dubbed "Civilization Network," a rendition of the strategy game for Facebook, due in 2010.

The announcement comes after the most recent franchise entry, Civilization Revolution, a turn-based strategy game that appeared on consoles and handhelds that streamlined the traditional PC-derived hardcore Civilization experience.

"I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be looking for beta testers to help us develop a unique new way to play Civilization," wrote Meier on the CivFanatics.com forum on Wednesday. "Ever since we finished Civilization Revolution last year, I’ve been looking at ways of expanding the Civ gameplay experience to include solo, competitive and cooperative play to take advantage of the uniqueness of social networks."

By creating a game for the social network Facebook, Meier and Firaxis are tapping into an audience that boasts 300 million accounts. It would be the first time that Firaxis enters the social gaming space, which is dominated by companies such as Zynga (Farmville), PlayFish (Pet Society), and Playdom (Sorority Life).

Like typical Facebook games, Civilization Network will be free-to-play, although Meier did not reveal any monetization methods, which may or may not include virtual item buys and advertising.

The full game is due to launch next year, preceded by a closed beta coming "soon." Firaxis has already set up a Facebook page for the game at www.Facebook.com/civnetwork.

Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis, gave more details about the upcoming game: "Civilization Network will allow you to join together with your friends to create the world’s most powerful, richest, smartest, or just plain coolest civilization."

"You can coordinate your strategy to win great battles, share your technology to jump ahead of your rivals, lobby your family and friends to form your own government and win vital elections, manage and grow your cities to maximize production and happiness, spy on your enemies, and work with your friends to create the great Wonders of the World."

Online developer and publisher Trion World Network has hired a pair of executives who previously served at NCsoft and Sony Online Entertainment to take the roles of publishing senior vice president and CCO at the company's Redwood City headquarters.

New senior vice president of publishing David Reid was NCsoft West's publishing president, and was responsible for heading up MMO launches in both North America and Europe, including the recent Aion. His past experience over more than ten years includes executive roles at then-Turner-owned game streaming service GameTap, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 group.

Chief creative officer and Redwood Shores Studio general manager Scott Hartsman, who most recently spent seven years at Sony Online Entertainment focusing on EverQuest and EverQuest II.

His two decades of industry experience also include several years in the early days of developer Simutronics, where he worked after contributing to Scepter of Goth, one of the first commercial multi-user dungeons -- the precursors to modern MMOs.

Trion World Network CEO Lars Buttler characterized Hartsman and Reid as "dream additions" to Trion's existing staff. Reid said it was "clear that we are at the beginning of a new era of game development and interactive entertainment."

"Trion is positioned extremely well to succeed in the next generation of online gaming," added Hartsman. "I'm happy to come on board in Redwood Shores to help deliver the most compelling MMO experiences and to collaborate with all of the Trion studios to introduce genre-leading games."

The company is currently developing the fantasy MMO Heroes of Telara, publishing a strategy MMO by Petroglyph, and creating its own network streaming technology.

In our latest employment-specific 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 Bungie, Harmonix 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:

Harmonix Music Systems: Senior Technical Artist
"Harmonix is seeking a Senior Technical Artist to research and develop techniques that will increase the efficiency of our artists and allow us to continually advance the bold artistic style of our games. Located in Cambridge, MA, Harmonix is the developer of award-winning and widely-acclaimed music and rhythm games like the recently-released The Beatles: Rock Band."

Bungie: Senior Network Engineer
"Bungie requires the skills and services of a ruthlessly competent Senior Network Engineer to help us build on our already-dizzying heights of netcode excellence. Do you obsess over the number of bits required to replicate a unit vector?... Have you ever estimated the upstream and downstream bandwidth requirements for a socket into the Matrix? Bring us your brilliance, bring us your fire! Together we will conquer the speed of light and distill order from chaos."

Beijing-based Changyou.com signed a multi-license agreement to use BigWorld's Technology Suite as its online game development platform for upcoming MMO titles. Established in 2003, the online game operator and publisher is a subsidiary of internet services company Sohu.com.

Earlier this year, the free-to-play game company launched an IPO in the U.S. and raised $120 million -- its share price jumped 25 percent on its first day on the NASDAQ, and Changyou.com is now trading at 110 percent over its initial IPO price.

Changyou.com currently runs three online games: the in-house developed Tian Long Ba By, and the licensed Blade Online and Blade Hero 2. The company has at least three titles planned for future release: Immortal Faith, Legend of the Ancient World, and Duke of Mount Deer, the last of which is an in-house project.

BigWorld's Technology Suite is designed to provide a "complete technical architecture" for online game and virtual world developers, and includes BigWorld Server Software, Content Creation Pipeline, 3D Client Engine Package, and Live Management Tools & Instrumentation. China has more than 10 commercially live MMOs created with BigWorld Technology.

"The BigWorld engine is the best MMOG solution worldwide and has success stories in China," says Changyou CTO Xiaojian Hong. "Changyou has licensed BigWorld without hesitation. I believe that we will leverage the BigWorld engine in our upcoming 3D products to make them mature and perfect. Changyou will continue to strive to produce many higher quality MMOG titles for end-users."