Well hello there, Tiger! BloggerInsight is starting this year off with a bang by launching a new version of our website.  We’ve graduated out of “beta” and want to say thanks to the people who make this possible: our bloggers.  So come join us in our recently improved co-working office 88 spaces for a casual meet up (you know.. tweetup, social gathering, “networking event”, par tay!). If the weather’s good we’ll expand to the roof garden.

We’re going to have a lot of beverages and snacks so please bring fellow bloggers, twitter’ers, entrepreneurs, creatives and “friends”.  It should be fun, we hope you can join us. » Read the rest of this entry

Had  quality Japanese food for the New Year Lunch.

The BloggerInsight team is ready to deliver better services to clients and bloggers.

Happy New Year to you all! See you all in the year of  the Tiger!

2010 BloggerInsight 团队年饭，在家离公司不远的日式餐厅里。吃饱饭了我们准备好了来年为客户和博客用户提供更好的服务，请期待！

祝福所有的朋友，新年吉祥，虎年再见！

Originally posted on the BloggerInsight vertical site, China Social Games.

In June 2008, VentureBeat wrote: “The good thing is that PopCap’s games are well known in China. The bad news is that most retail versions are pirated.”
1.5 years later those words still ring true, but PopCap remains upbeat. PopCap is a patient pioneer: “PopCap prioritizes taking the time to get it right – whether that’s building a new game or approaching a new market. We’re investing in China as a market for the long term, we’re not looking for short term gains,” said Giordano Contestabile, Senior Director of Business Development for the Asia/Pacific, in a recent interview with China Social Games. On Twitter: @giordanobc

Cute and China-safe graphics

PopCap has two advantages in China: 1) its games are already wildly popular; and 2) its games are family friendly, suitable for the China market. PopCap’s big disadvantage is that its primary monetization model, “try and buy” downloads, is a loser in pirate-infested China. The real challenge in China is developing a new business model, not new games.

Zuma: treasured by Chinese pirates

Popular with Chinese Pirates

“When I meet someone in China and introduce my work, I often hear, ‘Ohh, my grandma, mom, and I all play your games.’ Possibly 100 million people play Zuma in China, but we’ve sold virtually none of the copies,” said Mr. Contestabile.
PopCap’s “Plants vs. Zombies” (Chinese: 植物大战僵尸), a charming cross of Tower Defense and Happy Farm, is another smash hit in China. The recently released title costs 20 USD and is not officially sold in China, but the pirated copy is available for free from a number of major Chinese download sites. The translated Chinese text is so professionally integrated into the game that I first believed it to be a genuine Chinese edition by PopCap (it’s not). » Read the rest of this entry

Tags: government regulations, PopCap, virtual goods