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While Square Enix are gearing up to release Final Fantasy XIV in September, Sanrio beat them to the punch by announcing release in the U.S., Canada and Europe for Hello Kitty Online scheduled for…today. The game is available as of right now.
In the U.S., you can grab Hello Kitty Online either as a free digital download or you can purchase the premium retail edition for $19.99. Doing the latter will net you $15 worth of Sanrio Cash Points to equip your character with premium ingame items. You’ll also get to choose a free ingame pet and, of course, the game’s
82-page colour manual along with some postcards.
Retail distribution of the game is being undertaken by Zoo Entertainment, who are also publishing Hello Kitty Seasons for the Wii this year.
Hello Kitty Online is a free-to-play MMO, with micro-transactions being the primary source of income. Sanrio are pushing HKO as a social experience, with features like blog integration, video-sharing and a Hello Kitty e-mail service run by SanrioTown, where you’re required to register to play the game.
HKO is already available in a large number of Asian territories like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Last year, Sanrio celebrated Hello Kitty’s birthday in the game with new events and quests.
