You can now sign up for the beta version of the long-awaited "Hello Kitty" online multiplayer role-playing game. After announcing this exciting news Wednesday, Hello Kitty Online [warning: sound] releases the news today that over 30,000 have already registered. Test memberships will be provided to as many as possible who have entered their information, and they will receive updates direct from the source.

This online game will include many of the regular features you'd expect, such as guilds, custom avatars, and a virtual economy, but the big difference is the general environment of bright colors and cute flowers, critters, candies and sweets, structures, and other graphics wherever you look. I was trying to describe to a friend the screenshots [sound again] I had seen, and he gave me the perfect descriptor: bubblegum. Yup, it's a bubblebum world!

The game will be free to download and play, but there will be options to upgrade your character and buy special items by using real money at the Item Mall.

Hello Kitty Online targets females from pre-teen to twenties, and plans to offer "real and imaginary zones such as the Flower Kingdom, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow and more." Sound intriguing? It's expected to draw many thousands of players, at least at first. In fact, as soon as I get my new computer, I'll be standing in line to try it for myself.

The full game is expected to be released in the second half of this year.