RESEARCH firm DFC Intelligence in a recent study has suggested that companies pursue offerings through digital distribution if they intend to grow their business in the online gaming industry.

The report, entitled Online Game Market Forecasts 2007, noted that by 2012 revenues from advertising, digital distribution and virtual item selling or trading will be equal to revenues from game subscriptions.

Likewise, in 2006, subscriptions were the leading revenue source for online games but the fastest growing segment of the market was digital distribution and virtual item sales.

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By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

ORGANIZERS of World Cyber Games Philippines have started the local elimination of the WCG Asian Championship, the regional version of the WCG 2007 Grand Final.The Philippine eliminations will be held on June 9 and 10 at the Viramall Store in SM Megamall’s Cyberzone.

Among the games to be included are WarCraft III: Frozen Throne, Defense of the Ancients All-Stars (DOTA), football game FIFA 2007, Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs and Dead or Alive 4, which is the only official console game for the Philippines.

Only one representative for each of the games will be sent to compete in the Asian Championship but the DOTA team will be composed of five players.

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By Erin Chupeco, hackenslash Contributor
INQUIRER.net

NARUTO has been a breakthrough anime hit all over the world; Konoha headbands are bestsellers, and both anime and manga volumes of the series consistently top the bestseller lists both in and outside of Japan.

Several video games have been spawned, and while these were mostly fighting games that enabled friends to pit a favorite character against another, the most recent offering of the Naruto franchise has produced a single-player action game entitled Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles.

The story begins dattebayo!

In the game, Naruto is pretty much the same: still loud, still unpredictable, and still determined to become strong enough to become the next Hokage leader. With the aid of his friends Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji, Naruto undergoes a series of missions not only to increase his skills as a ninja, but also to aid the elder Leaf Village ninjas in defending their territory. Unfortunately, the only way to increase his ranks and his abilities is by performing and finishing missions that may range from menial chores and trivial errands, to critical situations, all the while going through hordes of random ninjas who want nothing more than to destroy Konoha and its members.

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By Alex Villafania, hackenslash reporter
INQUIRER.net

NEARLY three months after showing a glimpse of Perfect World, Philippine online game publisher Level Up! has announced that it has started its closed beta test of the massively multiplayer online game in the Philippines.

By early July Level Up! will start Perfect World’s open beta test and finally, a commercial launch of the game by August.

In a telephone interview, Level Up! CEO Jane Walker said they are expecting between 10,000 to 12,000 accounts to be activated in at least 250 Internet cafes for Perfect World’s closed beta test.

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By Yuri Kageyama
Associated Press

TOKYO–A free download upgrade for the Sony PlayStation 3 enhances the image quality of movies and old video games and allows people to check out stored video, music files and digital photos through the Internet with the handheld PlayStation Portable.

The upgrade, available for download worldwide Thursday, will improve the visual quality of PlayStation 2 games, as well as original
PlayStation games, although it won’t be quite as dazzling as the quality of PS3 games, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. officials said.

The software will also work to adjust the image quality of movies so they will look much better on the PS3, which is equipped to deliver higher image quality through next-generation Blu-ray disc technology.

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